The Boy Least Likely To is an English

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

duo, composed of composer/multi-instrumentalist Pete Hobbs and lyricist/singer Jof Owen.

History

Owen and Hobbs both grew up in the village of

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

in Buckinghamshire. After meeting at school, Owen and Hobbs began writing and recording songs as The Boy Least Likely To in the summer of 2002. Creating their own independent record label, Too Young to Die, the band's first release was the 7" single "Paper Cuts" in 2003. They released three singles and completed the recording of their debut album before playing any live shows. The debut album, '' The Best Party Ever'', which compiled the band's first three singles and added five new tracks, was released in the UK in February 2005, and in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in late Spring 2006. '' The Best Party Ever'' was included in the ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' top 50 albums of 2005 and was number 8 in the

Rough Trade Shop Rough Trade is a group of independent record shops in the United Kingdom and the United States with headquarters in London. The first Rough Trade shop was opened in 1976 by Geoff Travis in the Ladbroke Grove district of West London. Travis ...

top 100 albums of the same year. The band describe their own sound as 'Country Disco' in their song "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star". They were included in the top ten bands of 2006 in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' magazine, and described as sounding like what would happen "if all your childhood stuffed animals got together and started a band." Their second album, ''Law of the Playground'', was delayed by label troubles and released in April 2009. It includes the singles "Every Goliath Has Its David", "A Balloon On A Broken String", "When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade" and "A Fairytale Ending". In December 2010, they released a seasonal album called ''

Christmas Special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptatio ...

'', which included eight original compositions and three traditional festive songs. It includes the single "George and Andrew". The fourth album, ''The Great Perhaps'', was released in 2013. It Includes the singles "It Could've Been Me" featuring Gwenno Saunders from The Pipettes, "Climbing Out Of love", "I Keep Falling In Love With You Again" and "Michael Collins", a song written about the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

astronaut Michael Collins. In 2014 Jof Owen formed the band Legends Of Country, and released the singles "That's What We Talk About When We Talk About Country" and "It's A Long Way Back From A Dream", a song about the darts player Richie Burnett.

In popular culture

Rashida Jones Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress. Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...

starred in the video for their single "Be Gentle with Me" in 2005. Their songs have been used in a number of different commercials in the US for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

and General Electric Cars and films and television shows including ''

Easy A ''Easy A'' (stylized as ''easy A'') is a 2010 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Will Gluck, written by Bert V. Royal, starring Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Thomas Haden Church, Dan Byrd, Amanda Bynes, Penn Bad ...

'' and ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...

''. "Be Gentle With Me" has been featured in a commercial in the UK for ING Direct and "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star" was used in a UK commercial for Cadburys Chocolate Digestive Biscuits in 2008. In February 2010, Apple, Inc. featured The Boy Least Likely To's song "Stringing Up Conkers" in an advertisement for the iPhone 3GS. In April 2010, the same song was also featured in an

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...

demonstration video for iTunes. In April 2014 the song "Be Gentle With Me" was featured during the first 30 seconds of trailer #2 for the movie '' Blended'' starring Adam Sandler and

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

. The song "When Life Gives Me Lemons, I Make Lemonade" was used in the 2010 Emma Stone comedy ''

'' and in the 2018 film ''

Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter. A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subs ...

'', which were both directed by

Will Gluck Will Gluck (born November 7, 1978) is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, songwriter, and composer. Life and career Gluck is the son of American academic and Japanologist Carol Gluck and architect Peter L. Gluck. He began ...

Touring personnel

Musicians known to have toured with The Boy Least Likely To include: *Alistair Hamer - Drums, Backing vocals. ( Sweet Billy Pilgrim) *Anthony Bishop - Electric Bass, Backing Vocals ( Sweet Billy Pilgrim) *Adam Chetwood - Guitar, Banjo. ( I Am Arrows) * Amanda Applewood - Keys, Backing Vocals. *Bahar Brunton - Violin, Backing Vocals. *Boris Ming - Violin, Keys. *Rob Jones - Glockenspiel, Backing Vocals. ( The Voluntary Butler Scheme) *Ross Curnow - Drums, Backing Vocals ( Captain Phoenix) *Luke Keyte - Guitar, Banjo ( Captain Phoenix) *Alistair Pope - guitar, banjo, synth ( solo, Leonie Casanova)

Discography

Albums

*'' The Best Party Ever'' - Too Young to Die - 2005 *'' Law of the Playground'' - Too Young to Die - 2009 *''The Best B-Sides Ever'' - +1 Records - 2009 *''

'' - Too Young to Die - 2010 *''The Great Perhaps'' - Too Young To Die - 2013

Compilation

* ''The Greatest Hits'' - Rough Trade - 2018

Extended plays

*''a fairytale ending'' - Too Young To Die - 2010 released as a digital download only

Singles

* "Paper Cuts b/w Sleeping With a Gun Under My Pillow" - Too Young to Die 2003 * "Be Gentle with Me" - Too Young to Die 2003 * "Fur Soft as Fur" - Karma Lion - 2004 * "Hugging My Grudge" - Too Young to Die - 2004 * "Paper Cuts" - Too Young to Die - 2005 * "Little Donkey" - Too Young to Die - 2005 given away free to fans at Christmas * "Be Gentle with Me" - Too Young to Die - 2006 UK No. 62 * "Hugging My Grudge" - Too Young to Die - 2006 UK No. 66 * "Faith" - Too Young to Die - 2007 released as a limited edition download * "I Box Up All The Butterflies" - Too Young to Die - 2008 released as a limited edition free download * "The First Snowflake" - Too Young to Die - 2009 * "Every Goliath Has Its David" - Too Young to Die - 2009 * "When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade" - Too Young to Die - 2009 * "Fairytale Ending" - Too Young to Die - 2009 * "Summer Of a Dormouse" - For Us Records - 2009 * "George and Andrew" - Too Young to Die - 2010 * "I Keep Falling In Love with You Again" - Too Young To Die - 2013 * "Climbing Out of Love" - Too Young To Die - 2013 * "It Could've Been Me" - Too Young To Die - 2013 * "Michael Collins" - Too Young To Die - 2013

References

External links

The Boy Least Likely To (Official Website)MySpace PageThe Boy Least Likely To
entry at The Indie Music Database
Interview with The Boy Least Likely To on Music TowersInterview with The Boy Least Likely To on Surviving the Golden AgeInterview on Brightest Young Things
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boy Least Likely To, The Musical groups established in 2002 English rock music groups British indie pop groups English musical duos Male musical duos Musical groups from Buckinghamshire