My first band once played with Haven in 2000 when they were showcasing for labels - not the best claim to fame I know. One of my mate's band supported Coldplay just as they were snapped up and I remember him sayin the 'Play were shite even then! Ha!
- Features: * Mixtape #14: The Walkmen
- Features: * A Month in Records: August 2008
- Features: * Half a week with The Hidden Cameras
- Reviews: * Nightmares on Wax - Thought So...
- Features: * The Weekly DiScussion: what's on your Summer '08 megamix?
- Reviews: * YACHT at London ICA, Thu 28 Aug
- Features: * Photo Diary: The National's Green Man snaps
- Features: * FAQs: Can I intern for DiS? Can I write for DiS? (Part 1)
- Features: * Win a Rock n Roll Weekender to Jack Daniel’s Birthday JD Set in Tennessee
- Features: * The Music: "We will not be away as long this time"
- Reviews: * Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band at London Camden Electric Ballroom, Wed 27 Aug
- Features: * Reading/Leeds: Day Three report
- Reviews: * The Gutter Twins at Sheffield Leadmill, Wed 27 Aug
- Features: * Reading & Leeds 2008: all of our content compiled
- Features: * Mixtape #13: Cut Copy
- * American Music Club @ Bristol Thekla Social, 9/09
- * Bon Iver @ London Shepherds Bush Empire, 11/09
- * American Music Club @ London Bush Hall, 11/09
- * Plans and Apologies, Jeffrey Lewis, The Atoms @ Derby The Royal, 12/09
- * Guided Missile @ London Buffalo Bar, 13/09
- * Videocrash @ London Koko, 13/09
- * American Music Club @ Cambridge Junction 2 The Shed, 15/09
- * Club AC30 @ London King's Cross Scala, 16/09
- * Adrian Orange, Sparky Deathcap @ London Cafe Otto, 16/09
- * American Music Club @ Winchester Railway Inn, 16/09
- * Andrew W.K. @ London Madame Jo Jos, 19/09
- * Rolo Tomassi, DiS DJs, The Ghost Frequency, Mirror Mirror @ London Old Blue Last, 22/09
- * DiScover Sheffield @ Sheffield The Harley, 22/09
- * Club Entropicana presents: Tessellators, Shield Your Eyes and more @ London Kilburn The Good Ship, 23/09
- * Sonic Cathedral @ London St Giles in the Fields Church, 24/09
i first saw
bloc party march 04 up in glasgow,not sure if they were signed then.It was good.
..
i saw them on that tour and they were already signed to wichita but it wasnt 'officially' announced or something. it was with mower, whatever happened to them? they were so great.
the zutons
brilliant.
ive seen a few...
i saw franz ferdinand *hangs head in shame* at night and day cafe in manchester just before they got big, but i didnt go to see them it was some unsigned showcase thing. i saw the arctic monkeys play to about 20 people in a shitty bar haha that was only last year though, again i had never heard of them at the time so i cant be blamed.
a bit off topic but i have seen a few bands who are now HUUUUUUUUGE in teeny venues. i saw blink 182 in the roadhouse wot holds about 150-200 people, still, not one of my proudest moments *hangs head i nshame once more*
i saw a band called 'harrisons' at leeds last year
at the unsigned stage (obv) - think they are now, though. signed. they were a bit pants, we only went because my friend has the same surname as the band, which is a shite excuse, but one i'm sticking to.
quite a few
immediate ones that spring to mind are:
Bloc Party
The Maccabees
The Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster
load more though.
Muse
Okay, they'd just been signed but there were only 3 people watching, including me so it's a good story!
i can beat that Martin FSP....
I saw them about a year before they signed to Mushroom playing to around 100 industry exec types.
they all had long hair didn't move onstage and were, quite frankly, AMAZING!
why do u keep hanging your head in shame?
grow some balls man!
the Dum Dums ( supporting Fungus )
Many months before they got signed. They were actually pretty good. The other band supporting was Ruth ( the singer is now Aqualung ! )
FUNGUS!!!
rock. they were so much fun live, saw them about 3 times. shit i must have given away/sold my copy of their early singles collection, and i REALLY want to hear it. they were swedish weren't they? i remember once telling the singer how good they'd been at a gig and him not understanding a word i said.
A Fan Club Would Be Nice!!
Rebel!
Astronaut!
Over My Head!
