There's nothing wrong with a little escapism

...but it's a slightly more valid lifestyle choice if that light at the end of the tunnel led somewhere that wasn't just the ugly glare of another Monday morning, and as anyone familiar with life here in the real world knows, that just isn't happening.

Far better, say White Light Parade, to live in the moment. Just take a spin of their debut single 'Wait For The Weekend', a clarion call to call centre slaves and shop staff everywhere, the dissident broadcast giving you the signal to shake off the chains of 9-to-5 drudgery, get out there, and live a little. "There's too much talking on the dance floor/I don't wanna talk about it anymore," sings Danny Yates, as guitars stand up in rowdy salute and drums beat out an adrenaline-spiked pulse. At the song's centre, though, there's comfort: you live for the weekend not because that's the only thing you have to live for, but that's what living really is.



Time to meet White Light Parade. First up, there's Danny, vocalist, lead guitarist, and bandleader. Danny knocked around the Leeds scene for years, playing with all manner of bands, but never quite felt like he found his calling. Not until he started playing with his brother, Jono. "He's got a bit of a fiery temper," says Danny. "We have our ups and downs, a bit like brothers in bands. But after being in a band with him I really couldn't be in a band with

anyone else. It's good on stage - whether we're bouncing off each other, or we're winding each other up, it seems to create something." Next, there's Tom Emmett, on bass. Danny had known Tom for years, played together in previous bands, and as soon as Tom heard the songs Danny and Jono had written, he wanted in. And then… nothing. The trio played around their hometowns of Bradford and Leeds, just acoustic shows, honing their songs. And then Nici Todd came along. "She's a brilliant drummer," gasps Danny. "I don't know if there's a bit of a stigma around girl drummers still, but she kicks the shit out of them." All of a sudden, it felt right. And White Light Parade was born.

There are, of course, no shortage of bands coming out of Leeds right now. White Light Parade are part of it - they played the recent Dance To The Radio album launch - but they also feel apart from it, too. "It's saturated, there's too much going on. Three of us in the band are from Bradford, and that's really become as much of a homebase - there's indie nights starting there, and people are starting to flock, especially now there's guitar bands back in charts. In a way, we don't want to be the tenth band from Leeds. We want to be the first band from Bradford, you know what I mean?" And as you might expect, this is a band that just wanna be out there on the road.

Last year, 1965 Records invited them down to London to support The View just before 'Wasted Little DJs' hit the charts. Earlier this year, they supported Switches all over the country and outsold them at the merch table. And a support slot up in Stockton caught the ear of headliners The Enemy. "We met them and they're good guys," says Danny. "We still speak to them, so hopefully we can go out for a few dates with them when the time's right." But don't expect White Light Parade to play second fiddle for long. "We're influenced by all the classic British bands - The Kinks, Who, The Clash, Pistols, Jam, early Oasis," says Danny. "But we've got a lot of power behind us. We wanna give music a kick up the arse again. It's all about plugging in guitars and singing what you know about. That's the classic British sound. Escapism? You've got everything you need right here.

Links
White Light Parade MySpace website

Wait for the Weekend
released on January 21st, 2008.

'Wait for the Weekend', as the name suggests, is about the chains of 9-to-5 drudgery. The song forms a frenzied assault on the Establishment, a clarion call to call centre slaves and shop staff everywhere giving the signal to get out there and live a little. B-side 'Riot in the City' which was featured in a Nissan advertisement and an Adidas commissioned film about Chelsea Football Club, tackles political struggles.

Vocalist, guitarist, bandleader and dynamic front man Danny, brother and guitarist Jono, bassist Tom and drummer Nici complete White Light Parade's lineup. Danny knocked around the Leeds scene for years, playing with all manner of bands notching up supports including Kasabian, Keane and The Kaiser Chiefs, yet he never quite felt like he had found his calling.

Last year, 1965 Records invited the band down to London to support The View just before 'Wasted Little DJs' hit the charts. Earlier this year, they supported Switches all over the country (outselling them at the merch table!)

and a support slot up in Stockton caught the ear of headliners The Enemy. As well as gleaning radio play from BBC Radio Leeds, XFM Manchester and BBC Raw Talent the band has also been given the nod of approval from the likes of Virgin Radio's very own Christian O'Connell following a breakfast time broadcast of 'Riot in the City'.

A real highlight for the band came in September this year when they supported none other than seminal punk/mod band The Jam and Brit Pop pioneers The Bluetones at Bingley Music Live.