The Killers

Punchestown Racecourse

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The Killers

The Killers might hail from one of the USA's most quintessentially American cities (Las Vegas), but their debut album Hot Fuss displays an Anglophilic streak that is an ocean wide. Steeped in the back-catalogue of The Smiths and Pulp, with broad 80s synth sweeps cloaking each tale of fraught metrosexual romance, this band clearly rate the swoon over the swagger. Still, this is almost entirely an upbeat record, one made for the packed club than the smoky VIP room; in particular "On Top", "Somebody Told Me" and "Mr Brightside" are tremendous examples of breathless indie-pop that gallop along like a lovestuck heartbeat with frontman Brandon Flowers gasping for breath on the claustrophobic disco floor. This is, inarguably, what the Killers do best. Even when they deviate from form they’ve got a few neat ideas - see the gospel choir that echoes back Flowers' repeated exclamation "I've got soul/ But I'm not a soldier" on "All These Things I've Done", or the self-consciously epic "Indie Rock'n'Roll", delivered by the Killers with all the fireworks and gusto of a curtain-closing Broadway showtune.»

Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol started life when Gary Lightbody (guitar, vocals) and Mark McClelland (bass, backing vocals) met at Dundee University, and discovered that they had lived a few streets from each other in their native Belfast - and of course a shared desire to make some delicately crafted guitar noise. With the help of Belle & Sebastian's Richard Colburn on drums until Jonny Quinn could travel from Belfast to join the band full-time, the band (then called Polarbear until legal issues later forced the change) were snapped up by Jeepster on the strength of the ultra-rare single 'Starfighter Pilot', released through Electric Honey records, the label which also has the super-ultra-rare 'Tigermilk' by B&S to its name.

After releasing the critically ignored debut album Songs For Polar Bears at the turn of the century, Snow Patrol went on to release what should have been their breakthrough album When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up in 2001, and even though the radio exposure clicked into place this time around, Jeepster's advertising budget was poor.

Relations between Jeepster and the Patrol soon soured before they parted company, Jeepster folding soon after. Snow Patrol retreated back to Belfast to write and record third album Final Straw off their own backs, before securing a major deal with Fiction/Polydor. Having worked with Iain Archer as something of a fourth member on the second album, they instead recruited Belfast boy Nathan Connolly from local act Fuel for what was to follow.

They still needed some luck though, and it came one morning when their friend Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray chased Jo "The World's Most Mainstream Hippy" Whiley down the road one day in the summer of 2003 clutching a copy of 'Run'. Even though 'Spitting Games' was the forthcoming single, the radio play it received was negligible, and before long 'Run' hit both the airwaves and the charts.. and then everywhere else.

Sensing the indie-kids wanted Coldplay instead of Rock Music, the record label set about releasing all the slow tracks from the zillion-selling Final Straw, earning them some kind of reputation as indie bedwetters. As the gruelling tour schedule wound down, Mark was unceremoniously kicked out of the band one night without discussion (he alledges) for reasons which have remained top secret, and Paul from Terra Diablo joined as his replacement immediately. They also welcomed on board long-standing but, until then, unofficial fifth member Tom for keyboards and electronic wizardy.

Fourth album Eyes Open was released May 2006.

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Bloc Party

Original DiS biog:

Bloc Party (they were formerly listed on these pages under the name Union) are a four piece from London who peddle a fine line of taut riffology, sounding not unlike that ever-popular New York five piece duelling with Fugazi in an art rock-shaped blender. With tunes to boot. Dynamic, wirey entertainment.

Think: Gang Of Four, The Cure, The Strokes and all that schtick. They are fab.

Bloc Party are:

Kele Okereke - vocals, guitar
Russell Lissack - guitar, floppy hair
Gordon Moakes - bass and backing vocals
Matt Tong - drums, ties

After much A&R battling, they signed to Wichita in the UK for their record deal, and EMI for their publishing. They are also signed to Vice in the USA.

NEW DiS biog:

We first stumbled across Bloc Party when they played under the name The Angel Range as the first-on at Camden’s Dublin Castle at the tail end of 2002. We don’t actually remember much of it back then. They weren’t all that.

In fact, when DiS properly ‘stumbled across’ Bloc Party they were, for some unfathomable but thankfully short-lived reason, called Diet. They’d emailed and asked if they could send a demo and where it should be sent to. An unusually on-form DiS journo said “I’ll have that”. By the time the demo (on a plain CDR without even a track-listing to its name) reached us they’d changed the name to Union. It was, to use a journalistic cliché, like someone had fed The Strokes some very good amphetamines and introduced them to The Cure. It made us go ping! and then some. The tracks were This Is Not A Competition and The Answer. It got reviewed, and there was some rejoicing. “We’ve been offered gigs and everything,” Kele later said. Come mid-2003 and there was a second demo. Union and their friends Redjetson sat their arses in DiS’ new Stoke Newington abode and set about posting their CDs in packages together to various ‘industry’ folk. “Right messy bastards, they were,” one witness was heard to comment.

