biography
biography
Garfields Birthday are from Weymouth, a Georgian seaside town on the south coast of England. Perhaps better known for it’s golden beach and donkey rides; it also has a remarkable music scene, boasting many great original bands over the years including Orange, Electrasy and The Lucky Bishops. Back in the 1990s, founding members James Laming and Simon Felton were listening to bands like Teenage Fanclub and others that would later become labelled "Brit-pop" and realised that British guitar music was undergoing a bit of a renaissance.
Wrongly assuming that it would be fun to join in, they started churning out songs at an incredible rate, even playing a couple of gigs in local bars to find out how the tunes would stand up in front of an audience. In 1997 they played a gig at the infamous TJ's in Wales, supporting ex-Inspiral Carpets front man Tom Hingley and his band The Lovers which would eventually lead to them recording some tracks for their label. Now joined by Jon Park on guitar, they ventured into the studio to record what was meant to be a double A-sided 7" single, featuring ‘Kenneth Davis’ and ‘Thick Ear’. The following year saw them return to Small World Studio in Yeovil with P.J. Harvey’s engineer at the helm, to record some new tracks which became the Ambulance EP.
Surely it was just a matter of time before they’d be collecting the best new-comer award at The Brits. Well, they’re still waiting for that particular honour and to be honest, it’s becoming less likely with each passing year! Fast-forward to 2004, and they got the chance to play at the legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool. This seemed to prompt them into action, as they've since started playing gigs a bit more frequently and in March 2005 went into Toy Box Studios in Bristol to record a new single called ‘Mr Newton’. It was the first thing they had recorded with the new trio line-up of Simon, Shane and Ady after the departure of James to form Mondo Jet Set.
The Mr Newton EP was released by German label Dandyland Records in March 2006 and had it’s official launch gig back at The Cavern Club - it was their third appearance in as many years on the famous Liverpool stage! A further surge of activity resulted in 2008’s acclaimed album Let Them Eat Cake, which won them many new admirers both sides of the Atlantic and also kept the loyal fans smiling. Incredibly, after 14 years together and with Brit-pop seeming like an awfully long time ago, guitarist Leighton McGrath signed up and almost immediately they were off to Germany for a highly successful acoustic tour, playing 13 shows in 11 days!
With a brand new studio album on the way, the timing also seemed right to take a trip down memory lane and listen to some of the band’s earlier sonic achievements! The newly compiled Tea and Sympathy collection was a concise and revealing anthology of their early home and studio recordings. It proved they had never been short of a good tune and, thanks to the remastering, they had never sounded better! The new album, More Sense Than Money, was officially released on 29th November 2010!
Many well-respected music writers and power-pop commentators declared the new album their best work to date; and with Simon's second solo album, Surrender, Dorothy! being released in 2011, there was no shortage of great music coming out. So their attention once again turned to the live stage. Following a few electric gigs in the summer, the acoustic version of Garfields Birthday headed off to Germany for their second Songs and Whispers tour - this time accompanied by fellow Weymouth singer-songwriter Si Jubb, who became an honorary member of the band, as well as playing his own shows! Now in 2012, we see the focus very much back on recording, with a brand new collection of songs well under way and on target for a late autumn release... the working title for the album is You are Here.
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