The Rifles (band)
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The Rifles are an English
indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
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 ...
from
Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow t ...
, London. Their debut album '' No Love Lost'' was released on 17 July 2006 and initially reached No. 68 in 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 ...
. The band currently consists of Joel Stoker (
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 ...
), Lucas Crowther (
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 ...
,
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 ...
), Rob Pyne (
bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
), Grant Marsh ( drums) and Dean Mumford ( keyboard). Their follow-up album, '' Great Escape'', was released on 26 January 2009 and came in at No. 27 in the UK chart. Their third album '' Freedom Run'' was released on 19 September 2011 reaching No. 37 in the UK. Fourth album ''None The Wiser'' was their highest charting release when it reached No. 21 in 2014. The band released their fifth studio album ''Big Life'' on 19 August 2016.


History


Formation and ''No Love Lost'' (2003–2006)

Joel Stoker and Lucas Crowther met at
Redbridge College New City College (NCC) is a large college of further education with campuses in East London and Essex. The college was formed in 2016 with the amalgamation of separate colleges, beginning with the merger between Tower Hamlets College and Hackney C ...
in 2003. They were both inspired by an Oasis concert the two attended in
Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden ...
, England. Guitarist Crowther revealed "From that moment on we knew we had to start a band." After adding bassist Robert Pyne, who Joel knew from school, and drummer Grant Marsh, who Luke met in the ''Candy Box'' club, the Rifles performed their first gig at ''The Bull & Gate'' pub in
Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...
, London in 2004. The Rifles' first official release was a 7" demo of " Peace & Quiet" released by Blow Up Records. The band switched to fellow independent label
Xtra Mile Recordings Xtra Mile Recordings are a British independent record label based in London, England. The label was founded in 2003 by Charlie Caplowe and they release an eclectic mix of genres with a focus on rock and folk. History The label first signed th ...
for their May 2005 release of the single " When I'm Alone", which would go on to reach number 64 in the UK charts. Later that year the band's next single " Local Boy" would be released via Right Hook Recordings. It would get airplay on the Saturday morning show ''
Soccer AM ''Soccer AM'' is a British football-based comedy/talk show, produced by Sky Sports. First broadcast in 1995, the programme currently airs on Sky Showcase, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football at 10.30am on Saturdays during the f ...
'' and would help give the band more exposure and even help them become regular guests on the show. The Rifles released two singles, " Repeated Offender" and " She's Got Standards", ahead of the 17 July release of their debut album '' No Love Lost'', which peaked at 26 in the UK charts. The band toured in 2006, and performed at
A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise (commonly called Lowlands or Lowlands Festival), is an annual three-day music and performing arts festival, held in the Netherlands. The festival is held east of Amsterdam in Biddinghuizen, at Spijk en Brem ...
2007 and Paaspop Schijndel 2007, two music festivals in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. The Rifles launched their
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an tour to promote their new album including a gig at the Forum, London, at which
Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul mu ...
(
The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1 ...
) appeared on stage to play the song "She's the Only One" with the band, and The Jam's single, " The Eton Rifles". The Rifles then released a free download of the song "No Love Lost" a year after their album of the same name was released.


''Great Escape'' (2007–2010)

Touring on the back of their album '' No Love Lost'', The Rifles again released a free download, this time of their single " Talking" on 20 October 2007. The single garnered high accolades from BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe, who called it the "Hottest Record in the World". "Talking" also marked the band's label switch from Red Ink to
679 Recordings 679 Artists (formally known as Sixsevenine and 679 Recordings) was a Warner Music Group-owned record label based in London, England. It was started by Nick Worthington who after leaving XL Recordings in 2001, started the company with Warner M ...
. On 21 July 2008, the single " I Could Never Lie" was released on a limited-edition vinyl disc. The Rifles also made appearances at the
Underage Festival The Underage Festival was a music festival in Victoria Park, London that was open only to those between 13 and 17. The festival took place at the beginning of August each year. There were five main stages: the Converse Century Main Stage, the ...
and the V Festival in the summer and played an extensive tour throughout October and November in 2008 when long-time friend of the band Dean Mumford (from the band Regency) was added on keyboards as session player for live performances. When the band's second album was delayed from October 2008 to January 2009, the Rifles created The Rifles EP that fans could download on the internet. The Rifles released their second album '' Great Escape'' on 26 January 2009, which peaked at 27 in the UK charts and reached the number 2 slot in the UK indie charts. In April 2009 thy performed live at the PFA Awards performing a re-written version of Billy Joel's "
We Didn't Start the Fire "We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song written and published by American musician Billy Joel. The song was released as a single on September 18, 1989, and later released as part of Joel's album '' Storm Front'' on October 17, 1989. A list song, i ...
" which was broadcast by Sky Sports. After a tour throughout the United Kingdom and Germany, the band announced extensive acoustic tours for the fall and winter of 2010 and plans for a third album.


''Freedom Run'' (2010–2013)

On 17 October 2010, Grant Marsh and Rob Pyne announced they had left the band. While touring in 2010, the Rifles released ''Acoustic No. 1'', an acoustic album containing new and old songs. Long time friends Lee Burgess and Kenton Shinn from the band Garda were added to the Rifles. On 15 February 2011, the Rifles began recording songs for a third studio album. The new album, called '' Freedom Run'', was released on 19 September 2011. The Rifles began work on a deluxe version of ''Freedom Run'' on 9 February 2012. In addition to a deluxe ''Freedom Run'', the Rifles had an autumn/winter acoustic tour in 2012 and started work on songs for a new album. The Rifles launched their
PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...
campaign on 28 September 2012 to help fund their fourth studio album. The band also recorded ''Acoustic No. 2'', their second acoustic album which was available on their winter 2012 acoustic tour.
In May 2013, the band announced that the four original members, including Marsh and Pyne, had reunited and were working on a fourth album.


''None the Wiser'' (2014–2015)

The band's fourth studio album '' None the Wiser'' was released on 27 January 2014. It reached no. 21 in the album chart, the highest position for a Rifles album. While touring on the re-release of ''No Love Lost'' for the album's ten-year anniversary in 2015, Joel Stoker stated the band were already writing songs for a 5th studio album. Several new songs were played live by the band on their early 2016 tour of the UK.


''Big Life'' (2016)

The fifth studio album, ''Big Life'', the band's first double album, was released in August 2016.


''Singles Collection and Unplugged Album'' (2017)

In 2017, the band released two albums. The Singles Collection, a collection of singles taken from their five albums and handful of EPs and Unplugged Album, recorded live at the Abbey Road Studios alongside a string quarter and a large choir. The album features versions of their songs taken from None The Wiser, Great Escape, Freedom Run, No Love Lost and Big Life.


''Live At The Roundhouse'' (2020)

In 2020, the band released a double-LP live album featuring songs spanning their career.


Discography


Studio Albums


Non Studio Albums

*The Singles Collection (2017) *Unplugged Album: Recorded at Abbey Road Studios (2017) *Live At The Roundhouse (2020)


EPs

* Live at Shepherds Bush Empire (4 October 2007) * The Rifles EP (15 December 2008) *Acoustic 1 (2010) *Acoustic 2 (2012)


Singles


References


External links

*
The Rifles' Europe 09 tour blog on Music.Virgin.Com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rifles, The English rock music groups British indie rock groups Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 2004 679 Artists artists