Interview in Dominion Magazine: By Sean Palfrey – 12th January 2012
“In a few short years, indie newcomers Broken Links have generated a lot of buzz, not only in their native Eastleigh, but as far flung as Berlin picking up comparisons to the likes of Killing Joke and The Manic Street Preachers along the way. Quite impressive for an unsigned band who have gone the DIY route in the face of a dying music industry.
With their debut full length debut currently in production to follow up a run of three innovative EPs 2012 could be the year that Broken Links attract the attention they deserve. Dominion caught up with Vocalist/Guitarist Mark Lawrence to talk about finding their sound and the problems facing unsigned bands.Dominion: What is the background of the band and how did you come together to form Broken Links?
Mark Lawrence: Although we were in different years at school, we all knew of each other, but probably never spoke. Phil is one of my friends brothers, and we were all playing in different local cover bands back then so unwittingly bumped into each other now and then. But it wasn’t until early 2008 that we all properly met each other, after the band I was in split up after several years of gigging, and Phil had just finished University. Phil’s brother suggested myself and Phil should get together for a jam. I had a pile of songs I had written over the years, so we met up and started out just playing them. After a month or two Phil asked Lewy (his old school friend) along to one of the jams to see if he wanted to play bass. Something just sort of gelled, we were making a HUGE sound in a short space of time. We all agreed we should start up a proper band, it just felt right, it was really easy for us to flow out ideas. So we spent most of 2008 just practicing, song arranging, messing around with effects, making sure we sounded as huge as we possibly could and capable of putting on a big show before we started gigging. At the same time I was producing our first EP at home, ready to release in time for our first batch of gigs and that we had some songs on our MySpace (which was huge back then!).
Dominion: Where did the name Broken Links come from and how do you feel it represents the band’s sound?
ML: We had a struggle coming up with the band name. We went through the whole process of writing as many names we could think of onto sheets of A4, some were awful, some were disgraceful, and some were darn right rude! We eventually eliminated the ideas all down and agreed on the name ‘Links’. After testing to see how easy it would be to put our first EP on iTunes, we found out there was another band in the USA called ‘Links’, so we dabbled with the idea of calling ourselves ‘Links [UK]‘ online, but after a few days, we felt sick calling ourselves that, and went back to the drawing board. We then came up with ‘Broken Empire’, but didn’t like the word ‘Empire’ as it was a bit grand, so we stuck ‘Links’ in there instead, we liked the ring of it. So at the time, there was really no meaning to our band name, though of course, we have to make sure our website is fully functional to avoid the jokes! I like the name now though, as I think it fits well with our song ideas.
Dominion: Your sound is quite a varied one incorporating indie, post-punk and industrial yet there is always a strong dark edge present your songs, what are the biggest musical influences on the band?
ML: The biggest influences on the band are Nine Inch Nails, and Manic Street Preachers. ‘The Holy Bible’ is my favourite album of all time, so I’m often trying to make our music as intense as tracks off that album, though they often go off in a very different direction! The lyrics on that album had a massive effect on me, I guess a few of the topics we write about have come from the influence of that album. Another album that had the same effect on me was ‘The Fragile’ by Nine Inch Nails, and then of course ‘The Downward Spiral’, I don’t think I need to say how great a composer Trent Reznor is!
I mainly grew up listening to these, as well Metallica, Gary Numan, Joy Division, Radiohead, Chemical Brothers, Smashing Pumpkins, Rolling Stones, Suede, Bush, RATM, The Cooper Temple Clause, Nirvana, Placebo, Deftones, Ladytron, Feeder, and Hell Is For Heroes…..I reckon the mix of listening to all these is what’s given us the varied mix in our sound! Though we all do try to listen to as much music as we possibly can though! And of course there’s some great new bands coming out now too!Dominion: You’ve quickly developed a strong live presence in the UK, and have even made your way to the continent for gigs, how do you feel unsigned bands are received in both markets?
