Allo Darlin'

Event information

Pull Yourself Together presents...

Allo Darlin'
with support from This Many Boyfriends and The Sweet Nothings

After a barnstorming party at Queens last time they came to Sheffield, Pull Yourself Together are delighted to welcome Allo Darlin' back to the City of Steel. Playing tracks from their universally acclaimed second album 'Europe' the band definitely be in the mood to get people dancing along again!

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Allo Darlin'

Allo Darlin' are many things. They can turn a room in a famous punk venue into a joyous, jumping, sweaty, pop-mosh pit. Or bring a room of 500 to hushed silence with the few strums of a ukulele and a love song about cooking.

Allo Darlin' is the music of Australian-born, London-based songwriter Elizabeth Morris. Originally from a country town in Queensland, Elizabeth moved to London in 2005 and, inspired to write songs by her purchase of a ukulele from the famous Duke of Uke shop in Brick Lane, began to make music. Although Elizabeth has been releasing music under various guises since 2007, it wasn't until 2009 that Elizabeth hooked up with Paul Rains (guitar), Bill Botting (bass) and Michael Collins (drums) and Allo Darlin' was properly born. Elizabeth and Bill are from Australia, Mike and Paul are from Kent.

Early in 2009, augmented by Terry Edwards of Tindersticks/Gallon Drunk fame on trumpet and sax, Allo Darlin' cut their first single, Henry Rollins Don't Dance, released in 2009 on the cult WeePOP label. Much to their surprise, Henry Rollins started getting airplay on BBC Radio 1, 6 Music and XFM and the like, and received glowing reviews in places such as the Metro, The Fly and The Guardian, the latter calling it "the best indiepop song for years". The band's single that followed, The Polaroid Song, was named as one of Drowned In Sound's Top 50 singles of 2009, while their next single Dreaming was voted Single Of The Week by Jarvis Cocker, Peter Hook and Huw Stephens on Steve Lamacq's BBC 6music round table (beating MGMT, The Radio Dept and Kate Nash in the process!).

In their brief lifetime Allo Darlin' have been interviewed (three times) by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music, who also selected them as his choice for BBC Introducing week resulting a BBC session at Maida Vale studios. They've also recorded sessions for John Kennedy on XFM. They've played Indietracks Festival, stealing the show with their impromptu station platform performance (and this year will be playing on Friday's main stage!), have toured in Sweden and Germany, and appeared at the prestigious Sŵn Festival in Cardiff promoted by BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens. In March 2010 they headed out on their first major UK tour as support to The School, followed by trips to the States for SXSW festival, NY Popfest and an East Coast tour, the appearance at NY Popfest leading to a glowing review on the front page of The New York Times website!

This Many Boyfriends

After TMB sadly had to put out of Allo Darlin's last show at Queens, we are very happy to be able to welcome them back to the venue this time round. This Many Boyfriends are an indie pop band from the North. They bonded over a shared love of playing pop music far too loud in rooms far too small. They have been through more lineup changes than The Fall before settling on the current one: Richard on lead vocals, Tom on bass guitar, Laura on drums and Dan on lead guitar. They're named after a Beat Happening song, and people have compared them to Orange Juice, The Cribs, Hefner and The Smiths. They are also influenced by the likes of PJ Harvey, The Slits, Spearmint, Jonathan Richman, Otis Redding and Joy Division. Richard likes Paul Simon so much that he wrote a song about him!

They've played with lots of great bands, in lots of great places, including Darren Hayman, Allo Darlin', Tender Trap, Standard Fare, The Lovely Eggs and The Wave Pictures, and also at Indietracks Festival in both 2010 and 2012. '(I Should Be A) Communist' is their new single, released on Angular Records and produced by Ryan Jarman from The Cribs. It is about their bass player, money and cardigans. There's a stupid story here, which like most things, is better left as a myth. They say it's a pop song about big stuff, the big stuff being buying superfluous, dumb things when you have no money. If anyone calls them twee or cutesy they'll knock their block off.

The Sweet Nothings

Peace, love, romance, railways, international socialism, and sleeping on strangers' floors in beautiful new cities after the best night of pop thrills ever... The Sweet Nothings are an indiepop band from Sheffield. They like pretty, sparkly tunes and they like big loud noise as well, so they thought they'd try and do both at the same time.

Their first single, featuring 'She's an Accountant' and 'Subterranean Moseley Blues' is a jumble of contradictions. It's strident, fierce and full of tenderness. It's in love with an accountant and it wants to hang the bankers. It's 90 seconds and it's four and a half minutes. But it's heartfelt, real and kind. It's got some smashing catchy tunes. Is that everything? Good. What are you waiting for? Tell your friends, hang bunting from lampposts, have a sip of something nice, and name your children after them. The future of pop music is here. And once it's been and gone we might even think about making an album. There now. Nice cup of tea?