James are an English
rock band from Manchester
. They formed in
1981 and
were active throughout the 80s, but most successful during the 90s.
Their hit singles include "
Sit Down" and
"
Laid." Following the departure of lead
singer
Tim Booth in 2001, the band became
inactive but re-formed in January 2007, returning for a new album
and international tour..
History
The 1980s
James were
formed in 1982 in Whalley
Range
, Manchester, when music enthusiast Paul Gilbertson, inspired by the post-punk bands of the era, convinced his best
friend Jim Glennie to buy a bass guitar
and form a band with him. Rehearsing regularly in Glennie's
bedroom with whatever other musicians were available, their line-up
solidified with the acquisition of Gavan Whelan on drums. They
played a string of gigs under the names Venereal and The Diseases
and, later, Volume Distortion, before settling on the name of Model
Team International, then shortened to Model Team.
They performed mostly improvised material derived from
jam sessions, supporting
The Fall at an early gig. Vocalists and
other musicians drifted rapidly in and out of their line-up, until
the band encountered
Tim Booth at a
student disco.
Intrigued by Booth’s wild, Whirling Dervish-like dancing style, Gilbertson
invited him to the band’s Scout hut in
Withington
to join the band as a dancer. After
accepting the invitation, Booth was quickly promoted to lead vocals
as well as lyricist.
After a brief period under the name Tribal Outlook, the band
renamed themselves James in August 1982, following Gilbertson’s
idea to name themselves after one of the band members, Jim Glennie.
The other members' names were rejected - Gavan was "too
Heavy metal music," Paul was “too modest”
to put his own name forward and Tim was concerned about accusations
of egomania that might be associated with a band being named after
the lead singer. "James" was, however, declared "amorphous enough"
to summarize what the band was about. The band instantly knew that
people would make the mistake of thinking their name represented
one person, and played upon this by having Tim walk on stage alone
at the beginning of one gig and reading a poem to trick the
audience into thinking they had been conned into watching a poet.
(Maconie, 2000).
A gig at
The
Haçienda
caught the
attention of Tony Wilson of Factory Records. He offered James an
album deal with Factory, but the band, by now a settled live act,
were worried about tarnishing their material in the studio and
settled instead for a three-track EP.
Their debut release,
the Jimone EP, was recorded at
Strawberry
Studios
, Stockport
, in August 1983 and released on Factory Records in
November. It was named single of the week by major music
papers in the UK, and led to a tour supporting
The Smiths.
Although they were now being touted as the 'next big thing',
several complex issues slowed their progress. Paul Gilbertson’s
drug problems presented the band with no choice but to ask him to
leave. Booth and Glennie had joined a sect named Lifewave that
imposed many restrictions on their lifestyle and threatened the
band’s stability. The band’s second EP,
James II, was released over a year after
the first and accompanied by a feature on the cover of the
NME, Gilbertson having been replaced by
the band’s guitar tutor
Larry Gott. (The
first two EPs would later be collected as
Village Fire.) Reviews were once again
positive, and Factory were eager for James to record an album with
it, but the band believed Factory were purely image-based and left
the label, striking a deal with
Sire
Records.
Their third release, the
Sit Down
EP (no relation to the song of that name) came out in
March 1986, and was followed by their debut album,
Stutter in June of that year. Reviews
were generally lacklustre and the album only reached number 68 in
the UK chart. Low on money and lacking coverage and promotion, the
band recorded their second album,
Strip-mine, attempting a more conventional
song structure in an attempt to please Sire. The album almost went
unreleased, but after undergoing a slight remix to sound more
radio-friendly, Sire released the album in September 1988, over a
year after it had been initially completed. However the album only
reached number 90. After finding a clause for ending their
contract, the band left Sire.
Desperate for money, the band members were
driven to the extreme of participating as human guinea pigs in
medical experiments at the Manchester Royal Infirmary
, earning them a place on a TV documentary about the
desperation of fallen rock stars.
James had by this point earned themselves a reputation as a solid
live act and had built a solid fanbase. Sales of James t-shirts
were particularly successful in Manchester even before they reached
the top 40. James financed the production of a live album with a
bank loan,
One Man
Clapping, and the help of
Rough Trade Records. The album went to
#1 in the indie charts, reinvigorating media interest in the
band.