ML: I think it’s very difficult being an unsigned band in this day and age. We’re still 100% DIY, from making our website to booking gigs, and we’ve found it a massive struggle. In terms of the music industry, there’s loads of unsigned bands around, but to ever gig anywhere other than your local venues is hard. This is mainly due to the costs of running venues filtering down to the bands and promoters to shift X amount of tickets so that their gigs bring in a profit, and that’s difficult to do in the cities/towns out of the a band’s area meaning they can’t get out of town gigs easily. I think this is the same in every country in Europe to be honest. We’ve put in a lot of hard work over the years trying to find venues that’ll put us on in the UK without demanding we sell tickets a large amount of tickets, because the reality is, we’re unsigned and unknown, meaning we can’t sell many in areas we’re not known. We had to put even more work into finding venues in Germany for much the same reason, but luckily managed to find some great ones in the end. The reality is, if we can’t gig, we can’t gain new fans. Therefore, without the backing of a label, or a vast amount of money available to spend on band promotion, it’s a struggle to be heard by new fans, that could potentially go to out of town shows, meaning we could commit to selling tickets. Not having a booking agent doesn’t help either! But saying all this, it’s the struggle that’s the most fun part of being in a band!
In terms of the music listeners, based on the shows we have played, people on the continent are more inclined to go out to music venues and listen to unsigned bands. We’ve picked up many fans in Italy and Germany, just by playing there and putting hardly any effort ourselves into promoting the gigs. The venue promoters have either done a big campaign for the gigs, or they’re club nights filled with people wanting to watch live ‘unheard’ music. That isn’t really the case in the UK, it’s only really signed bands that people want to see, aka pop tripe. I think this will change in the near future when the current ‘label’ backed bands die out and the norm is for new bands to completely promote themselves and new ways of finding new music is introduced. New bands could pay for a huge PR campaign, but many can’t afford it, and there’s no guarantee that a campaign will bring any results….or maybe it’ll change when people tire of being spoon-fed the warm diarrhoea the top brass of the ‘musical mainstream’ release!Dominion: What have been the live highlights for Broken Links so far?
ML: So far, playing White Trash Fast Food, Berlin, and playing KME 2011, Italy have been our main highlights. It was great having the opportunity to play two sheer class venues on the continent packed with people! We’ve also had the opportunity to play some small regional festivals in the UK which we massively enjoyed. We really thrive to play on larger stages and like to use all of it….there’s lot of rooms to go nuts on those stages seeing we’re only a three piece! Also, we of course love playing our local venue The Joiners, Southampton. We had our first gig there, the sound system is incredible, and everyone goes nuts at those gigs!
Dominion: Given the ‘goth-friendly’ side to the band’s sound, what is the typical audience like at one of your gigs?
ML: We’ve always had a varied mix of people at our gigs. From Chav to Goth, from old to young etc. There’s not any scenes in our local area, and we’re still unknown to everybody across the world, so it’s not really obvious to us who our target audience is. It just seems so far that everyone in the crowd appreciates something different in our music. The biggest shock to us was finding out that some free CD’s we handed out at a local festival we played were being passed around and mass copied amongst 13/14 year olds at a nearby school, I didn’t think we would be accessible enough for the younger generation, but I was wrong!
Dominion: You are currently working on your debut full-length album, how does this lead on musically from your EPs and how do you typically approach song-writing?
ML: The debut album is really a collection of songs from the EP’s and a new one, all re-recorded, re-mixed and re-mastered. There’s been a lot of re-arranging taking place to make the songs as interesting as possible. We’ve used the past EP’s really as a means of finding our true ‘sound’, and now we feel we have that. We felt that before we could move on to releasing new material, it would be best to draw a line at this point and make a full debut album of our best songs to date, and get a producer in to get them sounding the best and as polished as they possibly can. We don’t feel the previous EP’s do us justice anymore, so we want to phase them out and call this debut album our first ‘proper’ work. At the same time we’re also looking to change ourselves from an EP band, into an album band. We’ve written enough material to record three new albums as it is, and it’s a bit soul destroying that we’ve not been able to record it all as it takes so much time and money to release an EP.
