Kasabian
Kasabian are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997. The band's original members were vocalist Tom Meighan and vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, bassist Chris Edwards; the band's line-up was completed by drummer Ian Matthews in 2004 after a string of session drummers. Karloff founded a new band called Black Onassis. Jay Mehler joined as touring lead guitarist in 2006. Mehler left the band for Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye in 2013. In 2010 and 2014, Kasabian won the Q Awards for "Best Act in the World Today", while they were named "Best Live Act" at the 2014 Q Awards and the 2007 and 2018 NME Awards; the band's music is described as "indie rock", but Pizzorno has said he "hates indie bands" and does not feel Kasabian fit into that category. Kasabian have released six studio albums – Kasabian, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Velociraptor!, 48:13, For Crying Out Loud. The band's music has been described as a mix between The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis.
Their music has won them several awards and recognition in the media, including a Brit Award in 2010 for Best British Group, their live performances have received praise, the most notable of, their appearance as headliners at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival. The band was called Saracuse, they started recording at Bedrock Studios in Leicester. The original band members came from Countesthorpe and Blaby, the band formed while Pizzorno and Edwards were attending Countesthorpe Community College; the first demo EP was produced by Scott Gilbert and handed to the band on 24 December 1998. Three songs were recorded live: "Whats Going On", "Life of Luxury" and "Shine On", their first public appearance was at the Vipers Rugby Club to celebrate Edwards' 18th birthday with family and friends. The band was signed to BMG by London DJ and producer Sam Young and changed their name to Kasabian, after Linda Kasabian, a member of the Charles Manson cult. In an interview with Ukula, bassist Chris Edwards explained how former guitarist Chris Karloff picked the name.
Reading up on Charles Manson, the Kasabian name stuck with Karloff. "He just thought the word was cool, it took about a minute after the rest of us heard it... so it was decided", says Edwards. Kasabian is a common Armenian surname, from the dialectal Armenian ղասաբ ġasab taken from Arabic "butcher" and the patronymic ending յան -yan. Sam Young had been working at Concept Music, a small independent label, when the band's manager left the Saracuse demo on his desk. Concept wanted to sign the band and a two single deal was offered. However, Young did not take over managerial duties and did not get them signed to BMG. EMI were interested in the band as well, their eponymous debut album was released in the UK on 13 September 2004, receiving good sales and positive reviews. During the recording, the band lived in a farmhouse near Rutland Water to avoid being disturbed. Kasabian featured at Glastonbury Festival 2005 on the "Other Stage". Despite having two prior single releases with debut single "Processed Beats" and lead single "Reason Is Treason", it was their third single release "Club Foot" that gave Kasabian success in the UK Singles Chart.
The song, written in the early years of Kasabian, went on to enjoy both critical and commercial success, being performed at nearly every Kasabian live performance since its release. During this period, various drummers played with Kasabian, including current keyboard player Ben Kealey, DJ Dan Ralph Martin, Martin Hall-Adams, brothers Mitch and Ryan Glovers and some others. While recording in Bristol, the band met Ian Matthews, who plays on "Processed Beats", "Butcher Blues", "Beneficial Herbs" and some other songs on the debut album and B-sides, he was asked to tour with them in 2004 and became a permanent member in April 2005. The album was produced by Jim Abbiss. During the recording of Kasabian's second album, Christopher Karloff, one of the band's chief songwriters, had "artistic and creative differences" and was asked to leave the band, according to the band's website, although there is evidence to suggest that he left due to personal circumstances, he had contributed to three of the songs on Empire.
The album, co-produced by Jim Abbiss, was released in the UK on 28 August 2006. "Empire" was released as the first single from the album, reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart "Shoot the Runner" reached No. 17 in the same chart. A third single, "Me Plus One", was released on 2 January 2007. Kasabian won the Best Live Act award at the 2007 NME Awards; the band released an EP titled Fast Fuse in late 2007 which featured the songs "Fast Fuse" and "Thick as Thieves". Both tracks are featured in their third album. Kasabian started work on their third album in late 2007 with producer Dan the Automator. On 5 March 2009, it was revealed that the album title would be West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, with a release date of 8 June 2009; the song "Vlad the Impaler" was released as a free download for a period of 4 days, as a preview for the album. The promo video for "Vlad the Impaler" stars Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh. Fielding is a fan of Kasabian, appeared in an NME cover with the band; the album's first single was the track "Fire", released on 1 June 2009, used as the theme song for the English Premier League from the 2010–11 season onward, the song "Where Did All the Love Go?" was released as the second single.
