Viva Brother are 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 from Slough, England. Previously known as Brother, they signed to

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

in October and EMI Publishing in November 2010. Their debut album, '' Famous First Words'', was released on 1 August 2011, and reached #34 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 ...

. It was confirmed on 1 April 2012 that Viva Brother had split up. In June 2012, the band members launched a new band, the synthpop group Lovelife. Viva Brother uploaded a cryptic video to their social media platforms on 22 September 2017, hinting at an announcement on 3 October. The band confirmed they were reuniting on 3 October, with their first show to be played at The Garage, in London, on 30 November.

History

Formation and debut album (2010–2012)

Previously known as Kill the Arcade and Wolf Am I, the band was renamed Brother in 2010. The previous incarnation of the group wrote, recorded and performed music primarily in the

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

genre. Describing their latest sound as "gritpop", and citing bands such as Blur,

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 eme ...

and Morrissey as influences, the band began playing shows around the local community centres. In an interview for '' Drowned in Sound'', Leonard Newell stated that his musical interest began to change after he started going to a club night called ''We love the 90's''. A demo of the song "Darling Buds of May" was played by radio 1 DJ

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. Lowe also picked up on the band's blog. The site featured a video of the band setting up and playing an unannounced gig in front of

Slough railway station Slough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is on the Great Western Main Line, halfway between London Paddington and Reading. It is down the line from the zero point at Paddington and is situated between to the east and to the w ...

, along with a promo video they had shot using money they had earned playing local gigs. In October they signed a deal with

and EMI Publishing the following November. In January 2011, Brother entered the studio with Stephen Street to record their debut album. On 5 March, the band appeared on the early morning football 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 revealed the name for their album would be '' Famous First Words'', after discussing it in the canteen just half an hour before the interview. They released their debut single, "Darling Buds of May", on 27 June 2011. This was followed by three more singles, "New Year's Day", released 8 May 2011, and "", released 27 June 2011. In June 2011, the band was forced to change their name from Brother to Viva Brother due to a lawsuit brought by another band, also called

Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

. Leonard Newell admitted that his band went ahead with the previous name change from Wolf Am I to Brother despite being aware of the fact that other musicians were already using the name. Viva Brother released their debut album, ''Famous First Words'', on 1 August 2011. The album, panned by critics for its lack of original content, peaked at #34 on the

in its first week of release. On 3 October 2011, the band released their final single from ''Famous First Words'', "Time Machine".

Second album and breakup (2012–2016)

The band released images of the recording their second album in the countryside on their official Twitter page, with hopes of the album being released that year. It was announced on 1 April 2012 that the band had split up, although this was initially thought to be an April fools joke - the disbanding of Viva Brother was confirmed later that day. Viva Brother reformed as pop group Lovelife consisting of Newell, Jackson, Colucci and Ally Young, formerly of band 'Mirrors'.

Reunion (2017–present)

Viva Brother uploaded a cryptic video to their social media platforms on 22 September 2017, hinting at an announcement on 3 October. The band confirmed they were reuniting on 3 October, with their first show to be played at The Garage, in London, on 30 November. The band also released a brand new track, "Bastardo", via

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viva Brother Musical quartets English rock music groups Musical groups from Berkshire Musical groups established in 2010 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups reestablished in 2017 Geffen Records artists 2010 establishments in England