The Feeling are a five-piece BRIT award-nominated British band from Sussex and London. The band categorise their music as "pop".[1]
Following a limited release of their debut "Fill My Little World" in late 2005, the band entered the UK Singles Chart at #7 with their first full release "Sewn" in February 2006. The single was one of the year's biggest radio hits, after being played first in the UK on the Dermot O'Leary Show on BBC Radio 2, along with their first live radio session.
Their debut album Twelve Stops and Home was released in the UK on June 5, 2006 and on February 27, 2007 in the US. The album title refers to the frequent London Underground journey Dan used to take from central London to Bounds Green on the Piccadilly Line. It also refers to the number of tracks on the album.
Their name comes from a neon sign seen on a bar (Le Feeling) in Paris.[2]
Members
Jones is married to Sophie Ellis Bextor, and toured with her in support of her Read My Lips album, on which he also played bass on some tracks.[3] Stewart is married to former Fame Academy participant Sinéad Quinn, and also plays in her band Sinéad And The Dawnbreakers.[4]
History
Formation and early years: 1995-2005
The majority of the band are from Horsham, Sussex, with the exception of lead vocalist Sells, who is from London, and bassist Jones, who is from Forest Row, in Sussex. The Jeremiahs and Stewart met while attending St Wilfrid's Catholic School, Crawley.
Dan Gillespie Sells and Richard Jones met as music students at the BRIT School in Croydon, Surrey in 1995. They were members of one of the school's most popular bands, Horn.
The band members worked as session musicians for several years before coming together as a group.[5] The Feeling has its roots in a covers band called Superfly, which Paul Stewart and Ciaran and Kevin Jeremiah played in, and which also acted the house band on the Richard Blackwood show. They spent a lot of time performing as resident band at the La Tania ski resort in the Alps before their début doing covers (such as "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles and "Reign In Blood" by Slayer), and after the line-up of the Feeling had been completed, they continued to use the name Superfly as it was easier to get bookings.[6][7] It was revealed in a podcast for The Times that the band had "blagged" their way into the La Tania residency, saying they could perform fifty songs when in fact they only knew six.[8] The last gigs in the Alps were in the winter of 2004/2005. After these gigs they would sell demo CDs, which included the tracks "Funny Cigarette", "Sun is Shining", "Still You Want More", "Never Be Lonely" and "Join With Us". Most of these tracks have since been released as singles, album tracks, or b-sides.
Twelve Stops and Home, growing popularity and airplay: (2006-2007)
On 5 June 2006, The Feeling released their debut album, Twelve Stops and Home, which reached #2 in the UK Albums Chart.[9] To celebrate the release, the band's record company, Island Records, took 120 British music journalists on the Eurostar to Paris for the day, where the band performed live in a restaurant. This was in recognition of the fact the band took their name from a Parisian bar.
The first single, "Sewn" reached no. 7 in the UK charts in March 2006, followed by the no. 10 hit "Fill My Little World" in May 2006.[9] This release spent four consecutive weeks at no. 16 and outsold the band's debut. "Never Be Lonely" was released in August 2006 and became their third top ten hit, peaking at no. 9, where it stayed for two weeks.[9]
In 2006, The Feeling toured the United States, opening for The Fray and strengthening their following across the Atlantic. They were selling an EP called Four Stops and Home along the way. It consisted of two album tracks "Sewn" and "Helicopter" and two future B-sides "When I Return" and "All You Need To Do".
In November 2006, just days after returning from the US, the band headed off on their first major UK and Ireland tour, playing Birmingham, London, Cambridge, Brighton, Oxford, Southampton, Cardiff, Bristol, Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Glasgow, Leeds, Belfast and Dublin. During this time, the band maintained a blog on The Sun newspaper's website.[10] It continued intermittently until January 2007.
They also played many summer music festivals such as T in the Park, V Festival and the Oxegen.
TV appearances throughout 2006/2007 included performing "Never Be Lonely" on the opening episode of The Charlotte Church Show on September 1, 2006, and "Love It When You Call" on Children in Need 2006. They also appeared on Live From Abbey Road in January 2007 following a recording session at Abbey Road Studios.
"Fill My Little World" was used in the farewell montage on the last ever The Vicar of Dibley on New Year's Day 2007 and an edited version of "Love It When You Call" appeared in the 2007 film Good Luck Chuck, and several of their songs appeared in the 2007 film, Hostel Part II.
In an e-mail newsletter released on January 11, 2007, it was announced that The Feeling was the number one most played band on UK radio in 2006. Their four singles received a total of 97,436 plays, which meant that, on average, a song by The Feeling was played 267 times every day, or once every 5 minutes.[11]
At the end of March 2007, the band went Stateside once again, taking part in VH1's first ever "You Oughta Know" tour alongside Mat Kearney and Rocco DeLuca and The Burden. The tour lasted approximately two months, and finished with The Feeling playing the 2007 Coachella festival in Indio, California.
