Band going places - and no argument!

Jul 5 2007 By Graham Fraser

DRIVE BY Argument are one band to watch out for this year.

Their single, Sex Lines are Expensive Comedy, has its national release on June 25 ahead of the debut album in September.

Not bad for a band who started out as a university music project.

The band, two of whom are from South Lanarkshire, are set to take T in the Park by storm this weekend with a keenly-anticipated performance on the T Break stage.

The five members of the band, including Colin Keenan (guitar and synth) from Strathaven, and Lewis Gardiner (drums and electric beats) from Larkhall, met three years ago as they all embarked on a music course at Paisley University’s campus in Ayr.

The band’s name comes from a phrase of the hit American cartoon Family Guy, of which bass guitarist Ryan Drever is a big fan. One of his favourite lines from the cartoon is, ‘We should all move over to England, the worst thing over there is drive by arguments.’

Colin, a former pupil of Kirklandpark Primary School and Strathaven Academy, said: “We just all showed up on the day the music course started. It was weird that we were all lumped in a band together but it was good to meet different people with different musical influences right from the start.

“We had to come up with the name there and then, and nobody could think of one apart from Ryan, who was a big Family Guy fan.”

Drive By Argument comprise Stoke (vocals and synth), Stu Ken (guitar and backing vocals), Ryan Drever (bass and backing vocals), Lewis and Colin, and have already came a long way.

Their dance-rock/indie-disco style has drawn a committed fan base and endeared them to a variety of music moguls. The band appeared at the Download and Rock Ness festivals, as well as a previous appearance at T in the Park’s T Break stage two years ago.

Drive By has sold-out King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and supported acts such as We are the Scientists, Panic! At The Disco, The Kooks and Orson.

At a Scientists gig Drive By impressed a number of companies, before being picked up in January last year by Lizard King Records, the name behind The Killers.

After releasing, and quickly selling out, a limited edition 1000 run of their single Sex Lines are Expensive Comedy, the song was adopted by the New York Rangers ice hockey team as an unofficial anthem.

In March 2007, Drive By released their debut single with Lizard King, The Sega Method, to rave reviews.

Sex Lines are Expensive Comedy will receive its national release on June 25 ahead of the debut album, produced by Apollo 440’s Howard Gray, out in September.

“Sex Lines for Expensive Comedy started out as some banter,” said Colin. “We were all walking along the street, and Ryan said he had phoned a sex line for a laugh, but had lost his money. He then joked that sex lines are expensive comedy. The song just developed from there. It was the first song we ever wrote while still at university.”

Colin added: “We love playing here. We played to 4000 people at the Brixton Academy but the crowd in King Tut’s made more noise.”

On Friday, Drive By will play at King Tut’s T in the Park warm-up gig.

“We are looking forward to Sex Lines and the album release,” concluded Colin.

Catch Drive By Argument on Saturday on the T Break stage and Yashin from Uddingston on Sunday, also on T Break.