I'd Rather Be A Doll!
great stupid songs!
yes they were swedish
I have that single collection.
Far better than their real album.
They weren't very good when I saw them.
Stephen Fretweell
I lose... :(
.
The Maccabees, Jamie T, Larrikin Love, Jeremy Warmsley, Guillemots, Get Cape., Mystery Jets.
I dunno. A load more I guess.
what mystery jets whows did you go to before they were signed?
Larrikin Love
and I slated them.
And we played with Test-Icicles before they were signed (and they rocked).
MUSE...
playing a gig on my hometown (Budleigh Salterton) beach at about 4 in the afternoon at 'Budstock'.
ooh
the early years supported us at our first show, top peeps they are, oh we supported miss black america before realising how widely liked and indeed how fucking good they are.. but it's not the same is it?
I saw idlewild support superchunk just before their chandelier single, one of the best gigs ever that one, saw part chimp's second or third gig and a really really early breed (or breed 77) show. I also did a show with the original breed before the drummer defected to placebo and cable a couple of times before they did the sprite ad :D
i saw keane
open for The Dawn Parade at the metro just before their first single came out.
there were about 30 people there i think.
heh
I saw Keane supporting Carina Round at The Spitz. I think they were still a four-piece at the time
The Angel Range...
or Union... or Bloc Party. many a time.
iLiKETRAiNS.
Forward, Russia
on a friday
before the head days... they were shit
I'm pretty
sure that I've been to see a fair few bands before they got signed but can only think of The Answer and Red Organ Serpent Sound off the top of my head.
I was at Jetplane Landing's first gig ever but they never really got signed.
they were rubbish weren't they?
just shows...
In fairness Ian
Both iLT and ¡Forward, Russia! are still 'unsigned' in the UK, by notion that:
iLT had a single mini-album release deal with Fierce Panda.
¡F,R! release their own records.
hmm
i saw Damien Rice open for Emiliana Torrini at The Borderline in 2000. he was hotter then. shame he spat in my eye (accidentally!) whilst singing otherwise it coulda been the beginning of a beautiful friendship. ah, memories.
acdc
sabbath
tallica
I saw
McLuskys first gig as Best. Riverside tavern, Newport, 1997. About 5 people there.
you win
\m/
indeed !
loads
;-P
details
please !
Kasabian &
The Stands
radiohead
Shirley you mean
On A Friday?
erm
my best mate is a bloke called bevan and he was the bassist in best and falco and matt harding were the other 2. i went along as moral support and clapped and all that and for a short while I even had a setlist. anyway bevan was doing quite well in tv acting and didnt feel he could commit so gave it up and then they became mclusky. i saw best a few times actually - good times. i forgot the kudos points you earn round here with mclusky talk!!!!
details
were asked to adie...
aah
shuffles off embarassed.....
but it was great anyway...
Deep Purple
Forward Russia + Bloc Party + Klaxons
Saw Bloc Party at the Westie in Aldershot back in what must have been about April 2004 (definitely Spring '04)... very good. If anyone's been to the Westie they'd know you're practically on top of the stage so it was great!
Erm, Kaiser Chiefs?
If that DiS single was just a one-off single deal and not a record deal.
Otherwise ignore me.
Editors
playing to about 10 people at the Garage, they opened to what was Oceansize's headline gig and People in Planes were main support...that was a prime gig :) and Editors came across pretty weak
Dartz! ?
Indeed
Oxfams?
LOL
Haha.
Delve?
The Rarebreeds?
i saw Reuben & Hundred Reasons
before they were signed, but that's not exactly a big claim because they were just local bands playing at the local pubs for local people.
Aldershot area?
?
yup,
well Farnborough (and then Blackwater) really.
Used to always see those bands, Vex Red, at places like the tumbly and the westy.
Are you from round there?
that's supposed to say AND vex red innit
Yep
Went past the Tubledown Dick just the other day. Awwww the gold old westy :O)
Gold???
sorry I meant good.
reuben are playing there soon
but i missed out on tickets.
this makes me sad
at the westy i mean
hahahahaha
biffy supporting OPM at the QMU......
OPM!
Arctic Monkeys
They were amazing.
Oh and
Jamie T, Warmsley, Mystery Jets, Ladyfuzz, etc etc.
bf
I Like Trains. Thought they were utterly dreadful and still do. Flogged the cds I got for thirty quid each though, so it wasn't all wasted.
