The Mighty Roars are an English three piece

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

band from London signed to

One Little Indian Records One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In t ...

. The group won Xfm's Unsigned band competition in 2005 and released their debut album, ''Swine & Cockerel'' in 2007.

Background

Formed by David Pringuer (drums, vocals) and Lara Granqvist (bass, guitar, vocals) in 2004 after they met Martin Pilkington (guitar, vocals) through an advert in ''

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 ...

'' and began gigging in London. In 2005 they were invited to open that year's

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...

which gained the band much publicity. The same year the band won Xfm's unsigned competition and were given day time radio play-listings. After attracting attention of '' Artrocker'' magazine which championed their self-recorded debut EP online they were approached by Little Teddy Recordings of Munich, Germany who released this EP "Take a Bite of Peach". Whilst touring in Austria the band were forced to sack their drummer who had been caught allegedly stealing from a promoter. David Pringuer, who had been playing bass, took the role and learned the drums and Lara Granqvist switched from rhythm guitar to the bass. The band had always recorded as a four piece but re-adapted their sound to fit the new line-up. The first gig as this line-up was at the club Madame Jojo's supporting Guillemots, the second was at the "Purple Turtle" in Camden, London where the band were approached by a scout for One Little Indian Records with whom the band subsequently signed a recording contract in 2006. After a failed attempt to record the album in Malmo with

Tore Johansson Tore Johansson (born 6 November 1959) is a Swedish record producer, composer and musician based in Malmö, Sweden. Biography In an interview with '' HitQuarters'', Johansson claimed that the main impetus for his becoming a music producer was the ...

, the band used their remaining recording budget to self record their debut album ''Swine & Cockerel'' in

Monnow Valley Studio Monnow Valley Studio is a recording studio in Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. History In the 1970s, Monnow Valley was the rehearsal facility of the famous Rockfield Studios. It became an independent studio in the 1980s owned by Charles Ward afte ...

, Wales, in the spring of 2006. The album was released on 16 April 2007. All four singles from the first album ("Whale!", "Sellotape", "Daddy Oh" and "Funky Machine") received regular radio play on BBC, XFM,

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

and

Kerrang Radio Kerrang! Radio is a specialist digital rock music radio station owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of the Kiss Network. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 341,000 listeners according to RAJAR. Stations His ...

. The videos for all of the singles were play-listed on MTV. '' Q'', amongst others, reviewed the album favourably with 4 stars. Unfortunately, the band did not consolidate this success in the media with a UK tour due to their booking agent mysteriously disappearing during the booking of the tour. The tour was subsequently cancelled but the band toured extensively in mainland Europe playing the club and festival circuit throughout 2007.

Discography

*"Take a Bite of Peach" EP 2006 (Little Teddy Recordings, Germany) *"Whale!" CD Single, 7" Vinyl Ltd edition single, 2006 (One Little Indian Records) *"Sellotape" CD Single, 7" Vinyl Ltd edition single, 2006 (One Little Indian Records) *''Swine & Cockerel'' CD Album, LP, 2007 (One Little Indian Records) *"Daddy Oh" CD EP, 7" Vinyl Ltd edition EP, 2007 (One Little Indian Records)

References

External links

The Mighty Roars Myspace

Little Teddy Recordings

One Little Indian Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mighty Roars, The English alternative rock groups