{"key":"64460","name":"Alex Turner","bio":"Alexander David Turner (born January 6, 1986) is the lead singer and guitarist for the bands Arctic Monkeys and The Last Shadow Puppets. He first met drummer Matt Helders at Stocksbridge High School. He has maintained a very private life, and shunned media publicity when declared the Coolest Man On The Planet by NME magazine in December 2005. In August of 2007 he and The Rascals' member Miles Kane started recording an album for their new band The Last Shadow Puppets. It was released in the UK April 23 2008.Most recently, Turner has written six tracks for Submarine, the debut feature film of Richard Ayoade, director of various Arctic Monkeys music videos.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/64460_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"64456","name":"Gerard Way","bio":"Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977 in Summit, New Jersey, United States) is an American musician and comic book writer who was the lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance from its formation in September 2001 until its split in March 2013. He is the executive producer of the band LostAlone's second album I'm a UFO in This City. Way also wrote the comic mini-series The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and wrote the Eisner Award-winning comic book The Umbrella Academy. His debut solo album \"Hesitant Alien\" was released on September 30, 2014 via Warner Bros. Records.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/64456_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"266","name":"Arcade Fire","bio":"Arcade Fire is an indie rock band, perhaps most famous for their third studio album, The Suburbs, released in 2010 to critical acclaim and commercial success. They formed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2001. The band consists of Win Butler (vocals, guitar, piano), R\u00e9gine Chassagne (vocals, accordion, keyboards, hurdy gurdy, drums), Richard Reed Parry (bass, guitar), William Butler (keyboards, guitar), Tim Kingsbury (bass), and Jeremy Gara (drums). Montreal percussionist Dane Mills performed on the EP and in early live shows. As of May 2005, the touring band includes horn players and violinists.The band\u2019s trademark fashion consists in wearing rather formal attire during live events and a use of orchestral instruments. When asked about the rumour that the band's name refers to a fire in an arcade, Win Butler replied: \"It's not a rumour, it's based on a story that someone told me. It's not an actual event, but one that I took to be real. I would say that it's probably something that the kid made up, but at the time I believed him.\" Win Butler and his brother Will grew up in Texas.Band formationArcade Fire formed around the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and R\u00e9gine Chassagne. Joining together as recently as mid-2003, the current line-up solidified in late 2003\/early 2004, when their first full-length album Funeral was recorded. Before this an eponymous EP (often referred to by fans as the Us Kids Know EP) had been sold at early shows. The EP was subsequently remastered and given a full release once the band started becoming more prominent. Arcade Fire are known for their enthralling live performances, as well as its use of a large number of musical instruments. In addition to mainstays guitar, drums, and bass guitar, members play piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, keyboard, French horn, accordion, and harp. With several able musicians, the band take most of their instrumental diversity on tour and members switch instrumental duties throughout their shows. The number of instruments, along with a wide set of musical influences has provided a substantial number of resources on which to draw from during the recording process. The promise showed by the band in its live shows allowed it to land a record contract with Chapel Hill-based independent record label Merge Records.FuneralWithout a major label backing, the success of the band and the album Funeral has been acclaimed as an Internet phenomenon. After a 9.7 rating from Pitchfork, Merge Records sold out their inventory of Funeral and it became the label's first album in the Billboard 200 chart. An early tip from David Bowie was also influential. The band booked small clubs for their 2004 tour but growing interest forced many venue changes, far beyond the band's expectations, and continued internationally into mid-2005. The MTV2 2005 Review hosted by Zane Lowe named Funeral Album of the Year, and NME named Funeral Number 2 in their list of 2005's best albums and \"Rebellion (Lies)\" the best track. By November 2005, Funeral had gone gold in both Canada and the UK and sold in excess of half a million copies worldwide, a phenomenal number for an independent release with minimal television or radio exposure. It has also surpassed Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea as the biggest selling Merge Records album to date.Arcade Fire were featured on the April 4, 2005 cover of Time Magazine's Canadian edition, and hailed as a band who \"helped put Canadian music on the world map\". On April 2, 2006, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, they received the Juno Award for Songwriters Of The Year for three songs from Funeral: \"Wake Up\", \"Rebellion (Lies)\" and \"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)\". Arcade Fire then