The Switches

Band members * Matty Bishop - lead vocals, guitar * Thom Kirkpatrick - bass * Ollie Thomas - guitar, backing vocals * Steve Godfrey - drums The band initially met whilst at university in Guildford, Surrey. When Matt was young, he wrote songs and made music in his Essex home. After meeting and befriending the other band members, they did some gigs and got publishing interest before finding a manager. The band claims the process took a few years to come together Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

Band members * Matty Bishop - lead vocals, guitar * Thom Kirkpatrick - bass * Ollie Thomas - guitar, backing vocals * Steve Godfrey - drums The band initially met whilst at university in Guildford, Surrey. When Matt was young, he wrote songs and made music in his Essex home. After meeting and befriending the other band members, they did some gigs and got publishing interest before finding a manager. The band claims the process took a few years to come together, owing to Matt's unpredictable bouts of depression and mental illness. Meanwhile, the boys where experimenting with different band names in order to "conjure something non-cliché, something simple and bold". They cite many artists as their main influences, all of whom can be seen here: [1]. They released their debut EP on Degenerate Records, entitled 'Message from Yuz' on 10 July 2006. It was produced by Paul Schroeder. Their debut single (limited to 500 copies), 'Lay Down the Law' on September 25, 2006. The band began recording their debut album in August 2006 at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles, where Prince recorded some of his classic 80's material. The album was recorded by legendary producer Rob Schnapf and engineer Doug Boehm. Switches toured with The Rakes, The Automatic, childhood hero Graham Coxon and played the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The band released their second single 'Drama Queen', their first official release with Atlantic Records, on January 29th 2007. The band's debut album, Heart Tuned To D.E.A.D., was released on 23 April 2007, preceded by their second official single, a re-recording of 'Lay Down The Law', the album reached #64 on the UK album charts, despite gaining little airplay or promotion. The band made its Glastonbury debut in the summer of 2007, opening Saturday's Other Stage. Now signed to Interscope in the US, Switches released their first American album, 'Lay Down the Law', on 18 March 2008 upon completion of their US tour with New York-based band, The Bravery. The band are currently touring with She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet, and The Virgins on the Nylon magazine tour. They have recently received considerable critical acclaim in the US, almost unusually so for such a young British band, whereas in the UK, their album only scored a minor hit amongst their loyal indie fans. TV appearances on The Album Chart Show (UK), Transmission (UK) and Jimmy Kimmel (US). The track "Lay Down the Law" is featured in the movie Jumper but is not present on the album. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

…shrink me down again