Towers of London (band)

Towers of London
Background information
Origin	London, England
Years active	2003–present
Members	Donny Tourette Dirk Tourette The Rev Tommy Brunette Snell

Towers of London are a controversial punk rock band from London, England who formed in 2004. Their music mixes elements of hard rock music with '77-style British punk.

The band have divided the opinions of the British music press since their emergence in early 2004, gaining favourable reviews from some music media and extremely negative from others with whom they have went on to start rivalries.

History

In 1999 a band was formed named The Tourettes, featuring Dirk and Donny Tourette (real names Francis and Patrick Brannan) the brothers had been playing together in garage bands since secondary school. The Tourettes played in a glam punk style, which has been described by some sources as "a post Manic Street Preachers rock 'n' roll rush".

As the years went on the band acquired bassist Tommy Brunette and a drummer named Snell. But in 2003 the Tourettes were disbanded. They formed a new band in 2003 named the Towers of London, adding a guitarist from Morecambe nicknamed The Rev.

Blood, Sweat and Towers

The band signed to New York independent record label TVT Records in early 2005 as a result of restless touring in the United Kingdom. On the label they have released a string of singles, prior to their debut album being released, "On A Noose", "Fuck It Up", "How Rude She Was" & "Air Guitar".

In the summer of 2005, Towers of London performed at two festivals in the United Kingdom: Reading and Leeds Festivals and Download Festival. The band's performance was received well, but due to fighting backtage after another group allegedly stole their property, they are now banned from returning to the Download Festival. Lead singer Donny Tourette was brought before Cambridge Magistrates Court in June 2005 for criminal damage during a show at Cambridge Anglia Ruskin University in February 2005. Donny was said to have been swinging from an overhead cable which happened to pull down a canopy and broke scaffolding. He was ordered to pay £775 of compensation, court costs and fines.

During June 2006, Towers of London released their debut album Blood, Sweat and Towers. It was produced by Stacy Jones and Bill Lefler. The album features thirteen tracks, including the four singles they have released to date.

TV series and Major support dates

Towers of London opened for Guns N' Roses on two of their 2006 summer UK tour dates, Dirk commented; "Guns N Roses? What more can you say? We're going to have it this weekend!". During the summer of 2006 the band played on the main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

Bravo TV are currently airing a ten part TV series about the band, after camera crews followed them for around for a year. The show, named simply The Towers of London, features footage of various performances including the 2005 Download Festival which saw them banned from the event. Various clips have already been released on the Internet, one which shows members of the band apparently assaulting a member of the public after being provoked. The show launched on Thursday, October 19 at 10.30 on Bravo.

Dirk Tourette had an altercation with American band My Chemical Romance in which he allegedly threw a lit cigarette at the band's drummer Bob Bryar at their instore performance. Members of the band, who attended because of "free booze", got into a scuffle with My Chemical Romance's tour managers.

In October of 2006, Towers of London supported another of their musical heroes, this time in the form of the New York Dolls, on three of their UK tour dates in London, Liverpool and Glasgow. The band are currently gearing up for the release of its 5th Single, I'm A Rat. It was originally planned to be released late November 2006 but is now due to be released late on February 12 2007.

Frontman Donny Tourette joined Celebrity Big Brother 5 on January 3 2007, at the start of the series. He made his entrance by swearing at the crowd and making rude gestures until he was ushered along the red carpet by security guards.

He then left the show after just 48 hours in equally dramatic fashion, by scaling a wall to escape. Tourette refused to serve fellow housemate Jade Goody (who in interviews he refers to as "The Pig") and family after the house was divided into two sections. As he climbed over the garden wall, Tourette said to another contestant "I'm not waiting hand on foot, on some fucking moron and her family".

Following this, the frontman also appeared on popular culture chat show; Never Mind the Buzzcocks. This was aired a couple of days before the Towers of London 5th single from their debut "I'm a Rat" was released; the band proceded with a full tour of the United Kingdom in support of its release.

Towers Of London had a lucky escape on February 14 after a group of teenagers targeted the band with breeze blocks. The five-piece were chatting to a group of fans after a gig outside York Fibbers when the incident happened. According to guitarist The Rev, Towers drummer Snell was a whisker away from ending up in hospital. One of the teenagers was caught and handed over to the police.

Members

• Donny Tourette Vocals
  Donny Tourette
  Vocals
• Dirk Tourette Rhythm guitar
  Dirk Tourette
  Rhythm guitar
• The Rev Lead guitar
  The Rev
  Lead guitar
• Tommy Brunette Bass
  Tommy Brunette
  Bass
• Snell Drums
  Snell
  Drums

Discography

Albums

• 
  1. Blood, Sweat and Towers
  June 5, 2006
  TVT Records
  #85 UK

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
		UK Singles Chart	UK Download Chart	UK Rock Chart
2005	"On A Noose"	32	-	-	Blood, Sweat And Towers
2005	"Fuck It Up"	46	-	28 *	Blood, Sweat And Towers
2005	"How Rude She Was"	30	-	16 *	Blood, Sweat And Towers
2006	"Air Guitar"	32	-	-	Blood, Sweat And Towers
2007	"I'm a Rat"	46**	-	-	Blood, Sweat And Towers

(*) position in the Rock Charts for week ending 7 January 2007 and 21 January 2007. May have been higher when released originally

(**) #10 on the UK Physical Chart

Trivia

• The name "Towers of London", was created by Dirk Tourette, because the band do not consider themselves a part of the current London music scene, but the band "want to tower above everyone else from the city"
• The Rev acquired his nickname in a highschool band he had prior to Towers of London. He got it because when he was with younger he basically "got on stage and did my best Nikki Sixx impression". His original nickname was "Reverend Sixx" from a friend of his, but it soon got shortened to simply The Rev when he joined the Towers.
• It is a well known fact that Donny is a big fan of Hugh Grant. On entering the Big Brother house he stated that his two favorite films are Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason.
• Stephen King chose The Towers of London track "I'm a Rat" as his 7th best song of 2006.
• When asked to re record West Ham United anthem "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", the band declined as they support Everton F.C.

External links

• TheTowersOfLondon.com - Official Website
• Towers of London at MySpace.com
• Biography at All Music Guide