planned to begin recording a follow up to Funeral in the winter of 2005-2006, having bought an old church forty minutes from central Montreal which they converted into a studio. Neon BibleIn mid-December 2006 www.neonbible.com went live containing nothing more than a phone number, 1-866-NEONBIBLE where people can listen to a new track called Intervention. Built in the style of customer support lines, the number has other features including a contest and a chance to talk to a live person at a specific time each week. Then in January 2007, they finally announced that the new album Neon Bible would be released March 5th in UK, March 6th in US. The announcement was made with a video in the album's website, with guitarist Richard Reed Parry using a gramophone and a paper mask of Parry's own face, and sitting on Win Butler\u00b4s chair. After the announcement of the album\u00b4s release, the website was updated with a streaming version of \"Black Mirror\", new art and a few phone messages sounding like the band\u00b4s members.The SuburbsThe band released their third album \"The Suburbs\" on August 2, 2010 in the UK and August 3, 2010 in the United States. It debuted at #1 in both countries. On February 13, 2011, the album won Album of the Year at the 53rd Grammy Awards.Arcade Fire recorded a song for The Hunger Games soundtrack (The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond), called \"Abraham's Daughter\". The song is featured in the movie's end credits. The soundtrack was released on March 20, 2012, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. It sold more than 175,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the first theatrical film soundtrack to top the chart since Michael Jackson's \"This Is It\" debuted at No. 1 on the list. It is also only the 16th soundtrack to debut at No. 1 in the history of the Billboard 200 chart (those soundtracks include film, television, and straight-to-video efforts).ReflektorArcade Fire and Mercury Records confirmed that they would release a fourth album in late 2013. In December 2012, the band's manager Scott Rodger confirmed that Arcade Fire was in the studio working with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. The official Arcade Fire pre-order website sets the release date on October 28, 2013. The band announced on January 18, 2013 that they were selling the church they had been using as a studio due to a collapsed roof. Throughout 2013, the band worked on the album in several different recording studios - including Murphy's DFA Records studio in New York. On June 22, 2013, Rolling Stone reported that new material from the album would be released on September 9, 2013.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/266_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"500,000 - 1,000,000"}

{"key":"222","name":"Death Cab for Cutie","bio":"Death Cab for Cutie is an American indie rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nicholas Harmer (bass), and Jason McGerr (drums).Death Cab began as a solo project of Ben Gibbard, now the band's vocalist and guitarist. Gibbard took the band name from the satirical song Death Cab for Cutie, performed by The Bonzo Dog Band in The Beatles' 1967 experimental film Magical Mystery Tour. As Death Cab for Cutie, Gibbard released a cassette titled You Can Play These Songs with Chords; the release was surprisingly successful, and Gibbard decided to expand the band into a complete project. He recruited Chris Walla (who had also worked on the cassette) as an electric guitarist, Nick Harmer as bass guitarist, and Nathan Good to play drums. The four released the LP Something About Airplanes on August 18th 1998. The album was favorably reviewed in the independent music scene, and in 2000 the band released We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes. Nathan Good left the band at some point during this album's production. His playing on \u201cThe Employment Pages\u201d and \u201cCompany Calls Epilogue\u201d were kept, but Gibbard played drums on all other songs.Michael Schorr would first appear on The Forbidden Love E.P., released on October 24, 2000. In 2001, another LP was released, entitled The Photo Album. Limited editions of this album contained three bonus tracks, which were later released separately as The Stability EP.In 2003, there was another change of drummer, with Jason McGerr of Eureka Farm replacing Schorr. McGerr would play drums on the next release, Transatlanticism.Transatlanticism was released in October of 2003. It received critical praise and also became the band's top-selling album, with 225,000 copies sold during its first year out.In spring of 2004, the band recorded a live E.P. titled The John Byrd E.P., named for their sound engineer. The E.P. was released on Barsuk Records in March 2004.In November of 2004, Death Cab for Cutie signed a \u201clong-term worldwide deal\u201d with Atlantic Records, leaving their long-time label Barsuk Records. Gibbard stated on the official website www.deathcabforcutie.com that nothing would change except that \u201cNext to the picture of Barsuk holding a 7\", there will be the letter \"A\" on both the spine and back of our upcoming albums.\u201d This was a marked change from Gibbard's earlier views on major-label relations, which he said \u201care set up to fuck you and take all your money.