Villa Music

Villa Introducing on Spotify champions new music from Aston Villa fans across Birmingham.

Providing a platform for local musicians to get their sound heard, Villa Introducing hosts songs on the official Aston Villa Spotify playlist.

The playlist is updated every month to host the very best in upcoming talent, so whether you’re a rock ‘n’ roll quartet or a DJ sculpting the best beats in the city, we want to hear from you!

Villa Introducing also supports Villa-loving local acts by giving you the chance to be the Band of the Month, bringing with it a plethora of benefits including…

• Your song topping the Villa Introducing playlist
• Your song added to the official Aston Villa matchday playlist
• An interview with SportPlaylists.com
• Opportunity to potentially play live at the Villa Park fan zone on matchday
• Opportunity to potentially feature on official Aston Villa content

Last season saw a superb response to our call for acts to send in their tracks, resulting in a host of local artists having their names highlighted by their club.

The official Aston Villa matchday playlist went live last year and has attracted over 2,400 fans to date, featuring timeless sounds from Neil Diamond, Duran Duran, Jeff Beck, Editors, Broken Witt Rebels and more.

To be in with a chance of inclusion on Villa Introducing, simply email the address below with the name of your track, Spotify link, and the story behind it.

To be in with a chance of inclusion on Villa Introducing, simply email the address below with the name of your track, story behind it and a Spotify link to listen to it.

Villa Introducing shines the spotlight on another local artist. 

The club’s music enterprise aims to give a platform to local Villa-loving musicians by championing their songs and featuring them on the official Aston Villa Spotify playlist.

And after a superb response to our call for acts to send in their tracks, hip-hop group OMA have been chosen to go under the spotlight.

Guitarist Chris Larcombe has followed the Villa since the age of six and walked out with the team as a mascot on more than one occasion.

OMA completed their first UK and European tour in March 2023, supporting and backing up Isaiah Rashad from Top Dawg Entertainment (SZA, Jay-Rock, Schoolboy Q).

They regularly travel to Los Angeles to write and record music with TDE artists and affiliates, and last year had the opportunity to collaborate with other MC's and artists such as Taboo (The Black Eyed Peas), Bun B (UGK), Harry Mack, and Shing02.

Having amassed over 900'000 followers across social media and generated over 2 billion video views with their sounds, OMA released their heavily requested debut album in January titled ‘Bread 'n' Butter’.

Congratulations! You’re our Villa Introducing Spotlight artist. How does it feel?

It feels amazing! I have been a Villa fan all my life, beginning in the Martin O’Neill era, so finally seeing my love for the club and my passion for music come together is wonderful. I’m very thankful to AVFC for giving us this opportunity! 

We’ve added your track ‘Doomsday’ ’ to the official AVFC playlist. Can you tell us a little more about how it was created? 

Around a year and a half ago, we started uploading short clips of our renditions of classic hip-hop tunes online. We quite quickly got a lot of traction, much to our surprise, and people kept telling us they wanted full-length renditions of the tracks so we travelled down to Bristol to record them last June. We spent two days in the studio tracking 12 full arrangements of our favourites and headed back up north to our shared house in Manchester. After that, Corben (our keys player and producer) sat down and started the mixing process! 

 

When did you start supporting Villa and why? 

I’ve been supporting the Villa for as long as I’ve known football. My dad is from Aldridge in the Black Country and has been following Villa since he was in his teens. Naturally, I’ve always had lots of family around the area, and it wasn’t too long before I went to my first game, aged 6 - 3:00pm, Saturday 23rd September 2006, Villa v Charlton. I loved everything – the colours, the ground, the atmosphere, the singing. From that moment on I was Villa, and was lucky enough to be a mascot at home (against Blues in 2010, walking out with Richard Dunne), and away at the Albion in 2011 (walking out with Stiliyan Petrov). I still meet up with dad for away games when I’m free! 

Who would be the ultimate Villa player, past or present, to feature on a OMA track?

That’s a toughie! For a track, I'm not sure, but I feel like John Carew could be a good frontman when we play live. He’s tall, has the model looks, and is charismatic. I feel like he carries that presence you need .... if he’s ready to spit some bars in Norwegian, we could fly with it!

You’ve got the choice between playing a gig at Villa Park or seeing the Villans take Premier League glory on the last day of the season. Which do you choose and why?

I mean, as much as it’d be insane to gig at VP - I would be out of my mind if I didn’t pick Villa winning the EPL, right?! It would be such an incredible achievement and mean so much to so many people I care about after we’ve all watched Villa struggle and then get relegated in 2016 (I was at Old Trafford the day it happened). Under King Unai we might even do it!

On the music front, can you tell us more about your plans for 2024? 

Sure! We plan on shifting our focus towards creating original music this year. We’ve met a lot of amazing artists over the last 12 months, so it’d be really fun to collaborate with them and cultivate a unique body of work. Apart from that, we’re looking forward to travelling as much as we can to bring our sound to people in person. We’ve just finished a short trip to Tokyo and hope to head off to the US soon. 

What's your prediction for our match away at Wolves this Saturday?

I'm going for a 2 - 1 home win. Against the expectations of quite a few people (me included), Wolves have done pretty well this season under Gary O'Neil, and we've struggled against them over the last few years. We need a win, and it's time to change the Wolves narrative…!”

 

Follow OMA:

Instagram

TikTok

 

Russell Leetch from Birmingham-based band Editors has taken over Aston Villa’s official Spotify!

And to mark the takeover, the guitarist, a lifelong Villa fan, has been speaking to the club about his passion for all things claret and blue.

Read our Q&A with Russell below…

What made you first fall in love with Villa?

My Godmother Linda would always buy us Villa souvenirs for birthday and Christmas presents & insisted we support the claret and blue. As my family weren’t really into football, I nagged my dad to take myself and my brother, Matt, to a game. Finally, he succumbed and in 1991 we watched Villa beat Spurs 3-2 with an overhead kick from David Platt in the 92nd minute. My Villa voyage started and I was hooked. 

When you were a kid, which Villa player did you idolise the most?

Tony Daley. I loved how quick he was. I could only dream of being that fast. A proper old-school winger.

If you could choose one of your tracks to be the walk-out music at Villa Park for a season, which track would you pick and why?

‘In This Light and On This Evening’. It’s got the drama and tension. It’s not overcooking the testosterone, just creating that lovely pre-match buzz.

Tell us about the tracks that you have picked for Villa’s playlist – any stories behind these selections?

I’ve selected a few tunes from Editors back catalogue, some old gems and a newbie. The rest of the tracks are songs we play in the dressing room before going on stage.

Thanks for taking part, Russell!