Rock Band Weekly: The Fratellis

by Jem Alexander on Feb 6th 2009 11:15PM

Rock Band is getting a little more indie next week when a song pack featuring The Fratellis is released. The pack will contain three songs from the Scottish band's first album, Costello Music.

Harmonix missed a trick here by neglecting Chelsea Dagger or other, better UK indie bands such as Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys or the Kaiser Chiefs. Still, we're not going to complain about some more indie songs for the game. Check out videos of the three songs after the break.

The Fratellis Pack (440

/ $5.49)

"Flathead" (160 / $1.99)
"Henrietta" (160 / $1.99)
"Creeping Up The Back Stairs" (160 / $1.99)

All tracks are masters and will be available for download next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.

Tags: indie-rock, Microsoft, rock-band, rock-band-2, rock-band-weekly, the-fratellis, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (64)

Arcade Monkeys? there's arcade fire, and there's arctic monkeys :)

Haha yeah. Arcade Fire on Rock Band would be awesome. Although I don't know how that would work out. Arctic Monkeys seemed really suited for the game. Too bad they haven't made it on either.

I might pick up Flathead, but to be honest I'm not a fan of UK indie bands. Otherwise I think the European music scene has more to offer at the moment.

I've been requesting Arctic Monkeys for months, they've gotta be angling for a whole Album rather than just a standard 3 pack with the number of other people who've been asking.

I think he means Arctic Monkeys. Regardless, quit hating on indie rock, Joystiq.

Being popular doesn't = being better.

@jaychuck:

"Harmonix missed a trick here by neglecting Chelsea Dagger or other, better UK indie bands such as Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys or the Kaiser Chiefs. Still, we're not going to complain about some more indie songs for the game."

Yeah, Joystiq suuuure hates indie.

Yeah for harmonix being music people I am very surprised about how little indie rock there is available. Although a lot of indie rock like dinosaur jr. and sonic youth may be tagged as just rock, but still. metal is way over represented even though it is challenging and fun to play. give me one reggae song. throw me a bone here, harmonix!

Reggae and prog-rock would both work very well. I still don't understand why there's not been any Pink Floyd whatsoever.

"Still, we're not going to complain about some more indie songs for the game."

um... you just did..

i'm not getting excited about rockband dlc until i see a Rilo Kiley track pack. or maybe the Roots. seriously, get hip-hop songs from acts/artists with bands.

Activision is supposed to be working on DJ hero so I suspect that's were you;ll get your Rap/Hiphop fix. The problem for rockband is that it still has to fit the four member set up. if there's not rhythm guitar or the vocals are too easy it just dosent work so they'd have to do a lot of extra time consuming digging to find the right stuff in those genres.

a lot of different types of music utilize the turn-tables. i'll get excited if it comes with a mic for multiplayer.

i understand the components that go into a rockband song, which is why i recommended the Roots. and many hip-hop producers utilize the basic set-up for (some of) their songs. you just have to listen...

I can't imagine a DJ Hero (ie, a Beatmania ripoff) being nearly as much fun without annoying 300 BPM j-pop/j-hardcore.

Ugh....Boorrrriiinngggg. Where's the Hoobastank?

Gone. Away. Where it should be.

:'(

The irony there is priceless, this is boring? so you want Hoobastank? That being said I agree with the OP, we need more Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys and find the choice of The Fratellis a little random.

Very nice. For those who don't know, Flathead is the song featured on one of the many popular iPod commercials with people dancing around. This week is going to be great for people who like their UK indie/glam rock.

Does that mean the psychedelic music video effect will be used so that you RB characters are just silhouettes in front of colorful backgrounds? If so, I want my guitar to have a white guitar silhouette to dance around with...

So when is HMX going to throw in "Universal Mind Control" by Common from the new Zune ads?

I'm gonna wait to see if any of the charts are fun before I decide 100%, but as of right now, I think my wallet will stay closed

Listen to them. All three of them are easily going to get ratings of 3 and higher on all instruments. They should be challenging enough.

I'm definitely getting this as soon as I pick up one of those next-gen console thingys. Snubbing Chelsea Dagger is a little strange though. I could certainly go for some Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, and the like.

Yeah, Kaiser Chiefs would be good on Rock Band. But you know what would be awesome? The Smiths. I know that's off-topic but I wanted to put that out there. Again.

you have a rakim avatar. you are excused to do as you please.

Reverend Horton Heat would be better.

The Fratellis aren't "indie".

And "Arcade Monkeys"? Seriously?

"Other, better UK bands"? You bite your tongue!

Note: I don't actually know if those bands are better, but the Fratellis are pretty great. And pretty Scottish.

Scotland is in the UK.

I do love The Fratellis' first album though; the whole thing should have gone on Rock Band. Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys would be nice, but Kaiser Chiefs are way overrated. Also, some of The Coral please! And more Muse! And more Radiohead!

YES! A little dissapoited that there is no Chelsea Dagger or Whistle for the Choir - but all three of those songs are fun on the drums.

Whistle for the Choir is all chords though; wouldn't be too challenging on guitar. Wonderful song regardless. The thing is, even I could play it by heart after about an hour of practicing... Too simple.

Fratellis are awesome, I'll be buying this as soon as I can. Some of the tracks from the new CD would have been sweet. I'd love to see all those bands in Rock Band eventually.

Except Arcade Monkeys they're not as good as the Arctic Monkeys.

The Kaiser Chiefs are not better than the Fratellis.

Cancer is better than the Kaiser Chiefs

And the Kaiser Chiefs are better than Wii Music.

As a fan of both, I disagree. Kaiser Chiefs are much better musically, lyrically, and consistency of material-wise. Though, the drums for this pack will be awesome, even with the lack of Chelsea Dagger.

Wow, apparently I'm out of touch with this whole so called indie scene. When I saw "The Fratellis" I was totally expecting Cyndi Lauper. Not that I want Cyndi Lauper in Rock Band, but you know.

libertines ftw

The Libertines would be fun. They perfected the art of sloppy heroin rock and roll. The kind that you just don't get anymore because the kids just aren't doing enough hard drugs to really rock like they used to back in the day.

3 tracks week?

Did the Harmonix DLC Machine break down this week?

the fratellis...yeah never heard of em...never wanna hear them aain

Never heard them before... well, maybe in a commercial. But, pretty catchy and sounds fun on drums.

I'm in.

ARCADE monkeys? Really? Really f'd that one up on credibility. For shame sir. FOR SHAME!!!!!

I'd love to get these tracks, if only I had the moneeeey...

Weird. I didn't know that Interscope was an independent record label.

Thanks for the videos, guys.

Awesome! I love The Fratellis. I just wish RB would introduce some more Muse!

Rock Band gets this amazing pack and GH gets The Shins "New Slang"...BOOYAH!

credibility strain #1 - Arcade Monkeys?

credibility strain #2 - Kaisers better than Fratellis?

Stick to games, you know nothing about music.

Fratellis! Awesome!

Too bad I don't have rock band.

:( i want these and no money yet for points

The Fratellis are a good band but leaving out Chelsea Dagger is a bit of a shame i had many great nights out singing along to that song lol. It always seems that they leave out the best ones. weird

Arctic Monkeys would be amazing..

Also bands like The Emeny, The Courteeners would be great too!! look them up.

+

All I want from Rock Band is Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs. If I had the points, I'd give this a shot however.

oh dear...did the poster just say that the kaiser chiefs were a good band?

...ahem. anyway, hurrah the fratellis! something i might actually buy. 70's classic rock and heavy metal have been all thats been coming out for months lately.

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Rock Band Weekly: The Fratellis

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