Spoon is an American rock band from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, consisting of members

Britt Daniel John Britt Daniel (born April 14, 1971) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Spoon, as well as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and singer of the band Divine Fits. Daniel also founded nume ...

(vocals, guitar),

Jim Eno Jim Eno (born February 8, 1966) is the drummer and one of the founding members of the Austin, Texas band Spoon. He is also a record producer and a semiconductor chip designer. Eno is not related to sound engineer and record producer Brian Eno; ...

(drums), Alex Fischel (keyboards, guitar), Gerardo Larios (guitar, keyboards) and Ben Trokan (bass, keyboards). The band was formed in Austin in October 1993 by Daniel and Eno. Critics have described the band's musical style as rock,

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ...

, and

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

. Spoon released their debut studio album, '' Telephono'', in 1996 through Matador Records. Their next full-length album, '' A Series of Sneaks'', was released in 1998 through

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. The band subsequently signed with

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded ...

, where Spoon achieved greater commercial and critical prominence with the albums '' Girls Can Tell'' (2001), '' Kill the Moonlight'' (2002), '' Gimme Fiction'' (2005), '' Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga'' (2007), and '' Transference'' (2010). They signed with Loma Vista Recordings and

ANTI- Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop ( Sage Francis, The C ...

for the release of '' They Want My Soul'' (2014). The band later returned to Matador to release their ninth album ''

Hot Thoughts ''Hot Thoughts'' is the ninth studio album by American rock band Spoon. It was released on March 17, 2017, through Matador Records. It is also the first Spoon album since 2002's ''Kill the Moonlight'' to not feature multi-instrumentalist Eric Harv ...

'' (2017), and tenth album '' Lucifer on the Sofa'' (2022).

History

1993–1997: Early years

The band was formed in late 1993 by lead singer and guitarist

and drummer

, after the two met as members of

the Alien Beats The Alien Beats is a band created by Britt Daniel. Before creating Spoon, Britt Daniel toyed around with a few musical acts in the Austin area. After his stint with Skellington, fellow KTSB (now KVRX) DJ Brad Shenfeld asked Britt if he would be i ...

. The name Spoon was chosen to honor the 1970s German

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in West Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electronic music, ...

band Can, whose hit song "

Spoon A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily f ...

" was the theme song to the 1985 movie '' Jagged Edge'' (''Das Messer'') in the United States. Eno describes Spoon's music as "psychedelic". Spoon's first recording was the vinyl release of the EP ''

Nefarious Nefarious may refer to: People * Charles Lescewicz, bassist for the band Macabre, known as Nefarious * X-Raided Anerae Veshaughn Brown (born July 30, 1974), better known by his stage name X-Raided, is an American rapper from Sacramento, Califor ...

'' in May 1994.Hernandez, Raoul
"Drake Tungsten and His Boy Skellington."
''The Austin Chronicle'', January 25, 1999. In 1995, the band signed with Matador Records, and Spoon released its first full-length LP '' Telephono'' in 1996. The album was met with mixed reviews, with critics comparing their sound to Pavement, Pixies and

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is co ...

. But comparisons aside, ''Telephono'' showed signs of a band slipping free of its influences, mixing post-punk with a blend of pop. Less than a year later, Spoon released its second EP, ''

Soft Effects ''Soft Effects'' is the second EP by the indie rock band Spoon. It was released on January 21, 1997, by Matador, then re-released with ''Telephono'' in 2006 by Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North ...

'', which served as a transition to their more distinctive, honed sound. Unlike its predecessors, ''Soft Effects'' was less noisy and brash, showcasing a more sophisticated, minimalist approach.Kareem Estefan
"Spoon – Artist Profile"
"Stylus Magazine", September 1, 2003. In late 1996, Spoon was playing a gig at the Argo in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

with Ed Cooper and local band Maxine's Radiator, which featured Josh Zarbo on bass. Zarbo was invited to audition for Daniel and Eno in 1997, and subsequently became the band's full-time bassist until his permanent departure in 2007.

