Viola Beach achieve posthumous chart success

Viola Beach’s Swings & Waterslides has made the top 20 of the UK singles chart

Band’s debut single reaches No 11 on UK singles chart after receiving support from Liam Gallagher and The Stone Roses

It was originally released in 2015 on the band’s own record label Fuller Beans and was added to the BBC Radio 1 playlist in September of that year. Now Viola Beach’s debut single Swings & Waterslides has reached No 11 on the UK singles chart, after a social media campaign initiated by fans of the band.

The campaign received support from The Stone Roses, former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher and Kasabian among others. Initially entering the UK singles chart at No 39, Swings & Waterslides had made it to No 11 by the end of the week and briefly reached number one on the iTunes chart on 18 February. All proceeds from the single are going to the families of the band members and of their manager.

Guitarist and vocalist Kristian Leonard, 20, guitarist River Reeves, 19, bass player Tomas Lowe, 27, drummer Jack Dakin, 19 and manager Craig Tarry, 32, tragically lost their lives in a car crash near Stockholm, Sweden on 13 February. Tributes have been made by Starsailor’s lead singer James Walsh and Billy Bragg among others. Blossoms, who performed with Viola Beach in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, two days before their deaths, have promised to play a recording of the band’s live set during the tour the two bands were scheduled to begin next month.

You can listen to Swings & Waterslides below.

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