The Hics are an English

Electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

band formed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2012 by Sam Paul Evans and Jacob Welsh. Originally a two piece electronic indie band, the band was soon joined by Matt Knox on bass, Roxane Barker on vocals, Geordan Reid-Campbell on guitar and David Turay on saxophone. They released their first EP, ''Tangle'', in 2013.

History

The band members met at Pimlico School, now

Pimlico Academy Pimlico Academy (formerly Pimlico School) is a mixed-sex education secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Pimlico area of Westminster in London. History Conversion to academy After many years of underperformance, cul ...

, whilst on the music programme. The Hics were originally formed as a two piece electronic indie band between Evans and Welsh, and were later joined by Matt Knox on bass. After feeling something was missing, they called on their old schoolmates Rox Barker, who joined as vocalist, and Geordan Reid-Campbell, who joined as

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

. The band met their sixth member,

Saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

David Turay, through the Jazz scene. The Hics got their name from

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, the wood from which some drumsticks are made. Their first single, "Lines", was released on 30 September 2012 through their

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

page. The song was soon picked up by

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brown ...

, who played the song on his radio show on 6 October 2012, and later included it on his compilation ''Brownswood Bubblers Nine'', released on 10 December 2012. In January 2013, the band were runners-up for the Best Breakthrough Act category at Gilles Peterson's

Worldwide Awards The Worldwide Awards, formerly known as the Worldwide Winner Awards, are an annual awards celebration curated by radio DJ Gilles Peterson and currently hosted by Worldwide FM and Radio 6 which celebrates up-and-coming musicians on an international ...

. Their second single, "Cold Air", premiered on 16 February 2013 on Gilles Peterson's BBC Radio 6 Music show. The song was released 3 days later on 19 February 2013 to The Hics' SoundCloud page. In 6 March 2013, they were mentioned in the

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

magazine. They released the track "Tangle" on 8 July 2013, as a teaser for their upcoming EP of the same name, which was released on 19 August 2013. The band played their first headline show at the 750 capacity

Electrowerkz Electrowerkz, also known as the Islington Metal Works, is a three-floor music venue in Islington, London. In addition to mainstream club nights, it hosts the weekly goth night club Slimelight and other alternative events. Layout Electrowerkz ...

in London on 1 August 2013, to a sold-out crowd. The music video for the song "Tangle", their first music video, premiered on 3 September 2013. The song "Cold Air" was featured on the in-game radio station Worldwide FM of the 2013 video game

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

. In May 2014 the band released a new song on their SoundCloud page entitled "All We'll Know". The music video for the song premiered on 9 June 2014 and the song was officially released as a single on 16 June 2014. The Hics collaborated with drummer Richard Spaven on a song entitled "Whole Other*", which was released on his album of the same name on 7 July 2014. On 19 September 2014 The Hics were filmed for an appearance on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

Four To The Floor Four-on-the-floor (or four-to-the-floor) is a rhythm pattern used primarily in dance genres such as disco and electronic dance music. It is a steady, uniformly accented beat in time in which the bass drum is hit on every beat (1, 2, 3, 4)."T ...

'' series, performing their latest single "All We'll Know". The episode was broadcast on 1 October. In November 2014 The Hics' Saxophone player David Turay died. In mid-2015 The Hics were signed to the

OddChild Music OddChild Music was an independent, London-based management company and record label founded by Marc Williams in 2011. History The record label title comes from its purpose: to locate and nurture young and upcoming artists. It was revealed on 5 J ...

label. The result of the Little Simz collaboration, the song "Gratitude", premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 9 September 2015. The Hics' first new material in over a year, it was released on Little Simz' debut album on 18 September 2015. In late 2015, bass player Matt Knox departed the band. The Hics are featured on the songs "Matches" and "Ricochet" in

Too High to Riot ''Too High to Riot'' is the second studio album by Sudanese rapper Bas. It was released on March 4, 2016, by Dreamville Records and Interscope Records. The album sold 8,065 copies in its first week, debuting at number 49 on the Billboard 200 char ...

, the second studio album by Sudanese-American

Dreamville Dreamville Records is an American record label founded by American rapper J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad. The label is currently distributed through Interscope Records, a unit of Universal Music Group. The roster includes Bas (rapper), B ...

rapper

Bas Bas may refer to: People * Bas (name), a given name and a surname * Bas (rapper) (born 1987) Chemistry * Boron arsenide (BAs), a chemical compound * Barium sulfide (BAs), a chemical compound Other uses * ''bas'' (French for "low"), as in bas- ...

. The album was released on 4 March 2016. On 15 April 2016 it was announced that The Hics would be embarking on a tour of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with Bas; The 26-show Too High To Riot tour began in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

on 3 June and ended on 13 July 2016 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The music video for the song "Matches", filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and one of their collaborations with Bas, was released on 18 April 2016. January 2021 saw The Hics collaborating with Bas once again, releasing the single "Smoke from Fire", which served as a theme song for Bas'

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

podcast ''The Messenger''. They also appeared on BBE's

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

tribute album Modern Love, in which they covered " The Man Who Sold the World". On October 21, 2021, The Hics released their first single in seven years entitled "Caught in a Lie", which serves as the lead single for their upcoming EP scheduled for an early 2022 release via Bas' The Fiends imprint.

Members

*Sam Paul Evans –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, electronics *Rox Barker –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Former Members *David Turay –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

(2012-2014; his death) *Matt Knox –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2012-2015) *Geordan Reid-Campbell – guitar, electronics *Jacob Welsh –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Discography

* ''Tangle'' EP (2013) * ''HARMINE'' EP (2022)

References

External links

*
The Hics
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hics, The Musical groups established in 2012 Musical groups from London 2012 establishments in England