\u201d. After signing to Atlantic, the band was still nervous about corporate economics, and encouraged fans to download its songs from the Internet.The first and second singles off the band's Atlantic Record release Plans were \u201cSoul Meets Body\u201d and \u201cCrooked Teeth\u201d, respectively. The full album was released in August of 2005. Plans was somewhat well-acclaimed by critics and fans, and received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album of 2005. It achieved Gold Status in 2006 after charting on Billboard for 47 consecutive weeks.The band released a touring DVD titled Drive Well, Sleep Carefully in 2005. Known for their contributions to animal rights, the band is supporting the activist group PETA in giving away copies of the DVD to promote animal rights.In early 2006, the band announced the upcoming release of Directions, eleven short films inspired by songs from the Plans album, each directed by a different person. The videos were posted one at a time at the band's website and the DVD went on sale April 11, 2006.On May 12, 2008 their album, Narrow Stairs, was released and was well received by both critics and fans. It was their first album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200. The album contains the singles \"I Will Possess Your Heart\", \"Cath...\" and \"Grapevine Fires\".The band's latest released The Open Door EP, which was released on March 31, 2009. Their main styles consist of slow progressive rock with dark lyrics.The band's seventh album, Codes and Keys, was released on May 31, 2011. The album's first single was \"You Are A Tourist\".On October 11, 2013, the band reportedly began working on their eighth studio album. This was then confirmed by the group's official Instagram profile in which an image was uploaded with the caption \"DCFC LP8 begins\". The new album will be produced by Rich Costey and is expected to be released in early 2015. In an interview with Stereogum, Gibbard said of the new album, \"I do think from start to finish it's a much better record than Codes And Keys. If that record turned anybody off, I feel pretty strongly that this one could win them back. There are threads in this one that connect back to our earliest stuff that people love.\" On October 29, 2013, the band released a remastered tenth-anniversary version of their 2003 album Transatlanticism. The new album included a vinyl LP and MP3 download, with demos for all the songs from the album.As part of the 2014 Record Store Day, the band released its first live album, a vinyl-only double LP recorded during various 2012 tour dates with Magik*Magik Orchestra. Included within the packaging was a code for a digital download of the recording.On August 13, 2014, after 17 years as a member of Death Cab for Cutie, guitarist and songwriter Chris Walla decided to part ways with the band, with his last performance occurring on September 13, 2014 at the Rifflandia Music Festival in Victoria, British Columbia. Walla states that he plans to \"\u2026continue making music, producing records, and erring on the side of benevolence and beauty whenever possible.\" When asked in an interview about Walla's involvement in the eighth album, McGerr confirmed that Walla \"played on everything and has been involved all the way through, even in the mixing. Even though he's played his last show with us, he's still been involved in everything involving this record.\"","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/222_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"300,000 - 500,000"}

{"key":"218","name":"The Strokes","bio":"The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City, New York, United States, formed in 1998. The band rose to fame in the early 2000s as a leading group in garage rock\/post-punk revival. The band consists of Julian Casablancas (lead vocals), Nick Valensi (lead guitar), Albert Hammond, Jr. (rhythm guitar), Nikolai Fraiture (bass guitar) and Fabrizio Moretti (drums and percussion).\t Upon the release of their debut album, Is This It, in 2001, the group was met with much critical acclaim, being hailed by some as the \"saviors of rock and roll.\" NME made Is This It their Album of the Year. Since then, the band has maintained a large fan base, notably in the UK, US and Australia. As of 2007, Is This It has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.\t They released their second album Room on Fire in October 2003, to good reviews, but to less success commercially, although it still went gold. The album's sound maintained the Strokes' familiar reference points, while also evoking groups such as The Cars, Bob Marley, and Blondie. In the process, they made the cover of Spin Magazine for the second time, with each member receiving his own cover. They also made the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time. Additional media coverage of the band came from the relationship between Moretti and actress Drew Barrymore, which ended in January 2007.\t In late September 2005, \"Juicebox\", the first single from The Strokes then unreleased third album, was leaked online, forcing the single's release date to be advanced. The single was then released as an exclusive on online download services. \"Juicebox\" became The Strokes' second UK Top 10 hit, as well as their second US Modern Rock Top 10 success. During November and December 2005 the Strokes did a promotional tour for the still unreleased album, which involved doing one-off shows in major cities around the world.Their third album, First Impressions of Earth, was released in January 2006 to mixed reviews and debuted at number four in the US and number one in the UK, a first for the band. In Japan it went gold within the first week of release. It was also the most downloaded album for two weeks on iTunes. Fraiture claimed that the album was \"like a scientific breakthrough\". In January 2006, the band then made their second appearance on Saturday Night Live playing \"Juicebox\" and \"You Only Live Once\".