The Blackout (band)

For other uses, see Blackout (disambiguation).

The Blackout

The Blackout are a post-hardcore band from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, formed in 2003. After some time backing Lostprophets on their Liberation Transmission Tour, along with Dopamine, Covergirl, Kids In Glass Houses, The Guns and Men, Women and Children, they released their first mini-album The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout!. In October 2007 the band released their debut album, We Are the Dynamite!. Their second record, The Best In Town was released on 25 May 2009 in Europe and 23 June 2009 in the US, both via Epitaph Records.

History

Formation & early years (2003-2006)

The band formed in 2003 "out of boredom", originally called Ten Minute Preview, however after deciding to ditch their name at the time material they re-branded themselves The Blackout, the name was taken from a t-shirt saying "I survived the blackout" referring to the New York City blackout of 1977. Having performed with the likes of fellow Welsh bands, including Funeral For A Friend, Kids in Glass Houses, The Automatic and Lostprophets, as well as Reuben, Fightstar, amongst other big name bands the band released their debut mini-album The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout! on 23 October 2006 through Fierce Panda Records, this led to Kerrang! nominating the band for Best Newcomers.

We Are the Dynamite! (2007-2008)

Main article: We Are the Dynamite!

Under a year later The Blackout released their debut album, We Are the Dynamite!, on 1 October 2007 through Fierce Panda records. The first single taken from it is entitled "The Beijing Cocktail" and was released on 24 September 2007. We Are the Dynamite! is the fastest selling album ever released on Fierce Panda. To coincide with the band's debut album release they announced a 14-date headline UK tour with Flood of Red and Pierce the Veil followed by joining the Taste of Chaos tour across Europe in November 2007, replacing Escape The Fate and playing alongside The Used, Rise Against, Aiden and Gallows.

The second single released from the album We Are the Dynamite! was "It's High Tide Baby!" (which features Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins) and was released via Fierce Panda on 11 February 2008. However, due to a pressing error, the A side of this single ended up being "The Beijing Cocktail" instead of "It's High Tide Baby!". After further touring across the United Kingdom and Europe, April 2008 saw The Blackouts first jaunt to USA with a short tour of the midwest supporting blessthefall ending in Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. In May, the band played at the Give It A Name festival for the second time, this time playing on the main stage alongside acts such as Silverstein, Billy Talent and Glassjaw. They also brought along entertainment team The Fuel Girls, to support their stage presence. The Blackout also supported Story of the Year on their UK The Black Swan tour, both bands finished off the tour by playing Slam Dunk Festival in Leeds, UK. 8 September brought The Blackout's first visit to Japan playing a short 4 date stop with Alesana. On returning from Japan, The Blackout got straight on a bus to mainland Europe to tour with fellow Welshmen Attack! Attack! then returning to the UK where they were supported by The Medic Droid, We Are the Ocean and From First To Last. This tour saw The Blackout became only the third unsigned band ever to sell out the London Astoria. The previous bands being The Darkness and Enter Shikari respectively .

The Best in Town (2009)

Main article: The Best in Town

In 2008 the band split with record label Fierce Panda, scrapping plans to release another two singles from We Are the Dynamite! and "I Love Myself and I Wanna Live", this ultimately led to the band being signed to Epitaph Records in February 2009. After finishing up touring in 2008 the band began recording their second album, The Best in Town with A vocalist, Jason Perry at Sonic Ranch, El Paso, Texas. The rest of the vocal tracking was completed in Southend on Sea in early January. In March 2009 the band set out to LA to film a music video for their first single from The Best in Town, "Children of the Night" and for their second single, "Saves Our Selves", as well as meeting with record Label Epitaph, who are based in the US. The first single from The Best in Town, "Children Of The Night", was released on the 18th of May. To promote this album, the band toured with The Urgency, Hollywood Undead and Silverstein, before playing at the Download Festival, where they ended up playing twice due to The Ghost Of A Thousand pulling out at the last minute. Speaking to Sam Darcy in an interview immediately after their first gig on the main stage, guitarist James Davies described the experience as “..awesome and mind blowingly big. It gets to the point where you are just looking at so many people that you can’t really comprehend how many people are there”. They played at the Hevy Music Festival on 1 August 2009 and headlined Butserfest on 12 September playing alongside Go Audio, We Are The Ocean and Attack! Attack!. They have also been confirmed to play the Kerrang! Relentless Energy Drink Tour 2010 alongside My Passion, Young Guns and All Time Low. Through Monday 16 November to Saturday 21 November The Blackout were doing band signing in major cities and towns. Having performed backing vocals on You Me At Six's 2010 album Hold Me Down, Sean Smith appeared on stage with You Me At Six, at Newport Centre on 10 March 2010, and at Brixton Academy on 20 March 2010, with Gavin Butler, during the performance of "The Consequence", both times receiving an enthusiastic reception. The band also toured Europe with Limp Bizkit

