Based on the outskirts of London, Beat the Drum consists of writers and producers Chris Calloway and Steve Murrell. Originally forming as a five-piece in West London during the late eighties, the cult band was active on the club and small venue scene, releasing critically acclaimed vinyl singles and albums. After the original band disbanded, Chris and Steve continued to make music under various names, including Crasherama in the nineties, before reuniting as Beat the Drum in 2016.
Their return has seen the release of numerous albums and singles, solidifying their status as independent songwriters and producers. Free from genre constraints, their music constantly evolves while retaining its foundational sound and lyrical depth. Embracing their mission statement “WE MAKE THE RULES,” Beat the Drum maintains full artistic control over their work. With exciting projects on the horizon, they continue to push boundaries with their unique and compelling vision.
Balancing the future and the past in the palm of their hand, Beat The Drum continues to hone a distant familiarity in their sound. The arpeggios swirl from moment to moment, prominent, then a whisper, the electronics never completely leaving the arrangement. The foundations of driving drums and grooving bass power reverberant guitar tones and emerging sound effects, leaving plenty of room for a vibrant, high-energy brass arrangement to fire beneath raw vocal performances. The middle section dives down a different path, the music sensing a rebellion, lowering its tone before bursting back into life for the final chorus.
“We wrote ‘Before The Fall’ about this period as AI develops beyond our technological age into the information age. The period in which technological advances define social, economic and political life. As we start to know less and leave the thinking to machines we become just dumb monkeys without the fun.
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.
‘Shine Like A Star’ started with a repeating looped guitar and developed into a strangely uplifting hypnotic song. We wanted to get what we describe as a sweet and sour element into the song. So the verses list negative states of action and of mind but keeps evolving into the chorus which is almost ecstatic. The chorus builds as it repeats and has become a favourite singalong live.”