\t The Strokes' frontman Julian Casablancas and guitarist Nick Valensi started writing new material for their band's forthcoming new album in the latter stages of January 2009, which they were set to go in the studio to finalize in February of the same year. In February 2010, Julian Casablancas told NME that the band's fourth album was set to be released in September 2010. The release date has been pushed back again, and the album, titled \"Angles\" will now be released March 22, 2011 in America. The album's first single, \"Under Cover of Darkness\" was made available as a free download from the band's website on February 9, 2011 for a 48 hour period.The Strokes' fifth album is called \"Comedown Machine\" and was released on March 26th 2013 In North America and March 25th in the U.K. The first single is called \"All the Time\". \t Official website: http:\/\/www.thestrokes.com","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/218_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"2332","name":"The Black Keys","bio":"The Black Keys are a two-man blues-rock group from Akron, Ohio, United States which formed in 2001, consisting of singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. The band name was inspired by a schizophrenic artist and friend in Akron, who used the term \"black keys\" to describe things he disliked or people he did not trust. The Black Keys have roots in traditional blues and psychedelic rock stylings.They released their first album, The Big Come Up, in 2002, followed by Thickfreakness in 2003, and Rubber Factory in 2004. October 2005 saw the release of the DVD Live, recorded live at The Metro Theatre in Sydney, Australia March 18, 2005. In 2006 they released Magic Potion, as well as the lesser-known Chulahoma and a single version of Your Touch.One of their trademarks is their preference for simple, lo-fi recording techniques. They refuse to use big-name studios, and do most recording, producing, and mixing themselves. Most of Thickfreakness was recorded in about 14 hours in Carney's basement, using only an early 80's Tascam 388 8-track recorder. Often, their recordings still have background noises (such as an owl hooting).The Black Keys have achieved increasing critical acclaim and recognition since their debut album, which itself received praise from Rolling Stone magazine. Time magazine named them one of the \"10 Best Acts of 2003\" (behind OutKast and The White Stripes). They have supported a number of bands: they toured with Sleater-Kinney in 2003, had a short stint opening for Beck, have recently opened for Radiohead on the American leg of their brief 2006 tour, and performed at Lollapalooza in 2005 and 2007. In addition to this, they were also well-liked by influential British radio DJ John Peel and appeared on both Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Late Show with David Letterman. Famous followers of the band include Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, and Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammet. Matt Helders, drummer for the Arctic Monkeys, can be seen in a Black Keys T-Shirt in an interview on MTV's RAW. Their song \"When the Lights Go Out\" was featured in the 2007 film Black Snake Moan, and also on the soundtrack for that movie. The Black Keys were included in the soundtrack of the 2003 movie School of Rock with their song, \"Set You Free\". \"Lies\" was featured in the conclusion of the February 4, 2009 episode of Lie to Me. One of their songs, \"Girl Is on My Mind\", was used in a 2006 Sony Ericsson advertisement, starring the tennis players Ana Ivanovi\u0107 and Daniela Hantuchov\u00e1, gaining the band more commercial recognition. It was also used in a 2006 Victoria's Secret commercial featuring Heidi Klum and could be heard in the movies Rest Stop and Cashback. Their song \"10 am Automatic\" was used in the video game MLB '06: The Show, The O.C., The Go-Getter, and was also used in a 2007 American Express commercial starring Shaun White. \"Your Touch\" was featured in a 2007 Lee's jeans commercial, and can be heard both in an episode of NBC's Friday Night Lights and in an episode of \"Eastbound and Down\". Their cover \"Grown So Ugly\" can be heard in the background of the going away party in the 2007 film Cloverfield. \"Strange Times\" is used in Grand Theft Auto IV on the in-game radio station Radio Broker. \"Strange Times\" can also be heard during a preview for ABC's The Mole, and the trailer for season three of the Showtime series Dexter, as well as a promo for Gossip Girl. Their song \"Just Got To Be\" is used on the soundtrack for the video game NHL 08, and \"Hard Row\" is featured in the premiere episode of the FX show Sons of Anarchy. Sons of Anarchy has gone on to use \"Keep Me\" in both Episodes 6 and 7, as well as \"Busted\" in episode 7. The song \"Lies\" is featured in the advertising campaign for the third season of HBO's Big Love. \"The Breaks\" can be heard in Guy Ritchie' film RocknRolla. \"Your Touch\" can also be heard in the HBO