Spector (band)

Spector

Spector performing at The Leadmill in Sheffield, United Kingdom
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres Indie rock
Years active 2011–present
Labels Fiction Records
Website spector.co.uk
Members Fred Macpherson
Thomas Shickle
Jed Cullen
Danny Blandy
Past members Christopher Burman

Spector is a four-piece indie rock[1][2] band from London,[3] composed of Frederick Macpherson (vocalist previously of Les Incompétents and Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man), Thomas Shickle (bass), Jed Cullen (synth, guitar) and Danny Blandy (drums).[4] The band's debut album Enjoy It While It Lasts reached number 12 in the UK Albums Chart and went to number one on the Official Record Store Chart on the week of its release.[5]

The group's musical output has been compared to a variety of artists by areas of the media, with The Guardian describing them as "somewhere between Roxy Music and the Strokes, The Killers and Kanye West, Pulp and Frank Sinatra",[3] and NME delineating them as "reminiscent of The Walkmen mainlined into The Killers’ chugga-train drive."[6]

History

Formed in 2011 by former Les Incompétents and Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man frontman Fred MacPherson, Spector practiced and performed their first gigs in Efes Snooker Club in East London.[7] Later that year, they were granted a session on BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens's radio show, and performed on the BBC Introducing stage at the 2011 Reading and Leeds Festival.[8]

They appeared on the live broadcast of Later... with Jools Holland on 22 November 2011[9][10] and performed their single "What You Wanted".[11] On the longer, Friday-night show later that week they performed "Chevy Thunder" as well as "Never Fade Away", and it was announced that they would be releasing an album in 2012.[11]

On 5 December 2011, the BBC announced that Spector had been nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll.[8]

The band performed a headline UK tour in February 2012 and played as a support act for Florence and the Machine's March 2012 tour.[9] Spector also performed their first gig in America at the Coachella Festival in April 2012.[12]

After releasing new single "Celestine" on 20 May 2012,[13] the band revealed that their debut album would be called Enjoy It While It Lasts.[14] The album was released on 13 August 2012 to mixed reviews, reaching number 12 in the UK Album Charts and topping the Official Record Store Chart.

In August 2012, the band played at the Reading and Leeds Festival for the second time, this time on the much larger NME/Radio 1 stage. Following the two dates, Spector announced album track "Friday Night, Don't Ever Let It End" would be released as a single on Monday 12 November 2012.[15] A music video for the single, directed by Alan Del Rio, was released on 7 October 2012.[16]

In October 2012, Spector embarked on promotional tours in Singapore and Malaysia respectively, sponsored by Topman and Universal Music Asia. Following this, the band underwent their third UK tour, supported by British indie rock bands Swim Deep, Splashh and LULS.

Spector performed at XFM's 'Winter Wonderland' event in December 2012, alongside acts including Bloc Party, Maximo Park and Everything Everything.[17] Frontman Fred Macpherson was nominated in the "Best Twitter" and "Villain of the Year" categories at the 2013 NME Awards.[18] In March 2013, the band performed as main support act for Suede at an Alexandra Palace concert.[19]

Spector has a tech team, with a separate fan following via social media platforms Instagram and Twitter, called 'SpectorTech'.

It was announced on 12 July 2013 that Christopher Burman had left the band, with touring members set to fulfil his duties on guitar & synthesizer in upcoming concert dates.[20] The group performed at the Reading & Leeds Festival for the third consecutive year in August 2013,[21] before making their first appearance at Glastonbury Festival in 2014, albeit with their set delayed/curtailed due to a severe electrical storm.[22] Their Glastonbury 2014 set included the live debut of two new tracks, Stay High and Bad Boyfriend.[23] Two more new tracks, Don't Make Me Try and All The Sad Young Men were performed at a show at Leeds in July.

