artist Darlings Of Chelsea

With uncompromising grit and intensity, Toronto’s Darlings of Chelsea have come together to create some of the raunchiest and most raging rock ‘n’ roll to come out of their home city in years.

Paul Thompson – Vocals/Guitar, Jay Millette – Guitar, Robby Ruckus – Bass, and Chris Nova – Drums, are fostering a sound so fiercely exhilarating and down-right dirty, don’t be surprised if you have a sudden urge to throw your fists in the air and just rock the f*ck out.

Perfectly captured on their upcoming full-length release “Panic Is Worse Than The Emergency,” (produced and mixed by Grammy-nominated Darryl Neudorf), Darlings of Chelsea are bringing the brash back to rock ‘n’ roll.

“We are a rock ‘n’ roll band through and through,” says Thompson. “We all like different types of music, but the one common thread between us is loud, reckless, uncompromising rock. That’s what came out the first time we all played together, and we never questioned it.”

Since their inception in 2008, Darlings of Chelsea quickly recorded and released their debut EP, The Mimico Sessions. Full of driving rhythms, screaming guitars, and rowdy collective choruses, the EP helped them win the coveted Canadian Indie Week title in 2009, which led directly to an international tour of Ireland and Spain.

”We loved touring Ireland, and can’t wait to go back” notes Millette, “but there is something about Spain – for some reason rock ‘n’ roll just flies there. There were nights when the audience was right up against the stage and wouldn’t let us leave. They were so into it, it was incredible.”

After connecting with such energized fans overseas, Darlings of Chelsea were eager to get back into the studio and hammer out their sophomore effort, “Panic is Worse Than the Emergency”. Recorded in just 5 short weeks at Operation Northwoods – Neurdorf’s secret studio in an undisclosed location – the album is overflowing with filthy rock ‘n’ roll grooves, balls-to-the-wall guitars, and incredibly boisterous moments of call-and-response, when the whole damn band shouts out a line like “Feed! Feed! Your choices with tequila shots!”

“Panic is Worse Than the Emergency” is brewing with an intensity that hurtles every song forward into riot-inducing territory. Delivered with a wild and impulsive sense of enthusiasm, it’s good old rock ‘n’ roll right down to the very last drop.

“We all grew up in really small towns,” says Thompson, “so we actually sat there waiting for new issues of Exclaim! And Chart Magazine to come out to see what was hot, and we lined up at the record store to buy those CD’s. Music was super exciting back then and I remember people being stoked to go to live shows.

“You can piss and moan about the state of the music industry all you want, but the fact of the matter is that music itself is going to survive. Music isn't dead. Rock isn’t dead. It's alive and well and we want to be a part of that.”

Lyrically, “Panic Is Worse Than The Emergency”, covers everything from bad dreams and broken hearts, to late night mayhem and the occasional happy ending. “The thing about this band,” says Ruckus, “is that we just do what we want, and we stand out by having four distinct songwriters personally contributing to the process.” “We play rock ‘n’ roll in its truest form,” adds Thompson. “We give each song what it needs – nothing more.”

Darlings of Chelsea are the musical embodiment of the freedom that exists at the heart of rock ‘n’ roll. There is a sense of brutal honesty about this band that has been absent in recent years. It can be heard loud and clear through their raging guitars and raucous live performances, and evidenced by the sweaty crowds and booze-drenched onlookers.

“We want kids playing air guitar to us in their rooms,” says Thompson unabashedly. “We want teenagers to down their first beer with us in the background and listen to us while skipping school and “borrowing” booze from their parent’s liquor cabinets. We want to put that sense of excitement back into rock ‘n’ roll. At the end of the day, we just want to sound like four guys having the time of our lives playing the music we love.”