Club Magic are Paul Thomas Saunders, Genti Allaj and Daniel Hole, and their debut EP On The Stereo, Loud is coming out in April. I interrupted one of their rehearsals to find out more.

Club Magic were born out of initial electronic ideas that Genti had been having. His previous project Via Tirana (who appeared on various Brighton Music Blog posts around ten years ago) had run it’s course and he was inspired by bands like AK/DK and Fujiya and Miyagi to take a new direction. He’d known Paul for years but it was only after a New Years party when Genti played Paul some things he’d been working on that Club Magic as we know it came together. They advertised for a bass player on Facebook and Daniel completed the puzzle. Ironically, Daniel was also active on the Brighton music scene ten years ago as bassist for Thyla, but as far as they’re aware, their paths didn’t cross at the time.

The name Club Magic was in place long before the rest of the band were: “the idea was just these two words that you could recognise in any language – Everyone knows what a club is, everyone knows what magic is. I had that name for about four or five years without doing anything – I used to keep googling it just to make sure no one else had taken it”

Nurturing them along the way – playing on the same bills as well as adding his mixing and mastering skills – has been AK/DK’s Ed Chivers “I’ve known him for so many years. He’s an amazing musician, a really good drummer – he’s my favourite drummer. And just the nicest guy you can meet. He likes our music as well, which helps. We send over the stems for what we’ve done and then he mixes the track – I always say just add a 5% Ed Magic and that’s the process. If we ever were to go down the route of having a drummer Ed would be the first person I would ask. We love Ed and I think we’ll always work with him.”

Their first gigs were only a matter weeks after they first played together. Their first jam was in March last year, in April they were on stage as a two piece (without Daniel, who wasn’t available that day), then they debuted in their full form at an unofficial Escape gig on New Road. Less than a year down the road there’s an EP called “On The Stereo, Loud”, being released on 10th April. “The first track is like our baby, the darling of the band because that was the first track we did. It’s got a big chorus and it’s called Wow. Second track Shiny is a bit of a dark horse, and Dreamz is… dreamy. The EP is the first three songs we wrote, within the first few weeks of meeting. That was such a fun and exciting time that we wanted to of stamp that as a moment. The songs all feel like they’re about the ridiculousness of adult life, and how the best way to process that ridiculousness is just to get Shitfaced and dance and I think that’s what the Club Magic shows are – They’re an opportunity for everyone to just have a good time. There aren’t enough areas of adult life where you get the opportunity to play”

The EP is being launched with a gig at Alphabet on 4th April. Support comes from a solo set by Josh from Fukushima Dolphin – “Josh was Club Magic vocalist for about two or three months prior to Paul. When I was looking for someone, Josh and I wrote a few songs together, but he was just so busy with Fukushima it became impossible”. Around the sets Dan Clark from Uncle Monty / Transformer will be DJing, and visuals will be provided by Chris Innerstrings – “I’ve always been a fan. We went to see the Sabres of Paradise the other week and his visuals were so incredible – just so perfect for the music and what they do – that I sent Chris a message about 3am after the gig telling him how much I loved it, and that led to getting him involved with the show”

On The Stereo, Loud is out 10th April, and can be pre-ordered now on bandcamp: