 |
Straw | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Bristol, England |
| Genres | Indie rock, post-Britpop |
| Years active | 1998–2001 |
| Labels | WEA, Columbia |
| Past members | Mattie Bennett Duck Blackwell Andy Nixon Dan McKinna Roger Power |
Straw was an English post-Britpop band that released one album, Shoplifting , in 1999.
Straw was formed in Bristol by Mattie Bennett (vocals/guitar) and Roger Power (bass/guitar), formerly of The Blue Aeroplanes. Later adding keyboardist Mark "Duck" Blackwell, the group signed to Arista Records under the moniker "Please" with a different lead vocalist. They recorded an album in Boston with American record producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie. Unhappy with the results, however, the band was dropped by the label after releasing a single, "If I Was God..." (1995, Sugarscoop Records).
When Arista kept Please's singer under contract, Bennett stepped into the lead vocalist role, the band adding drummer Andy Nixon and re-christening themselves Straw. This newly revitalised line-up was quickly signed to WEA and issued its debut single "Weird Superman" in the summer of 1998. Two more singles and one EP were released: "The Aeroplane Song," (charting at no. 37 in the UK Singles Chart on 6 February 1999), [1] "Moving to California" (charting at no. 50 on 24 April 1999), [1] and Soundtrack of the Summer (including "The World Is Not Enough" — a James Bond theme attempt) [2] in 1999 before Straw released their first full-length effort, Shoplifting.
Throughout 1998 and 1999 the band toured extensively with Puressence, Space and Feeder alongside emerging future stars Muse and gigs with Supergrass, Alanis Morissette, Fountains of Wayne and Reef. The extensive touring and television appearances (including the O-Zone and TFI Friday ) took their toll, and differences broke out in the band resulting in the dismissal of Power after the band's final appearance of 1999 at the Glastonbury Festival. They were also subsequently dropped by WEA. They recruited new bassist Dan McKinna, and self-funded (and self-produced) the recording of several new tracks in the basement studio of Pete Thomas' house. On the strength of this new material they were signed to Columbia in 2000 and released the 4-track EP Home Work and the single "Sailing Off the Edge of the World" to critical acclaim. [3] A second album, Keepsakes, was slated for release later that year but they were dropped by Columbia and went their separate ways shortly afterwards.
Andy Nixon and Dan McKinna went on to play in The Jeevas with Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker and then onto The Magic Bullet Band. McKinna has been a session player for many bands including James Morrison, Ben's Brother, Stuart Staples (Tindersticks), A Man Called Adam and Farrah. Blackwell, after producing Straw, The Jeevas and The Magic Bullet Band, continues to work as a record producer and songwriter. Bennett is currently an English teacher at Bodmin College in Cornwall and is the leader of the Bennett Battalion (2016–2018).
Although Keepsakes was never released, bar a 5-track sampler, the band could often be found giving away complete copies of the finished album on CD-R at gigs shortly before they split up.
Track listing is as follows:
An extended play (EP) is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. Contemporary EPs generally contain four to six tracks and have a playing time of 15 to 22 minutes. There is no strict definition of an "EP", but it is usually less cohesive than an album and more "non-committal".
Saint Etienne are an English band from Greater London, formed in 1990. The band consists of Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They became associated with the UK's indie dance scene in the 1990s, beginning with the release of their debut album Foxbase Alpha in 1991. Their work has been described as uniting 1990s club culture with 1960s pop and other disparate influences. The name of the band comes from the French football club of AS Saint-Étienne.
Damon Michael Gough, known by the stage name Badly Drawn Boy, is an English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
Turin Brakes are an English band, comprising original duo of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, and long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. They had a UK top 5 hit in 2003 with their song "Painkiller ". Since starting out in 1999, the band have sold around one million records worldwide. They are currently signed to Cooking Vinyl.
The Jeevas were an English rock supergroup. Its members were Crispian Mills, Andy Nixon (drums), and Dan McKinna (bass). Mills was previously the vocalist of Kula Shaker. Nixon and McKinna were previous members of Straw and a third member of Straw, Mark "Duck" Blackwell, produced both The Jeevas' albums. Mills rejoined Kula Shaker in late 2005, and The Jeevas disbanded.
Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a number of Top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart, including "Tattva", "Hey Dude", "Govinda", "Hush", and "Sound of Drums". The band's debut album, K, reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. It was voted number 879 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).
Oliver Wakeman is an English musician, rock keyboardist and composer, best known as a member of Yes from 2008 to 2011, having filled the role of keyboardist previously held by his father, Rick Wakeman.
Dead Letter Office is a rarities and B-sides collection by R.E.M., released in April 1987. The album is essentially a collection of many additional recordings R.E.M. made from before Murmur to Lifes Rich Pageant that were outtakes or released as B-sides to their singles internationally. Many of the tracks are favorite cover versions indicating the band's disparate influences and musical tastes, including three Velvet Underground covers, and songs by Aerosmith, Roger Miller, and fellow Athenians Pylon ("Crazy").
The Cuban Boys are an English electronic group and production team, currently composed of Skreen B and Ricardo Autobahn; the band formerly also included B.L. Underwood ("Blu") and Jenny McLaren. Their music is characterised by fast electronic beats, heavy reliance upon samples and the repetition of the name drop "the Cuban Boys" in the background of many of their tracks. They achieved success after being aired on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show with sample-heavy dance tracks and cut-ups and were responsible for the UK No. 4 hit single "Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia" which was released through EMI.
Iain Matthews is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock". In 1979 his recording of Terence Boylan's "Shake It" reached No. 13 on the US charts.
Thousand Yard Stare are an English band from Slough, Berkshire, England, active during the early 1990s, prior to the Britpop explosion. Supporting popular bands on the indie circuit such as James and Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, the band also released several EPs. Reformed in 2015, the band played a sold-out show at London's Borderline on 6 June, at the Nottingham Rock City Wake-Up Indie Alldayer on 17 October 2015, and at the Shiiine On Weekender festival at Butlins Minehead on 6 November 2015. More dates were scheduled for 2016 and they released full-length record in 2020 and 2022.
The God Machine was an alternative rock band, active in the first half of the 1990s. Its members were all from San Diego, California, but they all lived and performed mainly in the United Kingdom and across Europe.
B'Sides Themselves is a compilation of single B-sides by the British neo-prog band Marillion, which was released on CD only in January 1988. This was the first time that those B-sides were made available in the then still relatively new Compact Disc format. However, vinyl LP and cassette versions were issued in June 1988.
Qkumba Zoo is a South African dance music duo from Johannesburg, South Africa, consisting of vocalist Levannah and musician/producer Owl. The band was originally formed by Owl and Levannah as a duo called Ocean Road.
Parasites are an American pop-punk band. They were formed in the late 1980s by guitarist / singer Dave Parasite and bassist Ron Nole in New Jersey. Dave later relocated to Berkeley, California, and continued with a new lineup during the heyday of Lookout! Records and the Bay Area pop-punk revival.
Seiichi Yamamoto is a Japanese musician. He was a guitarist for the noise rock band Boredoms, and has released records both as a solo artist and with several other musicians and bands. He has also composed the soundtracks to several films.
Go Sailor was an American, short-lived Berkeley-based twee pop band. Its members included Rose Melberg of Tiger Trap and The Softies, Paul Curran of Crimpshrine (bass) and Amy Linton of Henry's Dress (drums). They recorded three 7-inch singles and an album on Lookout! Records in 1996, the latter of which collected the singles tracks and two compilation appearances. After their breakup their songs "Ray of Sunshine" and "Together Forever in Love" were included on the soundtrack to the movie But I'm a Cheerleader.
This is a discography of music related to the American sitcom Friends.
Bring Me the Head of... Rachel Stamp EP is the first EP by British rock band Rachel Stamp. It was also their final release through major label WEA. It was released in November 1996 on three formats - CD single, Limited Edition 10" vinyl of 1000 copies and cassette. A promotional single was also issued to radio stations featuring the EP's first track, "Madonna... Cher...". Unlike previous singles, there was no promotional video made to promote the EP.
The Boys is an EP by The Shadows, released in October 1962. The EP is a 7-inch vinyl record and released in mono with the catalogue number Columbia SEG 8193. Also known as Theme music from The Boys or Theme music from the Galaworldfilm Production "The Boys", the EP was the UK number-one EP for 3 weeks in November 1962.
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