series \"Entourage\" in the episode \"Manic Monday\", during the opening scenes. The song \"Psychotic Girl\" is featured the episode \"Messin' with the Kid\" in season 6 of One Tree Hill. \"I'll Be Your Man\" is the opening theme song for the HBO show Hungand was also featured in an episode of the FX Network show Rescue Me. \"Your Touch\" can also be heard in the film Zombieland and in an episode of \"Eastbound and Down\" on HBO. The song \"I Got Mine\" has been used in HBO's sports reality series 24\/7 Pacquiao-Hatton\" as well as background music for the 2009 American League Championship Series. The song \"Next Girl\" is featured in the in game radio of Saints Row the Third.Their fourth record that Danger Mouse produced Attack & Release was out April 1st 2008. The duo's fifth album is the first one recorded in a proper studio.The Band's fifth album, \"Brothers\" was released in spring 2010 and has seen increasing amounts of exposure to the \"Dancing T-Rex\" video for the song \"Tighten Up\" that went viral\u2026until the band asked it to be removed because they felt it made light of their music. A proper video was released later in 2010, featuring Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney at a playground and was pushed on the band's official YouTube channel, as well as through the iTunes and Zune marketplaces. The track \"Tighten Up\" was also used as the background music for a Subaru Legacy commercial and on the FIFA 2011 Soundtrack.The Black Keys' seventh studio album, \"El Camino,\" was released on the 6th of December 2011. Co-produced by Danger Mouse, the album was released to critical acclaim, receiving positive reviews from The Rolling Stones, NME and more. Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly commented on \"El Camino\", saying that \"El Camino trades the soulful stylings of Brothers for harder-driving, faster-riffing rock & roll\". At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, El Camino won the award for Best Rock Album, while \"Lonely Boy\" received multiple honors, taking 'Best Rock Performance' and 'Best Rock Song'. The album has sold 1.4 million copies in the United States to date.The Black Keys' eighth studio album, Turn Blue, was released on May 12, 2014 to generally favorable reviews.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/2332_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"249","name":"Modest Mouse","bio":"Modest Mouse is an alternative rock band which formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, United States. The band's original lineup consisted of guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy. Since being signed to Sony's Epic Records in 2000, Modest Mouse has attained significant popular success with songs such as \"Float On\" and \"Dashboard.\"The band's current configuration is Isaac Brock (vocals, guitar), Tom Peloso (strings, horns, bass, keyboards), Jim Fairchild (guitar), Eric Judy (bass), Jeremiah Green (drums) and Joe Plummer (drums). Plummer has recently become the new drummer for The Shins.Brock came up with the name \"Modest Mouse\" when he read the Virginia Woolf stream of consciousness essay The Mark On the Wall in which the author described the working middle class as \"modest mouse-coloured people\"Brock frequently moved around with his mother when he was a child. Around this time, his mother left his father for his father's brother (Brock's uncle). Brock's mother's house flooded and forced them to move into his mother's new husband's trailer, but there was no room for Brock. Brock stayed behind, living in the second story of the flooded house, until he was eventually evicted by police. He then moved into a shed next to his mother's house and it is said this is where Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy first began playing music.In 1994, the band recorded their debut EP, Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?, at Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studios, which was then released on Calvin's record label K Records. Then followed a single with Sub Pop that was recorded by producer Steve Wold at Moon Studios. Wold, who in the mid-2000's would begin to perform under the name Seasick Steve, would also perform on the band's albums, but was never an official member of the band. After moving to Up Records Modest Mouse put out several releases recorded at Moon Studios, including 1996's This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About. This double LP was produced and recorded by Steve Wold. The next offering on UP was Interstate 8; also produced by Steve Wold. 1997's The Lonesome Crowded West, (also recorded at Moon Studios, by Scott Swayze) turned out to be the band's breakthrough album. The Lonesome Crowded West gained the band a cult following and is now widely considered by many critics to be one of the defining albums of mid-90s indie rock.In 2000, Modest Mouse released The Moon And Antarctica, their first album on a major label (Epic Records). The band enjoyed some success on alternative radio with the singles \"3rd Planet\" and \"Gravity Rides Everything.