In the meantime, Kele had read with interest about a new band called Franz Ferdinand. They sounded like they were into the same sort of things as Union, so he went to one of their gigs. Spotting Radio One/6 Music DJ Steve Lamacq in the crowd, he handed him a CD. One was also thrust into the hands of Franz. Lamacq played the track She’s Hearing Voices on his Radio 1 show, declaring the song “genius” and inviting them to record a live session. At this point, the music industry’s ears began to pick up. By September, the band had discovered another Union in east London, so changed their name to Bloc Party – based on housing block parties (minus the ‘k’, just for aesthetic reasons) rather than anything to do with the Eastern Bloc – and got invited to play Franz’s now-legendary ‘warehouse’ gig at the Electrowerkz in London’s Angel, as part of the Domino label’s anniversary celebrations. Around this time they were also whoring themselves out to any venue that would have them, sometimes playing several London gigs in a week. That year they were to play no less than five times for DiS and DiS promotions offshoot Last Band Standing, including a hastily arranged gig at Brixton Windmill with Twisted Charm which saw them play to 12 people and barely covering the £40 they needed for the taxi in which the drums were carried. In December that year they played the Barfly with Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies and Reagan (now called Fans Of Kate), where they were seen for the first time by Simon White, the one-time Menswe@r guitarist (ask your big brother) who is now Bloc Party’s manager, at which he rejoices.

2004 is when things really did go crazy. The A&R men pounced on them and deals were offered left, right and centre. Before anything was signed they put out She’s Hearing Voices on 7” on Trash Aesthetics, the label run by a couple of young chaps called Rob and Tim (the latter had promoted the first ever Angel Range gig at the Verge in Kentish Town). After that came another one-off single for Moshi Moshi, entitled Banquet, which some people had the nerve to compare to The Police. The accompanying video was a low-budget b&w affair in which Kele looked utterly paranoid. Shoved on the road to learn their craft, they played a few dates with Graham Coxon. There was rejoicing at this. After all, he is God.

The band signed their publishing to The Man (aka EMI) but their record deal came from the cool, creative indie label Wichita. And there was more rejoicing. The first fruit for Wichita was the single Little Thoughts, a live favourite, at which point the hype for the band was creeping up to fever pitch. It hit the Top 40. And there was more rejoicing. It was followed up the frantic guitar duelling of Helicopter - its name chosen purely because Kele liked the word and not because XTC had a song of the same name – which became their first Top 30 hit. And, you guessed it, we all did rejoice just that little bit harder. Their ‘proper’ TV debut came not long after on BBC2’s almost-legendary ‘Later…’, which saw them guest alongside Interpol and Elton John amongst others. A truly bizarre moment. They played Helicopter and another live fave, the equally frantic Like Eating Glass.

At time of writing, their Paul Epworth-produced debut album Silent Alarm was due for release – copies having already been leaked onto the internet. There’s no doubt that 2005 is the year Bloc Party become absolutely massive. Brixton Windmill to Brixton Academy in the space of a 18 months is pretty good going.

by adie nunn, january 2005»

Blur

Blur are...

• Damon Albarn - vocals, guitar, keyboards
• Alex James - bass
• Dave Rowntree - drums
• Graham Coxon - guitar (left 2003)

The leading lights of the Britpop era that weren't Oasis, Blur began their career with the lightweight baggy pop album Leisure in 1991, before pre-empting the nationalism of Britpop with Modern Life Is Rubbish in 1993. The phenominally successful albums Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995) followed, before the band decided to dramatically change course. Blur (1997) and 13 (1999) were heavily influenced by US lo-fi rock and both continued their chart-topping tally. Arguments between Albarn and Coxon led to the latter departing before the release of the long-awaited Think Tank in 2003, with many believing the band will finally split up in its wake. Tom Edwards

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Keane

"... somewhere between a scuffed Coldplay and a frankly bewildered Beautiful South," according to Steve Lamacq.

Biog half-inched from their website....

Vocals: Tom Chaplin, 24
Piano: Tim Rice-Oxley, 27
Drums: Richard Hughes, 28

When Keane finish a day at their rehearsal studio, they fling open their studio doors and find that dozens of cows have appeared, as if by some bovine twist on Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Welcome to Battle: a small, happy-go-lucky Sussex village. Not much has happened here since 1066, and even then Battle's only claim to fame was cruelly taken away. You can't call something the Battle Of Battle, they said, because that would sound stupid. So the honour went to Hastings, leaving generations of Battle residents to sit and wait patiently for something else to call their own. And now they have it: Keane, three men whose beguilingly beautiful music will put not just a sleepy Sussex village but the entire country back on the global music map.

This time last year Keane were utterly unknown, but if you're thinking that the recent frenzy of press and media coverage - and a deal with music goliath Universal Island - seems to have come overnight, prepare to think again.

