Scouting for Girls

This article is about the band. For the general topic, see Girlguiding.

Scouting for Girls
Playing the "Other Stage" at Glastonbury Festival, June 2008
Background information
Origin	London
Genres	Pop rock, Acoustic, Piano Rock, Alternative
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Epic
Website	scoutingforgirls.co.uk
Members	Roy Stride Greg Churchouse Peter Ellard

Scouting for Girls are a three piece English pop rock band. Their name is a play on the title of the 1908 Scouting handbook Scouting for Boys. The trio consists of childhood friends from London, Roy Stride on piano and lead guitar/vocals, Greg Churchouse on bass guitar and Peter Ellard on percussion. Having formed in 2005, they signed to Epic Records in 2007. They released their self titled debut album that September, which reached Number 1 on the UK Album Chart and went triple Platinum in terms of total sales. A second album Everybody Wants To Be On TV was released in April 2010 and peaked at number 2 in the charts. This was preceded by the single "This Ain't a Love Song" which went to No.1 in the UK singles chart for two weeks. To date Scouting for Girls have sold over 2 million records^{[citation needed]}, been nominated for four Brit awards, and one Ivor Novello award. They recently released their third studio album, The Light Between Us, which debuted at number 10 on the UK charts.

History

Formation

The founding members had known each other since childhood. Stride and Ellard met in the Cub Scouts and Churchouse met Stride on their first day at school at Queensmead School in South Ruislip in north-west London. They attended the school until year 13 then moved on towards a music career. At the age of 15 Roy and Greg were playing together at small gigs in west London.

It has been noted that the band was looking for a spirited way of removing themselves from the drudgery of their everyday lives, looking to the whimsy of childhood fantasy through playing a moog organ. Churchouse has observed on several occasions that playing bass is something he wanted to pursue as the bass has "two less strings".

Unsigned and early music: pre-2007

Whilst in University Stride and Churchouse were in a band called Cape. With Stride swapping from guitar to piano, Scouting for Girls began to do concerts in a room above a pub in Harrow. By the time they were signed they had built up a fanbase - on MySpace and Pulse Rated, a website for unsigned bands. They had also already written a demo of "Heartbeat" and produced a video for "The Aeroplane Song".

Debut album and early singles: 2007-2008

At the beginning of 2007 Epic Records A&R Nick Raphael received the band's demo CD. So enthusiastic was his response that he immediately phoned up colleague Jo Charrington and said: "These are hits, let's go see the band in rehearsals!" According to Charrington every other record label had passed on them.

On 14 February 2007, Scouting for Girls were signed to Epic UK (a division of Sony BMG). As the band were signed almost fully formed, with all their songs already written, they headed out to Helioscentric Studios in Rye, East Sussex to begin work on their debut album almost immediately. Produced by Andy Green (Keane, KT Tunstall, The Feeling), the band's first release was the It's Not About You EP, released on 25 June 2007. It sold-out, and became the highest charting limited edition EP in chart history. The album was released in September 2007, and has sold in excess of 900,000 copies in the UK alone. It spawned a host of hit singles; "She's So Lovely", "Heartbeat", and "Elvis Ain't Dead".

Scouting for Girls' self-titled album went to #1 in the UK on 20 January 2008, where it remained for two weeks.

The band toured the UK heavily throughout 2007 and 2008, upgrading and selling-out venues in every city they performed. During their first tour of 2008, Roy Stride lost his voice en route to a gig in Birmingham and was diagnosed with laryngitis, forcing the band to reschedule a series of dates on the tour. The rescheduled dates included an extra night in London, with the band-selling out a record four consecutive nights at the Shepherds Bush Empire. The band's final tour of the year concluded with two sold-out nights at London's Hammersmith Apollo, and one at London's Brixton Academy.

Scouting for Girls also made a series of appearances in Europe, Japan, Australia and America in 2008, including performances at 2008's SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas and CMJ in New York City.

Everybody Wants To Be On TV: 2009-2012

Scouting for Girls returned to Helioscentric Studios (East Sussex, UK) in 2009 to commence work on their second album with producer Andy Green (who produced the band's eponymous debut album). The album, Everybody Wants To Be On TV, was released in the UK on 12 April 2010. The first single to be taken from the record was "This Ain't a Love Song" which went straight to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 4 April 2010, giving the band 2010's Easter Number 1. The track has been added to radio playlists in Australia, including Sydney Radio Station: Nova 969 FM as at May 2010. [1]

Roy has commented on how hard they worked to make this record the best it could possibly be, scrapping early recording sessions and re-writing many of the songs in his quest for the "perfect pop song".

In the lead up to the album's release, Scouting for Girls performed in the Woolpack Pub on the set of long-running British soap, Emmerdale for a Radio Aire session.

Scouting for Girls toured their new album throughout 2010, commencing with a full UK tour throughout late April and May 2010. The band also took part in a sponsored Chopper bicycle ride from London to Brighton for the charity WellChild raising over £20,000.

