The Supernaturals
Encyclopedia
The Supernaturals were a five-piece guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 based pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

 from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Fronted by singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 James McColl, they signed to Parlophone
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...

 in 1996, and had a string of singles
Single (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...

 which were taken from their three album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s and four EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

s. Other members included Mark Guthrie, Derek McManus and Ken McAlpine. The band's best known songs ("Smile" and "I Wasn't Built To Get Up") were featured prominently in a series of television advertisement
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

s, but the group never achieved mainstream success. In total they scored five Top 40 entries in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

Career

The band's sound was similar to many 1960s rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

s, with elements of 1990s synth
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

 culture, especially later on. Two guitars were used, often one acoustic
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

 and one electric
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

, and a variety of effects. Drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s were for the most part subdued.

The band were nominated for an Ivor Novello Award
Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and were first introduced in 1955.Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place...

 in 1998 for best contemporary song for "Smile" along with The Verve
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...

's "The Drugs Don't Work
The Drugs Don't Work
"The Drugs Don't Work" is a song by the British rock band, The Verve and is featured on their third album, Urban Hymns. It was released on September 1, 1997 as the second single from the album, charting at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's most successful single in the UK...

" and Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

's "No Surprises
No Surprises
"No Surprises" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released as the third and final single from the group's 1997 album OK Computer. It was accompanied by a music video that featured a single shot of singer Thom Yorke's head in a plastic bubble filling with water. The single peaked...

". The band won a Tartan Clef award in 1997 as the best new Scottish band.

Songs are often related to other songs on the same album by a common theme. The album It Doesn't Matter Anymore
It Doesn't Matter Anymore (album)
It Doesn't Matter Anymore is the debut album by Scottish britpop band The Supernaturals on the Parlophone label. It reached number 9 on the UK Albums Chart in 1997, and spawned four top 40 singles on the UK Singles Chart.-Tracklisting:...

received good reviews (8/10 NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

and 4/5 Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

) as did the follow-up A Tune a Day (7/10 NME and 4/5 Q). The band's third album saw a change of musical direction into europop
Europop
Europop refers to a style of pop music that first developed in today's form in Europe, throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and ’90s...

 and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

. This album struggled to get good reviews, with the lead single not receiving media coverage of its release following the September 11 attacks.

The creative output saw around 100 songs written in five years. They played at music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

s in the UK, and around Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and supported other artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 including Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...

, Paul Weller
Paul Weller
Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...

, The Boo Radleys
The Boo Radleys
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Extended plays:-Singles:-External links:* * * * * * by Laurent Orseau * *...

 and Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

. They were also a staple on compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

s such as Shine, and played radio sessions for BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

, Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

, Virgin and others. Television appearances included Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

, TFI Friday
TFI Friday
TFI Friday is an entertainment show broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2000. The show produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first 5 series. The final series was hosted by a number of Guest Presenters. It was broadcast on...

, The Jack Docherty
Jack Docherty
Jack Docherty is a Scottish writer, actor, presenter and producer.-Early career:He first performed at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the comedy sketch group The Bodgers which he formed with George Watson's College schoolfriends Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and Pete Baikie. They performed...

 Show
, Fully Booked
Fully Booked
Fully Booked was a magazine show for children produced by BBC Scotland and broadcast from 1995 to 1999, and in revised form as FBi in 2000. The show was a summer-time replacement for Live & Kicking, which would normally not broadcast over the summer months...

and The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former...

, with keyboardist Ken McAlpine appearing as a contestant on Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...

(for Phill Jupitus
Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....

' team).

"The Day Before Yesterday's Man" was used in the TV series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 Teachers
Teachers (UK TV series)
Teachers is a British television sitcom, originally shown on Channel 4. The series follows a group of secondary school teachers in their daily lives....

, and the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 Shooting Fish
Shooting Fish
Shooting Fish is a 1997 British film co-written by Richard Holmes and Stefan Schwartz. Holmes produced and Schwartz directed. It co-starred Dan Futterman and Stuart Townsend as two con men with Kate Beckinsale as their unwilling assistant. It was produced by Winchester Films and partly funded by...