The story begins back at the tail end of the last century, at a Hastings secondary school. Tim Rice-Oxley and Richard Hughes, both in the same year, are firm friends but new boy Tom Chaplin, a couple of years younger, soon gets chatting about their mutual love of music: he's just bought Michael Jackson's 'Bad', and Tim's still listening to Tears For Fears' 'Songs From The Big Chair'. Nowadays Tom laughs at the suggestion that Tim and Richard were the cool older boys, but he admits to being chuffed when Tim became his "piano guru" for after-school lessons. When Tim and Richard formed their own band with other friends, Tom spent the best part of two years waiting impatiently for an invitation. And when the day came - in 1997 - he was over the moon. "I have since decided that Tim and Richard actually joined my band," Tom laughs. "They just didn't realise."

The three band members would eventually call themselves Keane, after a kind old local lady who'd look after Tom when he was young, but when Tom cleared off to South Africa on his gap year, the pace slowed to a near standstill. Thing is, while Tom was spreading his love around the underprivileged kids of Africa, Richard and Tim were still hard at work on their music. When Richard went to collect Tom from the airport twelve months later, his first words were, "We've got a gig in ten days". The boys still have their setlist from that gig at the Hope & Anchor. Friends loved it at the time, though in light of more recent gigs everyone has admitted it was, in Tom's own words, "a pile of shit". Tom also recalls that the sound engineer told him he had the loudest voice he'd ever heard. He's still not sure whether that was intended as a compliment.

Having now decided that they would Take It Quite Seriously, the band took their equipment and Tom's loud voice out to France for three months, messing around in a studio with analogue synths and some songs Tim had been working on - some of which will eventually see the light of day on Keane's debut album. The tracks were heavily programmed, with synths all over the place and even, sometimes, drum machines where real skins should have been, simply because there hadn't been room in the studio for a proper drum kit. "You can't get better than real drums," points out Richard, the drummer. "After a couple of months we realised that we'd lost sight of what we wanted to do. The electronics went. And once we'd cleared out all the clutter, it sounded perfect.."

When the band returned to the UK they'd start making trips up to London, soundtracked on the van stereo by cheap cassettes picked up in Battle's myriad second-hand shops, and members' personal favourites - Paul Simon, Pet Shop Boys, The Smiths, and "old people's music" (Tom's description) like Jim Reeves. It was a difficult time for the band Tim and Tom shared a flat in Stoke Newington and tried to get money together for rehearsal time - very bohemian, says Tim; very skint, clarifies Tom. Richard took a job as a secretary at the BBC (Tom insists that he went into the office in drag), while Tom worked at a publishing company in a role whose chief responsibility was "carrying boxes".

Suddenly, things began to look up. After signing with BMG Publishing in the middle stages of 2002, Keane decided that they need to get out there and play live because, Tim says, "that's what you're supposed to do". They booked in two acoustic gigs, one at the Betsey Trotwood, another at the 12 Bar Club. Fierce Panda mini-mogul Simon Williams caught the 12 Bar gig, and asked Keane to put out a single on his label.

They chose 'Everybody's Changing', a sweeping, majestic ode to feeling utterly lost when everyone else seems to know the score, which was recorded for zero pence. "The recording session was a little rough and ready - the song was literally made in a room in someone's house," Tom laughs. "And we had to go round to a different house to mix it, because the speakers broke." It would be difficult to find origins more desperately indie, yet 'Everybody's Changing' sounded like a Number One chart hit before you even got to the chorus, and it immediately began turning heads. Steve Lamacq decided that it was one of the best singles in Fierce Panda's entire history - not bad for a label which housed early releases from Coldplay, Idlewild and Supergrass. He declared that Keane were "somewhere between a scuffed Coldplay and a frankly bewildered Beautiful South", hammering the single on his show and eventually calling the band in for a session on BBC 6Music. (Tom still insists that Richard used his time at the BBC to hypnotise Lamacq, though this is not actually true.) Xfm were on the case, too, with Clare Sturgess requesting a session from the band, while a Sunday Times profile noted that Keane were responsible for "three and a half minutes of pure pop loveliness". NME wrote that 'Everybody's Changing' was "indisputably mighty" and compared Keane with 'Kid A'-era Radiohead covering Aha.

What all these people spotted - and what the rest of the world will shortly find out for themselves - is that despite the reference points, Keane's music really isn't like anything else that's out there right now. "Our songs have universal themes and are emotional," Tim nods. "People want emotion. But that seems like quite a rare thing these days. I don't think there are many bands who are making music which actually means anything. There's nothing to identify with." For each of Keane's three members, being able to express themselves through their music is a godsend. "Like a lot of people, we've gone into making music because we're not terribly brilliant at expressing things," Tim explains. "None of us are your bog-standard, confident, outgoing rockstar types." Nor, however, are they clichéd images of the tortured, angst-ridden rock outcast. "Instead of yelling about how emotional we are, it's more a case of, 'Come in. Let's have a chat. Tell us all about it. I'll put the kettle on'. "

