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The Ronelles
Motel
Tracklisting:
MAGIC BLUES
‘OL HORSE EYES
TURN AROUND
BOLT THE DOORS
DON’T LEAVE ME HANGIN’
(WELL) I LOVE YOU
TO SEE YOU FOR THE LAST TIME
BETTER IN THE NIGHT
ROUGH ‘N’ READY
IT WON’T BE LONG
NEVER STOP LOVE
STAGGERED EYES
SHE SAID NO
REVELATIONS
THE RONELLES
Brought together by a mutual love of all things rock 'n' roll, The Ronelles formed in Spring 2004 and have been causing a stir on the live Glasgow music scene ever since. They are: Raymond Meade (Lead Vocals, Guitar), Daniel Meade (Guitar,Backing Vocals), John Dougan (Bass) and David Toohill (Drums).
Wearing their influences proudly on their sleeves, it sounds like The Ronelles spent most of their childhood days pinching records from their parents' collections. Few bands these days would name-drop Robert Johnson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry among their biggest influences, and while more might mention The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Jam, few put these influences to as good use as The Ronelles.
Solid tunes and flawless musicianship set The Ronelles apart from the current influx of rock 'n' roll wannabes, and while style is undoubtedly important to the regularly leather-clad and suitably retro-barnetted Ronelles, their stunning tunes and tight live performances prove they are anything but another bunch of bandwagon-jumping trendies.
“The Ronelles are amazing”
Alan McGee
the album of the year so far! - Goran Obradovic /
"the Ronelles are always entertaining and always worth listening to" Americana UK
Support band Glasgow's Ronelles mixed Oasis' swagger with some Sauchiehall Street menace and as a result, GLC could only look like fakers after such genius rowdiness.
The Daily Record
The best band from this or any other era.
Billy Sloan.
RADIO CLYDE 1
Forget Bolting the Doors, kick the doors down...do whatever you have to do, to get this single.
Fraser Thomson
XFM, Scotland.
The Ronelles - Nice "n Sleazy, Glasgow ****
Headlining tonight are The Ronelles, a band who look and sound like they've been taken straight from the dictionary definition of rock n' roll. Tight jeans and leather all round, their attitude is admirable. Getting past the image, the songs stand up equally well, showing that they have substance as well as style. One of the obvious high points is 'Bolt The Doors', the band's forthcoming debut single - opening with a riff that wouldn't be out of place on a Sons And Daughters record, it quickly changes to a much more upbeat song than one would expect from their hometown counterparts.
Tonight is also a night for new material as they debut 'This Is Murder', 'Black Leather', 'Just A Girl' and 'Bottles And Barstools'. It's clear in these rock n' roll tales of love and life that The Ronelles are heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones and The Jam - however, despite wearing this on their collective sleeve, they've managed to retain an individual sound. Filled with energy they do their best to make the set last all evening, calling at least four songs 'the last one'. Unfortunately, as so often happens, the licensee gets their way and the band finally finish - leaving a very happy audience behind them.
The Ronelles look like rock stars and they sound like rock stars; surely it won't be long before they become rock stars.
Lucy Smith - This is Fake ID
For those seeking a bit of old-fashioned rock and roll rudeness wrapped up in avatistic hair-dos, The Ronelles are playing in the QMU. Theirs is a one-eyebrow up, sexy jaunt through garage rock that, although modernity never comes knocking, is great fun in a British sort of way. With the haircuts of the Kinks, the sexual appetite of Jagger and tighter trousers than most, The Ronelles have played more or less everywhere you care to mention...
Jasper@noisemagazine
Support band Glasgow's Ronelles mixed Oasis' swagger with some Sauchiehall Street menace and as a result, GLC could only look like fakers after such genius rowdiness.
The Daily Record
Kicking [T in the Park 2005] off in style was Glasgow band The Ronelles. Drawing the crowd in like four magnets, The Ronelles really represented what T Break is all about - finding stars of the future. They certainly have the talent to take them all the way. Breea McGinness, THE EVENING TIMES
Their success has been astounding, the influences include rock and roll greats such as; The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry this eclectic mix sets them aside from the other rock and roll wannabes who are on the scene right now.
David Crow – THE EVENING TIMES
Frontman Raymond Meade has the swagger of a young Mick Jagger and songs like “Don't Leave Me Hangin’” “Bolt the Doors” and “Never stop love” are future classics.
Tony Gaughan, THE SUNDAY MAIL ****
MAIL MUSIC : GOLDIE LOOKIN' CHAIN LIQUID ROOM, This was an intimate gig for competition winners, as hosted by Beat 106. Support act The Ronelles, a Glasgow four-piece disappeared beneath an avalanche of bras and refused to leave until they played all their compact rock 'n' roll anthems. After that, GLC couldn't help but look a bit timid.
John Kelly - The Sunday mail
Bolt The Doors and She Said No reek of future classics
Crooked Rain
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"A great new band from Scotland".
