Flotation Toy Warning is a band from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, UK formed in 2001. Their sound has been described as a cross between

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming ...

and

chamber pop Chamber pop (or Chamber rock; also called baroque pop and sometimes conflated with orchestral pop or symphonic pop) is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other compon ...

, with musical similarities to bands such as

Mercury Rev Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York.
Original personnel were The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (ke ...

Grandaddy Grandaddy is an American indie rock band from Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and featured Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Kevin Garcia and Tim Dryden, until Garcia's death in 2017 following a stroke. After sever ...

Sparklehorse Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. Sparklehorse was active from 1995 until Linkous' 2010 death. Prior to forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands ...

The Unicorns ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

, and

Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. The band is made up of frontman and lead vocalist Paul Carter,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

players Ben Clay and Nainesh Shah,

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

Steve Swindon, and

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical ins ...

Vicky West.

History

The band released two EPs on Pointy Records,

I Remember Trees I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

in July 2002 and

The Special Tape ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

in November 2002. Flotation Toy Warning's debut album, ''

Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck ''Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck'' is the 2004 debut album released by Flotation Toy Warning Flotation Toy Warning is a band from London, United Kingdom, UK formed in 2001. Their sound has been described as a cross between space rock a ...

'', was released in September 2004 on the London-based

Pointy Records Pointy Records is a London-based independent record label, founded in 1998 by Andy Macleod. Largely focusing on new music, Pointy Records have been releasing albums and singles of cult indie bands, most notably The Clientele, Flotation Toy Warni ...

."The Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck"
''Stylus'', 19 September 2005. Retrieved 2 May 2005. An American release followed in August 2005 on

Misra Records Misra Records is an independent record label based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The label is distributed by Redeye Worldwide. Founded in 1999, Misra Records is home to landmark releases by Destroyer, Phosphorescent, Shearwater, R. Ring (fea ...

as well as a French release on Talitres Records. 'Popstar Researching Oblivion' appears on the soundtrack to 'Ultimate Killing Machine'. Ben Clay played guitar on 'State Sponsored Jukebox' album 'Last Nights Thoughts This Morning'. Paul Carter wrote and recorded vocals/lyrics/choirs on the track 'I, Ignorist' for the

Fitzcarraldo Sessions ''Fitzcarraldo'' () is a 1982 West German epic adventure-drama film written, produced and directed by Werner Herzog, and starring Klaus Kinski as would-be rubber baron, Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known in Peru as Fitzcarraldo, who is ...

– an offshoot project by the French band

Jack The Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer ...

. This track is now available on the album 'We Hear Voices'. The Flotation Toy Warning track "Happy 13" was used by Channel 5 to advertise '' CSI'' and ''

The Mentalist ''The Mentalist'' is an American drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, the show f ...

'' in an ident entitled 'The Drama Continues'. Flotation Toy Warning toured France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria in October and November 2011. Former Flotation Toy Warning drummer Colin Coxall played drums as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London. The band played two shows in France in November 2016 to celebrate 15 years of

Talitres Talitres, formerly known as Talitres Records, is a French independent record label based in Bordeaux, founded in 2000 and specializing in indie pop and folk music. It began as a way to release music from indie rock bands that were not distribu ...

Records. They released their second album, '' The Machine That Made Us'', on 16 June 2017.

Members

*Paul Carter (2001 – present) – Vocals, Domingotron *Ben Clay (2001 – present) – Guitars & Bass *Colin Coxall (2001–2005) – Drums, Octopad *Nainesh Shah (2001 – present) – Guitars, Slides, & Vocals (also Keyboards live). *Vicky West (2001 – present) – Keyboards, Samples, Vocals, Buttons & Dials *Steve Swindon (2008 – present) – Drums on newly recorded material for second album and live. The following people have also played in Flotation Toy Warning – *Elizabeth Ansty (2005–2011) – Keyboards, backing vocals and guitars live. *Rhys Llewellyn (2005) – Drums for live appearance at Vienna Bluebird Songwriters Festival 2005. (Rhys also played drums on 'Fire Engine On Fire Part 1'). *Barry Carter (father of Paul Carter) appeared for one gig only on backing vocals for 'Best Boy Electric'. *Adrian Smith (2011–present) – Additional bass guitar, vocals and keyboards live. *Gwen Cheeseman (2016–?) Keyboards, backing vocals and additional guitars live. Colin Coxall left Flotation Toy Warning in 2005 to live in Japan. He was replaced by Steve Swindon, who previously engineered and recorded both EPs and the first album by Flotation Toy Warning.

Discography

Albums

*''

'' (2004) *'' The Machine That Made Us'' (2017)

Singles & EPs

*''I Remember Trees'' CD EP (2002) *''The Special Tape'' CD EP (2002) *"When the Boat Comes inside Your House/A Season Underground" 7-inch vinyl (25 April 2011) * a different version of 'Even Fantastica' appeared on an Earworm compilation entitled 'Where the Sea Meets the Sky' * Flotation Toy Warning contributed 'The Buoys Are Back in Town' to the 2012 alternative Olympic soundtrack album ''It's the Taking Part That Counts'' on Wiaiwya records. * King of Foxgloves limited edition 7" vinyl single June 2017. Included with initial purchases of The Machine That Made Us vinyl LP.

References

External links

Official Band Website
{{Authority control English indie rock groups English pop music groups Musical groups established in 2001 English space rock musical groups 2001 establishments in England Misra Records artists