Articles - Galaxie

DAIL 911 FOR CHART SUCCESS

Nine One One is more than just a useful American emergency number. When you search on the Internet, you’re bound to get all sorts of sites listed as being connected to this hotline number along with some other strange web pages as well. But these pages do not justice to well-known Brit pop sensation 911, consisting Lee Brennan [23], Simon "Spike" Dawbarn [24] and James "Jimmy" Constable [25] , who incidentally are really the ones to look out for. Having had all 10 of their singles entering the U.K Top 40, the boys still have not shown any signs of slowing down. In fact, the boys recently released their third ablum entitled There It Is and had change in management to prove that the only way they intend to go is up.

Late last year, 911 decided that their old management Backlash had to go and that new blood was necessary for the group to soar to greater heights "The last singles {from Moving On] ended at No.10 last year. We could feel like it was going down that way. We’ve been going on like [this] for six months to a year. We felt that we could either keeping or start afresh, get back into play," Brennan says. Steve Gilmour of Backlash was fired for his lack of ideas.

The group was without a manager for a short period but everything went on just fine. "Our schedules were worked out by record companies as well. Basically, we didn’t need a manager then. Everything worked cause the schedules were still drawn out from [the last management]. Once we finished that schedules, then we thought it was time to get a new management," Brennan explains. Enter Neil Ferris from Ferret and Spanner. Apparently, the boys had known Ferris right from the start, as 911 was signed under Ferris’ public relations [PR] company.

When it was time for 911 to get a new manager, his name was first to pop into their minds. They know that Ferris had been in the industry for about 25 years as a promoter-cum-sound-engineer. Even though that Ferris had never managed any groups before, he had been a PR guy for television and radio, and he used to plug for individual groups such as UB40, Bros and the Spice Girls. All that was sufficient enough to convince the boys to hire him. 911 is pretty satisfied with their new management for new. "[The new management] understands that we're human. We do bigger things and we get a lot more time off as well. I think that they've been better at managing our time. Everything seems to be a lot better. We're really happier."

Management changes aside, the group has asked to record a track for the Bee Gees Tribute Album. The response to release to their single More Than A Woman was so overwhelming that 911 decided to record an entire ablum of covers. Brennan adds ,"With the management change and all, we figure that this would give us more time to write originals for the next ablum as well. We don't really don't care what other people say. The fans support us and this is what we want to do."

Few pop groups have ventured into all-cover-version ablum playing field. UB40 was one of the more successful acts to do so. They did Labour Of Love, an ablum that contained songs that made what they want to be in the band. It wasn't too long before 9111 came up with 11 classic pop songs they thought influenced them music-wise. After going in talented producers like Nigel Lowis [Eternal], Steve Levine [Culture Club] and John Holiday [Boyzone], There It Is was born.

The threesome‘s next original single is scheduled to be out in October while their new ablum is scheduled for Christmas. The word is that the boys will be writing with the same production team. But prior to those release, 911 has good news for Malaysian fans – the boys may be coming down here for a proper 45-minute live band performance. It's mini-concert that is set to be bigger and better than their outing in Sunway last year. "We might be coming over as early as June. And, I'll have a new hairstyles for [the fans]." EVELYN TEO