Klaxons

Klaxons biography

Klaxons are a British indie rock After playing festivals and headlining tours worldwide (including the NME Indie Rave Tour) during late 2006–2007, the band started working on their follow-up album in July 2007. Klaxons' second album, Surfing the Void, was released on 23 August 2010.

History

Formation (2005-2006)

Jamie Reynolds grew up in Bournemouth and Southampton. He dropped out of studying philosophy at Greenwich University to work in a record shop, before moving to London after being made redundant. Simon Taylor-Davis and James Righton grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, meeting at Stratford-upon-Avon High School. The trio formed in New Cross, London, after meeting through Reynolds' girlfriend. Righton had been working as a teacher at the time.

James taught Simon how to play guitar, Initially the band played with drummer Finnigan Kidd in 2005, until Kidd left to play with fellow New Cross band, Hatcham Social. Replacement live drummer Steffan Halperin joined in February 2006, with the band announcing him as an official member in an interview in Prefix Magazine in early 2007. He remains mostly absent from the band's music videos, appearing only in the early video "Atlantis to Interzone" and briefly in the 2007 re-release of "Gravity's Rainbow". Around this time, the band began playing under their new, shortened name of Klaxons.

Myths of the Near Future (2006-2008)

Klaxons' debut single, "Gravity's Rainbow" was released in March 2006 on Angular Records. The band's second single, "Atlantis to Interzone", was released on 12 June of the same year. It was their first release for independent record label Merok Records, and led to further coverage in NME magazine. The song enjoyed radio coverage from Zane Lowe and daytime airings from Jo Whiley, who repeatedly, and mistakenly, called the song "Atlantic To Interscope". Zane Lowe also wrongly credited the song as "Atlantis To Interscope". They released their first EP, Xan Valleys, on 17 October 2006. It was released on Australian record label Modular Recordings, and contained their first two singles alongside various remixes. The band played their first North American dates in New York's East Village in October 2006.

The band signed to Polydor Records in August 2006, following offers from numerous different record labels. Regarding the fee amount, James Righton said that it was "absurdly off the mark", and that the band signed for considerably less on the condition they would be given their own label imprint, Rinse Records. Their first single for the label, "Magick", was released on 30 October 2006 and reached #29 in the UK Top 40 the following week.

In August 2006, Klaxons played at the Reading and Leeds festivals. Fans sounded "Klaxons!" and cheered loudly between songs while brandishing glowsticks. This gave credit to the "New Rave" label, coined by Angular Records' founder Joe Daniel; later used by NME magazine to describe the scene. Also in August, the Klaxons performed an acoustic set in Ibiza Weekend for UK's BBC Radio 1 at Ibiza Rocks festival with Zane Lowe.

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