The Modern are 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, ...

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

. They are currently signed to Ninth Wave Records in 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 ...

and EQ Music in Asia. The band consists of vocalist Emma Cooke, with Nathan Cooper and Chi Tudor-Hart on vocals and

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s. The band changed their name from Dirty Blonde to The Modern in 2003, and then on to Matinee Club in September 2006, before reverting to The Modern in November 2008.

History

The band first began to form in 2001. Fronted by Nathan Cooper and Chi Tudor-Hart, the group were then known as Dirty Blonde. In 2003, vocalist Emma Cooke joined the band, and they changed their name to The Modern. Following Cooke's induction to the group, guitarist Telee and drummer Rees also joined. Rees then left the band to tour with

Dirty Vegas Dirty Vegas are an English house music group initially made up of Ben Harris and Paul Harris (no relation) on instruments and production and Steve Smith on vocals. The group formed in 2001, then broke up in 2005 before reforming in December 2008 ...

, and was replaced by Bob Malkowski shortly afterwards. It was not long after this that Telee left to concentrate on his own band. The Modern line up was completed, and the group started to write and perform together. They obtained got a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

in 2005, when they were signed to

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 is ...

. The band recorded several songs with

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

, with a view towards preparing for their debut album, which was tentatively going to be called 'Life In The Modern World'. The first of these songs was released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. "Jane Falls Down" received little

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (an ...

stations. but entered 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 ...

at No. 4. The group followed this with their second single, "Industry" on 6 March 2006. The song airplay on the music video channels, but due to sales irregularities, the single was disqualified from the UK Singles Chart. The band conducted UK wide tours supporting these singles. They also played the 2005

Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

and the October 2005

Whitby Gothic Weekend Whitby Goth Weekend, abbreviated to WGW or nicknamed Whitby, is a twice-yearly music festival for the gothic subculture, in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, organised by Jo Hampshire. Summary Whitby Goth Weekend is an alternative music fest ...

, as well as the 2006 Elektrofest. In July, 2006, they performed at Pride Rally's 'Prides Against Prejudice' in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

. In September 2006, it was announced on the group's forum that they had parted company with Mercury Records, and that Malkowski and Robert James had left the band. The trio continued as Matinee Club. They signed to a new

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, Planet Clique and, in March 2007, the song "Discotheque Francais" was issued through the record label's website. Months later the band had changed record labels once again, this time moving onto

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

under

Europa Recordings Europa Recordings was a British Europop record label established in 2006 by Matt Jagger. It was an imprint of Universal-Island Records, part of the Universal Music corporation. Their first release "From Paris To Berlin" by Infernal was a n ...

, although this was short-lived as Europa Recordings was closed down. In October the group transferred back to Planet Clique for the digital release of "Discotheque Francais". The debut album, ''Modern Industry'', was made available to download in December. It included a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

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 ...

's " Modern Love". In January 2008, the group released ''The Modern LP'' through Ninth Wave Records, albeit only in the US. It differed from the later UK release. Matinee Club recorded a video for the American global warming awareness show, Earth Hour. In November 2008, the group reformed as The Modern, and the drummer Rees returned to the band. Signing another record deal that covered most of Asia, the band released a

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

, under the same title as their US LP, in July 2009.

Discography

Albums

*''Modern Industry'' (January 2008) (UK) (download only) *''Matinee Club Present The Modern LP'' (January 2008) (US) *''The Modern LP'' (double album) (July 2009) (Asia, US and UK)

Singles

*"Industry" (download only) *"Jane Falls Down" – (Mercury 9874798, November 2005) No. 35 UK *"Industry" – (Mercury 9877068, March 2006) *'Seven Oceans' (cancelled) *"Discotheque Francais" – (Planet Clique SSMCD004, March 2007) *"Discotheque Francais" (October 2007) *'Sometimes' (cancelled)

EPs

*"Eastern Bloc" (download only) *"The Dirty Blonde" – (Ninth Wave, US December 2007) his release changed to ''The Modern LP'' listed above

Compilations

*''Robopop 'The Return (December 2006 – Lucy Pierre – Planet Clique Records)

References

External links

The Modern official siteThe Modern/Matinee Club MySpace profileIlikemusic.comHolytoilet.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modern (Band), The English synth-pop groups Musical groups established in 2001