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Klaxons

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Klaxons

Klaxons is an English band, currently based in London, with a large underground following. The word 'klaxon' derives from the Greek verb klazō, meaning "to shriek".

Their debut album, titled Myths of the Near Future, was released on January 29, 2007 following the single "Golden Skans", which was released on January 22, 2007.

Although often tagged as a "London band", the three core members actually hail from the provincial UK towns of Stratford-Upon-Avon (James Righton and Simon Taylor-Davis), and Bournemouth (Jamie Reynolds).

Klaxons headlined the NME indie rave tour starting in February 2007. The London date at Hammersmith Palais sold out in two days. They have also had promising early success in Europe, Japan and Australia, selling out tours in November 2006, and upcoming sell-out headline UK dates in May 2007.

Band members

  • Jamie Reynolds (Born 1980)- vocals, bass guitar
  • Simon Taylor-Davis (a.k.a. Captain Strobe) (born 1982) - guitar, backing vocals
  • James Righton (a.k.a. The Cat) (born 1983) - vocals, keyboards/synthesizers, bass guitar
  • Steffan Halperin (a.k.a. Bellringer) (born 1985)- drums, backing vocals

Originally consisting of just Jamie, James and Simon, the band expanded to include Steffan as a drummer for their live gigs after he recorded the drums for the track "Atlantis To Interzone" on the album (the rest of the percussion on the album was recorded by the album's producer James Ford). As of early 2007, he has been, more or less, the official fourth member, listed on the band's myspace page and present in several interviews. He is, however, mostly absent from the band's music videos.

Angular / Merok Records

Their debut single, "Gravity's Rainbow" was released in April 2006 on Angular Records. Only 500 copies were released on 7" vinyl decorated by the band themselves. The band's second single, "Atlantis to Interzone" was the first release for new label Merok and led to further coverage in the NME and even had BBC Radio 1 daytime play from Jo Whiley, who repeatedly, and mistakenly, called the song "Atlantic To Interscope".

They released their first EP, Xan Valleys in the UK on October 16, 2006 with Modular.

Polydor Records

In 2006, they signed to Polydor Records. Their first single for the label, "Magick", was released on October 30, 2006 and reached #29 in the UK Top 40 the following week.

In August 2006, Klaxons played at the Reading and Leeds festivals, playing in the Carling tent on each festival site. The Carling tent, at both festivals, is the smallest stage and as a result large numbers of people were forced to watch from outside the tent. Fans sounded "Klaxons!" and cheered loudly between songs, brandishing glo-sticks, seemingly giving credit to the "new rave" bandwagon label. This term was coined by Angular Records founder Joe Daniel and later used by NME to describe the burgeoning scene.

On January 24, 2007, Klaxons performed on the UK BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, performing their single "Golden Skans" and a cover of Justin Timberlake's "My Love", to great acclaim from disc jockey Jo Whiley.[1]

The first single from their debut album, "Golden Skans", was released on January 22, 2007. It reached #16 in the UK Singles Chart on download sales on January 14 (two weeks before the release of the CD) and climbed to #14 the next week, eventually reaching #7 after the CD release.

Their debut album, titled Myths of the Near Future, was released on January 29, 2007 and produced by James Ford. It entered the UK album charts at #2.

Style

HMV describes Klaxons as "acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk", while on their MySpace page they are described as 'Psychedelic / Progressive / Pop'. Along with Shitdisco they are one of the bands dubbed part of the 'New Rave' movement, a term coined by Angular Records founder Joe Daniel who released their first single. Although the accessible side of their sound shows the influence of the art rock explosion of the 2000s, they draw upon some less common influences, notably the rave culture of the 1990s, which they appropriate and redefine in a post-modern fashion. This is most evident in their cover version of the novelty rave hit, "The Bouncer" by Kicks Like a Mule and a further cover of 'Not Over Yet' by Grace. They also have a taste for the supernatural and magic-realist, as evidenced by songs names such as "Atlantis To Interzone" (a William Burroughs reference), "Magick" (Aleister Crowley) "4 Horsemen of 2012" and "Gravity's Rainbow" (a Thomas Pynchon reference).

Band member Jamie stated that there weren't any regrets for coining the term "new-rave" to the band - "...it's great that it started as an in-joke and became a minor youth subculture."[2]

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Compilations

Awards

The band won the Best New Band award at the 2007 NME Awards.

Trivia

  • Members of Klaxons used to share a house with Pull Tiger Tail in New Cross, South-East London.
  • Simon Taylor-Davis and James Righton, alongside members of Pull Tiger Tail, were in the band Hollywood Is A Verb, who were very briefly active during the summer of 2004.
  • The album cover featured in the 2006 version of the video clip for "Gravity's Rainbow" (during the babies scene) is an album by Frankie Valli and his band The Four Seasons.
  • Dominic Howard and Matthew Bellamy of the band Muse are big fans of Klaxons, according to an interview in the NME, and have been to a number of their gigs. They also recently asked Jamie of Klaxons if they would support them for their two Wembley stadium concerts to which he reportedly replied "nah, we don't support anyone" (as reported by the band on a recent Drowned In Sound podcast). The band, who afterwards expressed regret stating alcohol to be a factor in their refusal of the support slot, have since been re-approached and confirmed that they in fact do wish to play with Muse. Matthew Bellamy has re-opened his offer to Klaxons to support them at the upcoming Wembley gig, when he became aware of the confusion he told NME: "Is that what they've said? Well OK, if they're still up for it, we'll bring them on!"[4] They have still not been confirmed as one of the three bands to support them on both dates.
  • Their promotional video for "Golden Skans" was heavily influenced by the video for 'Can You Feel It' by The Jackson 5.
  • Their song "Gravity's Rainbow" appears in the videogames Tony Hawk's Project 8 and Project Gotham Racing 3.
  • Simon studied Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University, where he received a First Class Honours Degree.
  • James studied History and Politics at the University of Cardiff
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