Gulzhan is from Kazakhstan and Paul is from Scotland. She was a translator and he was an oil worker. They now live in Scotland and write songs, perform songs and make cute babies.
The third person in the band used to be a secret. Even Paul and Gulzhan didn't always know who it was. We do now. It's Mark and he is also from Scotland, 22 years old and the most phenomenal guitarist you will ever see. He also looks pretty cool too. But don't believe the hype. Go to a gig and see for yourself.
The band used to be called Kinky Durakee but she hated it as it made her sound like some seedy Thai bride/sex worker. So they changed it. She chose the new name.
Universal You is a song by The Cult. Paul would play like The Cult but she won't have it.
Musical influences are diverse and they can’t talk about them when in a room together or the band will split up. Michael Jackson, Queen, Guns N Roses, Amy Winehouse, The Cult, The RHCP’s, Children of Bodom, Sheryl Crow, Avenged Sevonfold, Head Automatica and Paulo Nutini....But they all like Shinedown and Pink.
They recently played a gig in London at the bequest of Dave Courtney the ex(?)Gangster who is now a successful writer, actor and knower of many celebs on the circuit. They didnt feel it was appropriate to say no to Dave....
Paul is right handed but plays guitar left handed. Gulzhan has very bad eyesight and is -20 in both eyes. She can be classed as disabled but she will not accept it.Mark has very long fingers.
She has a personal trainer. It’s a bingo wings fear thing.
She speaks Russian, not Kazakh. Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union and she found the Borat movie amusing but doesn’t drink horse urine.
After 7 years together Paul speaks English and 50 words of Russian, it’s a British thing.
Her voice has been described as "Madonna with balls". To be clear, it’s her voice.
In their last band in Kazakhstan they played a free concert and 12,000 people turned up. It’s true, they have the photos. It’s a lot tougher to pull that crowd in Scotland.
After their first small gig back in Scotland Paul remembers going to the toilet in the venue and hearing a guy whistle their last song while standing at the urinal. He was dead chuffed. It was his Robbie Williams (Knebworth) Angels moment.
Paul saw Queen at Ingliston. In a life changing moment Freddie Mercury threw a cup of water into the crowd. He didn’t wash for a week. In his words, "I was anointed by Freddies water"…well.
Universal You is based in Kirkcaldy..pretty musically unfashionable huh?! …well, Guy Berryman of Coldplay was born in Kirkcaldy as was Craig Logan, ex of 80's boy band Bros, former manager of Pink and now head of Sony BMG in the UK. We are not totally sure, but we don’t think another local lad and our Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ever played guitar in a rock band.
Everyone is always surprised she is the singer. At one gig the sound engineer tried to kick her off the stage saying "girlfriends aren’t allowed up here".
Paul wrote their single "Your Sin City" in a hotel in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. You have to go there to understand.
Paul writes all the songs but can’t sing. They always fall out when he sings his new songs to Gulzhan. His range or tone isn’t as extensive as hers. She shouldn't laugh though.
She used to earn $30 a month as an English teacher in University in Kazakhstan. Her parents thought it was a good profession. She decided working for an oil company in an oil field, wearing jeans, drinking beer with the boys after work and earning 20 times more money was a better profession.
She has failed her driving test six times and still doesn’t drive. She is deeply embarrassed.
Their last full page feature in The Scotsman newspaper described her as "the diminutive singer with the big voice". She also likes a recent article which mentioned "exotic good looks".
Gulzhans voice has been compared to Madonna, Stevie Nicks, Isobel Campbell, Sharleen Spiteri, Shirley Manson, PJ Harvey and a few others. The most interesting was “John Mayers lovechild”.
Paul plays a Strat and can talk for hours about guitars and guitarists with Mark. Gulzhan doesn’t know what pick-ups or machine heads are but has her own microphone and earplugs.
Universal You open their live set with an instrumental track called “Jump”. It’s been described as having “all the excitement of a Bond car chase”.
She was heavily pregnant when recording their demo album. There was a lot of toilet breaks and non-rock‘n’roll clothing.
Paul met Ewan McGregor in Russia during his round the world tour. Just two Scots in Astrakhan, a city of half a million people. This meeting is described in The Long Way Round book, page 166 I am reliably informed. And he (Paul) doesn’t say "Och Aye" as often as is suggested.
She has an obsession with Heat Magazine. It comes out every Tuesday. She buys it religiously, she has had enough of Leo Tolstoi novels.
www.universalyou.co.uk
www.myspace.com/universalyouband
For Further information contact:
info@universalyou.co.uk
Who we are
Who we are
Press Release
Press Release
Press Release from QuiteGreatMusicPR
Universal You – Your Sin City
Released November 10th on Joesoap Records
‘Universal You’ are Paul Finnie, Gulzhan Ibraveya and Mark Grant, the band hail from Scotland, via Kazakhstan. Paul and Gulzhan first met in Kazakhstan when both were working in the oil business where they started writing songs together and performing for their co-workers and the locals. They have since recruited Mark Grant as the lead guitarist in the band and ‘Your Sin City’ is their first single.
One of the first gigs the band ever played was headlining a free outdoor concert in Kazakhstan, which was attended by more than 12,000 people; highlighting the cultural differences between Kazakhstan, where no bands ever play and the UK, where we are often spoiled for choice. Upon their return to Scotland, ‘Universal You’ (named after a song by ‘The Cult’) began to record some of the material they had written and performed a number of gigs across Scotland.