\" Lead singer Isaac Brock has since put out an album with his side project Ugly Casanova on Sub Pop Records. In 2003, drummer Jeremiah Green quit the band; the official word was that he was quitting to work with his side project, Vells. He was replaced with two members, drummer Benjamin Weikel (who also drummed for The Helio Sequence) and guitarist Dann Gallucci (Murder City Devils). Weikel being new to the band and Gallucci returning to the band for the first time since This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. On April 6, 2004, Modest Mouse released the platinum-selling Good News For People Who Love Bad News, which scored two hits with \"Float On\" and \"Ocean Breathes Salty\". In 2004 Jeremiah Green returned to the band, and Benjamin Weikel now drums exclusively for The Helio Sequence. Dann Gallucci left the band in August, and they toured with Hutch Harris of The Thermals during the fall of 2004.Modest Mouse was mentioned by name in the 2005 Supreme Court decision in the case of MGM v. Grokster. Justice Souter wrote that on the Grokster P2P network, \"Users seeking Top 40 songs, for example, or the latest release by Modest Mouse, are certain to be far more numerous than those seeking a free Decameron, and Grokster and StreamCast translated that demand into dollars.\"In 2005, multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, who already played various instruments on Good News For People Who Love Bad News, officially joined the band. In 2006, Johnny Marr, former guitarist for The Smiths, became an official member of the band.On March 20, 2007, the band released their fifth album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Four singles were released from the album: \"Dashboard\", \"Missed the Boat\", \"We've Got Everything\" and \"Little Motel\". The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. James Mercer of The Shins provides backing vocals on three songs.In 2009, they released No One's First And You're Next, an EP of unreleased songs from around the time Good News and We Were Dead were recorded, and two songs that had already been released, \"I've Got It All (Most)\" and \"King Rat\". The video for King Rat was directed by late actor Heath Ledger.In 2009, Johnny Marr left the band and was replaced by Jim Fairchild, formerly of Grandaddy. The band performed at several festivals throughout 2009 and 2010, including the main stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2010. The band is currently recording their sixth album.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/249_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"150,000 - 300,000"}

{"key":"255","name":"The Kooks","bio":"There are two musical groups with the name The Kooks:1. British indie rock band - formed in Brighton, England, United Kingdom in 2004. The band currently consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals, guitar), Hugh Harris (guitar), Peter Denton (bass) and Nick Millard (drums). Nick is currently filling in for Paul Garred due to a recent arm injury. They have released three studio albums; their 2006 debut Inside In\/Inside Out peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, and their 2008 follow up Konk reached number one. The Junk Of The Heart (Happy) Songfacts reports that Pritchard found himself writing lyrics containing a lot of emotional drama for their third album and the phrase \u2018junk of the heart\u2019 kept coming back to him. Junk Of The Heart was released September 12, 2011.The Kooks formed at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, where they were all students. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Luke Pritchard, got bassist Max Rafferty involved in a college project, which formed the base of the band. After getting lead guitarist Hugh Harris and drummer Paul Garred involved, they took their name from the song Kooks on the 1971 David Bowie album Hunky Dory. When they tried to trademark the name, they found that in the late\/mid 1990s a Swedish band by the same name released an album in Sweden called Too Much is Not Enough.The Kooks released a debut EP and played gigs around Brighton, where they were based at the time. They were signed to Virgin Records.2. Swedish indie rock\/alternative band - It consisted of members Henrik Berglund, Leo Dahlin, Michael Lohse and Josef Zackrisson, and was active between 1998 and the early 2000's. Micke Lohse and Henrik Berglund are currently members of the band Atomic Swing.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/255_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"228","name":"Bloc Party","bio":"Bloc Party are an English rock band. In 2005, the band released their critically acclaimed debut album Silent Alarm. Their second studio album, A Weekend in the City was released on February 5, 2007 in the United Kingdom and February 6 in the United States. A third album, Intimacy, was released in August 2008 as a download and later as a CD release on October 27. The band's fourth album, Four, was released on 20 August 2012. The band consists of Kele Okereke (vocals, guitar), Russell Lissack (guitar), Justin Harris (bass, vocals) and Louise Bartle (drums, vocals).Bloc Party have been together since 1999, with names such as Superheroes of BMX, The Angel Range, Diet, and Union, before settling on Bloc Party in September 2003. Band members Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack have formed the fulcrum of these various incarnations, and were subsequently joined by bassist Gordon Moakes who answered an advert in the NME, and most recently drummer Matt Tong. Lissack and singer\/guitarist Kele Okereke first met in 1998 in Essex, where Lissack had grown up and Okereke attended school. Lissack attended Bancroft's School and Okereke attended Ilford County High School