After releasing their debut EP, a local group are claiming to have received almost record hits on one of their videos.

’Voodoo Bandits’, a five-piece piece indie-rock group, release their five-track EP, entitled ’Voodoo Bandits?’ online this week, and are also celebrating after a video for their previous release, ’Blind’, which came out in February this year, reached 11,000 views on Youtube.

Guitarist and songwriter Ben Donaldson believes this is a significant milestone for a local group.

’As far as we are aware, the video we shot for that has become one of the most watched band videos on Youtube made by a local group,’ said Ben.

’If you discount professional artists that is. Davy Knowles has way more, but so far Blind has been watched 11,000 times, which is we think is around double the figure that a lot of bands over here have achieved.’

Their light pop/rock style, with nods towards the clean and melodic sound of Bombay Bicycle Club, Arctic Monkeys, and Circa Wave has generated interest and feedback from international online bloggers and writers, thanks to the online reaction to ’Blind’, and the group, which also feature guitarist Corey Vaughan, drummer Nathan Vaughan and bassist Sam Lancaster, hope the release of the EP will add to the interest.

Voodoo Bandits have been quietly plugging away on the island since forming two years ago and, despite the members of the band being spread over the UK at different universities, have managed to create a sizeable online profile.

’It is hard to keep the group going while we are all away,’ said Ben. ’We work hard to keep everything together.

’I tend to write most of the music, which I do through a loop pedal, at home, along with most of the lyrics, and then I’ll send them out to everyone to work on.

’When we all get back to the island, we get together and spend a few weeks of really intense rehearsals getting all the material together.’

’The title, Voodoo Bandits? is a play on the fact that we are still a new band, and we are trying to find out who we are and where we are going.’

The group are currently without a vocalist, after original singer Marc McCabe-O’Kelly recently left the group.

More information on the group and details on where you can listen to the EP ’Voodoo Bandits?’ can be found on the group’s Facebook page.

by Mike Wade

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