The Sons (band)

Last updated

The Sons
OriginDerbyshire, England
Genres Alternative rock, pop, Britpop, pop rock
Years active2002–present
LabelsPopup Records (2008–2013)
Cannon Fodder Recordings (2011–present)
Website www.the-sons.com
MembersLee Blades
Stewart English
Paul Herron
Steven Herron
Roger Millichamp
Past membersKen Reeves
Matt Dewsnap
Matthew Paton

The Sons are a Derbyshire-based alternative rock band, though their music incorporates sounds from various other genres, including rhythm and blues, folk and country, with a heavy emphasis on intricately layered musical composition and lyrical complexity. Currently, The Sons are composed of lead singer/main songwriter and guitarist/pianist Paul Herron, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Steven Herron, guitarist and vocalist Stewart English, bassist Lee Blades, and percussionist Roger Millichamp.

Contents

The band runs their own record label Cannon Fodder Recordings.

History

Early days

The Sons' origins trace back to 1994, when Paul Herron met Ken Reeves while attending the University of Derby and the two of them, both aspiring singer/songwriters and guitarists, decided to form a band. Herron and Reeves soon recruited a bass player, Lee Blades, and a drummer, Matt Dewsnap, by hanging up posters around campus. When Herron and Reeves discovered that Blades lived only two doors down from their house on Uttoxeter New Road, Derby, the quartet adopted the name "New Road" as their band name. [1]

New Road continued to play local venues like The Garrick in and around Derby until Reeves left for southern England in 1996. Before Reeves’ departure, New Road connected with Stewart English, the owner of Clostrophobia Recording Studios on Agard Street in Derby, and began recording one of the first of the band’s many demos. Unfortunately, English was later forced to close his studio, but quickly joined New Road – though, soon after the addition of English, Dewsnap left the group due to friendly but creative differences, and was replaced by Matthew Paton.

The change in line-up inspired a change in name – from New Road to Sub-marine – and the band continued to hone their skills by playing shows in their native Derby, London and France.

The Sons

In 2003, the band self-financed and released their first single "One Man Floats", followed by the four track EP1 in 2004. The release of "One Man Floats" required the band to settle on a permanent name, and after drawing up a list of possibilities, they settled on The Sons.

Visiting Hours and Popup-Records

After promoting several demos without being signed by a label, the band decided to produce and distribute their first album, Visiting Hours in 2007, followed by a seven-date British tour in the summer of 2008.

The Prime Words Committee and American release

The Prime Words Committee was recorded at Snug Recording Co. in Derby between May 2010 and February 2011. The thirteen tracks on the album were selected from nineteen completed tracks and the remaining six were set aside for future B-sides. At the special request of a Swiss fan that had previously seen the band at Gaswerk, The Sons flew into Zurich and played a private party at Portier in Winterthur on 10 September 2011. [2]

The Sons' Heading Into Land won the award for "Adult Contemporary Album" at The 2015 14th Annual Independent Music Awards.

Style

In a 2011 interview with the Derby Telegraph, The Sons’ main songwriter, Paul Herron, said of his writing style:

"I tend to write about quite dark themes for some reason and The Prime Words Committee has songs on it about plane crashes and things like that! But it's not in a horrible, black way; that darkness is combined with the happier, hopeful melodies we've come up with. Writing like that isn't a particularly conscious thing but I think it comes from a dislike of love songs. I'd much rather write about something darker than a load of cliché stuff about love and happiness. [2] "

Touring

The Sons first European tour dates (2009)

6 March - Rockhouse, Derby, England
15 March - Golden Fleece, Nottingham, England
20 March - Ms Treue, Bremen, Germany
21 March - Michelle Records, Hamburg, Germany
21 March - Gruner Jager, Hamburg, Germany
22 March - De Cantine, Amsterdam
23 March - Kaltscha Club, Dortmund, Germany
24 March - Damen und Herren, Düsseldorf, Germany
25 March - Subway to Peter, Chemnitz, Germany
26 March - Riff, Magdeburg, Germany
27 March - Unikum, Halle, Germany
28 March - Sparte 4, Saarbrücken, Germany
29 March - Dimensione, Winterthur, Switzerland
30 March - L Club, Wurzburg, Germany
31 March - Cord, Munchen, Germany
2 April - Mokka, Thun, Switzerland
3 April - Cafe Pfeiffer Buchen, Germany
4 April - Club Im Park, Furstenwalde, Germany
5 April - Virgin Records, Berlin, Germany
5 April - Intersoup, Berlin, Germany
6 April - Blauer Engel, Kiel, Germany
7 April - Kinky Star Club, Gent, Belgium
10 April – Rockhouse, Derby

Paul Herron solo acoustic (2009)

10 June - Ms Treue, Bremen, Germany
11 June - Karo, Bremen, Germany
12 June - Irish Pub, Buxtehude, Germany
12 June - Indra, Hamburg, Germany

The Reeperbahn Festival (2009)

25 Sept. - Kaiserkeller, Hamburg, Germany

The Sons second European tour (2009)

16 Oct. - Rockhouse, Derby
26 Nov. - Musigbistrot, Bern, Switzerland
27 Nov. - Kellerclub, Stuttgart, Germany
28 Nov. - Gaswerk, Winterthur, Switzerland
30 Nov. - Pretty Vacant, Düsseldorf, Germany
1 Dec.- Cafe Video, Gent, Belgium
2 Dec. - Pools, Göttingen, Germany
3 Dec. - Astra Strube, Hamburg, Germany
4 Dec. - Cafe Momo, Rostock, Germany
5 Dec. - Riff, Magdeburg, Germany
12 Dec. - Bar One, Derby, England