The third single "Underdog" was used in the movie Takers. On 14 June 2009, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, spending two we
We Danced Together
"We Danced Together" is the first single from The Rakes' second album Ten New Messages. It was released in the UK on March 2007, a week before the album's release; the single reached #38 on the British singles chart. CD"We Danced Together" - 3:53 "Cold" - 3:16 "We Danced Together" - 3:09 "We Danced Together" - 3:227" vinyl"We Danced Together" - 3:53 "Dangerous" - 2:16
Wireless Festival
The Wireless Festival is a music festival in England that takes place every year in London, took place at Harewood House, Leeds in 2006 and 2007, took place in Perry Park, Birmingham in 2014. It is managed by Live Nation. From its inception in 2005 until 2008, the festival was sponsored by telecommunications company O2, was called the O2 Wireless Festival. From 2009 to 2012, the main sponsor was Barclaycard and the festival renamed to Barclaycard Wireless Festival. For 2013, the sponsor changed to Yahoo!, was renamed to Yahoo! Wireless; the 2014 Wireless Festival was held in Finsbury Park in North London for the first time, as well as Perry Park in Birmingham. The 2015 Wireless Festival took place at Finsbury Park and was sponsored by the fashion retailer New Look with an extra day added due to it being 10 years since the first event; the first festival was in Hyde Park only. Tickets were £35 a day; some of the acts on the line-up were: Friday, 24 June: New Order, Hard-Fi, The Bravery, Graham Coxon, The Dresden Dolls, The Dears, Rilo Kiley Saturday, 25 June: Basement Jaxx, M.
I. A. LCD Soundsystem, Death In Vegas, Lady Sovereign, Killa Kela, Roots Manuva, Stereo MCs Wednesday, 29 June: Keane, Echo & the Bunnymen, James Blunt, Brendan Benson, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright Thursday, 30 June: Kasabian, The Rakes, The Others, Soulwax, Peter Doherty, JJ72, Cut Copy In 2006, the festival played in both Hyde Park and Harewood House. Tickets were £37.51 per day. The Hyde Park festival ran from 21–25 June and on the bill were: The Strokes, Belle & Sebastian, Dirty Pretty Things, Super Furry Animals, The Raconteurs, Gogol Bordello, The Like David Gray, Fun Lovin' Criminals, KT Tunstall, Violent Femmes Massive Attack, The Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, Damian Marley James Blunt, Zero 7, Beth Orton, Paolo Nutini Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, OK Go, The Dears, The Fratellis, Mystery JetsThe Harewood House festival ran from 24–25 June and tickets were £32.50 for the first day and £37.50 for the second. It featured: Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, DJ Shadow, Gnarls Barkley, Terry Callier, Just Jack, Sway The Who, Super Furry Animals, The Flaming Lips, The Zutons, Eels Tickets for both venues went on sale on 16 March 2007 and the festival took place between 14–17 June in Hyde Park, 15–17 June at Harewood House.
Tickets were £ 75 for two, £ 105 for three or £ 135 for four days. The acts for both Hyde Park and Harewood House were: The White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, Satellite Party, The Bees, The Thrills, The Sounds, Polytechnic, Ghosts and the Mockasins, Far From The Dance, Kissaway Trail and the Pirates, The Scare Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Klaxons, CSS, Plan B, New Young Pony Club, Calvin Harris, Simian Mobile Disco, Kaiser Chiefs, The Cribs, The Rakes, The Twang, The Only Ones, Kate Nash, The Duke Spirit, Mumm-Ra, The Pigeon Detectives, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Los Campesinos!, Under the Influence of Giants. Kaiser Chiefs selected the line-up for the day; the acts which performed the extra date in Hyde Park were: Faithless, Badly Drawn Boy, Just Jack and Cat Empire. For the first time, the Leeds festival offered camping facilities at the festival. Campers were allowed to stay on Lord Harewood's land for £25 for as many festival days as they wished. There were 3 stages this year, the O2 Blueroom where only O2 customers were allowed to enter.