We’re already working on the 2nd album, which we’re approaching the same as we always have done. The songs come from either ideas we have jammed out in rehearsals and are later developed at home on computer, or they’re songs which I’ve made on my computer at home and bring in to rehearsals to start learning as a band. Previously the EP’s have been mainly made up of songs I’ve written at home, but for the 2nd album it’ll mainly be ideas we’ve come up with as a band, due to the sheer amount of great ideas we’ve jammed out recently.Dominion: You’ve released three EPs so far which all show substantial progression in song writing ability and have as a result gained critical praise, how does that affect you when writing for your debut album?
ML: It’s always great to hear positive things said about our EP’s, but they don’t have an impact on the way we’ve written new music, whether this is a good thing or not, time will tell!! From the very start we wanted to improve, and we still want to improve now, we know what areas we need to improve on, so we’re glad more than anything else that people are saying that our EP’s are getting better.
Upon completing each EP, we already had an idea of where we wanted to go with the next, we always make sure we have a new range of ideas to try, know the risks we want to take, and find some on the way. The way we work is that any new song has to be better than anything we’ve done before. We also take into account any constructive criticism from reviews when writing new material and to some extent unconstructive criticism! The main thing is, we don’t take anything to heart, music is one of the arts where you cannot please everybody. If something is criticised and we agree with it, and we feel it is possible to improve on it, then we will. If we don’t agree with it, then we don’t. The main thing is, we write songs we want to write. Our plan for the 2nd album is for it to be a lot angrier and darker.Dominion: What are the themes and ideas that you explore within your music, and what would you like listeners to take away from your songs?
ML: I think the best way to sum up the ideas in all of our songs is that they’re all about life’s disasters/failures and the revolt against them, I like the music to complement those ideas. I think it works quite well at the moment as we write the music first, and then lyrics are added later, so there’s time to think about the ideas the music conjures up. I suppose it sounds a bit serious or pretentious saying that, though in some cases the lyrics are just free-association, some fragments are just collections of words I thought sounded great together, words that help the general mood of the song. It’s whatever the song needs really, as it’s the song that is the most important thing.
I would like all listeners to be moved by our songs in someway though, whether it be live or recorded. If a new song is played live and the crowd doesn’t start moving, it gets scrapped, a heavy on-the-beat nod will suffice! If we can’t raise a few peoples Goosebumps here & there, then we really wouldn’t see any point in us carrying on.Dominion: How has the reception to your EPs been from record labels, are there any potential deals on the table for the album?
ML: Sadly, we’ve not had any interest from labels so far, all the labels seem to be in a different universe than we’re living in, we’ve not even had the opportunity to get negative feedback from a label! It feels like some bands get lucky, play great gigs and get signed, and some bands just have to do the long difficult slog in the underground scene and maybe get noticed one day. We’re the latter!…….we’re not bitter though, we love what we do, and we’re enjoying ourselves, which is always the most important thing.
Dominion: Do you have an expected release date for the album?
ML: The album should be complete by the end of January and maybe released in April after promoting it. Hopefully it’ll be released as a free download on our BandCamp page.
Dominion: You shot some very different videos for a few of your songs, what were those experiences like for you and were you happy with the end results?
ML: Making music videos is a lot fun, despite what some bands say! We’ve worked with different people for each video so far, and we’re filming another one for ‘Within Isolation’ early 2012 with someone else. Each video has been very different, our first one was very raw and involved us having to break into a derelict factory at 5am on a Sunday! That video only took two hours to shoot. The second was very different again, we worked with an awesome production company called Hanover Pictures who did an entire video full of narrative using actors, there’s only a few glimpses of us in the video, which is for the best! They staged a car crash, and the video shows a badly injured chap seeing his whole life flashed before his eyes, it ends a bit grim! The third is a completely green screened video done by our friend Sam Frewer and his crew, it’s still in production, but will hopefully be finished in time for the album release. We’re going back to basics with the new one to be shot soon, nothing fancy, just a black room and some good use of lights.