1998–1999: Major label debut

After the release of ''

'', Spoon signed to

and released '' A Series of Sneaks'' in May 1998. The album did not sell as well as the label had hoped; merely four months after the release of ''Sneaks'', Spoon's Elektra A&R contact Ron Laffitte quit his job and that week the band was dropped from the label.Tim McMahan
"Lazy-I Interview: Spoon"
''The Omaha Weekly'', April 18, 2001. Angry with Laffitte, who had promised to stick with the band, Spoon recorded a vindictive yet humorously-titled two-song concept single entitled "The Agony of Laffitte," which was released by Saddle Creek Records. They lamented their experience with the music business executive and questioned his motivations with the songs "The Agony of Laffitte" and "Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now".

2000–2006: Signing with Merge Records

Spoon signed with the indie rock label

and released the ''

Love Ways ''Love Ways'' is the fourth EP by the indie rock band Spoon (band), Spoon. It was released on October 24, 2000, by Merge Records. Track listing # "Change My Life" – 4:29 # "I Didn't Come Here to Die" – 3:08 # "Jealousy" – 2:09 # "The Figu ...

'' EP in 2000. The decision was made to do this without bassist Josh Zarbo, who had briefly left the band.Ken Lieck
"Dancing About Architecture,"
The ''Houston Chronicle'', August 4, 2000. In 2001, Spoon released its third LP entitled '' Girls Can Tell''. The new record was a success, selling more copies than both of their previous LP releases combined.Sean
"Sunday Music Spotlight – Spoon"
''Pop Culture Will Eat Itself '', August 26, 2007. The band's next release in 2002, '' Kill the Moonlight'' had similar success. ''Kill the Moonlight'' also contained the single, "The Way We Get By", which was popularized by its placement on the movie '' Stranger than Fiction'' (released later, in 2006) as well as the teen drama '' The O.C.'' and on the first episode of the American version of the series '' Shameless''. Their next album, '' Gimme Fiction'', was released in May 2005, and debuted at number 44 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling more than 160,000 copies.Joe Gross
"In tune with Spoon"
''Austin 360'', July 5, 2007. Spoon's Britt Daniel collaborated with Brian Reitzell to compose and arrange the soundtrack for the 2006 film '' Stranger than Fiction''. The soundtrack consists chiefly of music performed by Spoon, and according to the liner notes of the official soundtrack, Brian Reitzell collaborated with Britt Daniel to compose the score, while also adapting several tracks from ''Kill the Moonlight'' and ''Gimme Fiction'' into instrumental versions of the songs.

2007–2012: ''Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga'' and ''Transference''

On July 10, 2007, '' Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga'' was released and debuted at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Since the release of ''Kill the Moonlight'' in 2002, Spoon has performed on late night talk shows, such as ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production ...

'', '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the The Late Late Show (American talk show), ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing ...

'', '' Last Call with Carson Daly'', and ''

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, as part of NBC's ''Tonight Show'' franchise. O'Brien had previously hosted NBC's ''Late Ni ...

'' as well as the PBS show '' Austin City Limits''. They were also musical guests on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' on October 6, 2007, where they performed " The Underdog" and "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb". In 2009, the review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

ranked Spoon as its "Top overall artist of the decade", based on the band's consistently high review scores between 2000 and 2009, among other factors. On January 18, 2010, the band released its seventh studio album, '' Transference''. It debuted at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 53,000 copies in its first week. Their song "The Mystery Zone" was also chosen as the

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

Pick of the Week on January 26, 2010. Later that year, Spoon recorded the title track on the album ''

See My Friends "See My Friends" (sometimes titled "See My Friend") is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by the group's singer and guitarist, Ray Davies. Released in July 1965, it reached number 10 on the ''Record Retailer'' chart. The song in ...

'' in collaboration with Ray Davies. On April 12, 2010, Spoon made a guest appearance on Conan O'Brien's

The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour (also known as the Prohibited Tour) was a comedy tour by American comedian and talk show host Conan O'Brien. Its title is a reference to the 2010 ''Tonight Show'' host and timeslot confl ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, ...