The 2008 O2 Wireless Festival spanned 4 days in Hyde Park, was the last to carry the O2 sponsorship. An attempt to hold a parallel festival in Leeds similar to the Reading and Leeds Festivals arrangement was unsuccessful, instead a variety of club nights featuring billed artists were held. Tickets were £45 per day; the line-up was as follows: Thursday, 3 July: Jay-Z, Mark Ronson, Hot Chip, Róisín Murphy, David Jordan, The Cool Kids and Love Affair, Alice Smith, Saul Williams, Lethal Bizzle, Elliot Minor and the Pirates, The Stiff Dylans, The Hot Melts, Electric Dolls, Beans On Toast, Red Snapper, Bryn Christophers, Kid Sisters, Tinie Tempah, Yelle Friday, 4 July: Morrissey, The Wombats, Dirty Pretty Things, Lightspeed Champion, The National, The Courteeners, Black Kids, The Rascals, The Hosts, Kristeen Young, Howling Bells, Magic Wands, The Whigs, Nicole Atkins and the Sea, Mon Ouisch, The Fashion, The Reprieve, New York Dolls, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Liam Finn, Apollo Sunshine, Jaguar Love and the Wolf Saturday, 5 July: Fatboy Slim, Deadmau5, Bootsy Collins, Neon Neon, Ryan Shaw, Underworld, MSTRKRFT, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Sam Sparro, Cut Copy, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, The Whip, Junkie XL, Audio Bullys, Japanese Pop Stars, Yacht, Booka Shade, Why?, Das Pop, InnerPartySystem Sunday, 6 July: Counting Crows, Ben Harper, Goo Goo Dolls, Eddy Grant, Magic Christian, The Hold Steady, Bowling For Soup, Donavon Frankenreiter, Melee, Luke White, Galactic with Lyrics Born and Boots Riley, Roy World, Joe Purdy, Amy Studt, Dawn Kinnard, The Galvatrons, Silver Seas, Nellie McKay, Alice Smith, Ryan Shaw, Sons of Albion, Pablo Francisco, Jamie Kennedy, Jo Koy, Gabriel Iglesias The 2009 festival was sponsored by Barclaycard and was cut from four to two days in Hyde Park.
Tickets were £ 80 for both. The line-up was as follows: Saturday, 4 July: Basement Jaxx, The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, Paul Oakenfold, Jack Peñate, Saint Etienne, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force, Sneaky Sound System, N. A. S. A. Tommy Sparks, Filthy Dukes, Digitali
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Siouxsie and the Banshees were an English rock band, formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been influential, both over their contemporaries and with acts. Mojo rated guitarist John McGeoch in their list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" for his work on "Spellbound"; the Times cited the group as "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era". Associated with the punk scene, the band evolved to create "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation", their debut album The Scream was released in 1978 to critical acclaim. In 1980, they changed their musical direction and became "almost a different band" with Kaleidoscope, which peaked at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart. With Juju which reached the top 10, they became an influence on the emerging gothic scene. In 1988, the band made a breakthrough in North America with the multifaceted album Peepshow, which received critical praise.
With substantial support from alternative rock radio stations, they achieved a mainstream hit in the US in 1991 with the single "Kiss Them for Me". During their career and the Banshees released 11 studio albums and 30 singles; the band experienced several line-up changes, with Siouxsie and Severin being the only constant members. They disbanded in 1996, with Siouxsie and drummer Budgie continuing to record music as the Creatures, a second band they had formed in the early 1980s. In 2004, Siouxsie began a solo career. Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin met at a Roxy Music concert in September 1975, at a time when glam rock had faded and there was nothing new coming through with which they could identify. From February 1976, Siouxsie and some friends began to follow an unsigned band, the Sex Pistols. Journalist Caroline Coon dubbed them the "Bromley Contingent", as most of them came from the Bromley region of South London, a label Severin came to despise. "There was no such thing, it was just a bunch of people drawn together by the way they felt and they looked".
They were all inspired by their uncompromising attitude. When they learned that one of the bands scheduled to play the 100 Club Punk Festival, organised by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, were pulling out from the bill at the last minute, Siouxsie suggested that she and Severin play though they had no band name or additional members. Two days the pair appeared at the festival held in London on 20 September 1976. With two borrowed musicians at their side, Marco Pirroni on guitar and John Simon Ritchie on drums, their set consisted of a 20-minute improvisation based on "The Lord's Prayer". While the band intended to split up after the gig, they were asked to play again. Two months Siouxsie and Severin recruited drummer Kenny Morris and guitarist Peter Fenton. After playing several gigs in early 1977, they realised that Fenton did not fit in because he was "a real rock guitarist". John McKay took his place in July, their first live appearance on television took place in November on Manchester's Granada, on Tony Wilson's TV show So It Goes.
