“BILLY THE MOUNTAIN were born in the blues and then took a breath of Steely Dan, Little Feat, Dylan and Pink Floyd and came out the other end smiling. You’ll hear that journey in their music which is delivered by some very fine musicians too. They say it’s great Sunday morning music!”

The band comprises Alex Zander Ran, a Scot, Dane Nicolai Kehlet, Swede Nils Andersson  and a team of seasoned session players. The band has embarked on a plan to supply three albums over a two-year period and to tour the albums internationally while retaining rights to ticket, merchandise and album sales on the road.

Gray of Acmebroadc@st Management Inc. says: “And this band will sell. We reckon they are the Pink Floyd of this new century – and throw in a touch of Little Feat and Steely Dan and you have a very powerful combination of grooves and rock steady tunes supporting cool lyrics and awesome musicianship – no shredders and no predictable cock-rock neither,” says

“To great response, we ran some of the tunes ‘naked’ on the band’s own www.myspace.com/thebillymountain site and then the band – principally Nicolai Kehlet – took over production and the result is an album of eight or nine very special songs. And I have to say the big labels are looking to get their hands on this cool new music. But the band wants this to go to market via the Internet – Tunecore and and we support that idea given that we have little alternative,” he grinned.

“But the songs are awesome and I predict this album – this breath of musical fresh air – is going to be a classic!”

Producer Kehlet says the first album – Drifting To Valhalla – was written and recorded in Asia and features the songs and vocals of Alex Zander Ran woven into a funky, laid-back fusion of blues and progressive rock ‘remniscent of days gone by, but with a modern production feel,’ he says.

“We had a lot fun producing the album at my own Paradise Studio here in Bangkok and we work well together with Zander’s great lyrics and tunes, and dare I say my ear for a good beat and an FM-radio-friendly vibe. The truth is we write interesting stuff together and by that I mean we love our own music and play it all the time on our own iPods, or in the car and at home. And if people want to buy it then that’s great too!

“Our fans tease us that we are the Floyd or Steely Dan of the 21st century and that’s crazy and scary…we are all Floyd and Steely Dan fans of course, but they are like gods to us…the idea that we are composers on the same planet is almost ridiculous. But we like the compliment that we might sound a bit like Little Feat and our new stuff is definitely going there – if anywhere at all.”

The band is already working on their second album tentatively titled “Head Restrictions” or “Mind Dive” working at Kehlet’s Paradise Productions Studio in Bangkok.

Ran describes the new work as “driven by a desire to not let Lowell George be forgotten and everything we are writing right now is kind of a tribute to him and his gift as a groovemeister, singer and slide god.”

“There’s a bit of Hendrix in there too and if we are exposing our origins and ages then so be it. It’s about time! I grew up listening and playing while those guys … Zappa, Captain Beefheart and Alex Harvey and Jimi and Zepp were changing the world and we’re going back consciously or otherwise to a time when music was new and adventurous and worth queuing to see live. I just hope we can do the times justice.”

In late July Billy The Mountain won the www.BandForThe Day.com award just 48 hours after featuring on the site’s top ten UK chart. The band are currently recording in Bangkok’s Paradise Studios with Danish producer Nicolai Kehlet who did the honours on the band’s first album Drifting To Valhalla.

The BFTD site confirmed that, “Billy The Mountain has won Band For The Day and from everyone on the BFTD team, we offer our best wishes to everyone involved in their success. We hope (now) they will not only be seen and heard by thousands of people, but that they will sell a large number of their BFTD tracks on the day as our featured artist.”

Band manager Tom Gray said the award meant the band are now featured on the homepage of Band For The Day and that the winning song ‘Strange World’ now returns 71 pct of potential profits from sales on the site.

“It’s a great honour to be acknowledged by such an important music site and we will make the most of our day in the sun – telling everyone that we are today’s Band For The Day! It also means each time we are BFTD we have the opportunity to maximise our votes for possible inclusion in the Hall Of Fame and every single listen and purchase of our songs and Spikes and SMS votes will carry towards our final three song package vote total.

“And the icing on the cake is our kid’s charity makes more income from sales on this Band For The Day feature.”