I Am Seven
Encyclopedia
I am Seven are a now-defunct Britpop
group.
, Stokes promptly closed the band.
, "Welcome". The song received praise from Bob Geldof
, who called it "a great song". The music video
was banned, due to its graphic images of heavy drinking and smoking. They performed several acoustic radio gigs for XFM, SBN and other student based radio stations to promote the single, finishing the campaign with a three day residency in the Virgin Megastores Tent at Glastonbury Festival
.
, The video, this time, was aired on terrestrial television. Following another moderate success, they released their third (and last) single "Time" early in 2001, which fared worse than the previous two singles, despite the band's appearance on Men & Motors and a small UK tour. The press, especially Kerrang, did not favour the new polished direction of the band. Soon after, the band closed for a new project (New English Music Foundation, a group with the same members as I am Seven). However, in 2004, a greatest hits
compilation album with their three singles and three b-sides
was released, and a comprehensive DVD
spaning their career. Stokes went on to video directing for EMI, Faragher into music publishing for Sony.
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
group.
1984 to 1996- the preceding years
Matt Russell and Jai Stokes first teamed up to form Broadsword. When they invited David Brown into the band, they dropped Broadsword and became Zeus. The line-up changed sixteen times throughout the band's history. In 1996, when Dave Trimnall, the drummer for Zeus, emigrated to AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Stokes promptly closed the band.
1996 to 1999- the formation and early releases
Later that year, Stokes met Ian Faragher, a promising drummer, who had played with Russell in a Manchester based rock band, Crazy Apartment. They decided to form a new band as a trio. The band first made their breakthrough when they won the Pepsi New Band of 1998. Soon afterwards, they released their first singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Welcome". The song received praise from Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
, who called it "a great song". The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was banned, due to its graphic images of heavy drinking and smoking. They performed several acoustic radio gigs for XFM, SBN and other student based radio stations to promote the single, finishing the campaign with a three day residency in the Virgin Megastores Tent at Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
.
2000 to 2002- the peak of success and later demise
The band followed up the critically acclaimed first single with their second, "Better". The single became a hit on student radio both in London and their native BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, The video, this time, was aired on terrestrial television. Following another moderate success, they released their third (and last) single "Time" early in 2001, which fared worse than the previous two singles, despite the band's appearance on Men & Motors and a small UK tour. The press, especially Kerrang, did not favour the new polished direction of the band. Soon after, the band closed for a new project (New English Music Foundation, a group with the same members as I am Seven). However, in 2004, a greatest hits
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...
compilation album with their three singles and three b-sides
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
was released, and a comprehensive DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
spaning their career. Stokes went on to video directing for EMI, Faragher into music publishing for Sony.
External links
- "I am Seven" at Rate Your MusicRate Your MusicRate Your Music is a metadata database where musical albums, EPs, singles, videos, bootlegs, and movies are rated and reviewed by users. This data is then used to generate recommendations for users and to create rated lists of albums...
.