They recorded their first John Peel session for BBC radio and appeared on the front cover of UK weekly Sounds magazine the following month. While the band sold out venues in London in early 1978, they still had problems getting the right recording contract that could give them "complete artistic control". Polydor offered this guarantee and signed them in June, their first single, "Hong Kong Garden", featuring a xylophone motif, reached the top 10 in the UK shortly after. A NME review hailed it as "a bright, vivid narrative, something like snapshots from the window of a speeding Japanese train, power charged by the most original, intoxicating guitar playing I heard in a long, long time"; the band released their debut album, The Scream, in November 1978. Nick Kent of NME said of the record: "The band sounds like some unique hybrid of the Velvet Underground mated with much of the ingenuity of Tago Mago-era Can, if any parallel can be drawn". At the end of the article, he added this remark: "Certainly, the traditional three-piece sound has never been used in a more unorthodox fashion with such stunning results".
The Banshees' second album, Join Hands, was released in 1979. In Melody Maker, Jon Savage described "Poppy Day" as "a short, powerful evocation of the Great War graveyards", Record Mirror described the whole record as a dangerous work that "should be heard"; the Banshees embarked on a major tour to promote the album. A few dates into the tour in September, Morris and McKay left an in-store signing after an argument and quit the band. In need of replacements to fulfill tour dates, the Banshees' manager called drummer Budgie with the Slits, asked him to audition. Budgie was hired. Robert Smith of the Cure offered his services in case they could not find a guitarist, so the band held him to it after seeing too many "rock virtuosos"; the tour resumed in September and after the last concert, Smith returned to the Cure. Drummer Budgie became a permanent member, the band entered the studios to record the single "Happy House" with guitarist John McGeoch of Magazine, their third album, released in 1980, saw the Banshees exploring new musical territories with the use of other instruments like synthesizers and drum machines.
The group had a concept of making each song sound different, without regard to whether or not the material could be performed in concert. Melody Maker described the result as "a kaleidoscope of sound and imagery, new forms, a
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band's original lineup was composed of Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy, Paul Thomson. Julian Corrie and Dino Bardot joined the band in 2017; the band has been notable for being one of the more popular post-punk revival bands, garnering multiple UK top 20 hits. They have been nominated for several Grammy Awards and have received two Brit Awards – winning one for Best British Group – as well as one NME Award; the band's first two singles, "Darts of Pleasure" and "Take Me Out", peaked within the top-50 on the UK Singles Chart. "Take Me Out" achieved global recognition by charting in several countries and went on to earn a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It has since been noted as the band's signature song as well; the band released their self-titled debut studio album on 9 February 2004 to critical acclaim. The album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album. In 2005, the band released their second studio album, You Could Have It So Much Better, produced by Rich Costey.
The album went on to earn acclaim from critics as well as a positive commercial performance, peaking within the top-ten in multiple countries. At the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the album earned a nomination for Best Alternative Album and one of the singles released from the album, "Do You Want To", earned a nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; the band's third studio album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, was announced in late 2008 and released in January 2009. The album was notable for featuring a change in the band's musical style, as the band had shifted from a post-punk-focused sound, featured on their first two albums, to a more dance-oriented sound; the album gained a positive commercial performance as well as positive reviews from critics. A remix album of Tonight, titled Blood, was subsequently released in July 2009. Four years after the release of Tonight, the band released their fourth studio album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, in August 2013. In 2015, Franz Ferdinand and American rock band Sparks formed the supergroup FFS and released a one-off self-titled album in June 2015.
Following the departure of McCarthy, the band released their fifth studio album, Always Ascending, in February 2018. The members of Franz Ferdinand played in various bands during the 1990s, including The Karelia, Yummy Fur, 10p Invaders, Embryo. Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson met at a party and began a close friendship and played together in Yummy Fur, 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 Domino Recording Company; the band had recorded an EP. The band won the "Phillip Hall Radar Award" at the NME Awards of 2004, announced in November 2003; the band moved to Gula Studios in Malmö, with Cardigans producer Tore Johansson to record their debut album.