until 16 then Trinity School for sixth form. They bumped into each other again in 1999 at the Reading Festival and soon after formed the band Union.In 2003 they changed their name from Union to Bloc Party. The name is a play on block party, a name for an informal neighbourhood festival, which might hire a local band as entertainment. The band have said that the name was not intended to be an allusion to the Soviet Bloc or the Canadian political party Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois; the absence of a 'k' is purely for aesthetics.However, the band's bassist, Gordon Moakes, said on the group's official internet forum that it was more a merging of the eastern \"blocs\" and the western \"parties\", in the political sense. Moakes notes that the name was not driven by politics, but rather it \"looked, sounded, seemed fine so we went with it.\"In November 2003, Bloc Party had their track \"The Marshalls Are Dead\" featured on a compilation CD called The New Cross released by Angular Recording Corporation. Soon after they released their debut sngle \"She's Hearing Voices\" on the then fledgling record label Trash Aesthetics.The band got their break after Okereke went to a Franz Ferdinand concert in 2003, and was able to thrust a copy of the single into the hands of both Franz lead singer Alex Kapranos and Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq. Lamacq subsequently played the song on his radio show, labeling the track \"genius\", and invited them to record a live session for the show.The buzz generated off the back of the single sparked some A&R interest, leading to another single \"Banquet\", this time released by the label Moshi Moshi, and to the eventual signing with indie label Wichita Recordings in April 2004.Bloc Party's own variation of spiky guitar rock draws on influences such as The Cure, Gang of Four, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Joy Division, and XTC, but the band says that some of these bands are just comparisons. Does that last bit even mean anything?The drumming on Bloc Party songs is often influenced by the London dance and R&B scene whilst the guitar demonstrates typical indie sharpness with alternative panned chords and fast chord picking. To achieve their unique guitar style, BOSS echo effects equipment is implemented and is particularly apparent on the track \"Like Eating Glass\".The musical style of A Weekend in the City is more varied, however, drawing influence particularly from more expansive sounding bands, including Radiohead. As large as Bloc Party has been over recent years, they are still in their youth. They have developed unique songs and sounds, but they are still trying to find their own personality. The song \"Flux\" was released at the end of 2007 as an add-on to A Weekend in the City. The band is coming to terms with its growth and development, and should find itself with its next album.Silent Alarm (2004\u20132006)Their debut album Silent Alarm, released in February 2005, was met with critical acclaim and broke sales records, being voted by NME critics as the 2005 album of the year and reaching #3 on UK album charts (selling platinum in the UK). The second single from the album \"So Here We Are\" made the top 5 on UK charts. Further singles \"Banquet\" (which reached #13 in NME's \"Top 50 singles of 2005\"), \"Helicopter\" (which featured on the FIFA 06, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Project Gotham Racing 3, Burnout Revenge and Guitar Hero III game soundtracks) and \"Pioneers\" (July 2005), whilst failing to repeat this success, managed to make dents in the UK top 20. The animated video for the single \"Pioneers\" was number one in the NME video charts for 4 weeks and was made for a tiny budget in four weeks by the Shoreditch based Mini Vegas design agency.Even though the band was met with good reviews from critics in America, Bloc Party failed to break through to the pop or rock charts in the US.Bloc Party became one of the most popular new bands of 2005, and the established electronic group The Chemical Brothers soon collaborated with Okereke for \"Believe\", a track on the Brothers' Push the Button album.An album of remixes of tracks from Silent Alarm was released at the end of August in the UK. This remix album, Silent Alarm Remixed, retained the album's original track list and includes remixes from the likes of Ladytron, M83, Death from Above 1979, Four Tet and Mogwai.During July, they recorded two new tracks (titles were given of \"Hero\" and \"Two More Years\") with Silent Alarm producer Paul Epworth. The latter, \"Two More Years\" was released on October 3 to coincide with their October 2005 UK tour. The songs were released as an EP titled Two More Years, accompanied with a re-release of Silent Alarm, which included \"Two More Years\" itself along with former single \"Little Thoughts\". The single format of \"Two More Years\" contained a remix of \"Banquet\" done by The Streets, for which a video was also recorded.The band also contributed the track \"The Present\" to the Help: a Day in the Life compilation, the profits of which benefits the War Child charity.The single \"Banquet\" was sampled in 2006 by DJ Green Lantern for a track with Apathy, Tak (of rap duo Styles of Beyond) and Mike Shinoda. The track, entitled \"Bloc Party\", appears on Green Lantern's Fort Minor: We Major mixtape.The band released their second album, called A Weekend in the City on February 