How Screaming Eagles found a second home in Hollywood

Screaming Eagles
Screaming Eagles

On January 13 Amazon Prime released the second series of Sneaky Pete, a new series created by David Shore, the band behind the multi award winning House, and Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston.

The story revolves around a former convict who takes up the identity of another prisoner in order to avoid his own past, but for Northern Irish rockers Screaming Eagles the storyline was of less interest than the soundtrack, which features the band’s own Rock N Roll Soul. A slab of molten blues’n’roll with a riff that charges like a bison and a chorus big enough to fill a bus, the song is a natural fit for any TV director looking to provide a inject a little bit of life into a situation… and it’s not the first time this has happened.

We spoke to the band as they geared up for the release of a live mini album this spring, to be followed by a full-length release in the summer.

Do you know what scene on Sneaky Pete the song soundtracks?

Yeh, it’s Episode two of the series. Sony Pictures have told us it features in a bar scene with two of the main characters. It’s the perfect drinking song!!

How come this song has ended up on two TV shows?

I think it’s because it was the first single and most popular song of our debut album From The Flames. We plugged it endlessly in the US from the smallest radio shows to the biggest in the country. Somewhere along the way Graham Yost [producer of Band Of Brothers] heard it and used it in the FX series Justified. Next thing he is producing Sneaky Pete for Amazon Prime with Bryan Cranston and apparently thought our song would really suit the series.

What kind of feedback did you get after the song featured in Justified?

Our YouTube hits rocketed overnight after the episode of Justified was aired on FX, this led to a good bump in sales of our album From The Flames and the track itself, mostly from the US and Canada, great exposure which we weren’t expecting.

Also, lots of people said they used Shazam to find out about the track and the band which was cool. We were surprised that they used nearly the whole track during the episode and it wasn’t just background music, it was full throttle during a car chase which we thought was brilliant.

Are you now richer than your wildest dreams?

You don’t want to know about the dreams we have, especially our drummers…

Why a live mini-album?

We released some live tracks digitally as bonus material on our most recent album which was really well received. Loads of people have been asking if we are going to release them on CD, so we thought it would be a good idea to record some of our upcoming festival sets, pick the best tracks and put them out as a limited release CD/mini-album for the old-school CD users out there.

What can people expect from the tour?

We’ve got some great gigs lined up for the year ahead, including a slot at Ramblin’ Man Fair which we’re well up for . We’ll be playing a mixture of songs off both our albums as well as road testing some new stuff from our upcoming third album. We’ve been cooped up in the rehearsal room for the past four months writing the album so we’re chomping at the bit to get out on the road.

Sneaky Pete is available now on Amazon Prime.

Screaming Eagles tour dates

10 Mar: Legends Of Rock, Great Yarmouth, UK
20 Apr: Bonfest, Kirriemuir, Scotland
20 May: Bully-On-Rocks Festival, Bully-Les-Mines, France
02 Jun: Camden Rocks, London, UK
15 Jun: The Londoner, Gotha, Germany
16 Jun: Rockjungfer, Arnstadt, Germany
17 Jun: Dobeln At The City Festival, Dobeln, Germany
15 Jul: SOS Festival, Manchester, UK
27 Aug: Rockwich, Northwich, UK
14 Oct: Rockers Reunited, Torquay, UK

Screaming Eagles: Stand Up And Be Counted

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