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Clean Bandit

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Clean Bandit
Clean Bandit performing in 2013
Clean Bandit performing in 2013

Clean Bandit are a British electronic group, founded in Cambridge, England, 2009.[1] Their 2013 single "Mozart's House", released on Black Butter Records, reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. In January 2014, they scored their first UK Singles Chart-topping single with "Rather Be", featuring elements of classical music, along with a dance music beat. "Rather Be" remained at the top of the chart for four weeks.

Music style

Clean Bandit's music has been described as 'fusion' music, mixing electronic music with classical and deep-house elements. Most of their music intertwines classical compositions, such as those from Beethoven, Dvorak, etc (most typically, Mozart for their song "Mozart's House") and they say that some of their music has a lot of humour and a bit tongue in cheek at times.[2]

They produce the music themselves and invite guest artists to sing their songs. Initially, many record labels refused to sign them up as they thought they were a 'joke band.'[2]

Videos

Chatto stated that the music videos that accompany the songs are integral to the works as a whole; the videos would be conceived during the process of writing the music. The videos are made independently by themselves and often have references to culture in them (e.g. the ice skating man in the video to "Dust Clears" is a reference to the painting by Henry Raeburn of The Skating Minister). Chatto and Patterson formed their own film production company, Cleanfilm, to make music videos for themselves and other artists, and corporate videos.[3]

Music career

2006–2012: formation and career beginnings

Band members Jack Patterson, Grace Chatto and Milan Neil Amin-Smith met while studying as undergraduates at Jesus College, University of Cambridge.[3] At the time, Amin-Smith was leading a string quartet together with Chatto. Chatto was Patterson's girlfriend at the time and Patterson would record Chatto's performances. He started re-mixing these recordings with drum beats and other electronic music he created and let Chatto listen to these recordings which she liked. One of their friends, Ssegawa-Ssekintu Kiwanuka, then wrote lyrics for the piece and the song "Mozart's House" materialized. Eventually, the idea of forming a band came.

The band's name, Clean Bandit, comes from a translation of a Russian phrase (Chatto and Patterson lived in Russia for a period); the meaning is similar to the English phrase "complete bastard".[4] Patterson later in May 2014 said that it is actually a rather affectionate term similar to the English 'utter rascal.'[2]

2012–present: New Eyes

In December 2012 the group released their debut single "A+E", which peaked at number 100 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is the lead single from their forthcoming debut album New Eyes which is due to be released on June 2, 2014. On 29 February 2012 they released the video online for their single "UK Shanty", featuring Cambridge contemporary and supermodel Lily Cole. On 29 March 2013 they released the album's second single "Mozart's House". The song peaked at number seventeen on the UK Singles Chart, making it their first top twenty single on the chart. The album's third single "Dust Clears" charted at number forty three on the chart. The album's fourth single "Rather Be" featuring Jess Glynne was released on 19 January 2014 and topped the UK Singles Chart, their first number one on the chart. The album is due to be released on 2 June 2014 through Atlantic Records.[5]

On 14 April 2014, the band realised one of their dreams by appearing on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland.[6] In May 2014, they also announced a 14 date headline tour of the UK.[7]

Members

  • Jack Patterson – bass guitar, keyboard
  • Luke Patterson – drums
  • Grace Chatto – cello
  • Milan Neil Amin-Smith – violin

Discography

Albums

Title Album details
New Eyes

Singles

As lead artist

Single Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
UK
[9] 		AUS
[10] 		BEL
(Vl)
[11] 		DEN
[12] 		FRA
[13] 		GER
[14] 		IRE
[15] 		NL
[16] 		NZ
[17] 		SCO
[18] 		SWI
[19] 		US
"A+E" 2012 100 — — — — — — — — — — — New Eyes
"Mozart's House" 2013 17 — — — — — — — — 17 — —
"Dust Clears" 43 — — — — — — — — — — —
"Rather Be"
(featuring Jess Glynne) 		2014 1 2 2 5 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 102
"Extraordinary"
(featuring Sharna Bass) 		5 — — — — — 21 — — 7 — —
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Single Year Peak chart positions Album
BEL
(Vl)
[11]
"Intentions"[A]
(Gorgon City featuring Clean Bandit) 		2013 138 Non-album single

References

Notes

  • A ^ "Intentions" did not chart on the Ultratop's Belgian Flanders Single's Chart, but it did chart at number 88 on the Ultratip chart, the top-100 songs which haven't made the Ultratop 50.

Sources

  1. ^ "This Week's Fresh Music Top 20". 4Music. 15 April 2014. {{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Clean Bandit: A classical approach to pop music". BBC News. 26 May 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Interview: Clean Bandit". Varsity, the independent student newspaper for the University of Cambridge. 30 Sep 2011.
  4. ^ "Clean Bandit Interview @ Secret Garden 2013". YouTube. 5 Aug 2013. Retrieved 16 Nov 2013.
  5. ^ a b Copsey, Robert (2014-02-03). "Clean Bandit announce debut album New Eyes". Digital Spy.
  6. ^ "Later... with Jools Halland - Series 44 Live Episode 1". BBC Two. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Clean Bandit announce a 14-date headline UK tour". BBC Newsbeat. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  8. ^ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/new-eyes-deluxe-version/id807468037?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
  9. ^ Peak positions in the United Kingdom:
  10. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discography Clean Bandit". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  11. ^ a b Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Clean Bandit". Belgium (Flanders) Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  12. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discography Clean Bandit". Danish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  13. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Clean Bandit". French Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  14. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Clean Bandit". German Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  15. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discography Clean Bandit". Irish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  16. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Clean Bandit". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  17. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discography Clean Bandit". New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  18. ^ Peak positions for singles in Scotland:
  19. ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Clean Bandit". Swiss Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  20. ^ "Certified Awards" (enter "Clean Bandit" into the "Keywords" box, then select "Search"). British Phonographic Industry.
  21. ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2014 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
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