5, 2007 in the UK and February 6 in the United States. The album debuted at #12 in the Billboard 200 with 48,000 copies sold. It became available via the UK's iTunes store a day ahead of schedule, on February 4, and reached the #2 spot in the Official UK Chart. The album was produced by Jacknife Lee. The first single, \"The Prayer\", was released on January 29. This single had been located on their MySpace since November 22, 2006. The next single, \"I Still Remember\", is their first American single. In the build up to the release of the album, Zane Lowe aired a live set from Maida Vale featuring a mix of old songs and new ones on his evening radio show on BBC Radio 1 on January 30, 2007. On February 1, 2007, A Weekend in the City was made available to listen to for free through the band's official MySpace page.The band's first gig following the release of AWITC was on February 5 at Reading Hexagon. It was broadcasted live on BBC's Music Station 6 Music that night as well.Bloc Party played in the Live Earth concerts on July 7, 2007 and T in the Park and the Oxegen Festival that same weekend, as well as Glastonbury and the Reading and Leeds Festivals 2007. On 27th October, Bloc Party showed \"Flux\" to the world at their gig during the BBC Electric Proms, and on November 12th, they released the single. It charted well, reaching #8 in the UK charts, and was well received both by critics and fans, despite the new electronic direction.On 7th July, Bloc Party premiered new track \"Mercury\" on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show following a countdown timer on Bloc Party's website. The track took a bold new direction, moving away from guitar rock, with an experimental electronic sound. The track charted at #16 in the UK charts when it was released as a single on the 11th of August.On the 18th of August, in a webcam chat with fans, they announced that their third album, Intimacy, would be released for download on their website on the 21st of August. The album contained On the 23rd and 24th of August, Bloc Party played second headliners before The Killers at Reading & Leeds Festivals, opening their set with \"Mercury\", and also playing \"One Month Off\" from their new album. They also played an entirely unplanned encore of \"She's Hearing Voices\". The album Intimacy was released in physical formats on October 27th, featuring additional tracks, such as current single \"Talons\".In June 2009 it was announced that a new single, \"One More Chance\", would be released on 10 August 2009. The song did not appear on Intimacy and was produced by Jacknife Lee. It was played for the first time on BBC Radio 1 on 18 June. In an interview with Zane Lowe immediately following the premier playing of the song, Okereke said that he was in the studio but that he couldn't \"tell you anything\" In July 2009, Okereke stated that the band did not have a current recording contract and had no obligation or pressure to release a new album in the foreseeable future; he went on to suggest that the release of a fourth album is on an indefinite timescale On 31 October 2009 the band played their final gig of the Bloctober tour at Bournemouth International Centre, home town of drummer Matt Tong. This was recognised as the band's last gig before going on hiatus.In a February 2010 interview with NME Magazine, Lissack answered direct questions about Bloc Party's future, saying:\"We're probably going to pick up again with Bloc Party later this year. I mean, we wrote a lot of new material on the last tour. What does it sound like? It's hard to say. It's still just sketches of songs. The feel will come together in the studio. We're definitely not splitting up, there's a lot more creative life left in it yet.\"On 11 July 2012, the band released \"Octopus\", the first single from their upcoming fourth album \"Four\". The album was released on 20 August 2012.During the summer tour of 2013, drummer Matt Tong left the band. Lissack told a Canadian newspaper, the National Post that the band were planning to take an indefinite hiatus following their appearance at the Latitude Festival on 19 July.In September 2014, Okereke stated that Bloc Party were working on a fifth album. In March 2015, bassist Gordon Moakes tweeted he had parted ways with Bloc Party. Bloc Party unveiled their new line-up at two intimate gigs in the Los Angeles area (19 August 2015 at The Glass House in Pomona and 20 August 2015 at The Roxy in Los Angeles). Following these performances, Bloc Party also subheadlined FYF Fest in Los Angeles on 22 August 2015. At these shows, the band confirmed that they've finished recording their next album. The shows marked the live debut for new bassist Justin Harris of the Portland, Oregon, indie rock outfit Menomena, who had previously opened several Bloc Party U.S. tour dates in April 2009; and drummer Louise Bartle, who was accidentally announced a month earlier as Bloc Party's drummer by instrument manufacturer Natal Drums.In a performance at Maida Vale, Bloc Party gave \"The Good News\" its live debut; hours later, \"The Love Within\" was featured as \"Hottest Record in the World\" by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1. Okereke revealed the band's upcoming fifth album is set to be titled Hymns. The album's release was later confirmed on social media as 29 January 2016.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/228_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}