Things, at last, were beginning to gather pace. Keane's first UK tour saw Tom, Richard and Tim performing at venues up and down the country to audiences of between five and 300 people. They didn't look like many other bands - there was no guitarist, a factor which might send some purists screaming into the hills but Richard says really wasn't a conscious decision - "if we'd had one more member we'd have been a quartet, if we'd had one less we'd have been a duo". As the live shows gathered momentum, Tom grew into a stage persona every bit as unique as Keane's music. He's not that big in real life, but put him on a stage and he'll fill it. "It's a mesmerising experience," Tom smiles. "One minute I'm getting on stage, the next I realise half an hour has passed and the gig's over." Why the feeling of being at home? "I'm the only one standing up," he reasons, but it's not quite that. "It just feels natural," he concludes - and when you see Keane on stage, you'll agree.

By the time spring 2003 rolled around, the boys were out on the road again, and labels were already putting offers on the table. "All we were after was the opportunity to make the right record with the right people," Tom shrugs - which is where Island stepped in. "We've never wanted to be a small, cult band," Tom adds. "We want to get our music heard by as many people as we possibly can, because that's why we're making it."

Throw in a startling appearance in the New Bands tent at the Reading and Leeds Carling Weekend, and we're right up to date. The boys' second single for Fierce Panda - and their last before officially entering the fold at Island - is another epic, skewed tale of confusion and love, with Tom's vocal gymnastics once again defying belief. And, once again, it sounds like all the bands who've ever meant anything to anyone, but at the same time it only sounds like Keane.

"People often say that they wish they'd been around in the 60s," Tom says. "But we're happy just where we are. We love rock's back catalogue, and now we've got a chance to add to it. After all, tunes never go out of fashion."

September 2003»

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is Trent Reznor, essentially. Band members have chopped and changed over the years.

Official website

Selected discography:
Pretty Hate Machine LP, 1989
The Downward Spiral LP, 1994
The Fragile double LP, 1999
With Teeth LP, 2005
Year Zero LP, 2007

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are...

• Karen O - vocals
• Nick Zinner - guitar
• Brian Chase - drums

Indie-punk with the feminine touch, all the way from the big apple.

Photo by Sonia Melot»

Kings of Leon

Jared Followill - bass
Matthew Followill - lead guitar
Nathan Followill - drums/vocals
Caleb Followill - guitar/vocals

This is not some weird Duran Duran-style coincidence - yes, they are related. Three brothers and one cousin from Tennessee.»

Razorlight

Photo by Su Goodacre. Bio from their website.

London's most passionate and wired underground rock'n'roll band.

Formed in the summer of 2002 around 22 year old frontman/singer/writer Johnny Borrell, they existed for two months without a name, until one night at a Warholian squat party in a derelict factory in the East End, their singer found himself speaking in tongues. Improvising lyrics at the end of the set, Johnny was passed down words from the watchful muses above, and out of his mouth came the sound... rezorright... raisaaarite....razorlight. Now they had a name they could proceed to blow away every run of the mill garage rock band, with a set of serrated, transatlantic, poetic songs played with white knuckle intensity and delivered by a singer with total, natural charisma.

Night after long night they'd been holed up in a rat-plagued low-boho rehearsal studio on the east edge of town, shaping the scribbled visions of urchin-savant Johnny into grooved, twitching, adrenalised guitar pieces and making occasional live foreys to support The Von Bondies or The Libertines. Finally they could play shows where the converts in the crowd could happily shout 'You are the bollocks!' without adding, in frustration 'What's your band called?'. A name is nothing and everything but in this case the razorlight in question might also be the clear, sharp light of exposure which lets you see if there's spirit in what's before you.Rrazorlight have spirit like the Caspian Sea has oil.

There was never even a plan to form a band. The plan was to avoid forming a band, but then the songs that were taking shape in Johnny's battered notebook - scribbled on bus rides, in bars, in the dead of night, while assaulted by the big city, by febrile girls, and by fake culture - dictated that a glimmering noise had to be arranged around the words. So it was that through the summer of 2002, Johnny sought out three young lovers of sinuous street noise - Carl Dalemo (bass), Bjorn Agren (guitar) and Christian Smith (drums). Agren bumped into Johnny at a Queens Of The Stoneage gig and his angular, driving guitar style proved to be the perfect foil for the singer. And Agren had a Swedish mate, Carl, who was already famous for being thrown out of venues around London and for being the quintessential Adonis of punk bass. With Johnny's longstanding friend Christian on drums, they had a unit of perfectly complimentary dysfunction and uniquely interlocked musicality.

By late summer Razorlight were sending precious antique amps to their death in basement gigs and support slots around London. In early November they followed The White Stripes into the renowned analogue haven studio, Toerag, to record three songs over three days. The resulting trio - 'Rip It Up', 'Rock'n'Roll Lies' and 'In The City' emerged as a scorching advertisement for the band and started to pull in serious label interest. They sent one CD to one DJ - John Kennedy at XFM, who immediately began playing the songs. From San Francisco corporate record label offices (listening on line) to the dormitaries of London boarding schools for girls (listening in bed) people began to realise that something very special was going on.

If there is an edge to Razorlight's music and lyrics it owes a lot to Johnny's meandering, hole-in-my-shoe path, prior to setting up the group.Two years ago he was to be found hanging around at Libertines gigs, looking like a young Mick Jones from The Clash, clutching a novel by William Faulkner and a large but tatty book of scrawled, semi complete midnight-eyed lyrics and poems. For over a year he studied the great blues players and American folk artists from Leadbelly onwards, playing small gigs across London and living a life of contemporary skid row reality. For that year his stage clothes amounted to a tee shirt and one pair of jeans, gradually splitting and ripping to the point of rags. These are still (usually) his stagewear. For a while he lived in the boiler room above The Verge in Kentish town. Turning up at a gig would often depend on whether he could jump the turnstiles at the nearest tube. One night he lost his entire book of lyrics in a bet gone wrong. It had always been Johnny's contention that you had to know the basics of rock'n'roll before you could move ahead with your own style and having put in the time with the music of the old greats he knew he had to arrange his own set of parameters. Razorlight are the brilliant realisation of that need to move on into something sharp and sexy and immediate. You could spend a week trying to pin down what's exposed in the Razorlight beam. Something London, something New York. A kind of serrated romance. A ghost of a writer here and a guitar player there. Something beaten up, that won't give in. But all you really have to know is that Razorlight have the best songs and the best spirit in any town. They are a bet, gone right.»

Lily Allen

Singing and songwriting daughter of actor Keith Allen, Lily Allen hit the headlines in the summer of 2006 when her debut single, 'Smile', raced to number one. Her first long-player, Alright, Still, reached number two in the album chart.

Regularly outspoken and often amusing, Allen's remarks regarding celebrity culture and her alleged pop peers are always worthy of attentions.

Website
MySpace

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Regina Spektor

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Jason Mraz

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TV On The Radio

TV On The Radio are erstwhile Brooklyn boys David Sitek, Tunde Adebimpe, Kyp Malone, Gerard Smith and Jaleel Bunton.

Founding member Sitek - who has produced albums for US cool set names the Liars and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs - met singer and lyricist Adebimpe in 2000 when the two became neighbours in a Brooklyn apartment building and they were soon performing as an improvisational two-piece.

Their ranks were swelled by the arrival of guitarist Malone (also sweet falsetto harmony vocals), bassist Smith and drummer Bunton.

Their debut EP, 'Young Liars' was released on cult indie label Touch & Go, in summer 2003, which has been followed by first album, 'Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes', which is released via 4AD in the UK, and T&G again in the US.»

Katy Perry

The American Lily Allen? Probs.

MySpace

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The Mars Volta

The Mars Volta is (2007):

Omar Rodríguez-López
Cedric Bixler-Zavala
Isaiah "Ikey" Owens
Juan Alderete
Thomas Pridgen
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez
Adrián Terrazas-González
Paul Hinojos

Official website: here
MySpace: here

The Mars Volta grew from the band De Facto, which featured Cedric and Omar during, and after, their time with acclaimed punk act At The Drive-In. Moving from Texas to Long Beach, California, the band's sound evolved and their first release, the Tremulant EP, was released via GSL in 2002.

Studio LPs:
De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003)
Frances The Mute (2005)
Amputechture (2006)
The Bedlam in Goliath (2008)

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Mogwai

Mogwai are...

• Stuart Braithwaite - vocals, guitar
• John Cummings - guitar
• Dominic Aitchison - bass
• Barry Burns - keyboards
• Martin Bulloch - drums
• Brendan O'Hare - keyboards (left 1998)

Drawing influences from a whole range of remarkably similar post-rock bands, Mogwai have slowly become one of the biggest underground bands of the last ten years. Critically adored, they manage geniunely heart achingly beautiful songs and also have the ability to make ears bleed (often at the same time).

Album discography:

Young Team (1997)
Come On Die Young (1999)
Rock Action (2001)
Happy Songs For Happy People (2003)
Mr Beast (2006)
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack, 2006)

Mogwai have also released a number of extended-play singles and a BBC sessions compilation.

Watch 'Travel Is Dangerous' from Mr Beast:

Watch 'Friend of the Night' from Mr Beast

Watch 'Hunted By A Freak' from Happy Songs...

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The Ting Tings

"The Ting Tings sound like Beth Ditto slipping into an elasticated polka-dot number and bumping one of the Pipettes off stage mid-handclap."

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Of Montreal

Of Montreal hail from Athens, Georgia. They've released five long-players in the States and built a strong following through extensive coast to coast touring and their close links with the Elephant 6 collective.

Their new album, Aldhils Arboretum, is available through the Track and Field Organisation and will be the band's first official UK release.

