The Takeover UK writes songs one single at a time

By Guy D’Astolfo

According to a press release from The Takeover UK, the band is “chasing the perfect pop single.”

Really?

Absolutely, says Nic Snyder, the Pittsburgh rock group’s singer-guitarist. “We try to write all of our songs as if they were singles,” he said. “‘Pop’ is the word of the day, everyday.”

After one listen to the band’s major-label debut, “Running With the Wasters” (Rykodisc), you can tell he’s not kidding. The Takeover UK has gotten quite good at creating punchy, catchy Britpop tunes — the kind of music that is like catnip to many a rock ’n’ roller.

With background vocals galore and early Beatle-esque pacing, “Wasters” is a first-listen infatuation that blooms into a love affair by the end of the week.

The band comes to Youngstown Friday for a gig at Cedars.

In a recent interview with The Vindicator, Snyder pointed out two things that might come as a surprise.

One: The Takeover UK didn’t get famous overnight (they’ve been going at it for five years).

Two: The band actually played Cedars before — about three and a half years ago, to be exact (in truth, the act was more of an alt-country entity back then, and not too many people noticed).

Another thing that few people know about the members of the quartet: they are extremely funny. The band likes to crank out blogs and YouTube videos in daft and droll fashion, reminiscent of the HBO series “Flight of the Conchords.”

The fictitious Conchords are a very sincere folk duo who are not quite aware of just how unpopular they are.

You can bust a gut laughing at this stuff because you’re trying to be as straight-faced as the band members — be they Conchords or Takeovers.

“We just wrapped [a video] up two minutes ago for Fuse [video network],” said Snyder during the interview. “We were pretending to be landscapers.”

The humor does make its way to the barroom stage, but only in the form of banter, he said.

The Takeover UK just finished a three-month tour that took the band all over the country. “Twice,” said Snyder. “We’re pretty burned out.”

For the first part of the summer, the quartet plans to stay local, recording some tracks and doing regional shows. Another tour will begin in late summer.

Now about those background vocals, which are sort of a Takeover UK trademark.

“They’re not used much these days,” admitted Snyder. And he’s right — at least not to this extent. Or this well, either.

Snyder said the quartet nails them during shows — every whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh.

“Unless it goes beyond a three-part harmony,” said Snyder. “Then we’re in trouble.”