The Bluetones

The Bluetones

The Bluetones are an English indie rock band, formed in Hounslow, Greater London, in 1994. The band's members are Mark Morriss on vocals, Adam Devlin on guitar, Scott Morriss on bass guitar, and Eds Chesters on drums. A fifth member, Richard Payne, came on board between 1998 and 2001. The band was originally named "The Bottlegarden".

The band's biggest hit, "Slight Return", was released in 1995 (as a double-A side with "The Fountainhead") and re-released the following year. They achieved thirteen Top 40 UK chart placings in total and retain a loyal fanbase.

The Bluetones' commercial success waned after the fall of the Britpop movement, yet they have continued to tour and release new records and are therefore often labelled as "Britpop survivors". The band have built a strong live following over the years, and remain upbeat about their music and their career. In a December 2006 interview with stv music, Mark Morriss said of the Cooking Vinyl deal that it felt like "the start of a new era" for the band, which was partly the reason behind self-titling the album.

History

After the release of two singles on Fierce Panda Records, they released Expecting to Fly on the Superior Quality Recordings label. The album (one of only a few debut album to enter the charts at number one) featured the singles "Bluetonic" and "Slight Return", with the latter being beaten to number one by one-hit-wonders Babylon Zoo's "Spaceman". Following the touring and promotional duties for Expecting to Fly, the band released a standalone single, "Marblehead Johnson", as a bridge gap between albums.

The second album, Return To The Last Chance Saloon, was released in 1998 and possessed a decidedly Mexican flavour. While failing to generate the commercial success of their debut, it did spawn hits in the form of "Solomon Bites the Worm" and "If..." and remains a favourite amongst fans.

Whilst many of their mid-'90s peers had disbanded by 2000, The Bluetones released their third album, Science & Nature, which again reached the Top 10 and featured the hit singles "Keep the Home Fires Burning" and "Autophilia". Due to a change in musical climate and lack of press (most notably from the NME) the album failed to generate the commercial success of the previous efforts.

After releasing a best-of album in 2002, the band followed up with Luxembourg, somewhat stylistically spikier and less jangly than previous efforts and highly influenced by the bands of the day, such as The Strokes. The album received little attention in the music press and failed to produce any hit singles. After signing a three-album deal with the Cooking Vinyl record label in late 2005, a comprehensive boxset of all singles and B-sides released between 1995 and 2003, A Rough Outline, was issued in early 2006 by Universal.

A new single, entitled "My Neighbour's House", was released in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2006. The single is taken from their self-titled album, which was released on October 9, 2006. Despite largely positive reviews for the album, it failed to chart in the Top 75 UK Albums Chart after its first week on sale. The album was also released in the United States, the first such occurrence since their debut. On October 1, 2006, it was announced that a planned nine-date tour of North America and Australia had been scrapped. No reason has yet been given.

On November 1, 2006, the band began a month-long tour of Europe in support of their new release, including two sold-out nights at Glasgow's King Tuts.

The band released their second live album of 2007 on June 25, entitled Once Upon A Time In West Twelve, on the back of BBC Radio Sessions, which was issued in February.

Discography

Studio albums

• 
  1. Expecting to Fly - 30 May 1996 - #1 (UK)
• 
  2. Return To The Last Chance Saloon - 9 March 1998 - #11 (UK)
• 
  3. Science & Nature - 12 April 2000 - #7 (UK)
• 
  4. Luxembourg - 12 May 2003 - #49 (UK)
• 
  5. The Bluetones - October 9 2006 - #100 (UK)

EPs

• 1. A Bluetones Companion - 1996
  1. A Bluetones Companion - 1996
• 2. Mudslide - October 30 2000
  2. Mudslide - October 30 2000
• 
  3. Serenity Now - November 14 2005 (limited release)

Compilations

• 1. Are You Blue? - May 2000 (limited edition promotional CD)
  1. Are You Blue? - May 2000 (limited edition promotional CD)
• 
  2. The Singles - 23 April 2002 - #14 (UK)
• 3. A Rough Outline: The Singles & B-Sides 95 - 03 - 7 March 2006 - #156 (UK)
  3. A Rough Outline: The Singles & B-Sides 95 - 03 - 7 March 2006 - #156 (UK)
• 
  4. Early / Garage Years - 30 July 2007

Live

• 1. BBC Radio Sessions - February 2007 - #164 (UK)
  1. BBC Radio Sessions - February 2007 - #164 (UK)
• 
  4. Once Upon a Time in West Twelve - 25 June 2007

Singles

All chart positions are for the UK:

• 1995 - "Slight Return/The Fountainhead" - limited edition 7"

From A Bluetones Companion...

• 1995 - "Are You Blue or Are You Blind?" - #31

From Expecting to Fly...

• 1996 - "Bluetonic" - #19
• 1996 - "Cut Some Rug/Castle Rock" - #7
• 1996 - "Slight Return" (re-issue) - #2

Non-album single...

• 1996 - "Marblehead Johnson" - #7

From Return to the Last Chance Saloon...

• 1998 - "Solomon Bites the Worm" - #10
• 1998 - "If..." - #13
• 1998 - "Sleazy Bed Track" - #35
• 1998 - "4-Day Weekend" - did not chart (mail-order-only release)

From Science & Nature...

• 2000 - "Keep the Home Fires Burning" - #13
• 2000 - "Autophilia (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Car)" - #18

From The Singles...

• 2002 - "After Hours" - #26

From Luxembourg...

• 2003 - "Fast Boy/Liquid Lips" - #25
• 2003 - "Never Going Nowhere" - #40

From The Bluetones...

• 2006 - "My Neighbour's House" - #68
• 2006 - "Head On A Spike" - #135
• 2007 - "Surrendered" - did not chart

Video release

• 1998 - "Mondo Concerto"

Trivia

• Members of the band have made cameo appearances in the British comedy shows Spaced, Little Britain and the Adam and Joe Show.

External links

• www.bluetones.info The Bluetones' official website
• www.myspace.com/thebluetones The Bluetones' official MySpace
• www.bluetones.org.uk A Bluetones fan page (not updated recently)
• www.bluetonic.co.uk A fans website with downloads (not updated recently)
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