, where they performed the song "I Summon You" from their album '' Gimme Fiction''.

2013–2016: ''They Want My Soul''

Spoon released their eighth LP, '' They Want My Soul'', on August 5, 2014. It was their first record released by Loma Vista Recordings, after five records on Merge. It was recorded with Joe Chiccarelli and Dave Fridmann. That year they took part in the Hamilton, Ontario Supercrawl. Reviewing for Pitchfork, Ryan Dombal gave the album a rating of 8.6/10, writing: "''They Want My Soul'' is the quintet's most booming LP, eons ahead of their Pixies-worshipping beginnings and a far cry from the relatively small-scale charm of their early-2000s touchstones ''Girls Can Tell'' and ''Kill the Moonlight'', as well as their self-consciously lo-fi 2010 record, ''Transference''." The album was also ranked as 13th of 50 in Pitchfork's Best New Music of 2014. On October 30, 2014, Spoon appeared as the featured musical guests during ''The Daily Show''s Democalypse 2014: South By South Mess.

2017–2019: ''Hot Thoughts'' and ''Everything Hits at Once''

On March 17, 2017, Spoon released their ninth studio album ''

'' on Matador Records, their first on the label since their 1996 debut (Matador had handled the European release of Gimme Fiction in 2005.) In April 2019, the band made the news via Democratic presidential candidate

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...

, who was filmed playing the band's song "The Way We Get By" on piano before an event by his spokesperson, Lis Smith. The band responded by sharing the video on their Facebook and Twitter pages, remarking: "So this guy can just do anyone's job, huh." In June 2019, the band announced the release of their greatest hits album, '' Everything Hits at Once: The Best of Spoon''. The album compiles the band's most well-known songs, as well as a new single entitled "No Bullets Spent". The album was released on July 26 via Matador. On July 9, Rob Pope announced he would be leaving the band. On August 29, 2020, for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

, the band released '' All the Weird Kids Up Front (Más Rolas Chidas)'', a fan-selected companion piece to their best of, with a tracklist submitted and voted on by fans.

2021–present: ''Lucifer on the Sofa''

Spoon began recording their tenth studio album in late 2018 at drummer Jim Eno's studio with producers Mark Rankin and Justin Raisen. It was nearly finished as of early 2020, but was put on hold due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, with the new release date tentatively set for early 2021. On March 12, 2021, Spoon released covers of two

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...

songs, " Breakdown" and " A Face in the Crowd". On October 28, 2021, the band announced their tenth studio album, '' Lucifer on the Sofa'' with lead single "The Hardest Cut" being released on the same day. The second single from ''Lucifer on the Sofa'', "Wild", which samples its drum patterns from

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...

's " Take On the World was released as a 7-inch single on December 10, 2021. The song was backed with a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

Dennis Bovell Dennis Bovell (born 22 May 1953Huey, Steve"Dennis Bovell Biography" Allmusic. Retrieved 27 December 2014.) is a Barbados-born reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer, based in England. He was a member of the British reggae band Mat ...

on the B-side. The album was released on February 11, 2022, via Matador. On September 21, 2022, Spoon announced '' Lucifer on the Moon'', a track-by-track reworking of ''Lucifer on the Sofa'', with all remixes by Adrian Sherwood. The album was released on November 4, 2022. In November 2022, the album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It will recognize the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2021, to September 3 ...

, which marked the band's first Grammys nomination.

Band members

Current members *

– lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion (1993–present) *

– drums, percussion, programming (1993–present) * Alex Fischel – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals (2013–present) * Gerardo Larios – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (2019–present; touring member 2017–2019) * Ben Trokan – bass, keyboards (2021–present; touring member 2019–2021) Former members * Greg Wilson (aka Wendel Stivers) – guitar (1993–1994) * Andy Maguire – bass, backing vocals (1993–1996) *

John Croslin The Reivers were an American pop band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 1984 as Zeitgeist, they were forced to change their name before releasing their second album in 1987, due to another group claiming prior rights to the name. They chose the name ...

