What Goes Around (Acoustic) – Live Video

Moving Targets (Acoustic) – by Neil

Neil has recorded an acoustic version of Moving Targets. Listen here:

New Single – THE LADDER – Out Now

New single ‘The Ladder’ is available now as a FREE download, or hand-packaged CD (£1). You can listen below, and click ‘Download’ to continue to the order page.

Review – The Ladder

Review of The Ladder by www.manchestermusic.co.uk…THE LADDER

:: Optional Wallace ::

31 March 2012 / Squealing Beagle Records / Free Downlaod / Hand Packaged CD

By Jon Ashley

Optional Wallace may help run some of the best busking / unsigned nights in Manchester, but their own penchant for new wave tones bleeds through into this epic collision of guitars and a merry-go-round rock mini-operas. The bass tracks itself between the octaves, clambering between the slice and chops of the guitar which then scrawls its way through a roughly cast scale. “…The Ladder” is an infectious tune, locked somewhere between the hooks of Muse and the exciting wall to wall strategic scuzz of Mansun.http://www.music-dash.co.uk/releases/release.asp?item=7223

New show – Easter Sunday Bandtastic BBQ

Optional Wallace have been invited to play at this all day event on Easter Sunday, with a BBQ!

Free entry and loads of live music all day. It’s on the a6 just at Stockport town centre, by the m60
junction.

Listen to ‘The Ladder’

Listen to new single THE LADDER here.  The Ladder is released on 16th April by Squealing Beagle Records.

New Single THE LADDER – out 16th April 2012

Optional Wallace release The Ladder, the second single from the debut album. ‘Optional Wallace’. The Ladder will be made available in two formats:

 

• FREE Download
• Exclusive, hand-packaged CD. £1 + p+p.

Artwork for the hand-packaged CD - design: catmoonx@hotmail.com

You can order your CD and get the download at www.optionalwallace.com from Monday, 16th April 2012. Order using Bandcamp, payment is Pay Pal, and you can download in whatever format you prefer… lovely!

Squealing Beagle Records – SQEEBEA004

“The Ladder – a great unexpected festival moment” – Northern Noise
“Punchy vitriol in the slick cut The Ladder” – (sic) Magazine

 

 

 

News – Artwork for The Ladder

Here is a sneak preview of the artwork for the next Optional Wallace single, The Ladder.

Release details will be made available very soon….

Live Review – Manchester Star & Garter 5th November 2011 (‘Generation’ Single Release)

Review by Cath Aubergine for Louder than War

OPTIONAL WALLACE / MOUNT FABRIC / THE SLOW READERS CLUB
5th November 2011
Star & Garter Manchester

‘Generation’

Indie rock in 2011: if ever there were a genre of music with a bad, bad reputation – and let’s face it, not undeservedly so. “Indie rock” for the most part has precisely fuck all to do with indie in its original sense and it doesn’t generally rock particularly either. Seen too many bands that sound like Shed Seven’s understudies at an Oasis cover night? So have we. But then we’ve seen far too many generic electro-chillwave type bands too (oh look, another fake faded polaroid record sleeve, great) and generic garage rock’n’roll bands (spare us the American accent, we heard you at the bar and we know you’re from Widnes) – every genre has its landfill, it doesn’t mean there aren’t good bands if you know where to look. Optional Wallace are one such band, but we’ll get onto them in a minute because they’re also damn fine fellows full of punk DIY spirit – and thus for this their single launch they’ve got a couple of great local bands to warm up for them.

THE SLOW READERS CLUB have been around for a couple of years in this guise, although most of them were formerly in great mid-00s Manchester band Omerta. Their modus operandi is the seamless blending of Puressence-ish atmospherics with the alternative-pop feel of early Killers, and their secret weapon is a clutch of bloody good songs. “One More Minute” survives from Omerta days, danceable and upbeat but with a seam of melancholy running through Aaron Starkie’s slightly world-weary vocals; “Block Out The Sun” is spine-tingling even without the keyboard sweeps of the recorded version (they didn’t think there’d be space for the keyboard tonight), whilst “Follow Me Down” is stunning, Aaron’s voice leaping an octave effortlessly. When his guitarist brother Kurt’s darker and more melodramatic voice gets involved as well they’re even better. Tight as anything, too. By the end of their short set they’ve drawn everyone in the pub into the tiny front room that’s serving as a live venue this evening. They release their debut album themselves on 5th December, and you can have a listen to all 12 tracks now on their website.

MOUNT FABRIC have a sound so expansive the little space can hardly contain it, and it’s not an easy one to pin down, which in itself is a good thing although it means reviewers can’t just describe them in terms of other bands and have to write things like “leftfield progressive prog-indie-pop” instead. OK, so that was actually me, a few months ago, but I’m standing by it. Throughout 2011 this band have been getting better with every gig; now five strong the addition of a dedicated keyboard player the dynamics are the key to their brilliance. Complex arrangements mean they’re the sort of band you can’t really get by half listening, but make the effort and you’ll be richly rewarded. Singer Alex is incredible – there’s a certain mystique to his rather understated stage presence, half hidden under his trademark wide-brimmed hat, but what a voice. Their last song in particular is excellent, all the instruments spiralling up into a big post-rock-ish crescendo.

OPTIONAL WALLACE come with the Steve Lamacq seal of approval and it’s not hard to see why – they’ve got a fire and passion about them that’s lacking from all those landfill bands as well as a way with a rousing, punch-the-air chorus that harks back to the golden age of post-punk indie rock, simmering with frustration. On “Generation”, the single they’re launching here tonight, the target of their frustration is indeed those self-same bands who don’t appear to believe in anything much, the “generation with nothing to say”. For musical references think equal parts post-Chameleons thunder and Manic Street Preachers’ angry wall of sound. And it’s not even the biggest song in their set – that honour goes to “Can’t Explain”, whose almighty rhythm section could shake the walls of any arena you care to mention. They’re wilfully unpretentious without ever being dull, and their belief in the simple power of their songs is backed up by genuine quality.

No gimmicks, no hype, no posturing – just three decent bands playing in a pub. What more do you want from a Saturday night?

Optional Wallace / Mount Fabric / Slow Readers Club – live review

‘Generation’ Single Reviews

Reviews / Previews

Preview by (sic) Magazine

Former [sic] First Glances stars Optional Wallace are set to release the first single “Generation” from their assured self-titled debut. Standout cut from the album, the track finds the politicised three-piece in chest-beating form,