The Sons third European tour (2010)

22 March - La Tana delle Rane, Reggio Emilia, Italy
23 March - La Salumeria del Rock, Arceto, Italy
25 March - MMB Club, Naples, Italy
26 March - Zena, Salerno, Italy
27 March - Contestaccio, Rome, Italy
28 March - Lofficina Della Musica, Lecco, Italy
30 March - Dimensione, Winterthur, Switzerland
31 March - Scopitone, Paris, France
1 April - De Rots, Antwerp, Belgium
3 April - Magnet, Berlin, Germany

Additional performances

Discography

Singles and EPs

Albums

Related Research Articles

Jonas Furrer Swiss politician

Jonas Furrer was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1848–1861). He was affiliated to the Radical Party.

En Vogue American vocal band from Oakland, California

En Vogue is an American R&B/pop vocal group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hold On", taken from their 1990 debut album Born to Sing. The group's 1992 follow-up album Funky Divas reached the top 10 in both the US and UK, and included their second US number two hit "My Lovin' " as well as the US top 10 hits "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" and "Free Your Mind".

Ian Paice British rock drummer, songwriter

Ian Anderson Paice is an English musician, best known as the drummer and only remaining original member of the English rock band Deep Purple.

Winterthur Place in Zürich, Switzerland

Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zürich in northern Switzerland. With over 110,000 residents it is the country's sixth-largest city by population, and is the ninth-largest agglomeration with about 140,000 inhabitants. Located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Zürich, Winterthur is a service and high-tech industrial satellite city within Greater Zürich.

Christopher Street Day Annual LGBT event in Europe

Christopher Street Day (CSD) is an annual European LGBTQ+ celebration and demonstration held in various cities across Europe for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and against discrimination and exclusion. It is Germany's and Switzerland's counterpart to Gay Pride or Pride Parades. Austria calls their Pride Parade Rainbow Parade. The most prominent CSD events are Berlin Pride, CSD Hamburg, CSD Cologne, Germany and Zürich in Switzerland.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim

The Diocese of Hildesheim is a diocese or ecclesiastical territory of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in Germany. Founded in 815 as a missionary diocese by King Louis the Pious, his son Louis the German appointed the famous former archbishop of Rheims, Ebbo, as bishop.

The BSWW Tour is a series of international events in beach soccer. It is organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), an organization responsible for promotion and development of beach soccer sport. BSWW Tour is an international exhibition tour in beach soccer allowing teams to practice and compete in beach soccer as well as to allow spectators to see the sport. The tour holds events in different locations around the world.

Northern Germany is the region in the northern part of Germany, whose exact area is not precisely or consistently defined. It varies depending on whether one has a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural or historic standpoint. The five coastal states are regularly referred to as Northern Germany. Though geographically in the northern half of Germany, Westphalia, Brandenburg, and the northern parts of Saxony-Anhalt are rarely referred to as Northern Germany and instead are almost always associated with Western Germany and the historical East Germany respectively.

The 1989–90 UEFA Cup was won by Juventus on aggregate over Fiorentina. This was the first final between two Italian sides in the UEFA competitions history and the third between two clubs of the same country.

Mladen Petrić Croatian-Swiss footballer

Mladen Petrić is a retired Croatian professional footballer who played as a forward or striker. During his career, he played for Grasshopper, Basel, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Fulham, West Ham United and Panathinaikos, as well as internationally for the Croatian national team. He also holds Swiss citizenship.

Bethan Huws is a Welsh multi-media artist whose work explores place, identity, and translation, often using architecture and text. Her work has been described as "delicate, unobtrusive interventions into architectural spaces".

Stephan Bodzin is a German DJ techno-producer and label owner. Stephan Bodzin also performs as a live artist. A classically educated musician, he is a producer of mainly electronic music projects. In May 2007 Bodzin's debut album Liebe Ist was released on the label Herzblut.

The final phase of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup began on 18 February 2009, and concluded with the final at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. The final phase involved the 24 teams that finished in the top three in each group in the group stage and the eight teams that finished in third place in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

The knockout phase of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League began on 18 February, and concluded with the final at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany on 12 May 2010. The knockout phase involved the 24 teams that finished in the top two in each group in the group stage and the eight teams that finished in third place in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Innocent Emeghara Swiss professional footballer

Innocent Nkasiobi Emeghara is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a striker for the swiss club FC Winterthur.

Birth of the Boogie

"Birth of the Boogie" is a 1955 song composed by Bill Haley with Billy Williamson and Johnny Grande. The song was released as a Decca single by Bill Haley and His Comets.

Ryan Sheridan (musician) Irish singer-songwriter

Ryan Sheridan is an Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist from County Monaghan.

Ferdinand von Malaisé

Ferdinand Malaisé, after 1862 Ritter Ferdinand von Malaisé. Knight of the Order of St. Joseph of Tuscany, the Iron Crown of Austria and the Bavarian Order of Merit, Major General, 1st Royal Bavarian Field Artillery Brigade, Professor of Mathematics, Royal Bavarian Cadet Corps and tutor to Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bremen, Germany.

Simon Sohm is a Swiss footballer who plays for Italian club Parma in Serie A.

References

  1. "Derby - Entertainment - Interview: The Sons". BBC. Retrieved 4 June 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. 1 2 [ dead link ]