Mark Radcliffe - BBC RADIO 2
"They deserve a place alongside contemporary upstarts The Editors and The Arctic Monkeys".
- WORD Magazine
"fired by the same passion for melodic but mordant rock'n'roll that once inspired the pistols"
- UNCUT
"Breathtaking - Recommended" - MOJO
"You'll not hear a better, more consistent debut this year" - CLASSIC ROCK
"a current of unfakeable emotional adrenalin"
ZERO Magazine
"A glorious collision between grease spattered rock and roll, patchouli soaked hippy rock, and soap spiked punk with a dose of scruffy indie".
Americana UK
"The album of the year so far!" Goran Obradovic
Listen to, download or buy MOTEL here
Buy MOTEL on Amazon
"Staggering debut from swaggering Scots"
This is a glorious collision between grease spattered rock and roll, patchouli soaked hippy rock, and soap spiked punk with a dose of scruffy indie. The guitars are meaty, beaty, big and bouncy, the vocals veer from the belligerent to the angelic and what sets this apart from copyists like Jet of Ocean Colour Scene is the lovely open and loose nature of the songs - it is about setting a mood, capturing a moment and not about painfully recreating something - it's a sonic stew with added spice. There is an almost arrogant attitude towards the songs; they know that they are good and know that not everything has to be perfect, and they have got that right. Squeezing 14 tracks into 36 minutes so none get chance to overstay their welcome, they get in, make a statement and move on to the next.
I’m pretty sure at times they’ve discovered a hidden passageway that links the Stray Cats and Bloc Party, or found the missing link between Orange Juice and Uncle Tupelo, and where else would you think of mixing Jerry Lee Lewis and the Bay City Rollers? You may be sceptical but I assure you similar thoughts will go through your brains, along with "so that’s how a rock fixated Libertines would sound!" There are some really good moments throughout this set, plenty of times when the call and response guitars are having a conversation where you don’t want to miss a single note, plenty of moments where they audaciously change direction, wrong-foot the listener then sneak in another terrific riff then abandon it, casually throw the 50’s up against today and generally make odd juxtapositions that work. They really take the songs for a walk to see what happens - sometimes it’s a pub crawl or an arm in arm stroll and at others a full pelt fleeing from the police. Always on the move, always full of energy, the Ronelles are always entertaining and always worth listening to.
David Cowling Americana UK: 8/10
Read the WORD review Here
Read the CLASSIC ROCK review Here
Read the CLASSIC ROCK article here
Read the MOJO review here
Read the UNCUT review here
Read the ZERO review here
Read THE LICK magazine article here
Web exclusive samples:
Right click or Control click(mac) to save.
Bolt the doors
I love you
Turnaround
THE RONELLES - NEW VIDEO PREVIEW
Checkout the Ronelles new video for "Bolt The Doors"
The video (which was shot on location in London) was directed by Andy Thompson of Gallerymedia
Right click to download (requires Windows media player)
BOLT THE DOORS (6.6mb)
THE RONELLES - Motel (Neon Tetra)
There's no frills or pretensions to this debut album from the Glasgow beat combo, just 14 tracks that swagger and pound their way through Stones, Who and Beatles rock n roll with a leather jacket draped over their shoulder, a cigarette hanging from the fingers and screaming girls pressing to the edge of the stage in some claustrophobic pub. There's a lot of country in there too, Turn Around, the excellently catchy Bolt The Door and She Said No calling to mind the rebel rock of Jason & The Scorchers while Don't Leave Me Hanging barrelhouses along like Mick Jagger fronting The Faces and Staggered Eyes sounds like it strayed in from some Tennessee hayride with a bottle of Jack clutched in its hand and some dishevelled strawberry blonde shuffling along behind doing up her gingham. They're going to be huge.
Mike Davies - Roots and Branches webzine
THE RONELLES - Motel (Neon Tetra 2006)
After creating quite a buzz on the Glaswegian scene, The Ronelles are the youngest bunch of Highlands beatsters, getting ready to take over either The Beatstalkers’ “Scotland’s No.1 beat group” or maybe even The Poets’ “Scotland’s No.1 band” label. Mostly staying true to the mid’60s British r’n’beat boom, put through the kaleidoscopic lens of moderndaze, as heard from the very opening with “Magic blues”, which might’ve been Oasis, had they been listening to more Yardbirds than Beatles. Next up is “Ol’ horse eyes”, sounding like a more garagey Coral, with the Liverpudlian spirit, especially The La’s, kinda hanging all over most of the record. Other good reference might be another contemporary British soulmate, Nic Armstrong, with a couple of tunes such as “Turn around”, “Rough’n’ready”, “Staggered eyes” and “She said no”, all being goodtime-ish r’n’beat frenzy in an early ’Stones-by-way-of-Nic Armstrong vein. “Don’t leave me hangin’”, again, sees them “Rolling” forward, with the Faces waiting just around the deacade, “Bolt the doors” and “To see you for the last time” are a pair of country-fied garage punkers, and on the even more melodic side of things, “Better in the night” also adds some 65/66 Beatle-flavour, while “Never stop love” offers an additional blue-eyed soul vibe too.
