Postcards From Places That Don...

- Lincoln, UK Country / Folk Rock / Big Beat

About

Members: James Styring - Lead Vocals, Col Lewis - Bass Guitar, Nick Ricketts - Lead Guitar, George Duffy - Rhythm Guitar, Rick Laws - Drums

Sounds Like: The Beatles, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, ELVIS PRESLEY, Mike Badger & The Shady Trio

Bio: "Diggin' the songs!" - Mike Badger, co-founder, 'The La's'
"...real Roy Orbison meets Chris Isaak and beats the shite out of him. Love it guys!" - Frenchflier Aire du Launcment Radio
"Mix influences from The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and The La's and what do you get? Answer: the quirkil... See Full Bio

More Info

Status

Our latest song Bone Shakin' Outlaws is now available for purchase from our Reverb Nation Store and Band Camp Store for 79p!

Press

“Mix influences from The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and The La's, and what do you get? Answer: the quirkily charming sounds of Postcards From Places That Don't Exist! Their new single, Bones O' Me/Girl Oh Why, also adds a touch of Roy Orbison! One of Lincoln's finest!”

— David Bash, IPO UK '12 Official Programme & Guide

“We got back to the Live Lounge just in time to catch Lincoln five-piece Postcards From Places That Don’t Exist. They kicked off with a really rocking number and kept that pace up for their whole set. As each song ended, the applause seemed to be louder and louder. James is an excellent front man for the band, he had a good voice which at times sounded a bit like Lennon’s, and terrific backing vocals were delivered by the bass guitarist and drummer. It’s hard to describe their style – a bit Beatles influenced, a tad of the Searchers about them but in reality they have their own style which really rocked the back stage. Their set included three covers which reduced the amount of their own material showcased, but still it was a great thirty minute set, and their cover of "Stand By Me" was really, rather good. Back across at the Cavern Club, front stage and Postcards from Places that Don’t Exist were back on the bill. Same set as earlier in the day and good to see it a seco”

— Brian Barry and Jacqui Dove, Minty And The Beeb

“Then came the best band the sixties never had, Postcards From Places That Don't Exist. With a knack for classic melodies and energetic stage presence, the band are led by James Styring who busies himself by singing like Buddy Holly and pointing enigmatically at the ceiling. With the Johnny Cash-style country of Trainbeat Song and sunny new single Girl Oh Why they live in a parallel world where it is constantly 1965, and make you wish that you did too.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincolnshire Echo

“When I’ve discussed Postcards From Places That Don’t Exist I have usually referred copiously to their retro sound and thrown around quotes like “the best band the sixties never had.” Which I still stand by, but all this shifts the focus somewhat onto their style and away from their substance. Which is a folly on my part, as the music is something much more special than a Merseybeat revival act. Their dedication to melody is admirable, as songs are not only heavy with it but also usually fairly short, sharp blasts of flowing tunes: as if the compositions are somehow cut down to their purest melodic form and nothing else. That’s not to say they don’t wear this influence on their sleeve, though. Originally seen on their debut album, but here re-recorded and noticeably better for it, A-side (if there still is such a thing) Bones O’ Me reads as something of a love letter to the home of the Fab Four (“Liverpool’s my love, my lady”).”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“It’s a combination of a mysterious, beckoning chord sequence that never gives too much away as to the mood of the song, supplemented by a bassline with staccato stops in all the right places to propel everything along nicely. It’s like a more anxious interpretation of Waterloo Sunset; all shimmering guitars and romantic geography. Girl Oh Why, on the other hand, leaves you in no doubt as to it’s intentions and is immediately more arresting. An urgent drum beat and 12 bar blues intro ushers in those Buddy Holly-on-helium vocals and a hook that is simplicity itself. Because of it’s adherence to a fairly retro type of song structure it’s fairly predictable, but so charming that you wouldn’t really care. And there you have it. A short review of two short songs that are thankfully focused more on quality than quantity. PS: They’re very sixties.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“Impassioned, freewheeling, life celebrating. New song, 'Girl Oh Why', could actually have been a rediscovered early Lennon & McCartney composition, with it's full-on fabtastic beat.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“Postcards From Places That Don't Exist-Mix influences from The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and The La's, and what do you get? Answer: the quirkily charming sounds of Postcards From Places That Don't Exist! One of Lincoln's finest! http://www.myspace.com/placesthatdontexist”

