The Maccabees

Initially formed of Orlando Weeks (guitar/vocals), Hugo and Felix White (guitars/backing vocals), Rupert Jarvis (bass) and Robert Dylan Thomas (drums), the band released their debut single, "X-Ray," on Promise Records, which caught the attention of XFM-Radio, gaining substantial airplay. This led to The Maccabees being chosen as the support slot for an Arctic Monkeys tour. The Maccabees moved to Fierce Panda Records to release their second single, "Latchmere," which was to be a success, bolstered by the support of Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq. The accompanying video became popular on YouTube and also received significant airplay on MTV2.

The band then moved to major label, Fiction Records, to release their debut album, "Colour It In," which came out in May 2007. The album was a success, receiving widespread positive acclaim, charting at number 24. Their first single off the album, "First Love," entered the Top 40 in the UK. Their second, "About Your Dress," also breached the Top 40, peaking at number 33 in the UK charts. They then embarked on a US tour with Bloc Party and performed a sold-out show at the Roundhouse in London, UK.

Thomas left the band in 2008, being replaced by Sam Doyle on drums. In 2009, "Wall of Arms" was released, produced by Arcade Fire's Markus Dravs. The album built on the success of their debut, reaching number 13 in the UK Albums chart, receiving high praise from music critics, with Artrocker magazine naming it joint number one album of the year in 2009, alongside Yeah Yeah Yeah's "It's Blitz."

The band's popularity was displayed by their selection for main stage slots at Reading and Leeds Festival in the UK. After touring in support of their second album, The Maccabees spent two years writing and recording for their third offering, "Given to the Wild," released in 2012, featuring the lead single, "Pelican." The album received a Mercury Award nomination for album of the year.

For their fourth studio album, the band naturally found themselves taking a more introspective approach. Hiding themselves away in an anonymous two-storey building in Elephant & Castle, South London, and focussing on a more stripped-back band dynamic, they later sought an outside perspective in the form of much-admired producer Laurie Latham (Ian Dury & the Blockheads amongst others). The resulting LP Marks to Prove It was released on 31st July 2015 and shot straight to No. 1 in the UK album chart. Following another busy summer of festivals, the band will soon embark on an extensive US tour before returning to the UK in November.

The accepted norm when it comes to music is that if you want to do it yourself, you start the band first, before you start the label. Damon Gough turned that all on its head when he put together his Twisted Nerve Records with his friend Andy Votel in 1995, and after putting out a couple of other artists' records over the next two years, Gough debuted as Badly Drawn Boy with “EP1”, a limited release kept to only 500 copies in circulation, despite the fact it was one of the most critically acclaimed debut releases of the year. The EP and Gough's first singles put him on the radar of the hip-hop project UNKLE, who had him feature on their 1997 album “Psyence Fiction”, and due to that exposure, Gough's 1999 single “Once Around The Block” found its way on to the UK charts soon after its release.

Because of this, XL Recordings got in contact and signed Gough, releasing his debut album “The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast” a year later. The album was a huge critical success, which turned into a similarly huge commercial hit when it won the 2000 Mercury Music Award. The follow up to this album was an esoteric move, but one that was no less successful as a result. The directors of the film adaptation of Nick Hornby's About A Boy got in touch while Gough was enjoying some downtime from music and asked him to score the film. The resulting soundtrack album was another critical hit, and ever since then, Gough has remained one of the most fascinating and talented songwriters that this country has produced in a very long time. For that, he comes highly recommended.

Based in the very middle of England in what some would called the second city of England – Birmingham, Editors have made such a name for themselves over the course of their career, cementing their status as a successful indie rock band. It all began when the band crossed paths studying Music Technology at Staffordshire University, but decided very quickly after their formation that their degrees weren’t the most relevant career choices for them and continued to perform around the Midlands and the surrounding areas. At this point in their career they were known as Pilot, which was great and, a memorable name to spread the name of the band but a Scottish band unfortunately already took it, so they changed it to The Pride and continued to build up their fan base, featuring in Fused Magazine, and releasing a six-track EP. Through word of mouth, they became such a successful unsigned band, and then had the opportunity to play at the Birmingham O2 Academy, which thirty A&R reps attended. It really was the start of something new fore this outfit.