The Gossip
in Vancouver. And yeah - we were all staring at the big girl. Sorry.
good books
at like their second gig.
I've been watching mummra since I was about 16 (and they had the sitar player plus songs about tea!).
Biffy on their first support slot tour? Does that count?
Hundred reasons before they were signed.
Capdown before they were big.
I can't remember the others. I just to live inside the tunbridge wells forum so there must be more!
...
in descending order of pride I put on the following before they were signed:
Rose Kemp
SJ Esau
Duke Special
Fortune Drive
The Subways
yeah
Jeremy Warmsley, Simon Mastrantone, Jamie T - done poems on bills with all of these three at Songs in the Dark innit.
I saw Larrikin Love before they were big but I'm not sure whether they were signed or not.
also possibly Emmy the Great - but I don't know whether or not she was on DiS records when I first saw her, I think she probably was - and GoodBooks before they signed with a major.
my girlfriend
saw AFI before they were signed.
Editors
lots of times. I spent a fair bit of time saying 'they're ok, good tunes, but they'll never make it, they're too derivative.' Hmm.
simon mastrantone
was in the same sixth form philosophy class as russell from editors.
they are trying to sound JUST like joy division. i've got no real respect for that.
apparently Simon Mastrantone knows my friend's friend
was he in the Academy Morticians, or something? Birmingham is small.
dan mckee
if your friend's friend is Dan McKee, or if he is Steve White, then yes.
mrs deadcats (long-term hardcore punk fan, goes and sees lots of bands in garages, used to be in a belgian band called 'tiger joe' which got 3 inches of coverage because the band were all women - RARE) actually saw simon when he was IN academy morticians, which is the weirdest coincidence EVER considering she grew up in belgium.
sikth are one that stand out
they were awful, i don't think they had soundchecked
i doubt the coopers were signed the first time i saw them, but they were better
pre-deals...
muse
um
muse?
yeah, muse.
oh, and bloc party
there are more, but not on the same level.
Los Campesinos!
that counts right?
Shed 7
No really
Capdown
Sikth, The Subways when they were called Platypus (and still shite), Enter Shikari when I was the only person to hate them... I'll stop now before I start wanting to cry.
foals lol
um probably more but i can't be bothered to think now
enter shikari hah
uhh, iFR! if they're signed now, i dunno, ummm, battle? not battles, i wish. uhhh, i dunno i don't pay attention to whether they're signed or not when i see them or something, i can't remember
the beatles
they were shit then and they're shit now.
i saw
i was a cubscout and bring me the horizon before they were snapped up by majors.
Not many that I remember
Bloc Party (I think), Jamie T, Young Knives spring to mind
A few...
BMTH, Enter Shikari, Reuben, Editors (pretty sure they were signed from day one, though), Fireapple Red, Gallows, probably a few more.
Interestingly enough, when I saw Bring Me The Horizon the singer was wearing a clip-on fringe and their set got cut after ten minutes. Lolfest.
...
I only seem to see bands playing in God-forsaken matchboxes after they're pretty well forgotten about.
Meh.
They're not exactly *huge*, but I saw Absent Kid and Kitty Hudson before they were signed.
Cooper Temple Clause
Sometime 1999, in Bar Oz in Reading. The shittest pub for a gig ever.
kasabian
as saracuse. tom used to try and sing like the lead singer of cypress hill. bloody awful.
Klaxons
Jack Penate, Maccabees. Zutons. Dogs Die in Hot Cars.
Kubb...
...at the Metro a couple of years ago. *shudder*
i saw
my latest novel
Franz Ferdinand
and maybe some more, but my memory fails me more and more
erm....
i saw muse play the roadhouse manchester with support from coldplay...
they were both signed but quite small
muse were good, but coldplay were alittle weak... oh how time tells..
a fair few atually...come to think of it..
shit
I forgot Jack Penate.
i saw
snow patrol after they were dropped by Jeepster, playing a showcase gig at the Water Rats under the name Polar Bear. That was 2001 i think...
We've been supported
by so many now-signed bands that it depresses me!
Our drummer played gigs with Hundred Reasons and Lostprophets right before they were signed. Which must've been nice for him.
Oasis
at Knebworth were, without doubt, the smallest band I've ever seen...
James Blunt
below my sister who was supporting someone else at the Borderline about a year and a half ago