Their headquarters based on the outskirts of London, Beat The Drum originally formed as a five-piece, becoming a cult band in the late eighties, before re-emerging as duo Chris Calloway and Steve Murrell in 2016. Staying on the fringe of the mainstream, receiving critical acclaim and pushing forward as truly independent artists, Beat The Drum hold no genre or expectation, making music with their own set of rules and keeping full artistic control.
Beat The Drum‘s new cover of The Strangler’s ‘No More Heroes’ aligns the track directly with their boundary-pushing blend of modern production and old-school experimentation. The band find themselves slightly more at peace than the original, contrasting the frenzied guitar-filled intensity with a consistent and pumping back beat and forward-moving riffs.
Introducing their signature electronic bleeps cascading through the chorus and rising brass hits accenting a sea of vocal harmony, Beat The Drum transforms the iconic track into something unique and original, whilst still paying homage to the punk edge that kept the music rising in 1977.
The duo adds, “We were working on a very insistent raw guitar riff, which had this punky energy and attitude that developed into our cover of ‘No More Heroes’. The original version of the song had a lot of widdley keyboards and guitar noodling which we have dispensed with. Stripped back to its bare bones the attitude and spirit shine more brightly in this powerful and energetic song.”