There´s a lot going on out there in the big ol´ world and Francis Symons lyricist and singer is the guy to write about it. His band is brash and a little complicated whilst playing their way around spiteful themes of everyday situations even accusing the weatherman of some ill-doing. Hilarious stories about inadequate lovers, traffic lights and gardeners… and that´s just in one song! There is a wealth of clever stuff going on here wrapped up, albeit thinly, in stupidity. The sort of stupid that we here in the civilised world get ourselves mixed up in as the years go by. If you are into Poppin´Rock with acid drops of everything else then lend an ear here. Emerging from the back yards of nowhere in particular, The Blood Group broke onto the pop scene in 2002 with their debut 6 track E.P., Provisional Masterpiece. The band's latest album, Ultimate Solution, merges Francis Symons' accusative lyrics and cutting choruses with dirty rock guitar work from Alan Warden, to turn out an album polluted with thought-provoking tunes in ultra-catchy gem quality. With standout tracks like ”Santa Fé”, "When The Level Hits Ceiling", "Like The Lights That The Cars Meet" and "Simpletons" the music of The Blood Group appeals to pop fans and dead-heads alike. You better believe it! Francis Symons was born in Plymouth, Devon England in 1958 to Alfred and Betty Symons. Symons' artistic talents were not encouraged during his childhood. Schooling was shared between three in Plymouth and one in Hertfordshire. His adolescence proved a difficult one. Years later in Bedfordshire, Symons formed the band Zip Zap Zoo with schoolmate Neil Straker and numerous others until a recipe was forged out to take on the gig circuit. After a few initial gigs the band moved on whilst exchanging members. Much further on in time Symons was living in Germany but it wasn´t until he moved to Berlin at the invitation of Jez Green, one-time keyboarder with Zip Zap Zoo that things took a horizontal turn. First he met Biff Simpleton, a rather electric character and then Paul Schoene both of whom played on The Blood Groups´ first album. Schoene departed and all was left in the hands of Symons & Simpleton. After getting married to Katja, Symons found himself and his ever trusting friend Simpleton in Spain. The roots to the songs on the new album “Ultimate Solution” were set in Frankfurt and Berlin and bloomed with atomic precision at The Vegetable Market Recording Studio near Torrevieja in Spain which was set up by Symons to finance his artistic tendencies. It was in VMRStudio that the songs took on their present form after Symons met Alan Warden, a guitarist who worked the bars and clubs on the Costa Blanca. Wardens interest in the material lead to the inclusion of Tom Foolery, a drummer who plays in time with the chip in his heart. Symons writes of course from the heart, his lyric is funny, rude and sometimes stops you in your tracks just to remind you, them, all of us, where we are. His piano style is classically wrong, but it works. Backing vocals taken on beautifully by female talent also making a living performing within the live music scene on the Costa Blanca, such twinklets as, Angie Norris, Shani Ormiston, Gemma Bennett, Wendy Hindmarch, Panay Brookes (Germany) and the wonderful Debbie Blevins, otherwise known as The Blood Clots!