The Long Blondes

The Long Blondes are a 5-piece English indie rock band from Sheffield. The band is known not just for their music, but also their "glamorous punk" image. Front-woman Kate Jackson was featured in The Guardian's style section and the NME cool list, moving from 39 in 2005 to 7 in 2006. When questioned about her place in the first NME list by The Guardian, Jackson remarked "Probably because they didn't have enough girls. It was so overrun with boring boys, they needed someone to bring a touch of glamour."

Band members

• Dorian Cox – lead guitar and keyboards
• Reenie Hollis – bass guitar and backing vocals
• Emma Chaplin – rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals
• Kate Jackson – lead vocals
• Screech Louder (real name Mark Turvey) – drums

Formation and early years

The band originally formed through a series of chance encounters: when Kate, guitarist and songwriter Dorian, bassist Reenie, drummer Screech and guitarist / keyboardist Emma bumped into each other at university, public library counters, charity shop sale rails and the dancefloors of DIY club nights . The following quote appeared on their website and for many served as an introduction to the Long Blondes; ”Our shared influences include The Mael Brothers, The Marx Brothers and The Bewlay Brothers. We do not listen to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors or Bob Dylan. We chose an instrument each and learnt to play it. Approximately three months after we formed, we played a victorious 25 minute set at Leeds Hi-Fi club. We inherit the aesthetics of early Roxy Music. We have a lot of influences, sometimes we sound a bit like them, sometimes we sound a lot like them. Sometimes we sound nothing like them at all" .

Style

The Long Blondes' songs reflect a number of influences, including 60s pop, Buzzcocks, The Shangri-Las, The Ramones, post-punk and new wave. Traces of work by another Sheffield band, Pulp can also be seen in their recordings, their debut album was indeed produced by Steve Mackey, bassist of Pulp. The prominence of these various influences varies from song to song. Jackson's vocals have been compared to Ari Up of The Slits, Deborah Harry of Blondie and those of Au Pairs. Dorian Cox's backing vocals are also very similar to those of former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. The music features angular guitars and prominent bass guitar lines. However, the band themselves claim somewhat more eclectic influences than their sound suggests, citing Burt Bacharach, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Chinn and Chapman, and Stock, Aitken and Waterman as influences .

Many of The Long Blondes' lyrics detail everyday life and relationships. The lyrics to "Once and Never Again" are thought to have lesbian undertones, with lines such as "I'd cut my hair for you" and "How I'd love to feel a girl your age". "You Could Have Both" namechecks Scott Walker and also alludes to the Morrisey song "My Love Life" in the like "And who was it who sang, I know that you love one, so why can't you love two?" "Lust In The Movies" mentions acrtresses Edie Sedgwick, Arlene Dahl and Anna Karina. The second album "Couples" has a song named "Erin O'Connor" after the model (see Erin O'Connor).

Career

The original goal of The Long Blondes was to form a fantasy pop group: Nico, Nancy Sinatra, Diana Dors and Barbara Windsor. Sexy and literate, flippant and heartbreaking all at once .

One of the first labels to recognize the Long Blondes were hip south London independent label Angular Records. They released two singles through Angular; Giddy Stratospheres and Appropriation (by any other name), both of which were critically acclaimed . Through them, the band released another exhilarating and acclaimed single 'Separated by Motorways' through Paul Epworth's Good & Evil label. The blondes spent most of 2005 leading double lives, taking the odd day off work to play headlining and support slots around the world. Meanwhile, word was spreading and their singles were capturing the hearts of pop music lovers all over the world. They kicked off 2006 as recipients of the NME Philip Hall Radar Award (previously won by Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs) and played to increasingly frenzied crowds as everyone across the pond from The Guardian to Vogue proclaimed the Long Blondes to be the Best Unsigned Band In The UK . After being given a slot on the NME New Bands Tour, they signed to Rough Trade, home of The Strokes, Belle & Sebastian, Arcade Fire and the blondes favourite The Smiths.

