The Boyfriends were an English

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

four-piece musical group from

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 ...

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 ...

, who consisted of Martin Wallace on vocals, Richard Adderley on guitar, David Barnett on bass and Paddy Pulzer on drums. Adderley and Pulzer had previous played together in

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

. They received press coverage in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

and 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 ...

which claimed the band was

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

's favourite new band.

Career

The band released a split single on 9 August 2004 with

The Long Blondes The Long Blondes are an English indie rock band formed in Sheffield in 2003 by Dorian Cox (lead guitar and keyboards), Reenie Hollis (real name Kathryn Hollis) (bass guitar and backing vocals), Emma Chaplin (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing ...

. Boobytrap Records (of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

) saw them playing to a sparse crowd at

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

and offered the band a deal.http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/3895/Boyfriends-Interview Their debut single "I Love You" was released in 2005 and they rose to prominence when the

listed them in the Top 50 essential bands to see. In June, they were the first band ever to play the newly christened

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Stage at that year's Glastonbury Festival and had been likened to

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

by the British press. This drew interest from

who, after going to one of their shows, was supposedly so impressed he offered them the supporting slot on his 2006 European tour on the spot. Two more singles followed in 2006 along with an eponymous album released in October, but The Boyfriends split soon after, following a tour in support of

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

. By 2007 their label, Boobytrap Records, had collapsed and the band's website no longer exists. Boobytrap Records boss, Geraint John, implied that the band had split due to poor management in an interview with

Playlouder Playlouder was a digital music and media company. providing news, reviews, and other music-related content. It also claimed to be the world's first music service provider— an Internet service provider bundling access to music content along with ...

. Since the split, Adderley, Barnett and Pulzer have also been working on music together. Barnett formed a supergroup of sorts under the name The New Royal Family (featuring Adderley on bass, and present and former members of

Gay Dad Gay Dad were an English rock band that formed in London in 1994 and broke up in 2002. The line-up of the band has included Cliff Jones (guitarist/vocalist), Nick "Baz" Crowe (drummer), James Riseboro (keyboardist), Nigel Hoyle (bassist) and ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Scarlet's Well Scarlet's Well were a British pop band formed in 1998 by Bid of The Monochrome Set, after the latter band amicably split for the second time. They originally started as a studio project, the first four albums featuring a total of ten lead voc ...

and

Salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

, amongst others). Their song "Anyone Fancy A Chocolate Digestive?" was adopted by podcasts for two

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams, the

Vancouver White Caps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

and East Fife FC. Barnett also joined

. Adderley has acted as producer for both bands.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''The Boyfriends'' (2 October 2006, Boobytrap Records)

Singles

References

External links

Official Myspace

The New Royal Family
(featuring David Barnett and Richard Adderley)
Small Crew
(featuring Richard Adderley)
NME.com page
- archive of Boyfriends news and coverage
Drownedinsound.com page
- online coverage {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyfriends, The English indie rock groups Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Musical groups established in 2003