Burning Condors – Last Train Home b/w Gambling Hearts

“Coz every night I’m out with you
I’m always chasing that train home”

I guess it doesn’t matter where you live – even though this IS, and feels like, a London thing; we’ve all been there, pissed as farts, sodden with autumn rain, fags all wet, pubs shut, no money for expensive clubs, the hideous threat of being stuck in the city till the small hours with nowhere to go but a rancid-smelling shop doorway, and somewhere in the distance is a that desperate hope of a final departure home. I think we’ve all got someone like the “you” being addressed in this song as well. My “you” is Mal, stalwart friend who came to London at the same time as me in 1999. We shared a futon in a front room in Clapham for 4 months while we found our feet, and there was barely a Friday night in two or three years where there wasn’t some sort of transport-related shenanigan keeping us from our, er, ‘accommodation’. The “you” of “Last Train Home” is, admittedly, a romantic liaison rather than a battered mate, but the sentiments of the moment are the same: the panic, the absolute NEED to make it to the station, and the burning excitement of the shared experience.

The energetic “Last Train Home”, propelled by those pounding drums and a call-and-response between vocals and guitars, is backed by the much more delicate “Gambling Hearts” which was recorded at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall, home to Oasis’ “Definitely Maybe” but also, more importantly, New Model Army’s “Thunder and Consolation”. To my mind, Burning Condors have more in common with NMA than Oasis; Oasis’ shtick never convinced me as having real grit, real roots in rock and roll, NMA pretty much ARE the earth, and the Burning Condors sound is built on the raw emotional power of the earliest rock music output. I’m still kicking myself for missing them at the 12 Bar Club….

To celebrate the release of “Last Train Home” (out on 28 October) the band are giving away a free mp3 recording of their version of Country legend Red Foley’s 1947 ho’ down ‘Never Trust a Woman’ via their Bandcamp page. The track was recorded live in a single take during the band’s early Cowshed Studio sessions.

Keep your eyes open on the internets for a competition the band are running through their Facebook page and Twitter account – you can win an original spray paint and ink on canvas work by bassist Churchy. Burning Condors are going to be on tour in Europe in March next year – dates announced so far for Spain are Madrid, Wurlitzer Ballroom (27 March) and Barcelona, Rocksound (28 March). While you’re waiting for the single to come out, might as well buy album “Round Our Way” eh ?