Paul wrote ‘Your Sin City’ in a hotel room in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, a city filled with beggars, prostitutes, oil tycoons, religion and sin; you have to go there to fully understand the meaning behind the song; but you may not want to. The single is a powerful, dark and brooding rock number and exhibits similarities with some of the music world’s most notorious and powerful female vocalists, from Garbage’s Shirley Manson through to Beth Ditto and PJ Harvey with a number of stops in between. The similarities are not limited to the recordings with the band’s notoriously explosive live shows showing that Gulzhan, augmented by Mark's jaw dropping guitar work, can hold a crowd as well as any of her contemporaries.
The band will be performing across Scotland and London over the coming weeks and details are available at www.universalyou.co.uk
For further information on the band or to arrange interviews, please contact Rob at Quite Great on 01223 410000 or Robert@quitegreat.co.uk
Universal You – Your Sin City
Released November 10th on Joesoap Records
‘Universal You’ are Paul Finnie, Gulzhan Ibraveya and Mark Grant, the band hail from Scotland, via Kazakhstan. Paul and Gulzhan first met in Kazakhstan when both were working in the oil business where they started writing songs together and performing for their co-workers and the locals. They have since recruited Mark Grant as the lead guitarist in the band and ‘Your Sin City’ is their first single.
One of the first gigs the band ever played was headlining a free outdoor concert in Kazakhstan, which was attended by more than 12,000 people; highlighting the cultural differences between Kazakhstan, where no bands ever play and the UK, where we are often spoiled for choice. Upon their return to Scotland, ‘Universal You’ (named after a song by ‘The Cult’) began to record some of the material they had written and performed a number of gigs across Scotland.
Paul wrote ‘Your Sin City’ in a hotel room in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, a city filled with beggars, prostitutes, oil tycoons, religion and sin; you have to go there to fully understand the meaning behind the song; but you may not want to. The single is a powerful, dark and brooding rock number and exhibits similarities with some of the music world’s most notorious and powerful female vocalists, from Garbage’s Shirley Manson through to Beth Ditto and PJ Harvey with a number of stops in between. The similarities are not limited to the recordings with the band’s notoriously explosive live shows showing that Gulzhan, augmented by Mark's jaw dropping guitar work, can hold a crowd as well as any of her contemporaries.
The band will be performing across Scotland and London over the coming weeks and details are available at www.universalyou.co.uk
For further information on the band or to arrange interviews, please contact Rob at Quite Great on 01223 410000 or Robert@quitegreat.co.uk
Press Release
Press Release
Rising from the remains of the now defunct Edinburgh band Kinky Durakee, lead singer Gulzhan and guitarists Paul and Mark are the core of new outfit Universal You.
Taking their name from a song by rockers The Cult, Universal You set out to move away from the softer tones often created by the aforementioned Durakees and into harder edged anthemic territories to meld pop melodies and frisky funk into their own brand of beautiful rock and pop songs.
The new 3-piece line-up contains a double guitar set-up sprinkled with electronica that will enable greater variety in their live work.
Deciding to focus on gigs in the short term before re-entering the studio in the autumn, Universal You aim to build on their fanbase with live shows allowing old and new songs a chance to find their feet in their new organic surroundings.
New single “Your Sin City” has been reworked since its original demo version recording and will be released in November through their own label Joesoap Records with a fanfare created by PR gurus Quite Great.
“Its exciting to have this new environment to play some of our old songs and to see what the line-up brings to the table” says Paul
“I will always dress to impress at our gigs. Glam is good, and we aim to look as good as we sound!!” says Gulzhan on the imminent gigging schedule
“…massive potential…frontwoman Gulzhan is in possession of a truly exceptional voice..” – UKMusicSearch review
“..the vivacious, diminutive singer with the big voice..” – The Scotsman newspaper article.
With the sleek, glam image and full on sound it’s no surprise that Universal You have already been compared to the likes of Pink, The Cardigans and Garbage.
www.universalyou.co.uk
www.myspace.com/universalyouband
For Further information contact:
info@universalyou.co.uk
Rising from the remains of the now defunct Edinburgh band Kinky Durakee, lead singer Gulzhan and guitarists Paul and Mark are the core of new outfit Universal You.
Taking their name from a song by rockers The Cult, Universal You set out to move away from the softer tones often created by the aforementioned Durakees and into harder edged anthemic territories to meld pop melodies and frisky funk into their own brand of beautiful rock and pop songs.
The new 3-piece line-up contains a double guitar set-up sprinkled with electronica that will enable greater variety in their live work.
Deciding to focus on gigs in the short term before re-entering the studio in the autumn, Universal You aim to build on their fanbase with live shows allowing old and new songs a chance to find their feet in their new organic surroundings.
New single “Your Sin City” has been reworked since its original demo version recording and will be released in November through their own label Joesoap Records with a fanfare created by PR gurus Quite Great.
“Its exciting to have this new environment to play some of our old songs and to see what the line-up brings to the table” says Paul
“I will always dress to impress at our gigs. Glam is good, and we aim to look as good as we sound!!” says Gulzhan on the imminent gigging schedule
“…massive potential…frontwoman Gulzhan is in possession of a truly exceptional voice..” – UKMusicSearch review
“..the vivacious, diminutive singer with the big voice..” – The Scotsman newspaper article.
With the sleek, glam image and full on sound it’s no surprise that Universal You have already been compared to the likes of Pink, The Cardigans and Garbage.
www.universalyou.co.uk
www.myspace.com/universalyouband
For Further information contact:
info@universalyou.co.uk
