The fictional band from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging are about to go real!
The Stiff Dylans are a fictional band that were set up to appear in new movie ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ but during the production shoot a funny thing happened, the fictional band began to write songs together, they decided to break the fourth wall and become a real band. The band, with an average age of 21, consists of James Flannigan (vocals, guitar) Charlie Wride (lead guitar), Matt Harris (bass) and Tom Slaytor (drums). The foursome met when recruited to play the part of Stiff Dylans, a fictional band in the film adaptation of Louise Rennison’s cult novel Angus, Thongs & Full Frontal Snogging.
The songs written by the boys apparently weren’t too shabby and caught the attention of film execs, who in turn set up a showcase at Abbey Road Studios. This attracted attention from Columbia records, who signed the band straight away. “We know we’ve got something to prove – we’re some band from a film – but when we got the deal it was the first sign from outside that we’d got something right,” James says; further positive feedback came when they played their first gig back in April in Tom’s hometown of Tonbridge, and brought the house down.
The band have assembled a heavyweight team behind them to help push them out of the movie world and into the music charts, they’ve signed up former Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins to write new songs, all of which will be produced by the brains behind McFly, Jason Perry.
But what about the music? The band call themselves the four-headed musical equivalent of Poltergeist, which doesn’t have that sugarcoated gloss you might expect from a boyband. “Pop music has gotten so brainless” says Tom “people have stopped caring for it, which is where we’re stepping in. We’re not hiding away from the tunes. Everyone loves a big chorus.” Matt has intergalactic ambitions for the Stiff Dillons sound. “I’d like to think that if an alien landed in London we could give them a copy of our CD, tell them that everything society is based on is somewhere in those songs, say ‘welcome to Earth’ and let them get on with it.”
“We’re getting stiffer by the day,” Tom grins, “so I guess we’re earning our name.”
The mind boggles!
To view the first music video from The Stiff Dylans, just push play below.
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is at Irish cinemas from July 25th