On 8 December 2014, a new single 'Don't Make Me Try' was premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio One show, with a music video for the song being premiered at Noisey the same day. On 3 February 2015, a second single, 'All The Sad Young Men', was premiered as Zane Lowe's 'Hottest Record In The World'. In a Twitter Q+A, it was confirmed as the first song on their upcoming album. The band also confirmed an "intimate" gig at London's The Lexington on 12 March to support the release.[24]

On 30 June 2015 they announced their second album, Moth Boys, was to be released through Fiction Records on 21 August that year.[25] The band followed up with an "intimate set and signing" tour to promote their album.[26] They also announced an accompanying UK tour, spanning 13 dates in October[27] with Yoann Intonti on the drums and Spring King and Bill Ryder Jones as supporting acts.[28]

Discography

Singles

EPs

Albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions
UK
[34]		 Official Record Store Chart
Enjoy It While It Lasts 12 1
Moth Boys 27 1

Awards and nominations

Year Organisation Award Result
2011 BBC Sound of 2012 Sound of 2012[8] Nominated

References

  1. ↑ Suh, Jennifer (11 January 2012). "New indie rock band Spector hits the music radar". Daily North Western. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
  2. ↑ Kitty Empire, Killian Fox and Rebecca Nicholson (1 January 2011). "Our music tips for 2012: Spector, Noah Stewart and Cold Specks". The Observer. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
  3. 1 2 Lester, Paul (26 May 2011). "New Band of the Day: Spector (1,031)". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  4. ↑ Gourlay, Dom (19 December 2006). "DiScover: Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "Spector top the Official Record Store Chart".
  6. ↑ "Radar Band Of The Week No:59 - Spector". NME. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  7. ↑ "SPECTOR - MEET SPECTOR - EFES SNOOKER BAR - LONDON, UK - ROCK". NOISEY.
  8. 1 2 3 "BBC - Sound of - 2012 - Spector". BBC - Sound of - 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Spector announce headline February 2012 UK tour – ticket details". NME. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  10. ↑ "Artists who have appeared on Later...". BBC. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  11. 1 2 "Later... with Jools Holland". Series 39. Episode 11. 22 November 2011. BBC Two. Missing or empty |series= (help)
  12. ↑ "Coachella 2012: Highlights". Prefixmag.
  13. ↑ "Spector on Twitter". Twitter.
  14. ↑ "Spector on Twitter". Twitter.
  15. ↑ http://www.mediaessentials.co.uk/2012/09/spector-announce-next-single-friday-night-dont-ever-let-it-end/
  16. ↑ Del Rio, Alan. "Spector - Friday Night, Don’t Ever Let It End". Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  17. ↑ "Tickets". Radio X.
  18. ↑ Christian Tobin (27 February 2013). "NME Awards 2013 winners in full". Digital Spy.
  19. ↑ Daisy Edwards. "» LIVE: Suede, Spector, Temples – Alexandra Palace, London – 30/03/13". Hooting And Howling Magazine.
  20. ↑ "Spector - It was amazing returning to the stage properly... - Facebook".
  21. ↑ NME.COM. "Latest Reading and Leeds Festival line-up additions revealed". NME.COM.
  22. ↑ "Spector on Twitter". Twitter.
  23. ↑ "Spector Concert Setlist at Glastonbury Festival 2014 on June 27, 2014 - setlist.fm". setlist.fm.
  24. ↑ NME.COM. "Spector return with new single 'All The Sad Young Men' – listen". NME.COM.
  25. ↑ "Spector on Twitter". Twitter.
  26. ↑ "Spector on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  27. ↑ "Spector on Twitter". Twitter.
  28. ↑ "Spector on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  29. ↑ "Luvluvluv online Store". Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  30. ↑ "Luvluvluv online Store". Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  31. ↑ "Luvluvluv online store". Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  32. ↑ "Date set for Spector's second album release 'Friday Night, Don't Ever Let It End'". Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  33. ↑ "Spector unveil Dev Hynes-produced comeback single 'Don't Make Me Try'". Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  34. ↑ "SPECTOR - Artist - Official Charts". Retrieved 2 September 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.