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Florence and the Machine

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Florence and the Machine

Florence and the Machine is the recording name of Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide backing music for her voice.[1] Musically Florence and the Machine's sound is generally referred to as soul inspired indie. Florence and The Machine's music has received praise across the British music media, especially from the BBC who have played a large part in Florence and The Machine's rise to prominence by bringing them into the spotlight as part of BBC Introducing.[2] This has led to her playing Glastonbury as well as Reading and Leeds festivals. The band's debut album, Lungs, is due to be released on 6th July 2009. The band's debut single was "Kiss with a Fist". The follow up single "Dog Days are Over" was recorded with no instruments in a studio the "size of a loo".[3]

Florence Welch

Florence Welch is the daughter of Evelyn Welch, a native New Yorker who is an art historian and author, and once was a Studio 54 regular. Welch's father works in advertising. Welch is granddaughter of Colin Welch a former deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph, and the niece of parodist Craig Brown. [4] When Welch was 13 years old her mother moved in with her next door neighbour and his three teenage children. According to Welch "We get on brilliantly now, but it was a nightmare then. I just used to stay in my room and dance around.”[5]

As a small girl Welch sang to her grandmother and in the school choir. Welch and her father would dance on top of her father's vinyl wooden chest to gramophone records by Love, The Incredible String Band, The Smiths and The Velvet Underground that were inside that chest. Welch's mother liked Tom Jones and The Monkees and Welch says her singing style resulted from listening to a combination of these acts. [6] She also grew up listening to The White Stripes and Kate Bush. [3] She started performing at family weddings and funerals ('mainly funerals') at age 7 and persuaded her parents to let her have singing lessons at age 11.[4]

In school Welch was labelled as dyslexic and dyspraxic.[4] Welch was often admonished by teachers for singing, a habit which she was unable to stop. [6]

In her teens Welch became a fan of Nirvana and Green Day. She dressed in a "punk" style and attended punk rock concerts. [4] While attending Alleyn's School in Dulwich, London a secondary school [7] Welch was in a punk "musical collective" entitled The Toxic Cockroaches.[8]

Welch attended Camberwell College of Art where she "did Foundation Art and got in to do illustration".[8] She attended concerts by art college bands. These gigs would influence the "more outrageous" side of Florence and The Machine's performances. Welch left Camberwell after a year and a half to peruse her professional music career. [4]

Welch says she writes metaphorical songs that are "stories with consequences and weird morality issues," She gets her material from a variety of sources and experiences.[6][8] Dog Days Are Over was inspired by an art installation , Kiss With A Fist is about "giving as good as you get.”.[5]

Welch, a self described "real geek", is an avid book reader who likes to completely lose herself in weekend "adventures".[3] As of December 2008 she lived in the Camberwell neighborhood in South London where she was brought up. She is happy with her current life "'I've got my ideal job. I like to sing, I like to dance, I like to bang drums and dress up, and someone pays me – it's incredible".[4]

The Machine

The Machine is Florence's backing band and consists of several musicians, which previously included Devonte Hynes from Lightspeed Champion.[9] The current line-up consists of Robert Ackroyd (guitar), Christopher Lloyd Hayden (drums), Isabella Summers (keyboards) and Tom Monger (harp). [10]

Florence and the Machine are managed by Mairead Nash who is one half of the DJ outfit Queens of Noize. Nash decided to manage the group when at one of Nash's club nights an inebriated Welch dragged Nash into the toilets and sang an Etta James song to her. [5]

Touring

Florence and The Machine burst onto the London scene playing a handful of gigs in and around London for the likes of The Lock Tavern, Blue Flowers and Filthy Few.[11]

Florence and The Machine are part of the 2009 Shockwaves NME Awards tour. Welch said that she plans a "pretty theatrical" performance. Welch is planning to bring "as many weird clothes" as possible with the idea of deciding what to wear before going on stage.[8]

The group has been confirmed for perform at the 2009 Glastonbury Festival, Reading and Leeds festival and the T in the Park festival.[12][13]

The group is scheduled to play The Concerts for Teenage Cancer Trust charity event at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2009.[14]. Florence and The Machine is scheduled to support Blur for their 26 June comeback performance at the MEN Arena in Manchester.[15]. It has also been confirmed that they will be playing at the Lovebox festival this July 18th and 19th.

Critical Acclaim

On top of the BBC praise they have received a large amount of support from NME magazine who included them in their annual NME Awards Tour for 2009. They are set to support White Lies, Friendly Fires and Glasvegas on the tour which will include venues such as Academies and Universities. She also appeared on the front cover of The Guide subsection to The Guardian. Florence collected the Critics' Choice Award at the Brit Awards in February 2009. This category focuses on new talent and is voted for by a panel of music industry experts. Adele took the award in 2008 and went on to sell 1.2 million copies of her debut album. Florence and the Machine came third in the BBC's Sound of 2009[16].

Awards

  • First in the 2009 BRITs Critics' Choice section.[17]
  • Third in the BBCs Sound of 2009, a poll voted for by a select group of insiders from all sectors of the music industry. [18]

Discography

Albums

  • Lungs (6 July 2009, CD and digital download) UK TBR [19]

EPs

  • A Lot of Love A Lot of Blood (28 April 2009, 12") [20]

Singles

Tour Dates

UK and Ireland[21]

June:

  1. 26th – Blur support at Manchester M.E.N Arena
  2. 27th – Glastonbury – John Peel tent

July:

  1. 3rd – Blur support at Hyde Park
  2. 4th – Hop Garden
  3. 11th – T in the Park
  4. 12th – Oxegen
  5. 18th – Lovebox

August:

  1. 28th – Reading – Radio 1 tent
  2. 30th – Leeds – Radio 1 tent

September:

  1. 12th – Bestival – Main Stage
  2. 13th – Bestival - Big Top

References

  1. ^ Profile on BBC music. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artist/p4mq/
  2. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/artists/florenceandthemachine/
  3. ^ a b c Florence & The Machine win a Brit BBC 12 December, 2008
  4. ^ a b c d e f Florence and the Machine interview: sound and vision The Telegraph 4 June, 2009
  5. ^ a b c Florence and the Machine: Wild at Heart The Times 31 May, 2009
  6. ^ a b c BBC Sound of 2009: Florence and the Machine BBC 7 January, 2009
  7. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleyn%27s_School#Notable_alumni
  8. ^ a b c d Flowing Dress The Daily Record 30 January, 2009
  9. ^ Profile on BBC music. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artist/p4mq/
  10. ^ "Dog Days Are Over" CD single
  11. ^ http://www.myspace.com/filthyfewuk
  12. ^ Neil Young and Blur confirmed for Glastonbury NME 9 March, 2009
  13. ^ Exclusive: The Saturdays join bill for T in the Park Glasgow Daily Record 9 March, 2009
  14. ^ Concerts for Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall, March 24-29 The Telegraph 20 March, 2009
  15. ^ Blur sign-up Klaxons and Florence and The Machine for Manchester NME 3 April, 2009
  16. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7766429.stm
  17. ^ "Critics' Choice". The Brits. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
  18. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7766429.stm
  19. ^ http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=220;1;-1;-1;201&sku=919714
  20. ^ http://www.iamsoundrecords.com/release/363
  21. ^ http://www.glasswerk.co.uk/features/national/5737/Florence+&+The+Machine++Rabbit+Heart+(Raise+It+Up)
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