Klaxons biographyKlaxons LyricsSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaxons Klaxons is an English band, currently based in London, with a large underground following. The word 'klaxon' derives from the Greek verb klazō, meaning "to shriek". Their original name of Klaxons (Not Centaurs) comes from a line in the art text The Futurist Manifesto. Their debut album, titled Myths of the Near Future, was released on January 29, 2007 following the single "Golden Skans", which was released on January 22, 2007. Although often tagged as a "London band", the three core members actually hail from the provincial UK towns of Stratford-Upon-Avon (James Righton and Simon Taylor-Davis, who attended school together in the town), and Bournemouth (Jamie Reynolds). Klaxons headlined the NME indie rave tour starting in February 2007. The London date at Hammersmith Palais sold out in two days. They have also had promising early success in Europe, Japan and Australia, selling out tours in November 2006, and upcoming sell-out headline UK dates in May 2007. The band formed almost by accident, through mutual acquaintances of both Simon and Jamie. Simon Taylor grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was taught guitar by James, who was in the year below him at school. He studied Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University and was approached by Jamie Reynolds, the boyfriend of one of his housemates, to form a band. Jamie Reynolds, grew up in Bournemouth and Southampton and was active in several bands from his early teens, most notably the band Thermal. The bands quickly dissolved, however, and he dropped out of school to work in record shops over the next few years, studying philosophy at the same time. He moved to London after he was made redundant, spending his redundancy money on a studio kit in order to record with Simon and James under their early guise of Klaxons (Not Centaurs). James Righton, like Simon, also grew up in Stratford-Upon-Avon, working every summer on the canal boats in Stratford-upon-Avon. His interest in music was fuelled by his musician father. After studying history and politics at Cardiff University, he spent some time in Madrid teaching English, arriving back in the UK on the invitation of Simon to join the band as they needed another vocalist/instrumentalist. The line up was recently bolstered by the addition of drummer Steffan Halperin, originally recruited as a drummer for their live gigs after he recorded the drums for the track "Atlantis To Interzone" on their album (the rest of the percussion on the album was recorded by the album's producer James Ford). As of early 2007, he has been, more or less, the official fourth member, listed on the band's myspace page and present in several interviews. He is, however, mostly absent from the band's music videos, appearing only in the early video "Atlantis to Interzone" and briefly in the 2007 remake of "Gravity's Rainbow" |