SHREDnews

By: Poppy Cleere

Some people say that all good things come in small packages. Personally I disagree because you can’t fit things like the Eiffel Tower in a 4×6 envelope (unless you plan to rebuild it with Lego). With this in mind I’ve decided to change the statement to make it Universally friendly: Some good things come in small packages. Now, Now Every Children is one of these good things. In fact you might just call them ‘great’.

WHO ARE THEY?

Made up of founding members Cacie Dalager (vocals, guitar) and Brad Hale (drums), Now, Now Every Children formed just over two years ago. The duo first started writing together in high school, their humble first project being graduation songs for friends – songs that Dalager has since described as ”crappy songs, which were horrible”. A few years later the two decided to try again and began to record demos and post them on the networking site Myspace, where their youthful mellow sounds were well received by music lovers across the country. Not bad for a band who hadn’t even played a show in their hometown yet.

In 2007 the much improved NNEC burst out of their small package and onto the big scene when they signed a deal with Afternoon Records (Home of Shred favorites ‘We Shot the Moon’), leading to tours and shows with label-mates Red Fox, Grey Fox and their idols, Mates of States. The band is joined on tour by live members Britty Hale (Keys), Jess Abott (Guitar) and Christine Sako (Bass).

WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW THEM

Aside from the fact the whole band is so adorable that you just want to pick them up and put them in your pocket? Well thats easy: it’s their sound. I was only introduced to NNEC back in December and I’ve already listened to their first full-length Cars way too many times than I’d care to admit. There is something about their delicate, yet epic indie-pop songs that seems to capture the beauty and innocence of youth perfectly, even though the album is about life on the highway! It makes you feel like donning Max’s costume from Where The Wild Things Are, and running about the hills howling at the moon. In essence it makes you feel rather care-free. That doesn’t, however, mean that the bands lyrics are meaningless rubbish, quite on the contrary. Once you’ve finally tired of being King, if you take a seat and listen carefully to the lyrics then you can fully appreciate the honest simplicity of them, only enhanced by Hale and Dalagers vocals.

Although the album is a perfect winter soundtrack, it’s in a live setting that Cars really comes to life with all five members passionately putting every last drop of energy into each song, something that has gained them a lot of respect and new fans on their recent European tour supporting Paramore. Oh, hadn’t I mentioned that? Yep! In the past year NNEC have incredibly gone from playing 400 capacity shows in the states to sharing the stage across Europe with Paramore, You Me At Six, and Paper Route (three hugely popular bands) at venues with capacities of up to 14,000. They even played the legendary Wembley arena just 3 weeks ago! Now that is impressive. Truth be told – Now, Now Every Children completely deserve to be playing huge shows, if it wasn’t for such disastrous previous tour mishaps (such as when they were detained at the French Border and denied entry to the UK) then we may have heard of NNEC a lot earlier. I recommend that you keep an eye on this band, they may look young and harmless but when it comes to their music they pack a great big punch and more and more people are beginning to notice.

YOU’LL DIG THEM  IF

You’re a fan of similar indie rock acts or film soundtracks – Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Juno Soundtrack, Where the Wild Things Are OST

TRACKS YOU SHOULD DOWNLOAD

The upbeat anthem ‘Everyone You Know’ and the mellow ‘Have You Tried’

You can find out more about Now, Now Every Children over at their myspace page  www.myspace.com/nownoweverychildren or at their fan-created website http://www.nownoweverychildren.net/