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Her's (also written as thatbandofhers) was an
indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band from
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, England composed of English guitarist and singer Stephen Fitzpatrick and Norwegian bassist and backing vocalist Audun Laading. They released a compilation album, '' Songs of Her's'' (2017), followed by a full-length studio album, '' Invitation to Her's'' (2018). The duo and their tour manager were killed in a road traffic collision in
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
while touring the United States in 2019. Heist or Hit Records said of the band's legacy: "their energy, vibrancy, and talent came to define our label".


Members

The band's line-up consisted of Stephen Fitzpatrick, from
Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...
, Cumbria, England, who sang lead vocals and played guitar, and Audun Laading, from Flekkerøy,
Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
, Norway, who played bass guitar and sang backing vocals. Fitzpatrick was also a drummer, but the band used a drum machine with both members contributing to its programming.


History

Fitzpatrick and Laading met at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, (from which they both graduated in 2016 after three-year music degrees, being presented with their certificates by
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
at a graduation ceremony). Whilst still students they formed Her's in 2015, after having previously played together in the rhythm section of another Liverpool band named 'The Sundogs'. The duo initially formed Her's in jest, travelling around Liverpool filming comedic music videos and posting them on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. They released their debut single, "Dorothy", on 7 April 2016. They performed on the 2016 Green Man Festival Rising Stage. A nine-track compilation titled ''Songs of Her's'' was released on 12 May 2017. The compilation received four stars from '' The Skinny''. Writing for ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' in April 2017, Thomas Smith said: The band later released their debut full-length album, '' Invitation to Her's'', on Heist or Hit Records on 24 August 2018. Her's were featured on '' Paste''s list titled "The 15 New Liverpool Bands You Need to Know in 2018". An acoustic performance by the band at the 2019
South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
festival in Austin, Texas, US was also featured on ''
BBC Music Introducing BBC Music Introducing is BBC Radio's platform supporting unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar UK music talent. The backbone of that network consists of 32 BBC local radio shows on stations across England and the Channel Islands, various ...
''. The album includes the single "Harvey" which according to Genius, is a reference to the 1950 film '' Harvey''.


Equipment

The duo were very loyal to their choice of guitar and bass. Laading used a Rickenbacker 4001 for his main bass while Fitzpatrick used a Fender Blacktop Series Jaguar HH for his main guitar. There were times where they didn't use their main instruments live. During live performances, both of them use a drum machine (specifically the Novation Launchpad USB MIDI Controller for Ableton Live) hooked to a MacBook Pro.


Deaths

On 27 March 2019, around 1 a.m., Fitzpatrick and Laading (aged 24 and 25 respectively), along with their tour manager, Trevor Engelbrektson (aged 37) from
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, were killed in a head-on traffic collision and subsequent vehicle fire near Milepost 68 on Interstate 10, west of Tonopah, Arizona. They were travelling from
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
, where they had played at the Rebel Lounge on 26 March, to perform a show on the following evening in
Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...
, some away, as part of a 19-date second tour of North America. The Arizona Department of Public Safety confirmed that Engelbrektson had been driving the band's Ford tour van at the time of the crash. The driver of a
Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...
pick-up truck, Francisco Rebollar, aged 64, from Murrieta, California, was also killed in the collision; a subsequent police investigation of the scene located a bottle of alcohol in the wreckage. At the time of the crash, the Arizona Department of Public Safety was already responding to reports of the Nissan pick-up truck travelling at speed in the wrong direction going eastbound in the westbound highway lanes. A requiem mass for Fitzpatrick was held at St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) Church, Barrow-in-Furness, on 23 April 2019.


Legacy

Musician and friend of the two, Strawberry Guy, has attributed his stage name to Her's (in which he got his name from a drunk question by Laading.) The duo's favourite actor,
Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...
, paid tribute to the band with a Instagram post after they toured with a cardboard cut-out of him (Fitzpatrick went as far to call Brosnan: "Our band spirit animal. Our third member") On the five year anniversary of the duo's deaths, their families and friends opened th
Friends of Her's
memorial. The fund has aimed to help combat homelessness in Liverpool, United Kingdom, where the two met. In June 30 2024, The Rebel Lounge hosted a memorial tribute concert for the two, featuring multiple local musicians. Proceeds were donated to Friends of Her's. On November 8 2024, Heist or Hit Records released a "Songs of Her's" boxset where all proceeds went towards the memorial fund.


Discography


Albums


Studio albums


Compilation albums


Singles


Music videos


Notes


References


External links

* * {{Authority control 2015 establishments in England 2019 deaths 2019 disestablishments in England British dream pop musical groups English alternative rock groups English indie rock groups British male musical duos Musical groups disestablished in 2019 Musical groups established in 2015 Alternative rock groups from Liverpool Road incident deaths in Arizona English rock music duos