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Celebrated Bristol-based quartet The Ramona Flowers have released their new single and Nile Rodgers collaboration, ‘Up All Night’, out now via Distiller Records – listen here.
Marking the band’s first official release in three years, ‘Up All Night’ is an up-tempo anthem further elevated by music legend Nile Rodgers who lays down one of his trademark funk guitar licks on the single.
“Essentially, it’s a song about my love of a good party and the fact I seem to somehow always be the last one to want to leave. Have there been occasions where I should have gone home for an early night? Absolutely! But that’s just not in my make up and life’s too short to worry about tomorrow too much…” comments the band’s vocalist, Steve Bird.
Steve continues: “Dave and Sam started putting different guitar tracks down, one was labelled ‘Nile’ as it was reminiscent of that classic Nile Rodgers guitar sound. We managed to get the song over to Nile to see if he wanted to play it for himself. He got back to us saying he loved the track and would love to do it! So unbelievably, that guitar track actually became the real Nile Rodgers guitar track.”
On the collaboration, Nile Rodgers said: “It’s possible that I’ve made more music during the pandemic than at any other time in my life and almost all of it remotely. In the early dark days of this crisis this song made me feel good and put a smile on my face so when the band asked me to play and produce on it, it was a delight to say yes.”
The announcement follows the group’s sold-out show at Hackney’s Oslo and the news that ‘Up All Night’ will soundtrack the official trailer for Vodafone 5G launch in Italy. The band are currently developing their own beer with Brewdog which is due to launch in 2022.
The group’s accolades include touring with Bastille (their first ever support act), Stereophonics and U2. A recent white label service of their collaboration with Gerd Janson on a remix of future single ‘California’ picked up support from the likes of Danny Howard on Radio 1 and Ben Malone on Kiss FM.
The Ramona Flowers – Steve Bird (vocals), Sam Dyson (guitar), Dave Betts (keyboards, guitar) and Ed Gallimore (drums) – have hit on a rich new seam of creativity meaning that, for a band maturing into its fourth album, The Ramona Flowers sound a lot like a group just about to release its debut. From these upcoming songs a story emerges: of four men resisting, accepting then finally celebrating adulthood. “This is the best chance we’ve ever had,” drummer Ed Gallimore states. “And we’re making the best music we’ve ever made.”
“We’re hungry,” Steve states. “This band is still why I get up every day, what I think about every day. I live and breathe it every day and I refuse to go through the motions.” The new music’s a celebration of sorts, he adds. “A celebration of still existing, still being alive, still making music and still having something to say.”
It’s a hugely exciting time for The Ramona Flowers who are poised with a new stadium-ready sound and uncompromising self assurance to match.
