The Rascals were an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band formed in

Hoylake Hoylake is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee meets the Irish Sea. Historically part of Cheshire, the Domesday ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

in 2007. Their debut album '' Rascalize'', was released on 23 June 2008. Its former lead singer

Miles Kane Miles Peter Kane (born 17 March 1986) is an English musician, best known as a solo artist and the co-frontman of the Last Shadow Puppets. He was also the former frontman of the Rascals, before the band announced their break-up in August 2009. ...

has a second band,

the Last Shadow Puppets The Last Shadow Puppets are an English supergroup consisting of Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Miles Kane ( The Rascals, solo artist), James Ford (Simian, Simian Mobile Disco, music producer), and Zach Dawes ( Mini Mansions). The band releas ...

, with

Alex Turner Alexander David Turner (born 6 January 1986) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is well known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has released seven albums. He ...

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, ...

. In August 2009, it was announced that

had left the Rascals to focus on a solo career.

History

Early years

Hailing from

(

The Wirral Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to the ...

, on

) in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the band began writing material as a three piece in September 2007. The Rascals were signed to

Deltasonic Deltasonic is a British record label based in Liverpool, England. Previously joint ventured with Sony Music, it is now totally independent. It was formed by Alan Wills, the former drummer with Liverpool bands Shack and Top, and associated with ...

Records and played their first gig supporting bands, including

Initial releases

They released their debut EP, '' Out of Dreams'', on 9 December 2007, which contains their first single of the same name. Then, on 18 February 2008, they released their second single, ''Suspicious Wit''.

Rascalize

The Rascals' debut album '' Rascalize'' was released on 23 June 2008 (first released on iTunes on 15 June 2008). Although it was not a commercial success, only peaking at #100 on 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 ...

for one week, the album was generally well received by critics.

Appearance in ''
Awaydays ''Awaydays'' is a 2009 British crime drama film directed by Pat Holden and starring Nicky Bell, Liam Boyle and Stephen Graham. It is based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Sampson that was published in 1998. The film follows Paul Cart ...
''

The Rascals perform a cover version of '' All That Jazz'', originally by Echo & The Bunnymen, in the film ''

Awaydays ''Awaydays'' is a 2009 British crime drama film directed by Pat Holden and starring Nicky Bell, Liam Boyle and Stephen Graham. It is based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Sampson that was published in 1998. The film follows Paul Cart ...

'', based on the book by Kevin Sampson. The track is available on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

which was released on 18 May 2008.

Miles Kane's departure

On 24 August 2009, lead singer

confirmed to

NME.COM ''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 ...

that he had quit The Rascals. Kane stated that he was writing new material and had been in the studio. Greg Mighall and Joe Edwards announced they were working on a film project with 'Awaydays' star Liam Boyle.

Conflicts with the name

Despite carrying the same name as the American band

The Rascals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, the English band has stated that it was unintentionally copied. Miles Kane used to tell in several interviews that when they were in

The Little Flames The Little Flames were an indie rock band from Hoylake, England. The band consisted of Eva Petersen (Vocals), Greg Mighall (Drums), Joe Edwards (Bass), Miles Kane (Guitar) and Mat Gregory (Guitar). Their music can best be described as indie ro ...

they were often called "You Little Rascals".

Membership

The group consisted of: * Miles Kane – Lead vocals and guitar * Joe Edwards – Bass * Greg Mighall – Drums

Discography

Album

EPs

Singles

Music videos

* Out of Dreams * Suspicious Wit * Freakbeat Phantom * I'll Give You Sympathy * I'll Give You Sympathy ''(Night Time Version)''

References

External links

Profile at Last.fm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rascals, The English indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups from Merseyside Deltasonic Records artists