There are many amazing music scenes very far from the New York City scene that I have been part of for as long as I can remember. Luckily my position as a music writer has enabled me to discover bands from all over the world. God bless the power of the internet shrinking the musical world. Some of these bands would fit in perfectly in the lower east side of Manhattan venues that I love to frequent. The latest discovery is The OK Social Club.
The band is a little young in the teeth, only officially forming in the summer of 2011. In the last year and a half the group has made huge strides and has set themselves up as one of the bands from the growing Scotland music scene that is ready to break in the rest of the world. The foursome of Raff, Chris, Gordy and Jordan combine a wide range of influences from 50’s girl groups to 70’s punk to today’s alt-rock genre. Last year The OK Social Club released their first two singles, ‘The Shape Of Things To Come’ and ‘The Late 90’s’ which grabbed the attention of many of the influential members of the Scottish music press. The band’s tour of Scotland included sold out shows in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Now The OK Social Club is ready to show off their talents to the rest of the world with the release of their debut album Nothing In Common this week on Platform Records. They also plan on a full –scale UK tour to promote the release. The album is full of quality alt-rock tracks from the opening playful pop track ‘Getting Away With It’ to the full of energy and funk ‘C’mon!’ the lead single ‘Gezellig’ is a little slowed down to let the listener focus on the quality songwriting. I had no idea what the word meant so I dove in to find out that it is a word with no translation into English. Literally, it means cozy, quaint, or nice, but can also connote time spent with loved ones, seeing a friend after a long absence, or general togetherness. What a cute little title for a cute little pop song. Don’t get me wrong, The OK Social Club is in no way trying to be an American band and they let their accents and Scottish tendencies shine through in their music. The band does give me flashes of fellow Scots Franz Ferdinand or Americans The Killers but this music is all their own. I have a feeling we will be hearing more from these guys on this side of the pond before long.
Go give yourself a head start and check out The OK Social Club at: