Travis

Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy (lead vocalist, guitar, piano, banjo), Dougie Payne (bass guitar, backing vocals), Andy Dunlop (lead guitar, banjo, keyboards, backing vocals) and Neil Primrose (drums, percussion). They named themselves after the Harry Dean Stanton character Travis Henderson from the film Paris, Texas.

The band's debut album Good Feeling, released on 8 September 1997 entered the UK Album Charts at number 9, spending 9 weeks inside the UK Top 100. Singles released from the album were not too successful, with the album's lead single "All I Want to Do Is Rock" charting at number 39 on the UK Singles Charts. However, it wasn't until the release of their second studio album The Man Who that Travis began to develop a name for themselves in the music industry, with continued success into the 2000s. The Man Who charted at number 1 on the UK Album Charts, and spent 104 weeks inside the UK Top 100.

Their third studio album, The Invisible Band was released on 11 June 2001, and like The Man Who, The Invisible Band debuted at number 1 on the UK Album Charts, where it remained for 4 weeks in total, and went onto spend a total of 54 weeks inside the UK Top 100 album charts. Although their fourth album, 12 Memories did not make the top spot in the United Kingdom, it debuted at number 3, spending a further 11 weeks on the charts in the UK, and still got certified Platinum status by the BPI. Travis released a compilation album Singles in 2004, debuting at number 4 on the UK Album Charts, released their fifth studio album The Boy With No Name in 2007, debuting at number 4 on the UK Album Charts. and their sixth album was released in September 2008, entitled Ode To J. Smith, debuting at number 20 on the UK Album Charts.

Solo work

Lead singer, Francis Healy released his first solo album entitled Wreckorder in October 2010. Recorded in Berlin, New York and Vermont, and produced by Emery Dobyns (Patti Smith, Noah and the Whale) the album will also feature Paul McCartney, Neko Case and Noah and the Whale's Tom Hobden.

 Discography

• Good Feeling (1997)
• The Man Who (1999)
• The Invisible Band (2001)
• 12 Memories (2003)
• The Boy with No Name (2007)
• Ode to J. Smith (2008)

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Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, Lead/rhythm guitar), Jamie Cook (rhythm/lead guitar), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Helders (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Former members include Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Glyn Jones (lead vocals, rhythm guitar).

The band have released four studio albums: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), Humbug (2009) and Suck It and See (2011), as well as one live album At the Apollo (2007). Their debut album became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, surpassing Oasis' Definitely Maybe and remains the fastest-selling debut album for a band in the UK.

Arctic Monkeys are heralded as one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet (fan-based sites rather than from the band), with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed.

History

Early years and record deal (2002–2005)

They began rehearsing at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend, and played their first gig on 13 June 2003 at The Grapes in Sheffield city-centre. After a few performances in 2003 the band began to record demos at 2fly studios in Sheffield. 17 songs were demoed in all and the collection, now known as 'Under the Boardwalk', were burned on to CDs to give away at gigs, which were promptly file-shared amongst fans. The name 'Beneath the Boardwalk" originated when the first batch of demos were sent around. The first sender, wanting to classify the demos, named them after where he received them, the Boardwalk. Slowly as more demos were spread, they were all classified under this name. This has led to many people falsely believing that 'Beneath the Boardwalk" was an early album, or that the early demos were all released under this heading. The group did not mind the distribution, saying "we never made those demos to make money or anything. We were giving them away free anyway – that was a better way for people to hear them.", admitting that they did not even know how to get their songs onto the Internet. When asked about the popularity of the band's MySpace site in an interview with Prefix Magazine, the band said that they were unaware what it was, and that the site had originally been created by their fans.

They began to grow in popularity across the north of England, receiving attention from BBC Radio and the British tabloid press. A local amateur photographer, Mark Bull, filmed the band's performances and made the music video to "Fake Tales of San Francisco", releasing it on his website, alongside the contents of Beneath the Boardwalk – a collection of the band's songs which he named after a local music venue. In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released their first single, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys on their own 'Bang Bang' label, featuring the songs "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "From the Ritz to the Rubble". This release was limited to 500 CDs and 1000 7" records, but was also available to download from the iTunes Music Store. Soon after, the band played at the Carling Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, reserved for less known or unsigned bands. Their appearance was hyped by much of the music press and the band was watched by an unusually large crowd.

Eventually, they signed to Domino in June 2005. The band said they were attracted to the "DIY ethic" of Domino owner Laurence Bell, who ran the label from his flat and only signed bands that he liked personally. The UK's Daily Star reported that this was followed in October by a £1 million publishing deal with EMI and a £725,000 contract with Epic Records for the United States. Arctic Monkeys denied this on their website, dubbing the newspaper "The Daily Stir". However, Domino have licensed the Australian and New Zealand publishing rights to EMI and the Japanese rights to independent label Hostess. Their first single with Domino, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", was released on 17 October 2005 and went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, beating Sugababes and Robbie Williams. Two weeks previous to this, they made their first appearance on the cover of NME. Their second single, "When the Sun Goes Down" (previously titled "Scummy"), released on 16 January 2006, also went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 38,922 copies and taking over that position from Shayne Ward. The band's success with little marketing or advertising led some to suggest that it could signal a change in how new bands achieve recognition.

Criticism and controversy

Former Depeche Mode keyboardist Alan Wilder, describing the state of the music industry in an article for Side-Line magazine, used the Arctic Monkeys as an example in his criticism of the use of dynamic range compression in modern recording techniques, calling the mastering technique on the song "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "a bombardment of the most unsubtle, one-dimensional noise."

The release of the EP Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? just three months after their record-breaking debut album has been criticised by some, who have seen it as "money-grabbing" and "cashing in on their success". The band countered that they regularly release new music not to make money, but to avoid the "boredom" of "spending three years touring on one album".

The cover sleeve of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, showing Chris McClure, a friend of the band smoking a cigarette, was criticised by the head of the NHS in Scotland for "reinforcing the idea that smoking is OK". The image on the CD itself is a shot of an ashtray full of cigarettes. The band's product manager denied the accusation, and suggested the opposite – "You can see from the image smoking is not doing him the world of good."

 

 

      Band members

• Alex Turner – lead vocals, lead guitar/rhythm guitar, keyboards (2002–present)
• Jamie Cook – rhythm guitar/lead guitar, piano (2002–present)
• Matt Helders – drums, percussion, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals (2002–present)
• Nick O'Malley – bass, backing vocals (2006–present)

  Discography

• Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
• Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
• Humbug (2009)
• Suck It and See (2011)

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Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish indie rock and post-punk band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar), Bob Hardy (bass guitar), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals), and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion and backing vocals).

The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in the UK Charts,followed by their debut album, Franz Ferdinand, which debuted on the UK album chart at #3. The band went on to win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, and two BRIT Awards in 2005 for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act. NME named Franz Ferdinand as their Album of the Year. From the album, three top-ten singles were released: "Take Me Out", "The Dark of the Matinée", and "This Fire".

The band's second album, You Could Have It So Much Better (2005), was a platinum-selling album in the United Kingdom and gold-selling in the United States. The album topped the UK Album Charts, and made the top ten in the Billboard 200 in the US. The album produced the hit single "Do You Want To", amongst many other singles. After the release of You Could Have It So Much Better, the band took some time recording their third album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, which was released internationally on 26 January 2009, and made the top ten in the United Kingdom and the United States. "Ulysses" was released as the lead single, although "No You Girls" proved to be popular, being their second longest-charting single in the UK, after "Do You Want To" (2005).

The band have been nominated for several Grammy Awards, becoming one of few Scottish bands or artists to be nominated for a Grammy Award. They have been nominated for several BRIT Awards in the UK, and have won an NME Award. With their three studio albums, the band sold over 3 million albums worldwide in 2009.

History

The members of Franz Ferdinand played in various bands during the 1990s, including The Karelia, Yummy Fur, 10p Invaders, and Embryo. Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson played together in Yummy Fur, and subsequently teamed up to write songs. Around the same time, Kapranos taught his friend, Bob Hardy, how to play bass after being given a bass guitar by Mick Cooke of Belle & Sebastian. Kapranos met co-guitarist Nick McCarthy, who had returned to Scotland after studying jazz bass in Germany, in 2001. Franz Ferdinand's longtime sound engineer is Michael Parker.

In May 2003 the band signed to Laurence Bell's independent record label, Domino Records. The band had recorded an EP which they intended to release themselves; it was released by Domino as Darts of Pleasure in the latter part of 2003. The cover art was designed by Thomson. It reached #43 in the UK chart The band won the "Phillip Hall Radar Award" at the NME Awards of 2004, announced in November 2003.

Name

The name of the band was originally inspired by a racehorse called Archduke Ferdinand. After seeing the horse win the Northumberland Plate in 2001, the band began to discuss Archduke Franz Ferdinand and thought it would be a good band name because of the alliteration of the name and the implications of the Archduke's death (his assassination was a significant factor in the lead-up to World War I).

"Mainly we just liked the way it sounded," says Bob. "We liked the alliteration." "He was an incredible figure as well," continues Alex. "His life, or at least the ending of it, was the catalyst for the complete transformation of the world and that is what we want our music to be. But I don't want to over-intellectualize the name thing. Basically a name should just sound good ... like music." Paul offered, "I like the idea that, if we become popular, maybe the words Franz Ferdinand will make people think of the band instead of the historical figure."

The song "Take Me Out", on the band's first album, was the second single to be released by the band. The single release of "Take Me Out" came with the B-side, "All for You, Sophia", based on the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, whose name was Sophie, not Sophia. The band chose the name Sophia rather than Sophie to give the song a better ring. The song mentions the assassin Gavrilo Princip, the Black Hand, the location of the Apple Quay and "Urban" (Franz Urban), the name often mistakenly given to Leopold Lojka, the driver of the car.

In addition to this, in 2004 the band played a number of "secret" gigs under the pseudonym "The Black Hands", alluding to the secret society that was held responsible for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

Discography

• Franz Ferdinand (2004)
• You Could Have It So Much Better (2005)
• Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (2009)
• TBA (2011)

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