The Bluetones

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The Bluetones

Background information
Origin	Hounslow, London, England
Genre(s)	Alternative rock Britpop Indie rock
Years active	1994–present
Label(s)	Fierce Panda Records Superior Quality Recordings Cooking Vinyl
Website	www.bluetones.info
Members
Mark Morriss Adam Devlin Scott Morriss Eds Chesters
Former members
Richard Payne

For the self-titled album, see The Bluetones (album).

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".^[1] 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 their new album.

1 History
2 Discography
3 Television
4 References
5 External links

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 albums 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 standalone single "Marblehead Johnson" to bridge the 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...." 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. A three-album deal was signed in late 2005 with the Cooking Vinyl record label, promptly followed by the release of limited release E.P. "Serenity Now" and a full UK tour. In early 2006, Universal issued a comprehensive boxset of all The Bluetones singles and B-sides released between 1995 and 2003, A Rough Outline. 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.^[2] No reason was 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. In February 2007, the band released BBC Radio Sessions containing tracks recorded for the BBC between 1994 and 2000. This was followed in June with their first full live album, entitled Once Upon a Time in West Twelve, recorded at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 18 November, 2005, and was followed on 29 October, 2007, by a live DVD of the same concert under the title Beat About the Bush. 2007 also saw the release of a compilation album of early demo recordings, entitled The Early Garage Years. They also released a DVD under the title Blue Movies .

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)