The Hoosiers

The Hoosiers
The Hoosiers in August 2007 with DJ Christian O'Connell of Absolute Radio
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Pop rock, alternative rock
Years active	2003 - Present
Labels	RCA Label Group
Website	thehoosiers.com
Members
Irwin Sparkes Martin Skarendahl Alphonso Sharland

The Hoosiers (formerly known as The Hoosier Complex) are a band from the UK and Sweden. The band consists of Irwin Sparkes (vocals, guitar), Martin Skarendahl (bass guitar, acoustic guitar), and Alphonso "Alan" Sharland (drums, percussion).

Their first single "Worried About Ray" reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart in July 2007. They released their debut album, The Trick to Life, in October 2007 reaching number 1 in the album charts.

Biography

Hailing from Exeter (Alphonso), Reading (Irwin) and Stockholm (Martin), the band claim to create a sound that they call "Odd pop", combining a number of musical genres. The band members cite their influences as The Cure, Jeff Buckley, The Flaming Lips and XTC.

According to their band biography, Alphonso Raymond Sharland and Irwin Sparkes the lead singer spent some time in the United States, encouraged by their chemistry teacher (Grant Serpell^[1] who was part of the band Sailor during their fame in the 1970s), in an attempt to broaden their horizons. The pair won themselves a football scholarship at the University of Indianapolis despite a reputed claim to be "allergic to running". Their time spent in Indiana inspired the band's name: a citizen of Indiana is colloquially called a Hoosier. Having gathered enough material to compile an album, Alphonso and Irwin returned to London where they met Swiss keyboard player and sound engineer Duri Darms, and Martin Skarendahl, a Swedish ex-fireman who was then working with Darms as a recording studio engineer and studying at The London Music School.^{[citation needed]} The band moved into a squat in London's East End and began to refine their sound. Sparkes said in an NME interview- " We'd rehearse all night long, the neighbours thought we were addicts so, they never complained".

The trio of Sparkes, Skarendahl and Sharland subsequently signed to RCA and released their first album The Trick to Life on 22 October 2007. The band have spoken of their desire to write songs that are about more than just "boy and girl.. finding love on a Friday night on the lash with your mates",^[2]

They are produced and managed by ex-member of Jamiroquai, Toby Smith.

The band's second single, "Goodbye Mr A", appeared in the game FIFA 08, and FIFA 08 can be seen in The Hoosiers music video for "Goodbye Mr A" in which Irwin Sparkes (vocals, guitar), who is from Reading, Berkshire is playing on the game as Reading FC against Manchester United. It also appears in a trailer for the 2007 film, 'Juno'. Following the release of "Worst Case Scenario", the next release from The Trick to Life was "Cops and Robbers", as confirmed in a live webchat with The Hoosiers on GMTV. The video was broadcast on Channel 4 at 12:10pm on 22 March,2008.

Before the game was released this information was released on this website: " Cops and Robbers will feature in the game Grand Theft Auto IV ". However now the game has been released, the song is not found on the GTA IV game. This said it may feature in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV episodic packs, released later this year.

The title track "The Trick to Life" is featured as the end credits music on the upcoming thriller From Within to be released in 2009 which is ironically about a series of unexplained deaths in a small town.

They recently completed a tour with support from The Script along with I Am Finn, Envy & Other Sins, Absent Elk, Will and the people and JP Jones.

Members

Discography

Studio Albums

Singles

B-Sides

Album Deux

The Hoosiers have finished recording their 2nd album which they refer to as Album Deux. The album will be out in early 2010. Possible song titles include 'Sister Sister,' 'Sarajevo,' 'Bumpy Ride,' 'Ocean,' 'Lovers,' 'Glorious' and 'Unlikely Hero.'

References

External links

• Official site
• MySpace site
• The Hoosiers video interview with stv/music, October 2007
• The Hoosiers Exclusive Interview
• The Hoosiers Interview