On their way north, following a gig in Philly, it was up the New Jersey Turnpike for [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Viva Brother[/lastfm]. Before a gig in Boston later that night, Last.fm Discover was privileged to have the band to spend a few quality hours in the studio.

Just a few months prior, the U.K. bandmembers from Slough made their U.S. debut at SXSW, and played their first New Jersey (Maxwell’s) and New York City (Mercury Lounge) shows. Perhaps you saw them and didn’t know this is the same band? You see, here in the U.S., the band had to change its name from [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Brother[/lastfm], to Brother U.K. before settling on Viva Brother. Their debut album Famous First Words was released this past August and was preceeded here in the States by the Fly By Nights EP.

The town of Slough, as you might know, is the where the U.K. version of The Office takes place. So, basically, the guys had one thing in mind: use this band as the vehicle to get outta there! So the goal was to write good songs and work extra hard.

Viva Brother‘s plan worked, as their jangle-rock, paying homage to the ’90s alt-types, to my ears, like [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Cast[/lastfm], [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]The La’s [/lastfm]and Dodgy with a good edge to it. But the real clean feel comes from the touch of producer [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Stephen Street[/lastfm]. Coincidently enough, one band Stephen produced were [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]The Darling Buds[/lastfm], which leads us to the single, “Darling Buds Of May.” According to lead singer Lee Newell, they set out to write the catchiest song they possibly could. And they did.

Video for “Darling Buds Of May”

Their appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman 5/6/11. I second the words of Dave…”I think we’ve got something here!”

Viva Brother Studio Photosview gallery

The rest of the performance and our chat with Lee, Josh & Sam.

“Still Here”

“Fly By Nights”

Interview