Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
dance-rock
Dance-rock is a dance-infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and disc ...
duo formed by British-born twin brothers Joe and Luke McGarry in 2004, while they were 16-year-old students at the
Orange County High School of the Arts
Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA, ), is a 7th–12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, California. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, culi ...
. The band began to build a following in the indie clubs of Southern California, and did a brief tour of Europe in late 2006, showcasing at In the City in Manchester, and playing dates in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
.
The band has supported
Doves
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
The Wombats
The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards) ...
A Certain Ratio
A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...
Fitz and the Tantrums
Fitz and the Tantrums are an American indie pop and neo soul band from Los Angeles, California, that formed in 2008. The band consists of Michael Fitzpatrick (lead vocals), Noelle Scaggs (co-lead vocals and percussion), James King (saxophone, ...
and Robyn, and as of late 2015, played more than 300 shows.
Pop Noir has been featured on a number of compilation CDs, including '' Mr. Shovel's Check One... Two, Volume III'', ''SweetFA3'' (a charity album in aid of
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...
's
Strummerville
The Joe Strummer Foundation is a non-profit organisation which promotes the development of new music. It was established in memory of punk rock singer and guitarist Joe Strummer shortly after his death in December 2002. Strummer's widow Lucin ...
), and the original ''SweetFA'' compilation, which was given free as a covermount on UK music magazine ''
Artrocker
Artrocker is a UK-based collective involved in music promotion and publishing. It was started by Paul Cox and Tom Fawcett who had been co-promoters of a London night called The Sausage Machine. Having started life with an online newsletter and eve ...
''.
The track "Girls of Prey" was released exclusively on
RCRDLBL
RCRD LBL was a website for free, curated, and legal MP3 downloads from emergent artists.
RCRD LBL was launched in 2007 by Josh Deutsch, Peter Rojas
Peter Rojas (born March 18, 1975) is the co-founder of technology blogs Gizmodo and Engadget, ...
in the summer of 2008, where it debuted in the Top 10, alongside
Santigold
Santi White (born September 25, 1976), known professionally as Santigold (formerly Santogold), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. '' Billboard'' presented her in 2022, saying: "Spanning punk rock, hip-hop, and dance music, S ...
,
Moby
Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
and Tokyo Police Club. "Girls of Prey" was featured in the "Extreme" level of the hugely popular iPhone and
iPod Touch
The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a musi ...
application '' Tap Tap Revenge 2'', which consistently topped the download charts.
The McGarrys are the sons of cartoonist and illustrator
Steve McGarry
Steve McGarry (born 24 January 1953, Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''. Retrieved 21 December 2018. in
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after atte ...
,
Slaughter & the Dogs
Slaughter and the Dogs are an English punk rock band formed in 1975 in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Their original line-up consisted of singer Wayne Barrett McGrath, rhythm guitar Mick Rossi, drummer Brian "Mad Muffet" Grantham, lead guitarist M ...
John Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet, who first became famous as a " punk poet" in the late 1970s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Around this time, he performed on stage with se ...
. The brothers are award-winning designers and illustrators in their own right. In 2007, they became the youngest-ever recipients of prestigious Silver T-Square Awards from the
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
. Previous recipients include
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips.
Biography
Caniff was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was an Eagle Scout and a r ...
,
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...
,
Mort Walker
Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...
, Bil Keane, and two U.S. Presidents, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Operating under the name of Fantastic Heat Brothers and primarily designing around the cartoon art of Luke, they have created the ongoing design aesthetic of
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "ten ...
's
Festival Supreme
Festival Supreme was a comedy music festival held in Los Angeles hosted by Jack Black and Kyle Gass as Tenacious D. The first event was held in 2013 at the Santa Monica Pier and 2014, 2015 and 2016 saw the festival take place at the Shrine A ...
and the annual FYF Fest in Los Angeles and amassed a client list that includes
Matador Records
Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts.
History
Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apar ...