Dominion: The video for ‘What Are You Waiting For? Has been out for a while now, but when can we expect to see the videos for ‘We’re All Paranoid’ and ‘Electrik’?
ML: We’re planning to take down the ‘What Are You Waiting For?’ video and releasing each of the videos as a single in the lead up to the album release, using the new album versions of the tracks. So from February keep an eye out for our new videos.
Dominion: What are your plans for the band going into 2012?
ML: Once the album is finished we’re going to try & attract some label interest, if not we’ll be promoting the hell out of the album ready for its release in April. We’ll hopefully do a long UK tour around then, and will try to head over to Germany around May/June. The big plan is to start recording our 2nd album in June though, ready for release at the end of the year. Hopefully a few people will like the sound of us along the way!
All three of Broken Links’ EPs ‘Resisting Movement And The Almost Advisory’, ‘The Fine Line Between Choice / Decay’, and ‘Prototypes::Cause + Effect’ are available to download free at the band’s bandcamp page.
Daily Echo Article – 12th August 2011
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Interview by Playing Out Loud: By Paul Lane – 1st March 2010
“Eastleigh’s masters of epic alternative rock, Broken Links will be playing their first live shows on foreign sole next month. April sees the band playing five dates in Germany before the release of their second EP at the end of the month.
“We don’t have a reason to be going out to Germany really,” explains Mark Lawrence, the band’s singer and guitar player. “We’ve played a huge amount of gigs in our first year in the local area, and played quite a few around the UK, so as a joke I said to the guys ‘lets tour Europe’ next, but the more we thought about it, the more it made sense. Alternative Rock is possibly a lot bigger in mainland Europe than the UK, so we’re hoping to win ourselves some new fans over there. I think they’re also a lot more willing to give unsigned music a chance too. There are a lot of UK bands that are big in Europe, but are unheard of in the UK.”
The tour starts on 3rd April in Hofheim and then takes in Chemnitz, Braunschweig, Hamburg and finally Essen on the 10th. So what are the band most looking forward to about the tour? “We’re massively looking forward to the road-trip out there,” enthuses Mark. “We’re driving over there with all our gear and stopping off at a few cities on the way. We really don’t know what to expect over there, though we’ve been doing a hell of a lot of online promoting to make sure the venues have people in them on the night!”
April also sees the release of Broken Links’ second EP “The Fine Line Between Choice/Decay”. The band will be launching the EP on 24th April at The Joiners with Science Of Eight Limbs, In Tyler We Trust and Get The Tape completing the line up. “We’re extremely proud of the new EP,” beams Mark. “We feel it’s a massive step up from our 1st EP (“Resisting Movement & The Almost Advisory”). Our sound has changed a lot since we recorded our 1st EP in my bedroom at the end of 2008, which was even before we started gigging!! The 1st EP was literally made cheap and fast to get us gigs so it was really just a demo. It’s been hard for us to hear a minority of people negatively judging us all last year based on the 1st EP alone.”
“There’s a good mix of songs on the 2nd EP, some fast, some slow, some heavy, some soft.” Mark continues. “There are half a dozen instrumentals and we’ve gone a bit wild with the instrumentation. We’ve really captured everything we wanted to do musically into this EP. We’re having to completely change our live show and are already rehearsing these new songs ready for the EP launch.”
So what else is planned for 2010 for Broken Links? “We’ve already got a lot of gigs booked up for the rest of the year, so we’re looking forward to doing them, especially our EP launch night at The Joiners,” states Mark. “Hopefully we can get on the lineup for a few festivals in the summer and have another mini-European tour before the end of the year. Also, we’re already thinking about recording a third EP, we’re working on a few ideas already & I’ve got a few songs locked away. It looks set to be completely different again!”
Interview by Rock Pulse Music Zine: By Rob S – 29th December 2009
“Q: Hi, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us. To begin with, how’re you all doing? What are you up to at the moment?
