On Ambulance LTD's debut album, one can find a number of stylistic influences from the Beatles and the Stones to Spiritualized, Elliott Smith and the Smiths. And that???s the point. ???Our niche is not sticking to any particular niche,??? says Benji Lysaght, guitarist. The four members of the New York group refuse to be stuck in any sub-genre of rock. ???We don???t want to confine ourselves,??? says Marcus Congleton, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter. To that end, the group -- Congleton, Lysaght, Darren Beckett (drums) and Matt Dublin (bass and backing vocals) -- draws its inspiration from decades of rock: Motown, ???60s psychedelic pop and blues, ???70s rock, ???80s Britpop/new wave and ???90s shoegazing. ???We don???t kick much ass volume wise,??? admits Marcus. ???Conceptually, poetically, we kick ass. Atmospherically, we kick ass." The guys learned a lot from the '70s, and they're not just talking the Ramones and other punk rockers or the glam rock of David Bowie, but another side of the decade, the side the New York rock scene doesn't usually cop to: the blue eye-soul of Hall and Oates, the pure pop of Seals and Crofts, the jazz-rock of Steely Dan and the classic rock of Fleetwood Mac. "A lot of our stuff has '70s undertones to it, not so much the punk side, but the indulgent side that punk was rebelling against," says Marcus. "I already did my punk time in high school." The members' musical backgrounds are diverse -- half the band has toyed in jazz -- and they found their ways to New York from as far away as Ireland and the West Coast. Marcus, 25, from Eugene, Ore., started strumming his first guitar in middle school, when his uncle, a blues musician, showed him the chords. He formed a ska-punk band in high school but also played with a ???vaguely grungy??? alternative band, as well as jazz (he also plays the trumpet), hardcore and even rockabilly bands. At 19, he moved to New York after a visit to the city cha
1 | Country Gentleman | New English EP |
2 | Fearless (Live) | New English EP |
3 | Straight A's | New English EP |
4 | New English | New English EP |
5 | Arbuckle's Swan Song | New English EP |
6 | Stay where you are | Ambulance Ltd (EP) |
7 | Sugar Pill (Demo Version) | New English EP |
8 | Heavy Lifting (Acoustic 8-Track Home Demo) | New English EP |