The band also headlined a mini-tour of the UK's forests around June 2007 with Ghosts supporting. They played at large clearings and forest activity sites, leading Gillespie Sells to quip about playing to elves.[12]
On July 1, 2007, the Feeling performed at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium. The group performed "Fill My Little World" and "Love It When You Call" as the concert's 6th performers.
On October 27, 2007, The Feeling played the pre-game of the NFL match between the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium.
"Never Be Lonely" was nominated for Best Track in the Q Awards 2006, although Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" won the award. "Fill My Little World" was nominated for best British single in the 2007 BRIT Awards, but it was beaten by Take That’s "Patience". "Sewn" is featured on the FIFA 07 soundtrack.[13]
Join With Us: (2007-2008)
Main article:
Join With UsTheir second album entitled Join With Us was released on February 18, 2008, with the first single "I Thought It Was Over" entering the UK charts at no. 12 on February 10, 2008 on downloads alone. The following week, the single reached no. 9.[9] The album reached #1 in the UK Charts, the band's first #1.[9]
The majority of the recording for the album took place at Bradley House - a stately home in Maiden Bradley near Warminster, Wiltshire (home of the Duke of Somerset),[14] whilst most mixing was carried out in Los Angeles, California.
On 4 March 2008, it was confirmed on The Feeling's website that they would be performing on the main stage at this year's V Festivals in Chelmsford and Staffordshire in August.
On 7 March 2008, they embarked on a mini-tour of the UK, starting in Birmingham - Academy, and ending on 20 March at London - Shepherd's Bush Empire.
On 1 April 2008 it was confirmed that they would support Bon Jovi at four of their seven dates on the UK leg of Bon Jovi's Lost Highway World Tour.[15]
On the 27th June 2008, the band played the pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival, which was their first appearance at the legendary festival. It was clearly an emotional moment for Dan Gillespie-Sells, who revealed he used to come to the festival with his father. During the performance, they covered The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" and A-ha's "Take on Me".
In June 2008, the title track "Join With Us" was used in the Toyota Auris advertisements shown in Austria and the United Kingdom. Towards the end of the advert the band are shown in miniature form inside the car's glovebox, linking with the lyric "Ring ring, beep beep" at that point in the song.
During November 2008, the band embarked on one of their biggest UK and Irish tours to date, performing at 21 different venues.
Yes Please: (2009-2010)
The Feeling are currently recording their third studio album, which is due to be released late 2009/early 2010.
Tours
"Twelve Stops and Home" tour
From mid-February to early March 2007, The Feeling toured the UK on their biggest native tour to date, supported by The Fray. The tour kicked off in Norwich, then went on to Wolverhampton, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Doncaster, Derby and Manchester, before finishing at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on March 3, 2007.
"Join With Us" Tour
The Feeling embarked upon a second UK and Ireland tour from October 31 to December 2, 2008. Whilst on this tour they were supported by Das Pop and Gary Go respectively. The tour kicked off with its European leg on October 21, 2008 playing venues in Amsterdam, Cologne, Berlin, Zurich, Munich and Hamburg. Covers played on the tour included:
Discography
Awards
2006
2007
2008
References
- ^ Young, Ian (2006-01-06). "Sound of 2006: The Feeling". bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4529764.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ Perrone, Pierre (2008-01-29). "The Feeling, Porchester Hall, London". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/the-feeling-porchester-hall-london-775099.html. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ Adams, Cameron (2007) "Disco's eager diva", Herald Sun, 17 May 2007
- ^ Sineadandthedawnbreakers. myspace.com
- ^ Loundras, Alexia (2006) "The Feeling: A band with a passion for pop", The Independent, 17 February 2006, retrieved 6 September 2009
- ^ Leahy, Andrew "The Feeling Biography", Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation
- ^ "Blog entry". thefeeling.com. http://www.thefeeling.com/blog/index.php?id=509. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ Paphides, Pete (2006-01-27). "That loving Feeling". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article720521.ece. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ a b c d e The Feeling, ChartStats
- ^ "On tour with The Feeling". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2006220002-2006220302,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ Mulholland, Garry (2008) "The Feeling, Join With Us", The Guardian, 17 February 2008, retrieved 6 September 2009
- ^ "Forestry Commission - The Feeling live at Westonbirt Delamere and Cannock Chase", Forestry Commission
- ^ FIFA 07 Soundtrack
- ^ Bradley House
- ^ The Feeling confirmed as Bon Jovi support (Music-News.com) April 1, 2008
- ^ Alexander, Hilary (2008) "Dan Gillespie Sells: 'Scruffy jeans are such a shame'", Daily Telegraph, 23 June 2008, retrieved 6 September 2009
External links