,
Universal Republic
Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...
Vans
Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the comp ...
. The brothers have created animated videos for the bands
Guster
Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel began practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and ...
and The Zambonis among others, and in late 2015, IFC began airing a series of Festival Supreme shorts created by the pair. Luke has been featured in a number of art exhibitions in both the U.K. and U.S., including his own month-long exhibition at
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...
, and in 2013, was nominated for the Illustrator of the Year Award from the
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
. He has also twice appeared with
Jack Black
Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), '' Shallow Hal'' (2001), '' Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ' ...
and Tenacious D at signing events at San Diego Comic Con, in 2013 and 2014.
Pop Noir's debut single "DIY' was released on the Fantastic Heat label on November 16, 2009, and debuted at No. 5 on the
FMQB
''Friday Morning Quarterback'' (better known as ''FMQB'') was a trade magazine which covered the radio and music industries in the United States. Its coverage included programming, management, promotion, marketing, and airplay
Airplay is how ...
Specialty Radio charts. The video for "DIY" was
Spinner.com
Spinner was an online music and entertainment service. An AOL Music property, it was acquired by AOL on June 1, 1999, along with Nullsoft for $400 million. Based in San Francisco, California, the website was the first Internet music service and w ...
's Video of the Day, and was voted
mtvU
MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel was first known as VH1 Uno from 2000 to ...
's "Freshmen of the Week" in March 2010 following which, the video spent six weeks in rotation on the channel. "DIY" was featured on a number of TV show soundtracks, including episodes of the ABC show ''
The Gates
''The Gates'' were a group of gates comprising a site-specific work of art by Bulgarian artist Christo Yavacheff and French artist Jeanne-Claude, known jointly as Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The artists installed 7,503 vinyl "gates" along of ...
'' and '' Fly Girls''.
The band played a handful of dates in 2011 and 2012, including a Sold Out show at The
Troubadour (West Hollywood, California)
The Troubadour is a nightclub located in West Hollywood, California, United States, at 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard just east of Doheny Drive and the border of Beverly Hills. Inspired by a visit to the newly opened Troubadour café in London, i ...
in Los Angeles with The Wombats, before re-emerging in January 2013 with their second single on Fantastic Heat, a reworking of New Order's "
Temptation
Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...
". The track debuted at No. 2 on the FMQB Specialty Radio Charts. To coincide with the release, Pop Noir played a month-long residency at The Constellation Room in Santa Ana, California. The accompanying video, which was created, filmed and edited entirely by the brothers themselves, features multi-plane images of Joe playing all the instruments on the track, behind vocalist Luke.
In September 2013, the band's third release, the ''Jealousy'' EP on Fantastic Heat, debuted at No. 8 on the FMQB Speciality Radio Charts, tied with Belle & Sebastian and Nine Inch Nails. The video, shot in Los Angeles on location at The Echo, The Standard Hotel and the streets of Downtown LA, was premiered by UK music tastemaker
Clash (magazine)
''Clash'' is a music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published four times a year by Music Republic Ltd, whose predecessor Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation.
The magazine won the Best New Magazine award in ...
. To promote the release, Pop Noir headlined The Echo in Los Angeles and played live on numerous local radio stations.
The video for the band's fourth release on Fantastic Heat, "Don't Fool Yourself", premiered on April 30, 2015, with an Artist of the Day feature on Myspace that unveiled a video, shot entirely on a GoPro camera, of the brothers driving the deserted streets of Downtown Los Angeles in the early hours. Released three weeks later, the "Don't Fool Yourself" single debuted at No. 18 on the FMQB Charts and went top 20 on the KKBB Charts. Pop Noir subsequently filmed an acoustic version of the track for the UK'S Student Pocket Guide, along with a cover of QT's single "Hey QT".
In September, 2018, Pop Noir released the single "White Jazz", which debuted in the FMQB Top 20. The accompanying video was shot entirely on location in Tokyo, Japan.