In November 1988, drummer Whelan became involved in an on-stage
fight with Tim Booth and was asked to leave the band. He was
replaced by
David Baynton-Power
a few months later. During the following year they hired three new
members in the forms of Saul Davies (guitar, violin, percussion),
Mark Hunter (keyboards) and
Andy
Diagram (trumpet, percussion). The new seven-piece line-up went
into the studio to record their third studio album, and new singles
“
Sit Down” and “
Come Home” became strong hits in the
independent charts, and the latter featured on the influential
compilation
Happy
Daze. The album,
Gold
Mother, was intended to be released on Rough Trade but the
owner of the label,
Geoff Travis,
believed James could only reach an audience of 20,000 to 30,000.
The band believed they had more potential than this and bought the
rights to the album from Rough Trade. A successful winter tour in
1989 attracted a deal with
Fontana
Records, and the band ended a difficult decade on an optimistic
note.
The 1990s
Gold Mother was released in
June 1990, just as the ‘
Madchester’
movement, with its wave of popular Manchester-based indie bands,
focused public attention on James and won them mainstream
recognition.
Singles “How
Was It For You”, the remixed “Come Home” and “Lose Control” all made the top 40, and the
band’s newfound success was re-affirmed when they played two
sell-out dates at the Manchester G-Mex
at the end
of the year. In March 1991, when the popularity of “
Sit Down” led to a re-recorded version being
released as a single, reaching #2 in the UK singles chart.
Gold
Mother was re-released to include "Sit Down" and previous
single "
Lose Control", and
the album sold ten times more copies than Geoff Travis originally
predicted. The song became one of the biggest-selling singles of
the year.
The band members spent the rest of the year recording their next
album,
Seven, which was
released in February 1992. It reached #2 in the UK album charts
(its lead single, "
Sound", had
followed "Sit Down" into the top 10 a few months earlier) and
earned the band some recognition in the US as they embarked on
their first Stateside tour.
The band’s activities culminated in a
sell-out show to 30,000 people at the Alton Towers
theme park in July, broadcast live on BBC Radio 1. They were then invited on an
acoustic tour of the US supporting
Neil
Young at a series of natural outdoor venues in the autumn. They
returned to England refreshed and ready to record their new album,
with
Brian Eno, whom they had originally
approached to produce
Stutter, but who had been
unavailable at the time).
Eno set about bringing out the
ambience in James’ music, and took them
through a recording process that the band later described as a
"journey of self-discovery". The process resulted in not one but
two albums: the 'song' album,
Laid, and the experimental
Wah Wah, which showcased the band’s improvised
jams recorded on the spot, then
mixed by Eno. Booth's vocals
were then added to the results.
Laid was released in September 1993 to positive reviews.
As well as being a success in the UK, the album also broke the band
in the US, shipping over 600,000 copies and charting at #68,
propelled by the immense popularity of its risqué title track on US
student radio. The band spent most of
1994 touring the States.
Wah Wah was eventually released
in September 1994 to a lukewarm reception.
The recording of the follow-up album faced difficulties from the
start; Larry Gott left the group, and manager Martine resigned.
Booth also wished to take a break to record an album with
Angelo Badalamenti. There was also the
discovery of a £250,000 tax bill. The band set up studio in David
Baynton-Power’s house and
Adrian Oxaal
was drafted in to replace Gott on guitar, while Booth returned
periodically from the States to add his vocals. 1996 saw the
release of Booth’s album with Badalamenti,
Booth and the Bad Angel, and
the new James album,
Whiplash, was released in February
1997. The album proved a successful comeback, reaching the UK top
10 as did the single “
She’s A
Star”.
The band toured to promote the album, recruiting new member
Michael Kulas while in the States, on
rhythm guitar. Booth suffered a neck injury while dancing on stage
in the US, resulting in a series of tour dates being cancelled as
he underwent emergency surgery, and the band being offered a place
instead on the
Lollapalooza tour.
In March 1998, a greatest hits album,
The Best Of, was released,
compiling all the band’s hits since their signing to Fontana. The
album reached #1 in the UK album charts and sell-out tours
throughout the year followed. The band returned to the studio to
begin work on their next album,
Millionaires.
The album was released in October 1999. The album did not reach the
phenomenal sales level predicted, but still entered the chart at #2
and sold over 150,000 copies.
The 2000s
After the disappointing performance of
Millionaires the
band chose to start anew in their approach to their next album,
working with Brian Eno once again. They spent most of 2000
recording the album; writing the songs, then performing them live
before actually recording them. They embarked on a small-scale tour
in the autumn of that year on which their setlists consisted almost
entirely of new material. The album,
Pleased To Meet You, was released
in July 2001. The album's artwork featured a composite image of the
faces of all the band members to create a new person. The album
reached only #11, the lowest position for a James studio album
since their signing to Fontana.
