Livingston is a rock band originally formed in London in 2002. The band is composed of Beukes Willemse, Jakob Nebel, Chris van Niekerk, Phil Magee and Jan Siekmann. Livingston have released two albums with the third album ''Animal'' due for release in autumn 2014. The band's breakthrough came with their first album "''Sign Language" and the commercial success of the single’s "Broken" and "Go" in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Formation and name

Livingston formed in London in 2002. Singer Beukes Willemse had moved to London from South Africa and was soon followed by fellow South African Chris Van Niekerk. There they met Jakob Nebel a guitarist from Germany who was studying at the guitar institute along with Italian Drummer Paolo Serafini. After some years of playing in and around the London scene and several changes of bass players they eventually met Englishman Phil Magee and the final line up was complete. Livingston take their name from the book ''

Jonathan Livingston Seagull ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull'', written by American author Richard Bach and illustrated with black-and-white photographs shot by Russell Munson, is a fable in novella form about a seagull who is trying to learn about life and flight, and a homi ...

'' by

Richard Bach Richard David Bach (born June 23, 1936) is an American writer. He has written numerous works of fiction and also non-fiction flight-related titles. His works include ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull'' (1970) and '' Illusions: The Adventures of a R ...

Releases

Early Releases

Signed to Manta Ray Music from 2006-2009 Livingston released several singles, "Don’t stop now", "One Good Reason" and "Disease". They also released a live EP "Doorways" recorded at Monto Water Rats in London and an Acoustic EP "Wide Asleep" recorded in Berlin.

''Sign Language''

After years of touring which included several high profile support tours in Germany the band gained interest and eventually signed to Universal Music Germany. Teamed with several different producers including Al Clay (A, Stereophonics, Reef), Roland Spremberg (Aha) and Moritz Enders and working in studios in LA, Texas, Hamburg and Berlin the band recorded and released their debut album in 2009 charting at no 16 in the German charts. The first single "Broken" reached no25 in the German single sales charts as well as being no1 3 times on the SWR3 airplay charts. This was followed up with the second single "Go" which was used for the official Winter Olympic’s 2010 coverage by German TV station

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

. The track's "Go" and "Disease" also featured in the film Chalet Girl (2011) with the band also making a cameo appearance.

''Fire to Fire''

For their second album the band teamed up with triple Grammy Award winning

David Bottrill David Bottrill is a Canadian record producer. He has won three Grammys. Formerly, he owned Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz. Moneen, Basia Lyjak, and The Getaway Plan are among the artists to have recorded at th ...

(Tool, Silver chair, Peter Gabriel). Recording in fisher lane studio’s near London the band worked on defining their sound. This session was followed later in 2011 with a stint in Hamburg, again with German producer Roland Spremberg to complete the second studio album "Fire to Fire" which was released early 2012.

''Deeper Into The Fire''

After separating from Universal Music and while in the process of finding their feet again the band decided to self release a second acoustic Ep using the crowd funding portal

Pledgemusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

. The EP was then recorded and released by the band in 2012.

''Animal''

At the end of 2012 original member Paolo Serafini left the band and the remaining members began work on their 3rd album. During 2013 the four spent many weeks in a small house 100 km south of Berlin referred to by the band as "The house on the hill". It was here they decided not to play anything to anyone until it was finished, writing, recording, producing and mixing everything themselves. During this time they met replacement drummer Jan Siekmann (Formally of German band Bakkushan). In March the band signed a new deal with independent label

SPV GmbH SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributor ...

. The first single "Human" was released across Europe in May 2014. The album ''Animal'' is scheduled for release in autumn 2014.

Discography

Singles

*2007: Don’t Stop Now (Manta Ray Music) *2007: Disease (Manta Ray Music) *2008: One Good Reason (Manta Ray Music) *2009: Broken (Universal Music) *2010: Go (Universal Music) *2010: Like a Wheel (Universal Music) *2012: Supernova (Universal Music) *2014: Human (SPV Recordings)

EPs

*2008: Doorways (Live-EP, Manta Ray Music) *2008: Wide Asleep (Acoustic; Manta Ray Music) *2012: Deeper Into The Fire (Acoustic: Self Release)

Albums

*2009: Sign Language (Universal Music) *2012: Fire To Fire (Universal Music) *2014: Animal

References

{{Reflist English rock music groups Musical groups established in 2002