The band released the second single, "Famous", from the album on 12 July 2010. The single peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart, giving the band their sixth Top 40 single overall. In September 2010 the band confirmed "Don't Want To Leave You" would be released as the third single from the album on 10 October 2010. The single is under the name "Silly Song" on the album, but was changed so that it could be found more easily on the internet.

The fourth single from the album is "Take A Chance On Us" and is the official soundtrack of the Dutch movie Loft. It was released on 10 December.

On 10 July 2011 Scouting For Girls released new single, "Love How It Hurts", as a digital download.

The band have announced they are releasing a bonus track edition of Everybody Wants To Be On TV, featuring new tracks "Love How It Hurts", "Naked" and "Somebody New". The album will also feature bonus tracks "New Day", "Famous" – Pete Phantom Club Remix, "She’s So Lovely", "Elvis Ain’t Dead" – Live, "Famous" - Cahill Club Remix. Originally due for release 18 July 2011, However it was later postponed till later in the year but a new date still has not been announced.

The group performed a set at a musical festival in Hertfordshire named Cazfest on 7 July 2012. Howvever, they were cut short stating on stage this was the fault of the local police. It was later stated by the organisers of Cazfest that it had been a "miscommunication" and thanked police for continued support of the charity event.

The Light Between Us: 2012-onwards

On 5 March 2012, Scouting for Girls announced via Twitter that they had begun the process of recording their third studio album, The Light Between Us, which includes the tracks 'Snakes and Ladders' and their new single 'Summertime in the City'. The album will also features the songs "Rains in LA" "Without you" "The Light Between Us" and "Snakes and ladders"

The first single from the album to be released is Summertime In The City. It was released on 27 August 2012. It had its first radio airplay on the Fearne Cotton show 10 July 2012, BBC Radio 1. The accompanying video will be directed by Remy Cayuela. The single has so far peaked at number 73 on the UK Official Chart.

The Light Between Us debuted at number 10 in the official 100 on 9 September 2012, one week after the release of Summertime In The City.

Awards

Scouting for Girls were nominated for three BRIT Awards in 2009 for British Breakthrough Act, British Live Act and British Single ("Heartbeat"). They were nominated again in 2011 for Best British Single with 'This Ain't A Love Song'.

Scouting for Girls were also nominated in the Best New Act category in the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008

Scouting for Girls have been nominated for the Ivor Novello 2011 PRS FOR MUSIC MOST PERFORMED WORK award for:

This Ain't A Love Song Writer: Roy Stride Performed By: Scouting for Girls UK Publisher: EMI Music Publishing

The Wolfcubs fan club

Before the band were signed to Epic Records, they ran their own fanclub, The Wolfcub Club through their MySpace site. The name was a wordplay similar to the band's name, being based on the Dennis the Menace fan club.

Members of the fanclub were called Wolfcubs, and received a welcome pack put together by the band which include a CD of recent demos, a membership card which allowed discounted entry to their gigs, a regular SFG newsletter (similar to the famous Scouting For Boys guide book), and badges. When the band signed their record deal, they carried on producing the membership packs for new fans on the road, until the demand became too high to deal with. However, the Wolfcubs still exist in reference to the band's fans.

Scouting for Girls used regularly remark on the Wolfcubs as the "fourth member" of the band. As of 2010 current touring member Jamie O'Gorman is referred to as the fourth member and the Wolfcubs are now known as the fifth member of the band.

Charity work

Scouting for Girls are official ambassadors for the children's charity, Wellchild, and also support the Help For Heroes charity. They fundraise for both charities.

Their most notable fundraiser to date was cycling from London to Brighton on children's chopper bikes for WellChild.

Scouting For Girls Played Midlands Music Festival 2010 alongside acts like The Saturdays, Chipmunk, Westlife, Olly Murs and Everybody Looks Famous in Tamworth, England.

Band members

Current members

• Roy Stride – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (2005–present)
• Greg Churchouse – bass, backing vocals (2005–present)
• Pete Ellard – drums, backing vocals percussion (2005–present)

Current touring members

• Peter Clements – guitar (2007–2010)
• Matt Simmons – keyboards (2010)
• Jamie O'Gorman - guitar (2010–present)

Session

• Martin Owen – horn on Scouting for Girls (2007)
• James McMillan – trumpet on Scouting for Girls (2007)

Personnel

• Andy Green – Producer of Scouting for Girls (2007)

Discography

Main article: Scouting for Girls discography

• Scouting for Girls (2007)
• Everybody Wants to Be on TV (2010)
• The Light Between Us (2012)

External links

• Official website
• Scouting for Girls interview at Record Overplayed webzine
• BBC video interview
• BBC gig gallery 2010
• Scouting For Girls Interview Oct 2010 - Hit The Floor Magazine - hitthefloor.co.uk