Shortly after its release, James reached the end of their contract,
and Tim Booth announced he was leaving the band to concentrate on
other projects of his own. They played a farewell tour of the UK at
the end of the year. Their final hometown gig, at the Manchester
Evening News arena on December 7, was recorded for a live CD and
DVD,
Getting Away With
It... Live. Past members Larry
Gott and Andy Diagram rejoined them for the tour, and Brian Eno
also joined them onstage at London’s Wembley Arena during the tour.
The albums
Gold Mother,
Laid and
Whiplash (each containing bonus tracks) were re-released
by Mercury Records the following year, as well as a b-sides
compilation entitled
B-Sides
Ultra.
A planned compilation of material from the band's Factory and Sire
years was announced in 2001, but the album, (named
Strange Dancing) was never released.
The first two James albums,
Stutter and
Strip-mine, were re-pressed in June 2007,
but without any additional rarities.
Tim Booth continued as a solo artist in 2004 with the release of
his solo album
Bone,
co-written and produced by
Lee Muddy
Baker.
A new compilation album,
The Collection was released in
late 2004, and
Seven - The Live Concert (a DVD version of
a previously released video) in 2005.
In January 2007, music magazine
Filter cited an announcement on
singer Tim Booth's personal website, saying that "Tim will be
rejoining James in early 2007 for a series of live shows to be
announced very soon." At the same time, James' old website was
replaced by a new domain holder at
www.wearejames.com.
The site confirmed the line-up as that which recorded the album
Laid: Booth, Gott, Glennie, Davies,
Hunter and Baynton-Power. Booth confirmed in interviews that he
became convinced to rejoin the band after meeting up with Glennie
and Gott the previous November for a jamming session, out of which
new songs were born.
The initial five dates of the tour were expanded to seven on the
day tickets went on sale (26 January) due to high demand; the whole
tour had sold out by close of business. The tour took place during
late April 2007, and was followed later in the year by more live
shows, including festival appearances at
T
in the Park and
V Festival. The band
also appeared at
Summercase, Barcelona's
top music concert in Spain during July 2007.
Andy Diagram also rejoined the band as trumpet
player during the festival tour. April saw the release of a new
compilation album,
Fresh As A Daisy - The Singles,
accompanied by a DVD compilation of all the band's promo
videos.
The new album
Hey Ma was released on
April 7 2008, and a three-week tour to promote the album commenced
on April 10 2008. An arena tour of the UK called "We Are Sound"
followed in December, on which two new songs (
Porcupine
and
Look Away) were previewed as tasters for a new studio
album. A live album with a selection of songs recorded during the
2008 spring tour was exclusively sold at the merchandise stalls of
the "We Are Sound" tour.
Live in
2008 was limited to 5000 copies.
James support acts
A somewhat dubious honour that can be attributed to James is that
many of its support acts went on to find great success of their
own, eclipsing that of James itself. In 1988, James were supported
by
The Stone Roses and the
Happy Mondays (James went on to support the
Happy Mondays only two years later).
Nirvana were the support act for a show in
1991 - only a month later,
Nevermind reached number one in the
Billboard Album Charts. For their 1993
tour,
Radiohead were the support.
After James' hiatus, the trend continued.
Third Eye Blind supported in 1997;
The Corrs,
Theaudience
and
Stereophonics in 1998;
Cast in 1999. In 2000, support came from
Coldplay: a month later their breakthrough
single "Yellow" was released; a month after that their debut album
Parachutes went to #1 in the UK album chart. In 2001,
James were supported by
Turin
Brakes.
However, the support for the 2007 UK Arena tour was
Air Traffic and
The
Twang, who were already the subject of considerable media
coverage, but unlike James they then saw the tables turn and became
the subject of a media
backlash.
For their UK 2008 Spring tour, James were supported by
My Federation. The band is fronted by
Lee Muddy Baker, who has previously
performed with
Tim Booth on his solo
project
Bone and is also the producer of
Hey Ma. Their Winter tour that same year saw
James supported by
Athlete.
The band's September/October 2008 North Americas tour was supported
by
Unkle Bob from Glasgow, who had had
success in America when their song "Swans" was featured on Grey's
Anatomy.
Discography
Studio albums
References
- BBC News Reformation
- http://www.filter-mag.com/news/interior.3835.html
External links
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