— David Bash, IPO UK '11 Official Programme & Guide

“I was racking my brain for several days trying to put my finger on who it is that Postcards From Places That Don’t Exist vocalist James Styring sounds like. Anyway, it’s John Power from Cast. I was so happy to have remembered that I’m putting it at the start of the review before I forget. Fortunately, the remainder of the band’s references are slightly easier to pinpoint. Regardless of who he may sound like, I was aware from previous band Sevenday Weekend that Styring was something of a talent; reliably note perfect and ever the frontman, performing to five people as though it were five thousand. But whereas Sevenday Weekend put all their eggs into the mainstream indie basket, Postcards (there’s no way I’m typing the whole name out again) are a much more niche proposition.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“All hailing from Lincoln, but with a strong affinity for Liverpool, Postcards are the above mentioned James (affable indie train driver), bassist Col Lewis (Primal Scream era Mani moonlighting as a bouncer), Adam Nisbet on guitar and Nick Christopher on drums (I don’t know what those two look like). Influences are not so much worn on sleeves as tattooed on foreheads, as everything about this debut recording from the four piece has been stamped ‘RETRO’, from the jangly Byrds guitars and sweet 60s harmonies right to the production that sounds deliberately aged, like those jeans that come with holes in. Far from just jumping on the retro bandwagon though, Postcards have a gift that makes them more than the sum of their parts. The whole album is imbued with beautiful, flowing melodies. There’s so many delicately sung, jaunty hooks it’s like they’ve got a sweatshop making them around the clock. None are more delicately summery than ‘Bruises’.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“With its lyrical theme of nature punctuated by a darker edge at times (“Don’t want to lose you to this cold, hard ground”, an idea also visited on ‘Wait At The Gate’, it’s also threatening to burst into ‘Days’ by The Kinks at any second. So aware of the strength of the tune are Postcards that it’s stripped of lyrics and revived for the bridge with a simple “Doo doo doo” refrain. It’s also a mere one and a half minutes, but despite the lack of breathing room the track works perfectly as a short and sweet slice of sixties. Following number ‘Wait At The Gate (Yours Faithfully)’ is from a more jaunty gene pool, with a verse so jolly you can practically hear the band smiling on the recording through the gentle, lilting chorus. There’s another great melody in that, too, courtesy of guitar and vocal interplay. They’re just showing off now.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“Even with the added running time over the previous track there’s not a huge amount of development, but it’s not really needed; instead there’s one of those big circus-type bass drums and a trumpet reprising the chorus melody, and a spot of wolf-whistling too. It’s touches like this and the short songs (there are three that clock in at under two minutes) that show a band who really (much like Cyndi Lauper) just want to have fun. Cute. When listening to Postcards there’s one particular influence that jumps in front of you and waves its arms around more than any others. I’ve avoided mentioning it until now, but it seems fairly superfluous when they commence ‘John, What Are We Going To Do?’ by listing Beatles’ songs. Yet you can’t begrudge them being so blatant because the whole thing’s so pretty and shimmering with its ‘Oooh la la’s and charm.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“It’s small wonder they’ve spent so much time playing in Liverpool, hitting both the Cavern Club and the International Pop Overthrow Festival to unsurprising acclaim recently. The second half of the disc holds variation from the theme, with ‘Her Ways, Always’ faintly more restrained and mature, the more plodding beat painting a picture of love lost, and the twelve bar blues of ‘Bad and Feelin’ Good’ is so Buddy Holly it probably has a fear of flying. In fact from ‘Her Ways..’ onwards it’s as though the sugar rush has worn off to give a more bittersweet finalé, yet still with retaining what drew you in from the start, i.e. the layered harmonies and retro frivolity, with a brief encore of their Fab Four fascination for ‘Lovin’ Is Leavin’’. The remaining impression of Postcards From Places That Don’t Exist is of a band that have found the direction they want to go in very quickly, and do it exceptionally well.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“Admittedly it’s a direction that’s around 50 years old though, and if you can’t bear music that lives in the past I wouldn’t touch this with a twenty foot pole. On the other hand, the fun, charm and melody that radiates from this would still probably win you over anyway. Like a browse through a vintage record fair, it’s nostalgic, surprising and delightful. He really does sound like John Power. Jonathan (twitter.com/jonnymarkwell) NB: I suppose it’s more of a mix of Johns Lennon and Power, actually. Imagine that. Liverpudlians wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. Anyway, you can go and see Postcards From Places That Don’t Exist at the Lamb and Flag in Lincoln on April 30th supporting Mike Badger off of The Las. I’d recommend it. www.myspace.com/placesthatdontexist and search on Facebook for them too.”