There are few bands whose music is as unabashedly happy as Of Montreal. Their songs soar and weave with energy and goodwill, daring listeners to walk away without a smile on their face. Listening to Of Montreal recalls the sweet aural psychedelia of Syd Barrett or Robyn Hitchcock.

Of Montreal's music floats and spins. Most of Kevin Barnes' songs are bittersweet paeans to heartbreak. Even the band's name commemorates a love gone wrong (he met a girl from Montreal, they fell in love, and she broke his heart, so he started a band and named it after her hometown). But heartbreak be damned! Everything is OK when you're listening to Of Montreal.»

Doves

• Jimi Goodwin - vocals, bass, guitar
• Jez Williams - guitar, keyboards
• Andy Williams - drums

Andy and Jez Williams met Jimi Goodwin when they were 15. They started playing together 10 years ago but, as Jimi notes, "We were wagging school and jamming way before that". As Sub Sub (graduates of a Hacienda-inspired Manchester clubland explosion of the late eighties) the band scored some dance inflected hits which kind of painted them into a corner. The number three single 'Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)' was released on New Order manager Rob Gretton's label. "We kind of lost our way for a few years", admits Jez.

The last recordings as Sub Sub, featuring guest vocalists Bernard Sumner from New Order and Tricky, and tracks like the expansive and decidedly un-disco 'Firesuite' all but demanded a name change mindful of a rockier and more experimental direction. And if 'Ain't No Love' was a right turn for the hell of it, then 1998's 'Cedar EP' saw them back on course - displaying intentions and influences they had carried with them most of their lives. Three EPs lovingly packaged and released on their own Casino label ('Cedar EP' October '98, 'Sea Song' May '99 and 'Here It Comes' October '99) garnered a raft of glowing reviews. Doves signed to Heavenly Recordings and consolidated with the eerie 'The Cedar Room' in March 2000.

Lost Souls, a debut LP released at the same time, was a genuine thing of beauty, wrought from hard bitten experience. Nobody could have planned for the attention it brought them. "Do we plan things? No!!" says Jimi. Since then they have toured and talked and toured some more. Unafraid of hard graft, they made time to record wherever and whenever. The Last Broacast (2002), a record which realises all expectations, is the unbelievably assured result. These are early days but, save a new LP from a miraculously resurrected Jimi Hendrix, we are talking about a record that clearly deserves early reservation in those end of year lists. "We hope people will hear more optimism in there than last time. We can only write about what happens and what has happened has been good so some of that is starting to shine through in the writing," says Andy.

Biography from Heavenly100 Website»

Manic Street Preachers

• James Dean Bradfield - vocals, guitar
• Sean Moore - drums
• Nicky Wire - bass
• Richey James - guitar (left 1995)

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Lady GaGa

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Pet Shop Boys

Antique electro-pop duo.

Photo courtesy of Emma Porter.»

M83

M83 is Anthony Gonzalez.

MySpace

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James Morrison

"An extraordinarily soulful voice" says The Evening Standard. But that's a right shit 'paper.

If your mother likes Morrison, kill her. She'll be grateful, really.

MySpace

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Elbow

• Guy Garvey - vocals
• Mark Potter - guitar
• Craig Potter - keyboards
• Peter Turner - bass
• Richard Jupp - drums

Elbow met ten years ago at sixth-form college in Bury, a little north of Manchester. Outsiders in a run-down, narrow-minded town, they bonded over U2, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Red Hot Chili Peppers, eventually forming a band called Soft. For a while they played what Pete calls "chilled funk" and were, it's generally agreed, "shit". Relocating to Manchester itself - most of the band getting work at local underground venue The Roadhouse - they changed their name to Elbow ("the most sensuous word in the world," according to a nurse in Dennis Potter's television-series, The Singing Detective) and began to evolve a new sound, wherein driving organ, star-kissed guitars, Guy Garvey's fallen-angel vocals and tough grooves were merged into (sometimes eight-minute long!) songs. After a patient battle with the industry- they were inexplicably dropped by Universal in 1997, before being re-signed to indie label Uglyman- they released their debut album Asleep in the Back in 2001, which earned them a Mercury Prize nomination. Since then there has been 2002's Cast of Thousands and 2005's Leaders of the Free World, both seminal records which have sealed their reputation has the thinking man's Coldplay. They remain highly involved in Manchester's music scene, producing songs for I Am Kloot and (Brummie Manc wannabes) Editors.

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Jane's Addiction

One of the finest, and most idiosyncratic, bands of the last twenty years, and the first 'alternative' rock band, Jane’s Addiction formed in Los Angeles in 1986 and initially released a live album (recorded at the Roxy in LA) in 1987 as 'XXX', or 'Jane's Addiction', before signing to Warner Brothers and releasing two studio albums : 'Nothings Shocking'(1988), and 'Ritual De Lo Habitual'(1990).

