Allo Darlin’ is the music of Australian-born, London-based songwriter Elizabeth Morris. Originally from a country town in Queensland, Elizabeth moved to London in 2005 and, inspired to write songs by her purchase of a ukulele from the famous Duke of Uke shop in Brick Lane, began to make music. Read More...
Allo Darlin’ is the music of Australian-born, London-based songwriter Elizabeth Morris. Originally from a country town in Queensland, Elizabeth moved to London in 2005 and, inspired to write songs by her purchase of a ukulele from the famous Duke of Uke shop in Brick Lane, began to make music.
Although Elizabeth has been releasing music under various guises since 2007, it wasn’t until 2009 that Elizabeth hooked up with Paul Rains (guitar), Bill Botting (bass) and Michael Collins (drums) and Allo Darlin’ was properly born. Elizabeth and Bill are from Australia, Mike and Paul are from Kent, and they all play in other bands too – Elizabeth is in Tender Trap, Paul and Michael are in Hexicon, Bill is one half of Moustache of Insanity and also in Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern.
Early in 2009, augmented by Terry Edwards of Tindersticks / Gallon Drunk fame on trumpet and sax, Allo Darlin’ cut their first single, “Henry Rollins Don’t Dance,” released in 2009 on the cult WeePOP label. Much to their surprise, “Henry Rollins” started getting airplay on BBC Radio 1, 6 Music and XFM and the like, and received glowing reviews in places such as the Metro, The Fly and The Guardian, the latter calling it “the best indiepop song for years”. The band’s single that followed, “The Polaroid Song,” was named as one of Drowned In Sound’s Top 50 singles of 2009, while their latest single “Dreaming” was voted Single Of The Week by Jarvis Cocker, Peter Hook and Huw Stephens on Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6music round table (beating MGMT, The Radio Dept. and Kate Nash in the process!).
In their brief lifetime Allo Darlin’ have been interviewed (three times) by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music and also recorded live session for John Kennedy on XFM and Lauren Laverne on 6 Music. They’ve played Indietracks Festival, stealing the show with their impromptu station platform performance two years ago and this year playing on Friday’s main stage, have toured in Sweden and Germany, and appeared at the prestigious Swn Festival in Cardiff promoted by BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens. In March of this year they headed out on their first major UK tour as support to The School, followed by trips to the States for SXSW festival, NY Popfest and an East Coast tour, the appearance at NY Popfest leading to a glowing review on the front page of The New York Times website! Steve Lamacq also selected them as his choice for BBC’s Introducing week, resulting in a session at Maida Vale and a filmed interview for the BBC, and they’ll shortly be returning to XFM for a full electric session.