.

The song "Smile" was the theme tune for bank Smile.co.uk's TV advertisements, and was re-recorded for use as the main theme of the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

 idents in 2008, and was also parodied in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights was a BAFTA-nominated English sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Farnworth, Greater Manchester. The show was written by Neil Fitzmaurice, Peter Kay and Dave Spikey, produced by Goodnight Vienna Productions and Ovation...

. The song was also used on As If
As If
As If is a British comedy-drama series broadcast on Channel 4. There were 76 episodes across four series, the first broadcast on January 22, 2001 and the last on July 31, 2004.-Premise & Facts:...

, Holiday Showdown
Holiday Showdown
Holiday Showdown is a BAFTA-nominated and Royal Television Society award winning reality television programme, produced by Chris Kelly for the UK independent TV production company RDF Media. It first aired in 2003 on ITV in the United Kingdom....

, Wife Swap
Wife Swap
Wife Swap is a reality television program, originally produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert. It was first broadcast in 2003 on the UK's Channel 4. Since 2004, a US version has also been broadcast on the ABC network...

, That'll Teach 'Em
That'll Teach 'Em
That'll Teach 'Em is a British reality television documentary series produced by Twenty Twenty Television for the Channel 4 network in the UK....

and Grumpy Old Men
Grumpy Old Men (TV series)
Grumpy Old Men is a conversational-style television programme on BBC2 which debuted in 2003, The first run of four programmes was repeated several times before a second series, also of four episodes, was shown in 2004. A third series aired in April 2006. There were also 2003 & 2004 Christmas...

, and in 2005 was included in VH2
VH2
VH2 was a sister channel to VH1 in the United Kingdom. It launched in 2003, it slowly became an Indie rock based music channel, aimed primarily at men in the 25-34 demographic...

's list of the best indie songs of all time.

The band split up soon after their third album's release in 2002.

Albums

  • It Doesn't Matter Anymore
    It Doesn't Matter Anymore (album)
    It Doesn't Matter Anymore is the debut album by Scottish britpop band The Supernaturals on the Parlophone label. It reached number 9 on the UK Albums Chart in 1997, and spawned four top 40 singles on the UK Singles Chart.-Tracklisting:...

    , 1997 - Number 9 UK
    UK Albums Chart
    The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

  • A Tune a Day, 1999 - Number 21 UK
  • What We Did Last Summer, 2002


Cassette mini albums on Tourette Sounds

  • Big Seven 1993 (seven tracks)
  • Dark Star 1993 (eight tracks)

CD EPs on Tourette Sounds

  • Sitting in the Sun 1994 (seven tracks)
  • Let it Bleat 1995 (five tracks)

Singles

Year Single UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 peak
Album Video director
1996 "Smile" - It Doesn't Matter Anymore
"Lazy Lover" 34
1997 "The Day Before Yesterday's Man" 25 Hammer & Tongs
Hammer & Tongs
Hammer & Tongs is the pseudonym of promo and film director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, as well as the name of their production company...

"Smile" 23
"Love Has Passed Away" 38
"Prepare to Land" 48 Barry Maguire
1998 "I Wasn't Built To Get Up" 25 A Tune a Day Rupert Jones
"Sheffield Song" 45 Dave Osborne
1999 "Everest" 52 Barnaby & Scott
Jake Scott (director)
Jake Scott is a British film director who works primarily in the field of music videos. Most of his works were produced under the Ridley Scott Associates banner or RSA's music video subdivision Black Dog Films...

2001 "Finishing Credits" - What We Did Last Summer n/a
2002 "What We Did Last Summer" - Craig Martin
"Life Is A Motorway" -

Television appearances

Date Programme
14 October 1996 The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former...

