With ‘Gimme 5!’ we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like share five records THEY love. Photo credit: James Douglas
Here’s the down low. We asked Speedways frontman Matt Julian to drop a Gimme 5 feature onto our doorstep. It turned out he (and the rest of the band) had a lot more to say, which quickly snowballed into an interview. So we split things up: last week we ran the interview, and this week we’re stoked to share Matt’s list.
In it, he picks five albums that helped spark The Speedways into life in the first place. Make sure to also check Matt’s interview at Faster and Louder for even more background on what’s been going on with him and the band.
By the time I’d made it through all the Speedways content, I was fully fired up for new material from the band. Good news: the wait shouldn’t be long. For now, dive in and enjoy the read and the (classic!) records.
The Beatles || Beatles For Sale
“I could have chosen any of the early Beatles albums, but this one is a personal favourite. It’s impossible not to sing along to every song. The Beatles mean everything to me. I’m obsessed.”
Morrissey || Vauxhall & I
“Such a beautiful record from start to finish. The lyrics are some of his absolute best. I took the name of the band from the track Speedway! It’s a dream of an album.”
Ramones || Pleasant Dreams
“One of my favourite Ramones records. Amazing pop songs and Joey sings so great on this album. Very romantic, I love it. It’s not a perfect record, there’s a couple of fillers but when it’s good it’s brilliant.”
The Cavemen || Born To Hate
“When I first started making friends down in London around 2015/2016 a new band turned up on the scene – all the way from New Zealand. They were absolutely brilliant. It felt like I used to go and see them every week. They inspired me to record my songs and make the best album that I could. We became good pals as well. In fact Nick was going to play keyboards for us at our debut gig but we couldn’t find time to rehearse unfortunately.”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers || Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
“Tom Petty’s a huge influence on my writing. I think he’s the absolute best. You only have to look at how loved he was by Dylan, Roger McGuinn, George, Del Shannon etc.. his heroes were all huge fans. I can’t imagine a more rewarding thing than that. He’s so fucking cool as well.”
Keep up to date with all things Speedways on Bandcamp and Instagram