A: Hi, Rob…no problem at all…we’re good cheers, we’re rehearsing for our last local Southampton gig for four months this Thursday, it should be a good one, there’s a full lightshow happening for it too! We’re also going into the studio this weekend, so there’s some exciting stuff going on…
Q: So, could you tell us a little about the background of Broken Links… when you were formed, where you’re from, who’s in the band and so on?
A: We all went to the same school in Eastleigh, Hampshire but didn’t really know each other till later. I guess we formed early 2008, Mark Lawrence’s (Vocals/Guitars) previous band was coming to an end and he had been writing a lot of material for a new project. Phil Boulter’s (Drums) brother was friends with Mark and suggested he and his brother started something, Phil was school mates with Lewis Betteridge (Bass) and played in a band together, so we all just started jamming together and started working through songs. We spent the best part of 2008 honing in on our sound and making sure our playing was extremely tight before gigging.
Q: To those of us new to Broken Links, how would you describe your band’s sound and musical direction?
A: I would describe us as an Alternative Rock act with a serious whiff of the darker side of the Eighties. Sexy, sultry stuff!
Q: Earlier this year you released ‘Resisting Movement and the Almost Advisory,’ your debut EP. The four track release has been re-mastered, and is due to be released for a second time next month (January 2010); why did you make the decision to re-release the EP? How did you find the recording process first time around?
A: A few months ago our main focus was to get a 2nd EP out and make it a real stonker, but we realised that it would hardly get noticed or listened to by anybody outside our local area. So we now have a PR company that are promoting us nationally and we decided the best way to get some exposure before releasing the 2nd EP would be to re-release the 1st EP, this would help make people aware of us before the 2nd EP.
The 1st EP was entirely recorded on my home PC and was mastered by an Internet based company and some reviews picked up on the lack of low frequencies and power in the recordings. Seeing we were re-releasing, we decided to re-master the tracks at a studio, which has given the tracks a bit more guts…
Q: I see that your second EP is due to emerge next April in addition to this re-release, how’s the new EP coming along? Are you working on the music for that currently, or planning to use tracks that have been floating around for a while/are included in your live set?
A: The production of the 2nd EP is going well so far. We’ve been recording a lot of it at home again, but we’re heading into a studio for a few days this week to get drums recorded and mix it and we’ll hopefully finish it before the new year. We’re planning it to be a 6-track EP with a mixture of fast & slower songs, I feel this EP may show a wider range of our sound. Two of the songs on it we’ve been playing live the past few months, but the other four tracks are completely new, in fact, one of them was only written last week! This EP is a bit different compared to the last, the 1st was a bit raw, but we’ve crafted our sound over the past years worth of gigging, the 2nd EP is a lot more experimental, though more commercially acceptable…perhaps? It’s definitely more arty, its gapless!
Q: Since your inception in 2008 you’ve shared the stage with an impressive array of bands, and visited a number of venues around the UK… have any of your live shows to date stood out as especially memorable or enjoyable, and could you outline what we might expect from a Broken Links show?
A: Seeing it took us a while to start gigging, we basically said we’d make up for it when we started…and since we started, we haven’t stopped. We’ve done around 40 gigs this year so far, but it’s made us really……we’re playing tighter, we’ve got our guitars and bass sounding massive live, and we’ve now got to the stage where we have light shows at gigs.
I think we have had two stand out nights, one would have been when we first headlined The Joiners, Southampton on 28/08/2009. It’s a venue we’ve been going to for years to watch bands and we were headlining it! It just seemed that everything just came together that night, it was the first time we played for an hour, it was the first time we hired in a light show, the place was packed, the sound was amazing, it was just a great night…
Another stand out night was supporting ‘British Sea Power’ at the Eastleigh Music Festival. Mainly because we’re all from Eastleigh, and nothing happens much there, and we played on the main park! There’s something about playing the local town you’re from….you look out into the crowd and you recognise nearly everyone!
