A bright new band from Huddersfield, GLASS have brought a fresh vibe to today's music. Mike Rimmer reports.

Glass

Can any good thing come out of Huddersfield? Clearly it can! Four piece Glass create a fresh sound with Paul Cooper's edgy guitar stretching over some funky bass and solid drumming from Ross Lander and Craig Deakin. Topping all of that, Shireen's soulful vocals ice the musical cake.

Glass began when Paul and Shireen wrote acoustic songs together and appeared for various local bands in churches and other venues, but were always on the lookout for musicians with a similar vision. 18 months later they met Craig, a drummer, who started attending the same church. To complete the line up they still needed a bass player. Paul and Craig saw Ross at a local gig, and after a few jamming sessions the line up was established and two months later they did their first performance at a local nightclub.

Glass are first and foremost playing music that they enjoy, but as Christians they feel that they can have a positive effect on the music industry and the public. Paul comments, "Glass at the moment have a definite live sound and a definite studio sound, in a similar fashion to Queen. The rhythm section resembles bands such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Spin Doctors whereas the guitar is more Brit rock influenced in styles such as Supergrass. Vocally Shireen has been compared to Skin from Skunk Anansie and Charlene from Texas. The songwriting is influenced by artists such as Seal, Natalie Imbruglia and Kings X."

Glass play predominantly pubs and clubs, but do many church and youth events all over Britain. They have played festivals like Summer Madness in Northern Ireland. Recently they also took part in a Battle Of The Bands competition. Paul explains, "Battle Of The Bands was a national competition sponsored by Carting Premier. There were 945 bands across 45 venues throughout Britain. After winning our heat we played against winners of two other heats. After a tense local final, which was voted for by a panel of judges, even with a score of 96% we still didn't make it to the national final."

Shame! Their debut 'Slightly Pink EP' is well worth discovering though the recording process was not an easy one for the band. Paul remembers, "Recording was very hard work fitting around a busy working day and gigging schedule. The whole project was self financed and produced with the help of a friend and experienced sound engineer Gavin Hardcastle. There are many memorable incidents such as when Shireen tripped over a power point wiping a full day's work, or when the studio cat jumped on the keyboard producing a strange sound making us all laugh. An incident that can be heard at the end of the final track 'Lonely'."

The band have already developed a compelling songwriting style. They are also unafraid of dealing with some of the harder issues as Paul illustrates, '"Killing Me' is probably the most distinctive track and a favourite at gigs. The subject matter is basically about a vain man and the futility of self- idolisation. This track is significant to anyone who's ever fallen for someone who turned out to love themselves more than anyone else. 'Read The News' is about the hypocrisy of people. For example, those who campaign for abortion rights while campaigning to save the life of an animal."