16 October 1996 Fresh Pop
29 January 1997 The Big Breakfast
31 January 1997 TFI Friday
TFI Friday
TFI Friday is an entertainment show broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2000. The show produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first 5 series. The final series was hosted by a number of Guest Presenters. It was broadcast on...

8 February 1997 Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

4 July 1997 The Big Breakfast
2 July 1997 Top of the Pops
31 October 1997 TFI Friday
19 July 1998 Fully Booked
Fully Booked
Fully Booked was a magazine show for children produced by BBC Scotland and broadcast from 1995 to 1999, and in revised form as FBi in 2000. The show was a summer-time replacement for Live & Kicking, which would normally not broadcast over the summer months...

9 October 1998 TFI Friday
15 October 1998 STV Box Set
12 November 1998 The Jack Docherty Show
Jack Docherty
Jack Docherty is a Scottish writer, actor, presenter and producer.-Early career:He first performed at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the comedy sketch group The Bodgers which he formed with George Watson's College schoolfriends Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and Pete Baikie. They performed...

5 March 1999 Ozone

Post break-up: 2005-present

Songwriter McColl went on to be guitarist in band The Hussy's, releasing three EPs and four albums in the UK, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The band have also played sessions on Rapal
Rapal
Rapal is a BBC Alba music television programme and radio show on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal. Rapal broadcast its first programme on the radio on the 28th of May, 2001, presented by Niall Iain McDonald. Rapal expanded to TV in 2007, and added Anndra Robasdan and Michelle NicDhomhnaill to the presenting...

, Channel M
Channel m
Channel M is a regional television station, based in Manchester, England. It began broadcasting on 14 February 2000 as Manchester Student Television and is owned and operated by the Guardian Media Group.-Coverage:...

 and the Janice Long
Janice Long
Janice Long is an English radio broadcaster currently working on BBC Radio 2. Her show is on Sunday to Thursday nights from midnight to 02:00. She is the older sister of TV and radio personality Keith Chegwin.-Early career:...

 radio show. Their songs "Aftershave" and "Jenny Teaches Rock School" have been played by Rodney Bingenheimer
Rodney Bingenheimer
Rodney Bingenheimer, born December 15, 1947, is a radio disc jockey on the long-running Los Angeles rock station KROQ who is notable for helping numerous iconic bands become successful in the American market. His contribution to the music business has been described as important...

, and they won the listeners poll for best song of the week on WXPK
WXPK
WXPK, , is an adult album alternative rock radio station in White Plains, New York. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and transmits from a tower in the Westchester County Correctional Facility with an ERP of 1.9 KW.-History:...

. The Hills
The Hills
The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...

 have also featured their song "Rocksteady".

Keyboardist McAlpine later became a cameraman for Eòrpa
Eòrpa
is long-running current affairs programme broadcast on BBC Two Scotland and BBC Alba. The series has been running since 1993, and has covered political and social issues affecting Europe and Europeans over that time including issues affecting the Western Isles. It is broadcast weekly in Scottish...

, House Guest
House Guest
House Guest is a reality programme that began on ITV on 19 May 2008.The show consists of a group of 5 people who each, along with a co-host, host a dinner party for the other guests. This involves a three course meal along with entertainment. The guests mark, out of 10, the hosts food and hosting...

, Dragons Den, and 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...

s for Justin Currie
Justin Currie
Justin Robert Currie is a Scottish singer and songwriter, best known as the founding member of the band Del Amitri and, along with Iain Harvie, is one of only two members of the group to be present throughout its entire existence.-Del Amitri:Justin Currie established the band Del Amitri while...

.

Drummer Tilston collaborated with William Orbit
William Orbit
William Orbit is an English musician, composer and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album Ray of Light. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums...

 on his 2009 album My Oracle Lives Uptown
My Oracle Lives Uptown
My Oracle Lives Uptown is the tenth album by British electronic musician and record producer, William Orbit. It has been released digitally on 4th May 2009 on Kobalt Digital, as a 12-track limited edition. It was released as a physical CD on 8th June 2009 with 16 tracks...

.
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