Q: Around the time of your Second EP’s release (April 2010) you’re heading over to Germany for a series of shows… are you looking forward to this, and what are you hoping for from the tour? Are there any further plans to play gigs around the continent in the near future?
A: Yeah definitely, We’re looking forward to the road-trip over and we don’t know what to expect…There’s still a hell of a lot of work to do yet before going over there with promoting the gigs etc. We basically set ourselves milestones all the time. When we started out the milestones were to play Eastleigh Music Festival and headline The Joiners. So the next progression is to play out of town, and other countries.
Music is perhaps appreciated a bit more in Europe, and they’re a lot more willing to give unsigned music a listen. There’s a series of UK bands that are big in Europe but unknown in the UK. But also, Alternative Rock music is big over there and we think our sound may be liked over there. Music is all about getting as many people as you can to listen to it.
We’re just hoping the people that are at the gigs, like what they hear, buy an EP, spread the word, and hopefully it will earn us a few more gigs over there before the end of 2010.
Q: In general, what would you say brought you together as Broken Links (i.e, why did you come together as a band)? Are there artists and bands that have proven particularly influential in your musical development, and if so could you name them?
A: I guess if you play a musical instrument, you have a need to get out there and play. I guess Broken Links came together as Mark had written songs, Phil and Lewy wanted to play, and we all shared the same musical tastes, so it just made sense…
It’s hard to list influences as we listen to everything, though I would say the music that’s had the most impact is Manic Street Preachers (The Holy Bible era), Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Joy Division etc…the list is endless though.
Q: Where do you plan to take the band over the next year or so… are there certain goals that you strive for?
A: Going to Europe is the big thing for 2010, and the 2nd EP…we’re also hoping to release a 3rd EP before the end of 2010 too. Playing out of town more is a big ‘must’ for us as well in 2010, we don’t feel we’ve done that enough in 2009. Festivals are another thing we’d like to do.
Q: Finally, what do you enjoy most about being in the band? Anything else that you’d like to say/ask/promote?
A: Every now and then you might get a free beer!…but it’s also great to play people something you’ve created, and when people like it and get into it, it’s just amazing…and you communicate your thoughts with people through the lyrics and people can relate to them….there aren’t many other ways you can do that except in a band…
Here’s the plug…from 25/01/2010 you can buy our first EP ‘Resisting Movement and the Almost Advisory’ from iTunes/Amazon Mp3…
Our 2nd EP will be out on 26/04/2010 on most online mp3 stores, and we have an EP launch for the 2nd EP at The Joiners, Southampton on 24/04/2010 and we’ll be selling the EP for £4 at this show…£5 thereafter, we’re hoping to get some great bands on that night, so make sure you’re down there for that one!”
Daily Echo Article – 23rd November 2009
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Interview by Playing Out Loud: By Paul Lane – 6th October 2009
“With too many bands in Southampton all too willing to pigeonhole themselves in the safe confines of indie guitar world and limit themselves to smaller venues in the name of credibility, it is delightfully refreshing to hear the ambition of Eastleigh’s 3 piece alternative rock kings Broken Links. “We’re looking to tour Europe early next year,” states Mark Lawrence, the band’s immensely likeable singer, songwriter and guitar player. “Alternative rock is bigger in Europe. The likes of Placebo and Muse – the type of acts we look up to – are massive in countries like France and Germany. We would love to go over there, play live and build ourselves a fanbase.”
They have the tunes to match the ambition too. Their debut EP – the fabulously titled “Resisting Movement And The Almost Advisory” – is essential listening. The rifferama of “Within Isolation” is a dark and menacing masterpiece whilst being strangely uplifting at the same time, “The Best Laid Schemes Of Mice & Men” is anthemic to say the least and “The Sea Inside” is possibly the creepiest and eeriest track you’ll hear anywhere whilst retaining a mesmerising sense of loveliness. However the band’s rapidly increasing fanbase do not share that view on the last track. “We’re banned from playing it live!!” laughs Mark. “Our fans tell us it’s too ‘girly’!”