In January 2004 the single "Take Me Out" reached No. 3 in the UK charts. The album, Franz Ferdinand, was released in early 2004, debuting at No. 3 in the UK Albums Chart in February 2004, at No. 12 in the Australian album charts in April 2004. The album only reached the lowest levels of the Billboard 200 album charts in the US as of early 2004, but reached the top 5 of the indie rock chart and the Heatseeker chart for debut artists. After a couple of North American tours and heavy rotation of the "Take Me Out" video on MTV, the album reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200 in 2004, sold over a million copies in the United States. Franz Ferdinand received a strong positive response from critics. NME rated it 9 out of 10, said that the band was the latest in the line of art school rock bands featuring The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire and Blur. On 7 September 2004 the album was awarded the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. "Take Me Out" gained first place in the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004, winning more than twice the votes of the second-place entry, with This Fire and The Dark of the Matinee entering at No. 24 and No. 50 respectively.
Franz Ferdinand won an Ivor Novello Award in 2004 and two BRIT Awards in 2005. The avant-garde music video for "Take Me Out" earned them a Breakthrough Video MTV Award. NME named Franz Ferdinand the best album of 2004, placed it 38th on their 100 Best Albums of All Time list; the band performed "Take Me Out" as a live medley with Los Lonely Boys, Maroon 5, The Black Eyed Peas, Gwen Stefani at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in 2005, in which "Take Me Out" was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Franz Ferdinand was nominated for Best Alternative Album. "Take Me Out" was featured on the video games NHL 2005, Madden NFL 2005 and the breakthrough game Guitar Hero. The album has sold around 3.6 million copies worldwide. The band spent much of 2005 in the studio in Glasgow working on their follow-up album, You Could Have It So Much Better, released on 3 October 2005; the band intended to leave the album self-titled like
Switches (band)
Switches were an English indie rock band, consisting of members Matt Bishop, Ollie Thomas, Thom Kirkpatrick and Steve Godfrey. The band met whilst at university in Guildford, Surrey; when Matt was young, he made music in his Essex home. After meeting and befriending the other band members, they did some gigs and got publishing interest before finding a manager. Meanwhile, the boys where experimenting with different band names in order to "conjure something non-cliché, something simple and bold", they cite many artists as their main influences. They released their debut EP on Degenerate Records, entitled Message from Yuz on 10 July 2006, it was produced by Paul Schroeder. Their debut single, "Lay Down the Law" appeared in September 2006; the band began recording their debut album in August 2006 at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles, where Prince recorded some of his classic 1980s material. The album was recorded by engineer Doug Boehm. Switches toured with The Rakes, The Automatic, Graham Coxon and played the Reading and Leeds Festivals.
The band released their second single'Drama Queen', their first official release with Atlantic Records, on 29 January 2007. The band's debut album, Heart Tuned To D. E. A. D. was released on 23 April 2007, preceded by their second official single, a re-recording of "Lay Down The Law". The album reached No. 64 on the UK Albums Chart. The band made their Glastonbury debut in the summer of 2007. At the start of 2008, Thom Kirkpatrick and Steve Godfrey replaced original members Max Tite and James Gardiner. Switches released their first American album, Lay Down the Law, on 18 March 2008 upon completion of their US tour with New York-based band, The Bravery; as well as receiving modest critical acclaim in the US, the group had several songs from the album being featured in US television and films, including the track "Lay Down the Law", featured in the film, but is not present on the soundtrack album. TV appearances include: The Album Chart Show and Jimmy Kimmel; the group disbanded in late 2008. Founding members Matt Bishop and Ollie Thomas have since formed the band Flash Fiktion.