Upcoming third studio album

On 28 Sep, 2010, frontman Sean Smith announced that the band is currently heading to the studio in preparation to record their third upcoming studio album. The title has yet to be confirmed, though.

On 11 Nov, 2010, the band announced that they're done writing the songs and several demos have been taken down. The band's vocalist Gavin Butler has also announced one possible track off the upcoming album titled "Burning Crows".

On 17 Nov, 2010, Butler announced that the first potential single off the yet-to-be-untitled album would be called "Whatever You Hear, Don't Scream". Butler has also mentioned that the title was a line taken from the upcoming action horror film Priest, which is slated for a 2011 release. The official release date of the single though, hadn't been mentioned.

On 26 Nov, 2010, the band posted a tweet on their Twitter account, stating that the album is "all wrapped up & done recording" and that the record would be mixed next week. Butler, the band's frontman, has also stated that they would be looking forward to a Feb/March 2011 release date.

Band members

• Sean Smith - vocals
• Gavin Butler - vocals
• James "Bob" Davies - guitar, backing vocals
• Matthew Davies - guitar, backing vocals
• Rhys Lewis - bass guitar
• Gareth "Snoz" Lawrence - drums, backing vocals

Discography

Albums

• We Are the Dynamite! (2007)
• The Best In Town (2009)
• Upcoming third studio album (TBA)

EPs

• Pull No Punches (2004)
• The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout! (2006)

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
		UK Singles Chart	UK Rock Chart	UK Indie Chart
2007	"Hard Slammin'"	-	8	-	The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout!
	"The Beijing Cocktail"	90	-	4	We Are the Dynamite!
2008	"It's High Tide Baby!"	-	-	-
2009	"Children of the Night"	128	1	1	The Best In Town
	"Save Our Selves (The Warning)"	89	1	1
	"I Don't Care (This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things)"	107 link	7	-
TBA	"Whatever You Hear, Don't Scream"	-	-	-	Untitled (TBA)

Other songs

• "My Generation" (Limp Bizkit Cover) on Kerrang's compilation Higher Voltage.
• "The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies" (Faith No More Cover) released as a B-side to "The Beijing Cocktail".
• "I Kissed A Girl" (Katy Perry Cover) released as a B-side on the "Children of the Night" CD
• "Pastor of Muppets" released as a B-side on the "Children of the Night" vinyl
• "Lapdance" (N*E*R*D cover)
• "Wanted Dead or Alive" (Bon Jovi cover)
• "Fight For Your Right" (Beastie Boys cover)

Videography

• The Beijing Cocktail
• It's High Tide Baby!
• Children of the Night
• Save Our Selves (The Warning)
• I Don't Care (This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things)

Honors

• The Blackout were nominated for the Kerrang! British Newcomer award, and will also be playing on the Kerrang! New Breed launch show.
• In December 2006, The Blackout won best new Welsh act at the Pop Factory awards held in the Coal Exchange in Cardiff bay. The awards ceremony was televised on ITV1 Wales.
• The Blackout won Best Unsigned Band in Kerrang! magazine's Readers Poll 2008.
• Sean Smith came third in "Sexiest Male" category in the 2008 Reader's Poll for Kerrang! Magazine.

External links

• The Blackout's Myspace
• The Blackout Band
• ChangeTheRecord.net interview with The Blackout - 27/08/09
• The Blackout's Official SoleMusic page