The Aliens are a Scottish band consisting of former

Beta Band The Beta Band were a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style was described as being "folktronica", although it was mainly a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experime ...

members Gordon Anderson (aka

Lone Pigeon Lone may refer to: People *Lone (given name), a given name (including a list of people with this name) * Lone (musician), Matt Cutler, an electronic musician from Nottingham, United Kingdom * Lone (surname), a surname (including a list of people ...

, lead

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 withou ...

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 strin ...

), John Maclean ( keyboards, backing vocals) and Robin Jones ( drums, backing vocals). They have two albums, two EP's and a number of singles. Their debut album, ''Astronomy for Dogs'' charted at #46 in the UK Album Chart in 2007.

History

They formed in 2005 after Maclean and Jones had left

The Beta Band The Beta Band were a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style was described as being "folktronica", although it was mainly a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experimen ...

the previous year and asked Anderson to join their new project. Anderson had been part of an early incarnation of the Beta Band and had been friends with Maclean since their school-going days in St Andrews. He described the friendship as "Gordon keeps you on your toes with his misbehaviour. Fifty percent of the time we’re like two fighting siblings. The other fifty percent of the time it’s like I’m a dad and he’s a child". Their first release, the EP ''Alienoid Starmonica'', recorded by John Williamson, was released to the UK iTunes Music Store on 20 March 2006, and on CD and 12" on 8 May 2006 on their own

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

imprint, Pet Rock. The majority of the material was originally written by Anderson. The band made their touring debut in November of that year. The Aliens released their first album, ''

Astronomy for Dogs ''Astronomy for Dogs'' is the debut album of Scottish band The Aliens, released on 19 March 2007. It received generally positive reviews. Track listing # "Setting Sun" (5:12) # "Robot Man" (3:52) # "I Am the Unknown" (5:28) # "Tomorrow" (5: ...

''recorded by John Williamson, on 19 March 2007. The album was recorded in The Cave, the small recording space beneath the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh before being put onto disc at Olympic Studios in London. The band produced it themselves. The release was timed to coincide with a ten-date UK tour but this had to be canceled due to Gordon Anderson breaking his

clavicle The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the r ...

climbing up a tree. The tour was rescheduled to May/June of that same year. In October 2007 they toured North America. In spring of 2008, the band cancelled all shows except their festival appearances due to the increasing ill health of Gordon Anderson during the recording of the second album; however, on his recovery the band completed a string of UK festival dates in July. The new album, ''

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Roma ...

'' was released on 29 September 2008 and was preceded by the single "Magic Man", released on 22 September. On 4 July 2019 The Aliens once again became active on social media. The live album 'Live on the Moon' was released on CD on 29 November 2019, a limited run vinyl edition followed in February 2020. On 20/02/2020 The Aliens released their first new material since their initial split in 2008, publishing 'BB, WDYLM' on Youtube.

Discography

Albums

*''

'' (19 March 2007) *''

'' (29 September 2008) * Electronville (2 October 2020) * Back to Beyond (5 March 2021)

Live Album

*''Live on the Moon'' (29 November 2019)

EPs

*'' Alienoid Starmonica'' (8 May 2006) *''The Sunlamp Show EP'' (18 May 2009)

Singles

*"The Happy Song" (18 September 2006) *"Setting Sun" (5 March 2007) *"Robot Man" (25 June 2007) *"Magic Man" (22 September 2008)

References

External links

The Aliens official websiteBeta Band fansite featuring latest news on The AliensThe Aliens video session on Vic Galloway Show on Radio Scotland - 6 October 2008
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aliens, The Scottish rock music groups Musical groups established in 2005