– bass (1996) * Hunter Darby – bass (1996) * Scott "Clanky" Adair – bass (1996–1997) * Josh Zarbo – bass (1997–2000; 2002–2007) * Eric Friend – keyboards (2000-2004) * Roman Keubler – bass (2000–2002) * Eric Harvey – guitar, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals (2004–2017) * Rob Pope – bass, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (2006–2019) Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:100 top:10 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1993 till:03/01/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:lvocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals,_percussion id:bvocals value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion,_programming id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:tour value:yellow legend:Touring_member id:studio value:black legend:Studio_album id:bars value:gray(0.95) Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 BackgroundColors = bars:bars ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1995 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1993 BarData = bar:Britt text:Britt Daniel bar:Greg text:Greg Wilson bar:Eric text:Eric Harvey bar:Alex text:Alex Fischel bar:Gerardo text:Gerardo Larios bar:Andy text:Andy Maguire bar:John text:John Croslin bar:Clanky text:Scott "Clanky" Adair bar:Josh text:Josh Zarbo bar:Roman text:Roman Keubler bar:Rob text:Rob Pope bar:Ben text:Ben Trokan bar:Jim text:Jim Eno PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Britt from:start till:end color:lvocals bar:Jim from:start till:end color:drums bar:Greg from:start till:06/01/1994 color:guitar bar:Andy from:start till:04/01/1996 color:bass bar:John from:04/01/1996 till:07/01/1996 color:bass bar:Clanky from:07/01/1996 till:11/01/1996 color:bass bar:Josh from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2000 color:bass bar:Roman from:01/01/2000 till:01/01/2002 color:bass bar:Josh from:01/01/2002 till:01/01/2007 color:bass bar:Rob from:01/01/2007 till:07/10/2019 color:bass bar:Eric from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2017 color:guitar bar:Alex from:01/01/2013 till:end color:keys bar:Gerardo from:02/01/2017 till:end color:guitar bar:Ben from:07/10/2019 till:end color:bass width:3 bar:Britt from:start till:end color:keys bar:Andy from:start till:04/01/1996 color:bvocals bar:Eric from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2017 color:bvocals bar:Alex from:01/01/2013 till:end color:bvocals bar:Rob from:01/01/2007 till:07/10/2019 color:bvocals bar:Gerardo from:02/01/2017 till:end color:bvocals bar:Ben from:07/10/2019 till:06/08/2021 color:tour bar:Ben from:06/08/2021 till:end color:keys width:7 bar:Britt from:start till:end color:guitar bar:Eric from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2017 color:keys bar:Alex from:01/01/2013 till:end color:guitar bar:Rob from:01/01/2007 till:07/10/2019 color:keys bar:Gerardo from:02/01/2017 till:end color:keys width:5 bar:Britt from:11/01/1996 till:01/01/1997 color:bass bar:Britt from:01/01/2007 till:end color:bass bar:Rob from:01/01/2007 till:07/10/2019 color:guitar bar:Gerardo from:02/01/2017 till:06/01/2019 color:tour bar:Ben from:07/10/2019 till:06/08/2021 color:keys LineData = layer:back color:studio at:04/23/1996 at:04/28/1998 at:02/19/2001 at:08/20/2002 at:05/10/2005 at:07/07/2007 at:01/15/2010 at:08/05/2014 at:03/17/2017 at:02/11/2022

Discography

Studio albums *'' Telephono'' (1996) *'' A Series of Sneaks'' (1998) *'' Girls Can Tell'' (2001) *'' Kill the Moonlight'' (2002) *'' Gimme Fiction'' (2005) *'' Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga'' (2007) *'' Transference'' (2010) *'' They Want My Soul'' (2014) *''

'' (2017) *'' Lucifer on the Sofa'' (2022)

References

External links

* * *
Spoon collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Spoon American art rock groups Indie rock musical groups from Texas Musical groups from Austin, Texas Musical groups established in 1993 Elektra Records artists Matador Records artists Merge Records artists Peek-A-Boo Records artists 1993 establishments in Texas Anti- (record label) artists Loma Vista Recordings artists