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UNFORTUNATELY TOBY LEFT THE BAND IN NOVEMBER 2007 AND MEET ME IN ST LOUIS SPLIT UP IN FEBRUARY 2008. Sorely missed but never forgotten, below you will find a collection of videos to watch, CDs, vinyl and t-shirts to purchase and a link to listen through the whole of 'Variations On Swing', the bands incredible debut, and final, album.
According to a popular film and television website, “Meet Me In St. Louis is delightful, classic, nostalgic, poignant, and romanticized”. Some of these words may ring true for the band, but in the most part this is a very different beast. Completely incomparable and definitely something to behold.
Taking their name from the popular 1940’s Judy Garland film, the band formed in June 2005 setting up base in Guildford, each member delighted to finally have a chance to enjoy the novelty of writing with a team of equally talented musicians, all set on creating something slightly out of the norm. Blending schizophrenic time-changes, blast beats, huge guitar riffs and catchy vocal hooks sounds like a recipe for disaster but that wasn’t to be the case, with the band quickly rising to the forefront of the UK underground scene and causing jaws to hit the ground right the way across the country with their blistering live assault.
In front a crowd is where this band really come into their own. Having perfectly honed their style after playing every toilet venue up and down the UK, as well as a fortnight-long trip around Eastern Europe, it’s about more than the music. Limbs flailing and spilling into the crowd, it’s a live performance you and your painfully ringing ears won’t forget in a long time, and as good a reason as any to why so many people are tipping this band for greatness.
Their debut EP, the tongue-twisting ‘And with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark – the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back’ (released via local label Function Records in summer 2006) was as well received as it was overly titled. Plaudits in hand Meet Me In St. Louis set about writing their first full-length record. A chance email was sent and new fan and friend-to-be, Alex Newport (the genius producer behind records from At The Drive-In, The Locust, The Mars Volta, Sepultura and many, many more), flew over to engineer the release in January 2007 at the renowned Miloko Studios in London. A tiring two weeks (diarised on the Drowned In Sound website) filled with highs and lows, sound tweaking and illness followed, with the band eventually coming away with what will soon be regarded as one of the debut albums of the year. A truly astonishing record from a band on the verge of following their namesake into genre-defining history.
‘Variations On Swing’ is released via Big Scary Monsters Records on 24th September, proceeded by the single ‘All We Need Is A Little Bit Of Energon And A Lot Of Luck’ on 17th September. The band head out on tour with Hell Is For Heroes in October, as well as hundreds more dates right across the UK.
R.I.P. Meet Me In St Louis
 Variations On Swing |
 Secondsmile split 7" |
 Record Label Shmecord Label |
 Purchase: YL / S / M / L - £8 w/ Variations On Swing CD: YL / S / M / L - £13 |
 Purchase: YL / S / M / L - £8 w/ Variations On Swing CD: YL / S / M / L - £13 |
MP3: Stream 'Variations Of Swing' at Last.fm
Video:
All We Need Is A Little Energon And A Lot of Luck (taken from 'Variations on Swing')
Why Thank You, Suzie (taken from the EP)
The Torso Has Been Severed At Mid-Thorax (live in Mansfield - July 07)
Blakfish tour montage (final tour - January 08)
European tour montage (October 05)
www.meetmeinstlouis.co.uk
www.myspace.com/meetmeinstlouis
XFM
"Unbelievable, this total powerhouse. You felt like you were standing in the eye of a storm. If you want your life to be complete, you have to see this band live at least once"
NME
“For those appreciating the current spate of ear-bludgeoning trail-blazers (see Gallows, The Scare) British twist-core mentalists MMISL are a similar sonic proposition that'll make your brain melt quicker than Kula Shaker's comeback... Inventively retelling five chapters of DIY-punk in one go - Fugazi, Minor Threat, Q And Not U, At The Drive-In and Million Dead included”
The Fly (Ones To Watch)
"The Sonic ADD of Meet Me In St Louis makes Forward Russia sound like Keane"
Drowned In Sound
"Currently the closest thing we've got to a hard touring At The Drive-In style band, the energy and intesity is almost unparallelled in a UK act of their style"
Kerrang
"MMISL threaten to bust the temperature gauge with amazingly explosive, off-kilter drumming that Cap'n'jazz would have been more than proud of and a million searing riffs that hark back to the irregularity of At the drive in and Blood Brothers"
Rock Sound
Intelligent, complex and forward-thinking indie