Action Group (now defunct) were a four-piece from Edinburgh with writing partnership Pete Boggon and Mark Donnelly at their core. Initially begun in early 2004, they played Limbo twice, originally describing their sound as ‘like Magazine crossed with Pavement, with pounding rhythm and energy driven melodic oddities.’
Debut Album Greed was recorded and produced by the band at their home studios and released through their own label (Pardon), in August 2007. Greed received favourable reviews in The Stool Pigeon, The List, The Scotsman, Is This Music and The Skinny and the band recorded sessions for Radio 1 (Vic Galloway’s Session In Scotland) and Leith FM. They were included in the BBC Scotland Best Of 2007 podcast, with regular plays of Breaking Windows on XFM as well as featuring in ECA’s documentary film The Art School Dance recently as part of the up-and-coming scene in Edinburgh, while a track called Just Let Go was used on the the Channel 4 series, Blowout.
Written by Donnelly and Boggon, Greed contains 15 tracks which vary in influence and rhythm, from the fast pace of Breaking Windows to the slow sway of Swag. The album was compared to Broken Social Scene, The Pixies and Jesus And Mary Chain but like all good albums it sits on its own island quite happily! Greed is available for download at itunes.
In June 2008, they showcased a new sound at Limbo, with fresh beats, new melodies and a new drummer. When they first played the club (January 2008), the group took everyone’s breath away with a stripped down ‘acoustic set’ (featuring ‘Toshiba beats’) that really exposed how good their songs actually are, without all that heavy guitar action (group) of before. They seemed to have taken this vibe and run with it on the new songs, bringing the vocals to the fore and letting the guitars take more of a back-stage role in the mix, with a lighter, airier, more rhythmic sound that still doffed its cap to the classics of rock and pop (with hints of Beck in the vocal styles and some Beatles-style song-craft going on, among myriad other influences) but basically managed to sound like, well, no one else really.
Limbo was a big fan of Action Group and disappointed when they split. However, Pete Boggon has since set up a new band called Pet, who performed a startlingly original debut Limbo show in February 2011. Watch this space…
“…coming from an entirely different direction Action Group, a dance-punk sextet mixing Philly soul with fuzzy guitars to fleetingly brilliant effect” (Scotsman)
“What they’re taking Action against isn’t defined, but one can only hope it’s the entourage of piss-weak bands who throw similar poses without a fraction of this lot’s guile and knowing assurance… Wonderful.” (The List)
“The shuddering tempo of Action Group, full of looping basslines and vicious full-bodied riffs, this frantic performance expertly pays homage to the swelling sound of Canadian experimentalists Broken Social Scene.” (The Skinnny)