The original lineup was :
Perry Farrell, an eccentric local singer/artist, Dave Navarro, a guitarist fresh from the gothy side of the punk/metal scene, Eric Avery, a bass player harking from the reggae/dub contingent of the California punk world and the very young, very keen Steven Perkins on drums and percussion. Farrell is reputed to have worked closely with the young drummer, pointing him in the direction of the Santarian tribal rhythms that were to become his, and the bands trademark, as he competed with Jimmy Chamberlin from the 'Pumpkins, to lift the crown of 'the best rock drummer in the world' from the place where Stewart Copeland had dropped it. Together with Dave Navarro's cathartic soaring lead/delicately textured/ultra heavy guitar playing and Eric Avery's superb use of space, counterpoint, rhythm and melody for his bass parts, they formed the backdrop to Perry's multi layered technicolour vocal that switched from the most ethereal of breaths to the blare of a klaxxon. Jane's Addiction managed to create a jammed out musical chemistry that was, and is still, unsurpassed.

Live, they were legendary, a journey and also an unstoppable force of nature. Always outsiders feeling more alienated by the minute by the conservative US entertainment industry, and by their own label, their anger built up, as did their drug use,and the spirit of fun and irreverance that threaded through their earlier shows made way for the intense power, rage and beauty of the 'Ritual..' live shows. The adrenaline rush of this death or glory phase was always going to have an end, and eventually Jane's Addiction burned out and imploded, splitting in 1992 after protracted infighting, including a notorious onstage punch-up between Farrell and Navarro during the first Lollapalooza Festival Tour.

Perry Farrell, after creating the Lollapalooza touring Festival/Fair/Circus in the first place (with the aid of Jane's Addiction's tour manager,Ted Gardner) went on to be it's creative director for a number of years and, with Steven Perkins (who also featured on Nine Inch Nails 'Downward Spiral') formed Porno For Pyros in 1992, with Peter Stefano and Martyn LeNoble from Thelonius Monster. PFP released two studio albums, 'Porno for Pyros(1993), and 'Good God's Urge'(1996).Both bore more than a passing resemblance to the 'lighter' side of Jane's Addiction. PFP headlined the Reading Festival in 1993.
Dave Navarro and Eric Avery went on to form 'Deconstruction', releasing a self titled solo album in 1994, before Navarro went on to join The Red Hot Chili Peppers, recording one album with them ,'One Hot Minute', and playing on Alanis Morissette's hit album, 'Jagged Little Pill', with Flea (who had previously guested, with Angelo Moore from Fishbone as the horn section on 'Nothing's Shocking'.
In 1997 there was a brief reformation tour, featuring Farrell, Navarro and Perkins, and Flea on bass, with Warner Brothers simultaneously releasing a live/outtakes album, 'Kettlewhistle'

Jane's Addiction recently reformed and did some gigs, including a show in the UK. The current line up features original members Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins and new bass player Chris Chaney (formerly with Alanis Morissette and Rob Zombie). A new album is due on 22nd July 2003 to be titled 'Strays, released on Capitol, followed by touring.»

The Game

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Digitalism

Indie-Electro-Punk group, otherwise known as Jence & Isi T, with a sideline in remixing alternative bands like The Futureheads, Tom Vek and more.»

Paolo Nutini

Singer songwriter in the major label stylee.»

Maximo Park

Northeastern indie-rockers with a dash of artiness, poetry and synth in their wired, poppy sound.

Paul Smith (vocals)
Duncan Lloyd (guitar)
Archis Tiku (bass guitar)
Lukas Wooller (keyboards)
Tom English (drums)

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Crystal Castles

Punky Gameboy bitXcore from FASHIONABLE Canada.

www.myspace.com/crystalcastles»

Pendulum

Pendulum are:

• Paul Harding
• Gareth McGrillen
• Rob Swire

Pendulum are one of the biggest selling, and most well known drum 'n' bass bands of all time. The band hail from Perth, Australia, and have released two albums to date.»

Tiga

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The Specials

Despite only existing as a band (defacto line up) for three years, The Specials remain one of the most important and influential acts of their period.

Forming in 1977 as the Coventry Automatics it took until late 1978 for the band to finally settle on a name, a musical direction, a line up (consisting: Roddy Byers - guitar, John Bradbury - drums, Terry Hall - vocals, Lynval Golding - guitar, Horace Panter - bass, Jerry Dammers - keyboards, Neville Staples - vocals) and most importantly an attitude and an image.

The 2-Tone image and ethos was primarily concocted by Jerry Dammers who, drawing influence from original Jamaican Rude boys such as Walt Jabsco, created the familiar 2-Tone check and look which accompanied a lot of their releases and indeed a lot of similarly influenced bands since then. After releasing their debut single ‘Gangsters’ (UK #6) themselves through a distribution deal with Rough Trade the band and the label were finally signed to Chrysalis with the option to release other acts material through the 2-Tone brand (Including The Selecter, Madness and The Beat).