Someone To Drive You Home

On April 13, 2006 they signed to Rough Trade Records and recorded their debut album, Someone to Drive You Home over the summer ready for its release on November 6. The album was produced by former Pulp bassist Steve Mackey. The album was preceded by their second single for the label, "Once and Never Again", which was released on October 23 and debuted at number 30 in the UK singles chart. In June 2006, they released their first single for the label, "Weekend Without Makeup", which reached number 28. They appeared at a number of UK festivals over summer 2006, including the Carling Weekend, Leicester's Summer Sundae and Ireland's Electric Picnic. In 2007, they performed live at the Radar live festival in Istanbul on July 2.

"Couples"

In October 2007, the blondes started working on their second album with producer Erol Alkan in London. On December 19, 2007, it was announced that the new album's title would be "Couples". The album was released on April 7 2008, preceded by the first single from the album 'Century' which was released on March 24 2008. The next song to be taken off "Couples" will be Guilt and it will be a 7" only release. The video for guilt is set in a dog show. The band agreed to their suggestion to set the video in a dog show after receiving numerous literal interpretations of the lyrics. It will be accompanied by one b-side called 'Melvin Farr' which is based on Dirk Bogarde's character in the 1961 British film Victim.

Side projects

Before "Couples" was released, the blondes decided to preview the new album under the name 'The Dead Eyed Bitches'. The name of the "band" is part of a lyric from Giddy Stratospheres. They only played a handful of gigs across the UK .

Reenie and Screech have a side band called The Bon Bon Club. Their debut single features three cover versions—"Lullaby" by The Cure, "Love Is Blind" by Pulp and "Romantic Rights" by Death From Above 1979. It will be released through Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation on 23 June 2008. The 7" single will be limited to 500 copies.

Discography

Studio albums

• Someone to Drive You Home (2006, Rough Trade) UK #44 (UK Indie #1)
• "Couples" (2008, Rough Trade) UK #48 (UK Indie #2)

Singles

Date	Single	Backed with	Record label	UK Chart position	Other details
July 2004	"New Idols"	"Long Blonde"	Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation		Double A Side
September 30, 2004	"Autonomy Boy"	"Long Blonde"	Filthy Little Angels		Split 7" with The Boyfriends
November 29, 2004	"Giddy Stratospheres"	"Polly", "Darts"	Angular Recording Corporation		7" single
June 2005	"Giddy Stratospheres"	"Polly", "Autonomy Boy", "Darts"	What's Your Rupture?		12" EP
June 13, 2005	"Appropriation (By Any Other Name)"	"My Heart Is Out of Bounds", "Lust in the Movies"	Angular Recording Corporation	83	7" and CD single
December 12, 2005	"Separated By Motorways"	"Big Infatuation"	Good and Evil Records		7" single
June 26, 2006	"Weekend Without Makeup"	"Fulwood Babylon", "Platitudes", "Last Night At Northgate Street"	Rough Trade Records	28	2X7" and CD single
October 23, 2006	"Once And Never Again"	"Five Ways To End It", "The Whippet Fancier", "Who Are You To Her?"	Rough Trade Records	30	2X7" and CD single
February 5, 2007	"Giddy Stratospheres"	"All Bar One Girls", "Never To Be Repeated", "I'm Coping"	Rough Trade Records	37	2X7" and CD single
March 24, 2008	"Century"	"The Unbearable Lightness of Buildings"	Rough Trade Records		7" Single and download
June 30, 2008	"Guilt"	"Melvin Farr"	Rough Trade Records		7" Single and download

Awards and Nominations

In 2006 The Long Blondes received the Philip Hall Radar Award honouring rising talent, which in previous years has accurately predicted big things for Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand.

Year	Award	Category	Result
2006	NME Awards	Philip Hall Radar Award	Won

External links

• Vorlage:Official
• The Long Blondes bei Myspace
• Vorlage:Last.fm

Interviews

• Kate Jackson, The Long Blondes The Guardian, December 19, 2005
• The Long Blondes Interview - Plan B magazine, June 2006
• The Long Blondes: Blondes have more fun Subculture magazine, October 2006
• Incendiary interview The Long Blondes Incendiary Mag, November 2007
• Interview with Dorian from the Long Blondes God Is In The TV Zine May 2008
• June 2008 Interview with L.A. Record

Video

• PUNKCAST#773 Vid of Long Blondes @ Cake Shop NYC - June 22 2005 (Realplayer, mp4)