ENERGETIC Indie-rock four-piece Emergency Door Release formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in late 2011 and have since made a name for themselves with a growing list of local and national gigs.
Vocalist and guitarist James Rooney was brought up in Woolston before moving to Newcastle for university, where he met fellow band mates Tom Backhouse (who plays lead guitar), drummer Daniel Mokhtari and bassist David Lloyd through a music website James describes as “like a datingsite but for meeting fellow musicians".
The 21-year-old first picked up a guitar aged just four-years-old and has since mastered many more instruments.
Lead guitarist Tom and bassist David have been playing music for most of their lives, whilst drummer Daniel has been playing for two years after borrowing his next door neighbour’s spare drum kit.
The band was previously signed to a record label and gained success with their songs ‘Who Are We’ and ‘Bowties and Butterflies’, which were released on iTunes.
Their songs ‘See The Stars’, ‘Tonight’ and ‘Father’ gained airplay on national and American radio stations including BBC 6 and BBC Newcastle.
Influenced by The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys and Bullet For My Valentine, the band pride themselves on writing their own music and have never covered a song or cancelled a gig in the 55 shows they have performed.
James came up with the name for the band aged 15 when he was travelling on a train and sat next to an emergency door release.
He said: “It represents us as a band, you break the door release and push your way through. When we’re on stage and that first song comes on, it sets the alarm off.”
James is often seen doing front-flips into the audience and has previously broken a guitar through the band’s infamous high-energy performances.
James is currently studying psychology and will graduate this year, continuing with a MA degree next year.
The youngest of the band, 20-year-old Tom, is in his second year of university studying chemistry. Bassist, 21-year-old David is currently undergoing a MA degree, whilst the eldest of the band, 29-year-old Daniel teaches graphic design.
James said: "I was brought up in Woolston and used to attend Warrington Music Festival and watch the bands when I was younger though at the time I never had a good enough band to play on the stages.
"To play it now would be an amazing experience for the band, especially for me as I could finally say I've played my home town festival!
“People should vote for us because we’re hard working and have done two tours in 2 years. We put a lot into our music.”
Hear a clip of the band below and warch them perform. You can find out more about them at www.emergencydoorrelease.com
How to vote for Emergency Door Release
■ By phone: Call 0901 151 0439.
■ By text: Start the message by entering the keyword HOTWIRED leave a space and then key 0439 to 80360.
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Last Time (Acoustic version) by Emergency Door Release
See The Stars by Emergency Door Release
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