In 2016, Bishop formed a new psychedelic-pop band named The Lightning Year. Message from Yuz 10 July 2006 Heart Tuned to D. E. A. D. 23 April 2007 Lay Down the Law 18 March 2008 Alternate Route To D. E. A. D. Switches on MySpace Message from Yuz – Switches single video Drama Queen - Switches UK single video Lay Down The Law - Video Switches in Hollywood caught in a Terra Naomi video
Editors (band)
The Editors are an English rock band, formed in 2002 in Birmingham. Known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith, Russell Leetch, Ed Lay, Justin Lockey, Elliott Williams; the Editors have so far released two platinum studio albums, six in total, with several million combined sales. Their debut album The Back Room was released in 2005, it contained the hits "Munich" and "Blood" and the following year received a Mercury Prize nomination. Their follow-up album An End Has a Start went to number 1 in the UK Album Chart in June 2007 and earned the band a Brit Awards nomination for best British Band, it spawned another Top 10 hit single, "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors". The band's third album, In This Light and on This Evening, was released in October 2009 and went straight to number 1 in the UK Album Chart; the band released their fourth studio album, The Weight of Your Love, in July 2013, followed by self-produced In Dream in October 2015. In 2018, the band released their sixth album Violence.
Alongside their critical acclaim and strong success in the charts, Editors have enjoyed sold-out tours and numerous headlining festival slots. Their brand of dark indie rock is compared to the sound of bands such as Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, The Chameleons and U2, their music was featured throughout the Twilight saga movies. The band met while studying Music Technology at Staffordshire University, but living in Birmingham and playing at venues such as the Jug of Ale and the Flapper & Firkin, the former of which bands such as Oasis and Blur played in during their primitive years, helped the band obtain a record deal. In an interview in 2015, Tom Smith said, "Birmingham is important. Looking back further it was where we all lived together in the early years, played all those Flapper and Jug of Ale shows, got our record deal. We've always said although only one of us was brought up there, Birmingham was the band's home"; the band was known as Pilot and played its first show under this name in 2002.
While in college, the band constructed a marketing strategy which involved placing hundreds of promotional stickers across the walls of Stafford asking "Who's the Pilot?". However, they realised the name was taken by a 1970s Scottish pop group, so they changed their name to The Pride, they made a promo under this name with the tracks "Come Share the View" and "Forest Fire" and uploaded them onto the internet, making the songs available to listen to on BBC Radio 1's Onemusic Unsigned. A review of the songs reads "The Pride keep things subliminally lo-fi. Refreshingly simple and restrained, "Come Share The View" is a lesson in welding hypnotic soundscapes with white noise while showing allegiance to the school of slo-mo on "Forest Fire""; the band took its music offline to create mystery and anxiousness and ensure that more "A&R" representatives came to see them perform. They changed the line-up with Ed Lay replacing Geraint Owen on drums as he began to focus on his Welsh band The Heights. Under this lineup they became known as Snowfield.
They played their debut gig under this name at the request of Fused Magazine in March 2003. The following summer the band self-released a demo six-track EP, all of which went on to become future Editors songs; as it was the home of their management and the nearest big city, the band relocated to Birmingham after graduation in the autumn of 2003. For the next year, the different band members worked part-time jobs along with the rest of their work with the band. After continuous gigging around the Midlands, it wasn't long until word of mouth helped them become a popular unsigned band; the band sent out a one track demo cd of Bullets, earning them the interest of several British labels, with thirty A&R reps coming to see them play at Birmingham. In October 2004, the group signed to Newcastle based indie label Kitchenware Records. Upon signing to the record label they changed their band name to Editors. After supporting bands such as Puressence and Oceansize, Editors released debut single "Bullets" recorded with producer Gavin Monaghan as a limited edition of 1000 copies on Kitchenware Records on 24 January 2005.
The song had been played by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Zane Lowe, where it earned the honour of'Single of the Week'. The limited run sold out on the day of its release, with copies famously sold in the week for more than £30 on eBay; the release of "Munich" followed in April of that year and gave the band their first Top 25 hit, another sold out UK tour and a place on MTV’s Spanking New Music show in Manchester. At this point, due to the band's increasing popularity and Kitchenware signed an exclusive distribution deal with Sony BMG. "Blood" was released two months reaching number 18 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week, selling 5,286 copies. With these releases their fanbase continued to grow and on 25 July 2005 their debut album The Back Room was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. In its first week, the album entered the charts at number 13. After re-issuing "Bullets" and achieving another Top 30 hit, Editors gained a high-profile support slot, supporting Franz Ferdinand in arenas across the UK and Europe.
Editors re-issued "Munich" in January 2006, selling one and half thousand more copies than the last time it was released. The song gave Editors an appearance on Top of the Pops. With the single release, The Back Room rose back up the album charts, peaking at number 2, it sold an additional 40,000 copies in the week
