TOODLES & THE HECTIC PITY Release Debut Album 'Hold Onto Happiness With Both Hands' Out Now Via Specialist Subject
“Devastatingly emotional…wavers between energetic folk-punk and cosy indie with effortless ease” - Noizze [8/10]
“Based on the incredible strength of this record, they absolutely have a classic in them” - Boolin Tunes [8.5/10]
“Raw with emotion...a promising debut from a band who have a lot to offer” - Distorted Sound [7/10]
“Introspective, subtle yet engrossing songs” - When The Horn Blows
“One of our favourite recent discoveries” - For The Rabbits
“Toodles & The Hectic Pity are an utter delight” - Shout Louder
“West-country folk/punk with a Bristolian ‘f*ck it’ attitude” - Punktastic
“Firecracker folk-punk” - Louder Than War
"This album is a triumph!" - Surface Noise Zine
Bristol, UK folk-punk/emo trio Toodles & The Hectic Pity today release their debut album Hold Onto Happiness With Both Hands which is out now on 12” vinyl and digital formats via Specialist Subject Records.
Album focus track ‘Pedestrian Baby 1’ is out now on all good streaming platforms, with the band appearing at 2000 Trees Festival in Cheltenham next month ahead of their own UK album headline tour dates in July 2023.
The upcoming tour dates include an album release show on 27th July at The Mount Without, Bristol with support from Exeter indie/shoegaze newcomers Soot Sprite and fellow Bristolian garage punks Cosmit (see below for full listings).
Commenting on ‘Pedestrian Baby 1’, front man Callum McAllister says: “This was another song that started out in our ‘Song-a-Day’ writing group which emerged from chords written by our drummer Dom Mosley and which later became a thematic crux of the album. Originally we wanted parts 1 and 2 to follow each other, but settled on the idea of them ending each side of the record. Pedestrian Baby 1 is about abandonment and the relationship between someone being stepped on and the person stepping on them, and a kind of stockholm syndrome that develops there. It’s about not wanting someone to leave but being kind of relieved when they do.”
Toodles' debut album Hold Onto Happiness With Both Hands was recorded and produced by Phil Booth jr. at JT Soar, Nottingham in October 2022, with cello, percussion and backing vocals recorded at Woodbox, Bristol by Dom Mosley. The album was mixed by Robin Newman at Snug Recording Co., Nottingham and mastered by Ian Farmer and his cat, Onion, at The Metal Shop in Philadelphia, PA. It features additional cello by Ellis Morgan of Live, Do Nothing, backing vocals by Erica Freas, and trumpet by Danny Lester. The only electric guitar used on the album was for a single note on ‘Religious Experience’.
Some of the songs for the album were written immediately after finishing their 2020 EP Ghosts, Guilt & Grandparents. “Our songwriting process was somewhat hampered by the pandemic, of course,” says frontman Callum Mcallister. “In 2021 we spent a week in a campervan outside Dom’s garage-studio writing 8 hours a day, and in 2022 I participated in the yearly ‘Song a Day’ project helmed by Erica Freas, where most of the rest of the songs of the album originated including ‘Religious Experience…’ and both pt 1 and pt 2 of Pedestrian Baby.”
Previous singles ‘Emotionally Unclean’ and ‘The Enemies of Happiness Are Not Napping!’ were released earlier this year to praise from underground tastemakers at Noizze, Alt Corner, Shout Louder, Indie For Bunnies, Scene Point Blank, Breathing The Core and more, with continued radio support from Steve Lamacq at BBC 6music, Amazing Radio, Phoenix FM, WTSQ, WSUM, MMH Radio and more.
Debut album Hold Onto Happiness With Both Hands released 23rd June via Specialist Subject Records
Live Dates:
06TH JUL 2000 TREES
09TH JUL Just Dropped In, COVENTRY
12TH JUL Firebug, LEICESTER
13TH JUL The Butler, READING
14TH JUL Dulwich Football Club, LONDON
15TH JUL The Pipeline, BRIGHTON
16TH JUL The Hobbit, SOUTHAMPTON
27TH JUL The Mount Without, BRISTOL (album launch)
01ST SEP Punx Picnic, PLYMOUTH
Hold Onto Happiness With Both Hands tracklist:
01. Wake Up Cold
02. Solitary, Or So It Seems
03. Sitting Down In The Shower
04. Religious Experience on the Bristol-Bath Railway Path
05. Pedestrian Baby Part 1
06. The Enemies of Happiness Are Not Napping!
07. An Incurable Soul (Chicken Neck Boogie)
08. Emotionally Unclean
09. Re Surfacing
10. Pedestrian Baby Part 2
Toodles & the Hectic Pity are:
Callum McAllister - Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Max Cole - Bass guitar, synth, organ,
Dom Mosley - Drums, percussion, synth, baritone guitar
With extra help from…
Danny Lester - Trumpet
Ellis Morgan - Cello
Erica Freas - Vocals
All artwork by Eloise McAllister
Toodles online:
https://toodlesandthehecticpity.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/toodlesband
https://www.facebook.com/toodlesband
https://twitter.com/ToodlesBand
More info:
Affectionately known to their fans simply as Toodles, band members Callum, Max and Dom all met at secondary school in Gloucestershire and formed Toodles & the Hectic Pity in the political quagmire of the mid 2010s for one covers set at the original iteration of what would later become Inglefest, a small festival in the Cotswolds. The band subsequently released 3 EPs including The First EP (2016), Call In Sick (2017), and Ghosts, Guilt & Grandparents (2020), which was their first release through Specialist Subject.
The band have played extensively in Bristol and around the country including the infamous Deadpunk Special, Till the Fest, Do it Together Fest, and shared stages with the likes of AJJ, Jeffrey Lewis, Microwave, Spanish Love Songs, Mikey Erg, Crywank, Fresh, Muncie Girls, Martha, and many more.
