Echotape come from the south of England. But they are a band of the world. Signed to a Dutch label, the group has toured Europe, played a string of dates in America and appeared at sold-out shows on several visits to Russia, where they played to a crowd of 15,000 at the V-ROX festival in Vladivostok. From Hollywood to Holyhead, Moscow to Madrid, they have won over heads, hearts and feet with a high-energy show that works brilliantly, both in the rammed clubs where they have made their name and on the big open stages that they increasingly find themselves heading towards. Like an English version of Kings Of Leon or a faster, more modern iteration of the Vaccines, Echotape bring vigour and swagger to songs freighted with a gilt-edged, modern pop-rock magic.
“I’ve always pictured us playing on big stages,” says singer, songwriter and guitarist Marc Burford. “We’ve got a big sound. And the lyrics are made for lifting people up. At festivals, I love getting everyone involved and just making people feel better – just giving the crowd a burst of pure energy and blowing them away with the feeling of the moment.”
The band comprises Marc (named on his Mum’s insistence after Marc Bolan) together with his brother Mike Burford (drums), Dan Bowman (guitar) and Joe Stickland (bass). They come from Hampshire, where Chris Evans has repeatedly endorsed them as one of the perennial stars of his annual CarFest extravaganza. They have worked on previous albums with award-winning producer Youth (aka Martin Glover) and James K Lewis (Rudimental, Arctic Monkeys, Clean Bandit) and achieved streaming figures in excess of a million for We’ve Been Dreaming, the lead single from their last album Wicked Way, which was a Top 40 hit on the Dutch iTunes chart.
Now comes Echotape’s new single, I Said It, a three-and-a-half-minute banger with a driving, dancefloor beat that grabs the listener from the opening bars and doesn’t let go: “I got a habit, I can’t kick it, I don’t know where to start…”
Accompanied by an exciting video, I Said It is the first in a cycle of new releases planned for this year which have been produced by Marc in the band’s own studio. With a freshness and energy that sweeps all before it, the songmarks the start of a new chapter for Echotape.
“We have worked with quite a few big producers,” Marc says. “We went out to Spain to write and record our first album Collectivewith Youth. We picked up loads of experience and ideas from him. And I learned even more on the technical side from working with James Lewis [on the EP This Could Be Anything]. But there comes a point where you think ‘Right, it’s time to do this myself.’ We’re the artist. We know how we want it to sound. We can make this the record of our dreams.”
In America, another Echotape song, Friend Like Me, has been chosen to feature in an episode of the award-winning NBC TV seriesBrooklyn Nine-Nine. “The call came through while I was mixing the new record,” Marc says. “It’s being used to liven up a bar scene, which sounds about right. Thanks, fellers!”
This latest sync exposure in the US follows consistent radio support in the UK where the band has played sessions for BBC Introducing and has regularly been featured on BBC 6Music and Radio 2 and playlisted at River Island and Topman stores.
Echotape got a taste of playing the big venues in Europe when they recently toured with US alt-pop legends the Posies. “That was a really enjoyable tour,” Marc says. “It wasn’t our usual crowd, but those venues have great sound systems and monitor rigs. We played the best and sounded the best we’ve done.” And a previous tour with New Zealand star Graham Candy introduced the band to a young pop audience as well as leading on to some co-songwriting sessions between Marc and Graham. Another admirer the band picked up on their travels is Carl Barat, who has been known to join Echotape for a jam onstage.
“A lot of people have quoted the lyrics of We’ve Been Dreaming, tagging themselves on Instagram, which is cool,” Marc says. “We haven’t lost the dream – although you do get knocked back. We’ve travelled a long way to get here. Now we just want to make a really good record, get out touring again and get a bit of serious traction.”