Though they might want to consider Liam Watson’s Toe Rag studios for their next recording session, in short, this is the album of the year so far!
Goran Obradovic / POPISM radio show; Serbia & Montenegro
The Ronelles - Bolt the Doors
THE Scots newcomers' jangly guitar sound has brought a deserved buzz. Bolt the Doors kicks off like The Kings of Leon put through country's Tom T. Hall's blender. Stick around - you'll be pleasantly surprised. John Dingwall, The Daily Record ****
MusicOHM Single Review
The Ronelles - Bolt The Doors (Neon Tetra)
Since they formed a little over a year ago, The Ronelles have been causing something of a stir in their native Glasgow. Perhaps it's something to do with their catchy tunes, or maybe it's all about their charming front man Raymond Meade. More important than either, though, is that unlike most other bands, these guys aren't trying to be cool - they're just trying to be great, succeeding, and being pretty damn cool as an unintentional side effect.
Bolt The Doors is a prime example of what they do. It's shuffly old-fashioned cowboy-boot-wearing rock'n'roll that sounds like the product of a band who were cryogenically frozen in the sixties and brought back to life in 2004. They don't sound like they've ever listened to Joy Division or The Smiths or the Pixies, which is a refreshing change from, well, everyone else in indie right now.
There's a hint of modern garage rock about them, and while the influences are from an entirely different period in music history, the closest present day reference point would have to be The Libertines - and they've certainly got the talent and likeability to attract the same kind of cult-like following. If you need further evidence that The Ronelles know what they're doing and that what they're doing is great, the B-sides Better In The Night and Turn Around are every bit a rock'n'roll classic in the making as Bolt The Doors.
Fiona McKinlay
Of the Scottish bands I caught, I was most impressed with The Ronelles. They opened the T Break Tent with a brilliant set.
Jim Gellatly, BEAT 106
I KNOW what the future of rock and roll is. They’re from Glasgow, they’re called The Ronelles, they have the spirit of The Libertines and the tunes of The Stones. They’re the most exciting unsigned band I have seen in my entire life as a journalist.
Dominik Diamond, THE STAR
They stole the swagger from Oasis and the heart of the crowd. Fraser Thomson, XFM Scotland.
If The Libertines' influences had been taken from a decade further back, they might have ended up sounding like The Ronelles, They've got the tunes, they've got the guitar riffs and they've got an unstoppably energetic frontman with the voice of an angel to finish off what must be the most surefire hit of a rock'n'roll package since Jet. THE FLY
The Ronelles – ‘Motel’
For a while in Glasgow, The Ronelles were the underdog and everything thought similarly fashioned rock’n’rollers Raising Kain were going to hit the big time.
But while Raising Kain suddenly started slowing down and dropping out (they’ve called it a day now!), The Ronelles went from strength to strength, getting support slots with the Zutons, Kings Of Leon and the Proclaimers and establishing themselves as the biggest new force in cowboy boot and leather jacket wearing rock’n’roll.
Their debut album isn’t the big budget, major label slick shuffle fest that it might have been, but these days bands like to do it their own way without the influence of industry fat cats, and by doing it the low-key way make vibrant records that people won’t just like but can really get their teeth in to and fall in love with.
This album has no glitz, no glamour and no pretension – it’s all about good songs that sound entirely unashamed of what they are: catchy to the point of occasional cheesiness, with absolutely no effort wasted on trying to be smart or innovative. The Ronelles are what they are, and what they are is a good rock’n’roll band. It’s as simple as that.
Their influences are all pretty old fashioned, but they bring the pre-Rolling Stones guitar band sound up-to-date by adding a pinch of noughties freshness to the mix a la the Libertines.
A good wee album from an ace wee Scottish band, and a bright flashing neon sign of much more great things to come.
Young Scot Website
The Ronelles - Motel
When a band attempts to play blues-rock for the 21st century they (perhaps unintentionally) end up with the dynamic of a Stones tribute act or as a modernised version with an added pinch of the season's latest flavour. The four sons from Glasgow sneer at the former while landing closer to the latter due to poppy Strokes stompers (Ol’ Horse Eyes) and punky Libertines escapades (Bolt The Doors). The boys got the true blues however and display a maturity and songwriting standard rarely seen on debut LPs. Previously mentioned Bolt The Doors and She Said No reek of future classics from the talented quartet. Unfortunately, 'Motel' also contains a handful of tunes that see them staggering about in a far too clichéd blues town which may not allow this album to stand out in the maelstrom.
Chris Nordeng - Crooked Rain webzine
If you have an enquiry regarding The Ronelles then please email us at: info@neontetrarecords.co.uk
Site © NeonTetra Records Ltd 2006
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