Kubb was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band from London, that had two UK top 40 hits in 2005/6 and a top 30 album. Original member Ben Langmaid went on to become half of the duo

La Roux La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album '' La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles su ...

Biography

The band started to form when singer Harry Collier was invited by

Rollo Armstrong Rowland Constantine O'Malley Armstrong (born 8 May 1966), known professionally as Rollo, is an English music producer. He is one half of the remix/production duo Rollo & Sister Bliss and is a founding member of the electronic music group Fait ...

(of Faithless fame) to record in the latter's studio after Armstrong heard him sing " Happy Birthday" in the organic café where he was working as a waiter in 2001. At the studio he met Armstrong's old schoolfriend Ben Langmaid, who had a studio in the same complex, and Jeff Patterson." Kubb Biography, ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

'', Macrovision Corporation, retrieved 12 January 2010 Collier grew up in

Tobago Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...

, returning to England aged 17.Hoey, Paddy (2005) "Music: What has this man got to be worried about ; Paddy Hoey discovers Harry Collier is a man with talent - and an uncomfortable feeling about the future", ''

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the ti ...

'', 29 July 2005 The trio began writing songs together that would become Kubb's debut album, ''Mother''. Langmaid and Patterson were only interested in studio and songwriting work, so Collier recruited former

Reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...

member Dom Greensmith (drums), John Tilley (keyboards), and Adj Buffone (guitar). The band were signed by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

, and narrowly missed out on a top 40 hit with the second single "Remain". The follow-up "Wicked Soul" gave them a top 30 hit and was used in a

Rimmel Rimmel (commonly known as Rimmel London) is a British multinational cosmetics brand, now owned by parent company Coty, Inc. The House of Rimmel was founded by French-born British cosmetics entrepreneur Eugène Rimmel as a perfumery 20 February 1 ...

cosmetics advert on television,Scott, Ettrick (2006)
Kubb talent not just cosmetic
, ''

Sunday Sun The ''Sunday Sun'' is a regional Sunday newspaper on sale in North East England, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders, published in Newcastle Upon Tyne by Reach plc. First published on 31 August 1919 as ''The Sunday Sun'', the name was changed to t ...

'', 9 April 2006, retrieved 12 January 2010 and

Youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

-produced debut album ''Mother'' also reached the top 30 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, going on to be

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

.Courtney, Kevin (2006) "Who the Hell is...Kubb?", ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', 5 May 2006, p. 11" TIME FOR T KUBB", '' Evening Times'', 29 June 2006, p. 13 Collier explained the album's title: "The earth is our mother; we're all made of dirt. It's given birth to us. Most people's emotional make-up stems from their relationship with their mother. So it's a very pertinent word and a very beautiful word." The band had their biggest hit with "Grow", which reached No. 18 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The band headlined several tours in the UK. They also played two gigs at the

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...

, and made guest appearances on ''

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' is a British chat show presented by Jonathan Ross and broadcast on BBC One between 2001 and 2010. The programme features Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews (usually three per show) ...

'' (on 16 December 2005, and on the ''Jonathan Ross Radio Show'' on 4 February 2006). They also appeared on Jools Holland's show '' Later...'',Dingwall, John (2005) "The Razz: Rock: Get ready to join the Kubb ; He almost lost his faith in music, but Harry Collier is about to beone massive success story", '' Daily Record'', 19 August 2005, p. 43 ''

Popworld ''Popworld'' is a British television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 as part of the T4 strand, featuring pop news, trivia, gossip, interviews and music videos, as well as musical performances from contemporary artists. The show bega ...

'', ''

CDUK ''CD:UK'' (''CountDown:United Kingdom''), stylised as cd:uk, is a defunct music television programme which ran in the United Kingdom from 29 August 1998 until 1 April 2006. Originally run in conjunction with ''SMTV Live'', the programme aired on ...

'', the Des and Mel Show, ''

The Friday Night Project ''The Sunday Night Project'' is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title ''The Friday Night Project''. Originally broadcast on Friday nights, the show moved to Sunday n ...

'', and appeared three times on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

''. They performed an iTunes Live from London gig at the London Apple Store. They recorded a 'secret session' for Tiscali. They appeared at the V Festival,Paine, Andre (2005) "Branded band excites a live loyalty of sorts", ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', 29 July 2005 and the

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...

. Guitarist Adj Buffone announced that he had left the band and formed the band

Raygun A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon that releases energy, usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have vario ...

in November 2006. Lead singer Harry Collier featured on the 2006 Faithless single "

Bombs A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...

". Kubb's official website was last updated in 2006, and news on the band has been lacking since Buffone left. Harry Collier is currently working on new material for Kubb with a new line-up that features John Hogg (guitar) and Alex Evans (keyboards) from

Moke Moke may refer to: Places * Moke (Bihar, India), a village * Moke Lake, South Island, New Zealand * Na Mokulua, two small Hawaiian islands known together as "The Mokes" People * Hans Moke Niemann (born 2003), American chess grandmaster * ...

, and Martin Wright (drums). The band played the O2

in December 2009 under the name The Daddy. Original member Ben Langmaid served as half of the duo

until his departure in 2012.

Musical style

The band have drawn comparisons with others such as Radiohead,

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

, Keane and

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...

Mawer, Sharon " ''Mother'' Review, ''

'', Macrovision Corporation, retrieved 12 January 2010 Caroline Sullivan in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' commented "Kubb specialise in the kind of arena-sized balladry that has Coldplay racking up the frequent-flyer miles", and compared Collier's voice to Buckley and Antony Hegarty.Sullivan, Caroline (2005) "Review:Pop: Kubb Scala, London", ''

'', 9 December 2005, p. 8 Dave Simpson, writing in ''

'', described the band's sound as "Abbey Road-era Beatles fronted by Jeff Buckley with a suggestion of epic, melancholy 1980s heroic failures such as

The Comsat Angels The Comsat Angels were an English post-punk band (music), band from Sheffield, England, initially active from 1978 to 1995. Their music has been described as "abstract pop songs with sparse instrumentation, many of which were bleak and filled w ...

."Simpson, Dave (2005) "Film & Music: Rock & pop reviews: Kubb - ''Mother''", ''

'', 4 November 2005, p. 12

Discography

Albums

*''

Mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

'' (14 November 2005), Mercury Records, Mercury - UK # 26Kubb
Official Charts, retrieved 12 January 2010 *''Live from London (iTunes)'' (7 March 2006)

Singles

From ''Mother'': *"Somebody Else" (30 May 2005) *"Remain" (22 August 2005), UK # 45 *"Wicked Soul" (7 November 2005), UK # 25 TUR # 14 *"Grow" (6 February 2006), UK # 18 *"Remain" (1 May 2006), UK # 189

Opendisc

Exclusive content available through

Opendisc The OpenDisc project offered a selection of high quality open source software on a disc for Microsoft Windows users. The aims of the project were "to provide a free alternative to costly software, with equal or often better quality equivalents ...

: Video: 'Grow', 'Remain', Making Of 'Remain', Kubb Interview, Vidéo Live au Barfly and photos.

References

External links

Official Web Site
Archive.org
Kubb Myspace Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubb British indie rock groups Post-Britpop groups Musical groups established in 2005 English alternative rock groups