Elite Days – The Forthcoming ‘This Is What You Made’ EP

Elite Days – Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.

Cardiff city melodies.

Formed in 2011, Cardiff’s Elite Days have been steadily compiling their catalogue with hooks, catchy melodies and jagged bass-lines in the vein of genre veterans, as well as current stalwarts, whilst still strengthening and contributing to the UK scene.

A number of penned tracks and a two-track EP entitled Heads Down For Take Off – which is available on SoundCloud for FREE – are achievements in themselves, but they’re simply not enough for the band. Before we crack on, I feel the need to impress upon you track two of the aforementioned EP:

The last few months has seen the guys set on continuing their hard work, and even more melodies, all of which has finally resulted in this new five track release, cataloguing the transition in sound from the first release.

The jagged nature of the music, in the vein of the early 2000’s incarnation of Pop-Punk, is less prominent but still has a presence, enough to supplement the odes to the early sound of New Found Glory and the second and third albums by The Wonder Years. Let’s have a look shall we:

Track one, ‘Astoria’, shows off the band’s new direction almost immediately. The jagged rhythms and bass-lines are chugging and driving along as normal, but with somewhat of a”glossy” sheen. Mid-paced and melodic, and with plenty of room for a sing-a-long, track one does the job of a superb opener.

‘The Best Version Of You’ takes the stage shortly after and provides more likeness to ‘Soupy’ Campbell, as well as showing the improvement that Lewis Bastable has gone through in regard to his vocals. Again with the The Wonder Years reference, this one could have easily been on The Upsides and Suburbia track listings.

‘Hey Girl’ and ‘X’ are modern sounding Pop-Punk jams. The former just falls short of the others and is somewhat cliche however.

As many of our readers may be aware, I am rather fussy with the current wave of Pop-Punk, as I prefer the older and more Punk-Rock orientated sound. ‘Hey Girl’ isn’t a bad song but the choice of title could have been better and as a mid release track, it could have changed formula slightly.

‘X’ has that mid-to-late nineties vibe written all over it, the opening riff is refreshing and its structure is almost a tribute in it’s own way to New Found Glory. I’ve never been a huge fan of NFG but they did put on a good live show when I saw them and their legacy is not to be questioned. Best track on the release.

‘Without A Sail’ has been the forerunner for the EP, it’s the track that was chosen as a showcase and for streaming on the band’s Facebook page, as well as their SoundCloud. Once again, a mid-to-fast number that will more than likely be stuck in your head for days.

There we have it, the second release from Cardiff’s Elite Days. Five tracks of feel good melodies that are being released just in time for the weather getting better once more.

If you’re interested in pre-ordering the EP then you can do so via iTunes. The band, being nice blokes and all, have wangled a deal where if you pre-order the EP you get it for the discounted price of £2.95 AND an instant download of ‘Without A Sail’. Gotta love the Welsh.

Upon release the EP will also be available on Amazon, Sony, Xbox and Spotify on the 30th April.

Don’t forget to keep track of the band via Facebook – here, Twitter – here and SoundCloud – here.

#StayFresh