Lead single Hello Sunshine was born out of a riff brought into the rehearsal room by guitarist Mark Chapman, a blast of distortion-laden lo-fi rock, pushed by frontman Jason Perry\u2019s high-pitched vocals. The band \u2013 completed by more Perrys Adam (drums) and Giles (keyboards), and new boy Richard Trigg (bass) \u2013 were off and running. Before long they had an album in the bag.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was recorded really quickly, super-DIY,\u201d Perry explains. \u201cIn two hours we had a song, and then the floodgates opened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyrically, A were always the archetypal cheeky chappies. Across their first three albums \u2013 How Ace Are Buildings, Vs Monkey Kong and Hi-Fi Serious \u2013 they evolved from mischievous young upstarts berating Rocky V, indie rock and GMTV (Bad Idea) to twentysomethings celebrating endless summers (I Love Lake Tahoe), before taking a swipe at corporate adulthood (Starbucks).<\/p>\n
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‘A’ – Hello Sunshine (Lyric Video) – YouTube
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Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n But that was then. Prang sees them coming from a very different place. There\u2019s the typically-A take on modern life in the shape of Comment Leaver \u2013 a snipe at people who vent their every thought on the Daily Mail website. But today\u2019s A are also a band more weathered by life than before; beaten, not broken, but certainly bruised by two decades out in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d had a bit of a rough time personally,\u201d Jason admits. \u201cI was trying to work out what men in their fifties that were known for their love for life sing about.\u201d<\/p>\n The emotional rawness is never more apparent than on Shit Summer. The song addresses the separation from children that divorce brings (\u2018I\u2019m really missing my kids and the noise that they bring\/I don\u2019t see them till Friday but it\u2019s Wednesday and the weeks go on and on and on\u2019], and Jason admits that it had him in tears in the vocal booth. \u201c<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never had that before where I\u2019ve cried while recording a song,\u201d he says. \u201cIt still makes me cry when I listen to it. I\u2019m really proud of that song. But how do you sing a song about depression without resorting to clich\u00e9s like \u2018I\u2019m banging my head on these four walls\u2019 or whatever? Calling it Shit Summer seemed a very A way to sing about it, because it had been a shit summer, so just say that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Ian Gavan)<\/p>\n Getting up from knockbacks is nothing new for A. They put in serious road miles before scoring a hit with 2002\u2019s Nothing, a big-riffed, foot-stomping rocker of a tune. They were three albums in and suddenly enjoying the trappings of major-label success. When their label encouraged them to cancel a gig so they could appear on Top Of The Pops, the band remained resolute.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n \u201cWe did Top Of The Pops with the Chili Peppers, who were on the same label as us,\u201d Jason recalls. \u201cThe Chili Peppers cancelled a gig to do it, and the label were putting pressure on us to do the same, and we said no. There\u2019s no way we\u2019re cancelling a gig for a TV programme, even though since the age of eleven all I wanted to do was go on Top Of The Pops.<\/p>\n “We said to the label that we\u2019re not going to pull the gig, so they gave us a helicopter. We did Top Of The Pops, ran to the limo to the heliport, jumped in a helicopter, flew to Plymouth, landed in the car park, ran on stage with five minutes to spare, did the gig. That was an expensive day, but a great day.\u201d<\/p>\n The success was fleeting, however. Album four, the Terry Date-produced Teen Dance Ordinance \u2013 saw A chase a sound that wasn\u2019t them. They sidestepped their rough-around-the-edges rock for a big-budget, highly polished, American-sounding arena record. And it fell flat. It left Jason facing a vocal identity crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t got the voice or the personality for that [kind of record],\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not Chris Cornell<\/a>, I\u2019m Jason. I sound like Sting and my voice is really high. We should have been making a Yes<\/a> record or a Beastie Boys<\/a> record or something.\u201d<\/p>\n A – Kings Of Lowestoft (Official Video) – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n By the end of the Teen Dance Ordinance cycle, A had been dropped by their label and were flat-broke. They had to sell their equipment to pay the bills, and, as thirtysomething rockers, look to find a new path.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day my son was born, I went to get some money out of the cash machine to pay for the car park at the hospital and couldn\u2019t even get ten quid out,\u201d Jason recalls. \u201cI\u2019d just spent ten years doing two hundred and sixty shows a year, and I couldn\u2019t even get ten quid out. I went to the Job Centre, and someone recognised me and started laughing. I went back to the car and cried my eyes out.\u201d<\/p>\n Jason eventually found his way, becoming an in-demand songwriter and producer for the likes of McFly and Don Broco. The experience left him well-placed to produce Prang, a record with which the band rediscovered what they lost with Teen Dance Ordinance.<\/p>\n \u201cYou always need creative parameters,\u201d he suggests. \u201cI think that\u2019s where we got lost in the end. We had big budgets, big studios. What I need is that kind of DIY, punk rock mentality where you can just do whatever makes you excited on the day. That\u2019s what we did [with Prang]. I\u2019m really proud of it. I can\u2019t believe how good it is. It\u2019s exactly what I wanted it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n With the new record now released, in December they head out supporting fellow Lowestoft guys The Darkness<\/a> on a run of arena dates. Jason is looking forward to getting reacquainted with old friends and playing at London\u2019s O2 for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cDan [Hawkins] used to live with us when we moved to London,\u201d he says. \u201cI got him a job at [publishing company] Rondor as an A&R assistant. I love The Darkness. It was amazing to see what happened to them and how they went crazy-big so quick. I can\u2019t wait for that tour. I\u2019ve never played at the O2. It\u2019s the only London venue, really, that we haven\u2019t played at. It was still called the Millennium Dome when we were in the band last time.\u201d<\/p>\n Prang is out now via Cooking Vinyl.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bB6CkQFzyEVA3Q5GKaJLsZ.jpg\")
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