Their debut album (The Specials, UK #7) was hastily released, produced by Elvis Costello, it was predominantly a recording of their live show and kick-started a long period of fervent touring which saw the madness and chaos surrounding 2-Tone and The Specials spiral out of control with many scenes of racist/anti-racist violence, mass stage invasions and support acts dropping off and on due to these pressures.

Despite the constant touring the band found time to record and release a second album (More Specials, UK #5) which showed a marked change in direction from their ‘Ska-Punk’ sound, inspired by Jerry Dammers’ interest in Lounge music and Muzac it fuses an odd combination of styles, but was however well received by fans and critics alike.

By this point the cracks in the Specials were beginning to show, the pressures of constant worldwide touring were taking their toll, coupled with Jerry Dammers insistence on a certain style and attitude to the band members conduct forced the band into a six month break to revitalise and write songs.

The only songs to ever surface out of this period were the tracks that formed the single release ‘Ghost Town’, the result of tense and stressful recording sessions with most band members believing it to be too odd and strange, it was finally released in June 1981. Remaining at Number 1 for three weeks it became the anthem and backdrop to the nationwide riots that blighted the summer of 1981, with Jerry Dammers proclaiming it the “culmination of all that the Specials stood for”. Shortly after this The Specials split with the band members splintering into several new groups – Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples became the Fun Boy Three, Roddy Byers started the Tear Jerkers, John Bradbury formed the JB all-stars and Jerry Dammers and Horace Panter remained to form The Special A.K.A who remained on 2-Tone but were far less successful bar the anthemic ‘Nelson Mandela’ single.

The Specials were one of the few bands who remained true to themselves despite their successes, which possibly helped contribute to their eventual downfall. The pressures of the real world of the music business restricting them from developing and exposing the new talent they wanted to through the 2-Tone label.

by chris chinchilla, jan 2005»

Foals

MySpace

Combining poly-rhythmic Casio guitars, pulsing analogue synth, aching vocal melodies and chopping drum-lines, Foals create organic agitated dance-pop with a tangible air of achieving the impossible. This is accessible techno for kids who hate techno but love guitars.

The band is:

Yannis Philippakis
Jack Bevan
Jimmy Smith
Edwin Congreave
Walter Gervers

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Eagles Of Death Metal

Josh Homme et al play swampy stoner rock.

WEBSITE!»

James

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Ocean Colour Scene

Ocean Colour Scene are...

• Simon Fowler - vocals, guitar
• Steve Cradock - guitar
• Damon Minchella - bass
• Oscar Harrison - drums

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Ladyhawke

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God Is An Astronaut

Co. Wicklow based trio formed by brothers Torsten and Niels Kinsella in 2002.

Website
MySpace

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The Script

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Friendly Fries

MySpace

Friendly Fires are comprised of Ed Mac, Jack Savidge and Edd Gibson.

Formed out of the ashes of ‘First Day Back’, the St Albans hardcore band, they formed while still at school. Friendly Fires make razor-sharp post-punk that burns through the memories of all the dismal, skinny jeaned ‘80s revivalists you’ve been hearing these past few years. Sounding brittle, knotty and urgent, Friendly Fires are the real deal. With no fat or padding on them at all, their songs possess an elegant sparseness.

As guitarist Edd Gibson notes: “The hardest thing I think is to know what to leave out, to know when something is enough.” But amongst all the stripped-back twists, there are also moments full of deep, blessed-out melodies. “I love lush, massive, tingly chords; the My Bloody Valentine sound,” says bassist and singer Ed MacFarlane.

Biog from Last FM

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Squeeze

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White Lies

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Glasvegas

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The Saturdays

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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds have released over ten studio albums between now and their 1984 debut From Her To Eternity. They are hugely well-respected in the post-punk/indie rock fraternities and have several members have contributed work to bands such as The Birthday Party, Crime And The City Solution and Vanity Set.

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2 Many DJ's

The Soulwax side project which is the king of the bootlegs!»

La Roux

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Florence and The Machine

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Crookers

MySpace

Crookers are DJ Phra and Bot, two DJs/producers who met in 2003 and soon got to work together as they had the same tastes and a similar musical background.

Both have been producing and DJing on their own before creating the Crookers team: Bot was introduced to music learning to play instruments like piano and guitar and then moved to synths, turntables and sequencers while Phra started djing at the early age of 11 and then was introduced to the Italian hip-hop scene as an MC.

All these influences are mixed up in their sets with the special add of their sounds done with the legendary MPC sampler.

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Peter Doherty

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Dreadzone

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The Hours

http://www.myspace.com/thehoursuk»

You Me At Six

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Fight Like Apes

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Wallis Bird

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Aeroplane

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Tom Middleton

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Daniel Merriweather

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hockey

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Hudson Mohawke

MySpace

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Republic of Loose

Michael Pyro: Lead Vocals

Brez: Guitar

Benjamin Loose: Bass

Dave Pyro: Guitar

Coz Noleon: Drums»

Gary Go

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Miss Kittin & The Hacker

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Swedish House Mafia

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