Deaf Havana

Deaf Havana are an English alternative rock band from Hunstanton and King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. The band was formed in 2005 at the King's Lynn campus of The College of West Anglia. Deaf Havana was formed when the original members met at the King's Lynn campus of The College of West Anglia. The band's roots can, however, be traced back much further with Ryan Mellor, James Veck-Gilodi and Lee Wilson all attending Smithdon High School and playing together in various local scene bands. At college, these members were joined by Tom Ogden and Sebastian Spitz. This early lineup saw Veck-Gilodi singing and Mellor taking guitar and vocal duties. The name "Deaf Havana" came from former guitarist Sebastian Spitz, however the name itself has no literal meaning. The band wrote songs and a demo White Lines But No Camera was recorded in August 2006 at The Lodge, Northampton. The band toured this lineup until Chris Pennells replaced Spitz. Pennells was formerly a member of the band Something About Dave. Around the same time, Mellor handed over guitar parts to Veck-Gilodi, and took on the lead role. In late 2006, the band began writing songs for their debut EP, entitled Evangeline. Two songs were roughly recorded, titled "The Smiles Were Forced" and "Where It Begins", which were uploaded onto the band's Myspace page. The EP was soon recorded, with "The Smiles Were Forced" being dropped from the EP's track listing. Its artwork is by Josh Brown who later had a song dedicated to him by the band called "Josh Brown, Don't Talk to Strangers", which was actually an early demo for the song "They Call It the Easy Life", featured on It's Called the Easy Life. "For Stories Sake" was previously featured on the band's debut digital EP White Lines But No Camera with the slightly altered title "For the Stories Sake". "Tell Me More Georgie Boy" is the only song from any previous release to make it onto Meet Me Halfway, at Least, and is now called "Another Day in This House". Beginning in October 2007, the band began work on new songs, which eventually were released on It's Called the Easy Life. On 21 June 2008, the band announced signing a deal consisting of one EP and two albums with Wolf at Your Door Records owner Kevin 'Wolfie' Horak, as well as the recording date for said debut EP, now titled It's Called the Easy Life. The EP was eventually recorded by Jonny Renshaw from Devil Sold His Soul and was mixed by Matt O'Grady (You Me at Six, Architects) and released in October 2008. The EP received strong reviews from various musical publications, following which the band begin to receive some recognition. January 2009 saw the band complete a UK wide tour with We Are the Ocean and The Urgency, and the release of their first music video for the song "Oh Howard, You Crack Me Up". On 25 May 2009, the band entered the studio to record their debut studio album, Meet Me Halfway, at Least, with producer Matt O'Grady. The album was released for pre-order from Wolf at Your Door Records on 7 September 2009, and was released on iTunes and shops on 5 October 2009. Two singles have been taken from this album. "Friends Like These" was released, with B-side "Hey Baby, This Is Our Song", on 17 August 2009, for digital download. A video was also released for this single. Their second single, "Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life" was released on 15 March 2010, also via digital download. The single contains a remix of "Friends Like These" by Essex band Kenai. Its music video was first shown on music channels and online from 22 February 2010. Before the release of the album, Deaf Havana embarked on the UK Metal Hammer Introducing Tour along with Young Guns and The Casino Brawl. A week after the final date for this tour, Deaf Havana played an album release party show in hometown King's Lynn, with support from Underline the Sky and All Forgotten. The band embarked several tours across the UK and Europe in 2010, including a headlining UK mini tour with All Forgotten and Francesqa in March, a European tour with Emery from March through to April, as well as a support slot on Emarosa's UK tour in May. Just prior to the mini tour with All Forgotten, the band announced that Mellor would not be embarking on these tours, due to personal circumstances, with Max d'Albiac from Brides replacing him. Mellor left the band on 10 May 2010, due to the same personal problems that caused him to pull out of 2010 tours. Deaf Havana decided to continue as a four piece and a replacement for Mellor was not sought. 'Fools and Worthless Liars' was again Produced and Engineered by Matt O'Grady at his home studios in Woking, Surrey, and mixed by John Mitchell. 'Hunstanton Pier' and 'Little White Lies' single, video and radio edits were mixed by Matt O'Grady, with the latter having half the vocal takes from a demo version of the track replacing the album vocal takes as both O'Grady and Veck-Gilodi agreed they were better suited to the track. The band began the follow-up to 2009's Meet Me Halfway, at Least in early 2010. They released a new demo track on Myspace and Facebook, entitled "My Life Is Average". On 29 and 30 May 2010, Deaf Havana played on the Kerrang! Introducing Stage at the Slam Dunk Festival at University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield and University of Leeds, respectively. At these shows, the band opened with an untitled new song. On 13 August 2010, the band released a new demo track through their Facebook page entitled "Home Sweet Home". The band supported You Me at Six, along with Kids in Glass Houses and The Blackout, for a Halloween special at The Regal in Oxford. The band played two new songs on their headline tour in the UK, entitled "Pop" and "I Will Try", and also announced that they had been recording for their new album but have "no idea" when it is to be released, although a 2011 release was said to be likely. At the band's 17 December 2010 show at the Liverpool Masque Loft, a new song was played, tentatively named "Down Syndrome Pigs". They also played 3 songs at Maida Vale Studios, two of which were "Pop" & "I Will Try". Live videos of many of these new songs, including "Vines" and "Youth in Retrospect", appeared on various media sites. Previously released material such as "The World or Nothing", "I'm A Bore, Mostly", "Home, Sweet Home", "My Life is Average" and "Smiles All Around" were also recorded live by fans, although the latter three did not feature on Fools and Worthless Liars. The band confirmed via Twitter on 19 February 2011, that the recording of their second full-length album was under way and that the album was being recorded with producer/engineer Matt O'Grady (You Me at Six, Fastlane) in Woking, Surrey. Recording was completed in late summer 2011. On 20 May 2011, the band released the first song, called "The World or Nothing", from their untitled second album. The song was not released as a single, but the song is accompanied by a video made from footage taken at Hit The Deck Festival, directed by Jon Stone. The first single from the album was confirmed to be "I'm A Bore, Mostly" on 30 August 2011. It was played on BBC Radio 1 by Zane Lowe and the following week by Sara Cox. The title of the album, Fools and Worthless Liars was made public on 23 September 2011. Deaf Havana also released a music video for the single on 11 October 2011, which accumulated over 20,000 plays on the day of release. They then supported fellow British rockers You Me at Six on tour that month. Fools and Worthless Liars was released on 7 November 2011, coinciding with London Barfly and Norwich Arts Centre release gigs. The album peaked at number 1 on the UK Rock Album Chart. In late November and early December 2011, the band toured Europe as direct support to Skindred before returning to the UK to support Architects on their tour through mid December. The band performed their own UK headline tour through April 2012, with support from The Swellers and The Dangerous Summer. They also performed another headline tour in