Hailed as “London’s powerpop kings” (Vive Le Rock), the Speedways have followed their first two classic albums Just Another Regular Summer (2018) and Radio Sounds (2020) by throwing down the gauntlet and upping the ante with their golden harmonies and shimmering chords for their third album, Talk of the Town (2022).
Let’s get this straight: The Speedways have never been afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Sure, you’ll hear the influence of old reliables The Ronettes, Cheap Trick and Tom Petty, but this time the band have gone all out to create something that pushes the boundaries of what we’ve come to know as powerpop.
Originally envisioned as a one-off studio project for singer-songwriter Matthew Julian, joined by Mauro Venegas, bassist Adrian Alfonso and drummer Kris Hood, The Speedways made their full-band debut at London’s inaugural Pump It Up Power Pop Weekender in 2018, a gig that has the since become THE go-to event of the European powerpop calendar. Live dates in the UK with the likes of Giuda, The Briefs and Protex cemented their growing reputation, and they took the message abroad with rapturously-received tours of Spain, Germany and Sweden.
Second album Radio Sounds (“the best powerpop album in a whole lot of years”, Faster And Louder) and the five-song stopgap covers EP Borrowed And Blue (“an unadulterated, hearts on their sleeves joy to listen to”, Louderthanwar) firmly established them as the current leaders of the European powerpop scene