The band formed in March 2008 after Mark’s previous band The Rebel Ching had split up. Friends since school, bass player Lewis Betteridge and drummer Phil Boulter completed the trio and the band practiced on and off over a period of months. “We had two albums worth of material before we played our first gig,” states Mark. That first gig was at The Joiners on 27th December last year. “We had 75 people there to see us!” the band beam.
Not only is the band’s ambition refreshing, their approach is too. “We don’t use amps. We use pods and floor pedals for vocal effects. We recorded the entire EP in Mark’s bedroom!” offers Phil. Listening to “Resisting Movement…”, it is difficult to believe. The EP captures the bands angst ridden and downright dirty live sound perfectly.
Counting Muse, My Virtiol and “Holy Bible” era Manic Street Preachers amongst their influences, the band have achieved milestone after milestone in lightning fast time. “We’re setting milestones all the time. First we wanted to play at the Eastleigh Festival, which we did this year,” enthuses Mark. “We then aimed to headline The Joiners and that happened a few weeks ago. We also recently played our first London gig. This has all happened a lot sooner than we could have reasonably expected.”
So what do the band make of the Southampton music scene? “We’ve always had good gigs in front of good crowds in Southampton,” offers Mark. “However Southampton needs a music scene built like it has been in Portsmouth. They have unsigned nights on every week there and they encourage people to come. There are more than enough good bands around. Science Of Eight Limbs, Jazica and Plastic Toys are all bands we’d like to play live with.”
Following their recent support slots with The Boxer Rebellion at The Joiners and a storming set at the most recent Angry Badger Records Showcase Night at Soul Cellar, the band have plenty more live dates coming up. With their startling rate of progress, it would be well worth catching them in the smaller venues while you can.
In the meantime, our European friends are certainly in for a treat!”
Daily Echo Article – 28th August 2009
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The News (Portsmouth) Article – 24th April 2009
Daily Echo Article – 24th April 2009
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http://www.xan.co.uk/2009/04/review-broken-links-ep/
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/lei
sure/music/news/4318371.LOCAL_BANDS____with_Xan_Phillips_from_showcaseuk_tv/
Monday 13th April 2009 @ Surface Unsigned, The Boston Music Rooms, London
Broken Links are a dark alternative 3-piece from the Southampton area. The music is a dark atmospheric mixture of Joy Division inspired vocals and the fast paced, intense riffs that show off a skill of technicality that is reminiscent of Muse. The music has a great live feel to it and carries the rhythms across channels of musical creativity, especially the use of FXs that create a sound, which is part visionary, part rock genius, all good music.
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Hampshire Chronicle Review of Gig at The Talking Heads, Southampton – 26th February 2009
“EPIC is the sound that Broken Links are aiming for, which is easier to achieve in a stadium than a Hampshire pub. However, as part of the Red Stripe Music Awards Tour, they had a pretty good go at The Talking Heads in Southampton. They were buoyed by a large crowd, which seem to be drawn mainly from Eastleigh. Their trip down the A335 was not a wasted journey either, as their was plenty of good music on offer starting with Colditz, they impress with their catchy brand of powerful rock. Bag and Baggage and The Wrong Arm Of The Law also went down well, before finishing on Within Isolation. The crowd, which contained no shortage of supporters, certainly had fun, and their was even something bordering on a mosh pit at times. In that respect, maybe it was not so far removed from a stadium after all.“
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Red Stripe Music Award Judge Review of Gig at The Talking Heads, Southampton – 26th February 2009
“Next up was the big one. With a tremendous support and incredibly raucous following, local lads Broken Links, showed that they weren’t treating this gig like any other. Heavy guitar riffs and plenty of distortion came roaring from the amplifiers as the mosh pit began to take form. There were plenty of crazies in the pit and other onlookers were feeling the music passionately as Broken Links poured their hearts into their songs.”
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Hampshire Chronicle Article – 26th February 2009
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Daily Echo Article – 23rd February 2009
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