Nizlopi
Built to last: If you were to bet on the Christmas No 1, which song would you go for? Would it be A) a song about your grandmother getting run over by a reindeer; B) a song about Scaramouche doing the fandango; or C) a song about a five-year-old driving a JCB? You're right - it would of course be the one about the heavy plant vehicle with the toddler at the controls. This year, you might want to have a flutter on Nizlopi's The JCB Song becoming the runaway success of the festive season. The JCB Song is a gentle, folksy number based on singer Luke Concannon's earliest memories of driving around in his dad's JCB. A singalong, fireside melody, a nostalgic evocation of innocent times, lyrics about Transformers, those popular toys of yuletide past . . . The JCB Song is made for Christmas.
Two little boys: Luke Concannon and John Parker met in their hometown of Leamington Spa when they were 13 and have been inseparable ever since. The pair shared a love of music, but instead of forming another bog-standard indie band, they created their own blend of acoustic/folk/hip-hop/whatever-yer-having-yerself. Concannon played guitar, sang and told the jokes; Parker played double bass and did a neat line in human beatbox. This boyhood friendship soon matured into a fertile musical partnership, which eventually led to Mojo magazine hailing them as "the most exciting hip-hop, acoustic, double bass, JCB shit going down". They've played in a supermarket in Texas, the kitchen of a mansion and the London Eye. They'll be appearing on the Late Late Show tonight, and if you buy a copy of The JCB Song you'll have a chance of getting the boys to play a real gig in your living-room.
Building blocks: The JCB Song tells the true story of a five-year-old boy named Luke who didn't fit in at school; his dad Kieron, a construction worker (and now Nizlopi's manager), would sometimes take little Luke out of the classroom and onto the building site. Sitting on the toolbox of his dad's JCB, trundling over the gravel, Luke would feel on top of the world; in his imagination, his dad was Bruce Lee and Luke was a Transformer, vanquishing the school bullies with one swish of his hydraulic shovel. It's just one of many down-home folk-pop tunes that feature on Nizlopi's debut album, Half These Songs Are About You, which the duo have released on their own label.
Communal thing: The JCB Song comes with award-winning animation from Monkeehub, the team behind Radiohead's Creep. When the video was posted online, it started an Arctic Monkeys-style internet frenzy, and the band's fanbase grew to the size of a small country; in fact, the band's loyal fans are collectively known as the People's Republic of Nizlopi.