After signing to a label based in Newcastle, everything began to take shape with the band playing on the festival circuits, and then releasing their full-length debut album “The Back Room”, which became a Platinum selling album, featuring all six songs from their six-track EP, such as “Munich”, “Blood” and “Lights”. It’s no wonder that Editors keep doing what they’re doing. They truly are a pride of the Midlands, UK.

Exposed to music at an early age, Calvi developed a love of classical music, much influenced by composers such as Ennio Morricone, Messiaen and Debussy. Yet she was also brought up listening to the eclectic sounds of Captain Beefheart and the Rolling Stones, finding significant inspiration in her guitar playing from artists such as Django Reinhardt and Jimmy Hendrix. Studying violin and guitar at the University of Southampton, UK, achieving a BA in music, Calvi set several years working as a private music teacher, before pursuing a music career in 2010.

Joined by multi-instrumentalist Mally Harpaz and drummer Daniel Madden-wood, she began performing at various venues before caching the attention of Domino Records. Brian Eno also took an interest to the talented Calvi, describing her as “the biggest thing since Patti Smith.” She was invited to support the Arctic Monkeys and Nick Cave’s Grinderman project, helping to gain further exposure.

Her self-titled debut album was released in 2011 to great critical acclaim, entering the UK charts at number 40. She also achieved significant chart success in France, reaching number 17, number 33 in Austria and a chart position of 40 in Switzerland. The album captured her raw talent, creating an almost orchestral sound through her textured and dynamic guitar playing.

Her live performances have been praised for her display of her guitar virtuosity, as well as creating an intense, dark atmosphere, making her a truly captivating performer. Despite being completely against current trends in popular music, she has garnered many accolades, including two Mercury Prize nominations. Her second album, “One Breath,” was released to wide critical acclaim in 2013. Whilst her first album took her six years to complete, her second took only six weeks to record.

Before the earliest incarnation of Ash, vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler and bassist Mark Hamilton played in an Iron Maiden cover band entitled Vietnam in 1989. Deciding on the first word they liked in the dictionary, Ash, with the addition of drummer Rick McMurray, created three demo tapes in 1992 with the names “Solar Happy”, “Shed”, and “Home Demo”. Many of the songs which featured on Ash’s debut full-length “Trailer” had previously appeared on earlier demos including “Jack Names the Planets”, “Uncle Pat”, and “Petrol”. The release received limited airplay from BBC Radio 1 and the group subsequently released the breakthrough singles “Kung Fu”, “Girl From Mars”, and “Angel Interceptor”.

After their singles “Jack Names the Planets” and “Kung Fu” appeared on the soundtrack to the film “Angus”, the band earned a wealth of exposure in the U.S. market. The Northern Irish group released their full-length debut “1977” in 1996 on Infectious and Reprise Records. Featuring the singles “Kung Fu”, Girl From Mars” and “Goldfinger” the album was named after the birth year of two of the band members, the year of the first punk albums and the original release of Star Wars. A year later Ash recorded a live album entitled “Live at the Wireless” at the Triple J Studios in Australia.

In 1997 after touring alongside Weezer, the band invited Charlotte Hatherley on board as a second guitarist, who played one of her first gigs at the year’s V Festival. Ahead of the band’s sophomore full-length “Nu-Clear Sounds”, Ash issued the single “Jesus Says”, however years of constant touring and recording were beginning to take their toll on the group. “Nu-Clear Sounds” turned out to be a commercial and critical flop and the band returned to Wheeler’s parents’ house, where the band began, to play and find their roots once again. The trip home worked wonders for the group whose subsequent album “Free All Angels” topped the UK Albums chart in 2001. Spawning the singles “Shining Light”, “Burn Baby Burn”, “Sometimes, and “Candy”, the first of which won the Ivor Novello Award for “Best Contemporary Song”, the album introduced Ash as a staple of Brit-pop.

Continuing the sci-fi theme of “1977”, Ash’s subsequent release, the singles collection “Intergalactic Sonic 7”s” was released in September 2002. After supporting U2 on their world tour, Wheeler and Hamilton moved to New York and embarked on a six month hiatus. A year later Charlotte Hatherley announced she was leaving the group. “Twilight of the Innocents” arrived in 2007 and was claimed to be Ash’s last album, with the band focussing on singles thereafter. In 2009 Ash began the “A-Z Series”, which saw the group released a new single every two weeks for a year, until 26 had been recorded. The same year the band made appearances at Hevy Music Festival in Folkestone, and headlined the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury Festival.