— Jonathan Markwell, Lincoln Unsigned

“Diggin' the songs!”

— Mike Badger, Co-founder of The La's

“The band's material is all very retro, in a really most positive way, coming across somewhere between early Roy Orbison and a mid-90's Quentin Tarantino film soundtrack! All very Mariachi/Tex-Mex with a soupcon of Merseybeat thrown in for good luck!”

— Maurice Mulligan, Lincolnshire Echo

“Real Roy Orbison meets Chris Isaak and beats the shite out of him. Love it guys!”

— Russ James, The French Flier, Radio Liberte

“The Live Lounge was becoming our second home for the night, as we stayed to watch Postcards From Places That Don’t Exist (www.myspace.com/placesthatdontexist). We found out later that this was only their fourth appearance live, and they did a pretty good job. This was another band where the lead singer was just the lead singer and didn’t play any instruments, and he was a bit like Mike Love of The Beach Boys, even down to the beard and cap! Their songs had all of the right ingredients to make a good powerpop mix – they were short, punchy and quite catchy, although some did end quite abruptly! We think that this band would benefit from some backing vocals to add that extra layer of harmony to the great songs they have in their set.”

— Brian Barry and Jacqui Dove, Minty And The Beeb

— David Bash, The Eighth Annual IPO Liverpool Festival Official Programme & Guide 2010

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Songs

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Videos

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Shows

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2012
May 16

INTERNATIONAL POP OVERT…
Liverpool, UK | 8:00pm
INTERNATIONAL POP OVER...
Liverpool, UK
Wed May 16, 2012 8:00pm
- Show Details
- Tickets
Details

Postcards From Places That Don't Exist perform live at the front stage of the world famous Cavern Club as part of the International Pop Overthrow (IPO) Festival Liverpool 2012 on Wednesday, May 16th 2012. FREE entry before 8pm! On stage at 8pm.
2012
May 16

INTERNATIONAL POP OVERT…
Liverpool, UK | 5:45pm
INTERNATIONAL POP OVER...
Liverpool, UK
Wed May 16, 2012 5:45pm
- Show Details
- Tickets
Details

Postcards From Places That Don't Exist perform live at the world famous Cavern Pub as part of the International Pop Overthrow (IPO) Festival Liverpool 2012 on Wednesday, May 16th 2012. FREE entry before 8pm! On stage at 5.45pm.
2011
Nov 12

Baths Hall
Scunthorpe, UK | 7:30pm
Baths Hall
Scunthorpe, UK
Sat Nov 12, 2011 7:30pm
- Show Details
- Tickets
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Rock Open Final!
2011
Oct 14

Scunthorpe The Light
Scunthorpe, NLN, UK | 7:00pm
Scunthorpe The Light
Scunthorpe, NLN, UK
Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:00pm
- Show Details
- Tickets
Details

The Occupier/ Illfower/ Handsome Bastards/ The Rickashays/ Jackhammer / Postcards From Places That Don't Exist performs live at Light Bar on Oswald Road, Scunthorpe as part of the semi-final of a Battle of the Bands event!
2011
Sep 2

The Showroom
Lincoln, LIN, UK | 6:00pm
The Showroom
Lincoln, LIN, UK
Fri Sep 02, 2011 6:00pm
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LITTLE IMP supp. PROUD MARY - live at The Showroom on Friday, September 2nd 2011. Doors open at 8pm. Tickets are £10 on the door or £8 in advance.