The Rifles

The Rifles
The Rifles in concert in Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Alternative rock Indie rock
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Sixsevenine Universal Publishing
Website	MySpace Page Official Website
Members
Joel Stoker Lucus Crowther Robert Pyne Grant Marsh

The Rifles are an English indie rock band from Chingford, London.

Their debut album No Love Lost was released on 17 July, 2006 and reached #26 in the UK charts. Their follow up album, Great Escape, was released on 26 January, 2009 and came in at #27 in the UK charts and #2 in UK indie charts.

The band consists of Joel Stoker (vocals, guitar), Lucus Crowther (guitar, vocals), Rob Pyne (bass guitar, vocals), and Grant Marsh (drums, percussion).

History

Formation and No Love Lost (2003-2006)

Joel Stoker and Lucus Crowther met at Redbridge College in 2003. They were both inspired by an Oasis concert the two attended in Knebworth, England. Guitarist Crowther revealed "From that moment on we knew we had to start a band."^[1] After adding bassist Rob Pyne, who Joel knew from school, and drummer Grant Marsh, who Luke met in the Candy Box club, The Rifles performed their first gig at The Bull & Gate pub in Kentish Town, London in 2004.^[2][3]

The Rifles first official release was a 7" demo of "Peace & Quiet" released by Blow Up Records. The band switched to fellow independent label Xtra Mile Recordings for their May 2005 release of the single "When I'm Alone", which would go on to reach number 64 in the UK charts. Later that year the band's next single "Local Boy" would be released via Right Hook Recordings. It would get airplay on the Saturday morning show Soccer AM and would help give the band more exposure and even help them become regular guests on the show. The Rifles released two singles, "Repeated Offender" and "She's Got Standards", ahead of the July 17 release of their debut album No Love Lost, which peaked at 26 in the UK charts. The band toured in 2006, and performed at A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise 2007 and Paaspop Schijndel 2007, two music festivals in the Netherlands. The Rifles launched their European tour to promote their new album including a gig at the Forum, London, at which Paul Weller (The Jam) appeared on stage to play the song "She's the Only One" with the band, and The Jam's single, "The Eton Rifles". The Rifles would release a free download of the song "No Love Lost" a year after their album of the same name was released.

Great Escape (2007-present)

Touring on the back of their album No Love Lost, The Rifles again released a free download, this time of their single "Talking" on October 20 2007. The single garnered high accolades from BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe, who called it the "Hottest Record in the World". "Talking" also marks the bands label switch from Red Ink to 679 Recordings. On July 21 2008, the single "I Could Never Lie" was released on a limited edition vinyl.The Rifles also made appearances at the Underage Festival and the V Festival in the summer and played an extensive tour throughout October and November in 2008.

When the band's second album was delayed from October 2008 to January 2009, The Rifles created The Rifles EP that fans could download on the internet. The Rifles released their second album Great Escape^[4] on 26 January 2009,^[5] which peaked at 27 in the UK charts and reached the number 2 slot in the UK indie charts.

It was reported by The Sun newspaper that they had to cut the Italy leg of their tour short due to getting into trouble with the Mafia. Reportedly, Grant Marsh was accused of flirting with a Sicilian promoter's wife ^[6]

The Rifles have currently finished a tour throughout the UK and Germany and are writing songs for a third album.

Discography

Albums

EPs

• Live at Shepherds Bush Empire (4 October 2007)
• The Rifles EP (15 December 2008)

Singles

References

External links

• The Rifles' official MySpace
• The Rifles' official Website
• The Rifles' Europe 09 tour blog on Music.Virgin.Com