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Serafin is a British
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band from London who formed and began playing in September 2000 until quietly disbanding in the late 2000s after the release of their second album. They returned to release a new album in 2020.


History

The original band line-up did not play live but the two members who have stayed throughout are Ben Fox Smith, and Darryn Harkness. The band itself was formed after the demise of Stony Sleep when Ben met Darryn at a Eurovision Song Contest party in Highbury, London. Darryn played on some
John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
Sessions before forming Serafin. They added
Johnny Borrell Jonathan Edward Borrell (born 4 April 1980) is an English guitarist and singer, currently the frontman of the rock band Razorlight, of which he is the only consistent original member. Early life and career Borrell was born in Sutton, London. H ...
(bass) and then Stuart Quinnell with Richie Mills (drums) from
Cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
. These line-ups were short lived (a few months) and their first gig had Ronny Growler on drums and Mike Clark on bass. Stuart Quinnell appears to be the bass tech for
Frankie Poullain Francis Gilles Poullain-Patterson (born 15 April 1967), better known as Frankie Poullain, is a Scottish bass player, best known for playing with The Darkness. He was raised in Milnathort, then Edinburgh, Scotland. Early life His father wa ...
from The Darkness and plays in the road crew band Onion Trump. Mike Clark left to go back to Canada in 2002 and is now working on Ben Smith's acoustic-electronic solo project Young Sawbones. He was replaced by Ben Ellis who had been playing for
Catherine Wheel Catherine wheel may refer to: * Breaking wheel, an instrument of torturous execution originally associated with Catherine of Alexandria * Catherine wheel (firework), a firework that rotates when lit Arts and entertainment * Catherine Wheel (band) ...
who had decided to call it a day. It was this line-up on their debut album ''No Push Collide''. On 26 August 2004 Serafin posted this note on their website: "We have replaced our drummer Ronny Growler with a guy called Lonely Blue boy. We love Ronny who is a fantastic drummer in his own right, but have had to realise our musical differences and preferences which, while considering the chemistry of the band and its future, became too great to continue with." Not too soon later did they announce that they had returned to the studio for their second album. The new drummer was Ben's brother Shian Smith-Pancorvo who had left
Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Dalem ...
in March 2004. Famous fans include
Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the ...
of
Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the comedic, and sometimes surreal and action-packed, misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bi ...
and
Craig Nicholls Craig Robert Nicholls (born 31 August 1977) is an Australian musician, best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the Australian alternative rock band The Vines (band), The Vines, of which he is the sole continuous member. Earl ...
of The Vines. On 23 October 2007, Serafin announced their new bassist: Daniel Green 24 from Reading band Radios in Motion who replaces Ben Ellis.


Releases

Although the band has been around for a few years, only two full albums have been released, '' No Push Collide'' (2003) on
Taste Media Taste Media is a record label and production company that has released records for bands such as Muse and Shed Seven. The company was formed by Safta Jaffery (former executive of Decca and Magnet Records A&R) and Dennis Smith, who owned the ...
, and To The Teeth (2007) on Our Rekords. They were produced by
Dave Sardy David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning ...
in Los Angeles. and Ian Caple in London. Two singles were released before the album, ''
Things Fall Apart ''Things Fall Apart'' is a 1958 novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is Achebe's debut novel and was written when he was working at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. The novel was first published in London by Heinemann (publisher), ...
'' and '' Day by Day''. Serafin have released two four track
EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
, also on Taste Media before No Push Collide. The first was in April 2002, the second in August 2002. Taste Media was bought by
Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...
in 2004 which forced the band into ''legal limbo'' with no way to get out of their contract and no funding to promote ''To The Teeth''. The management was fired and all four members spent more time on side projects (New Telepathics, French Car And The Bulimic Wizards, Young Sawbones and Triggerbox). At the start of May 2005, Ben began releasing acoustic MP3s on their site, culminating in 21 ideas for songs free for download. The recording quality varies due to the nature of four-track recordings. They now have rough mixes of non-acoustic tracks on their
Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page. The Second album, 'To The Teeth', was released in December 2007, under their new record label 'Our Rekords'.


Discography


Albums


Singles


EPs


Compilations

*X-Ray CD 05 - Build High, Tear Low ''(Track 8) X-Ray, June 2003'' *All Areas Volume 41 - No Happy ''(Track 2) Visions Magazine, July 2003'' *X-Rock #01 - Thing Fall Apart ''(Track 4) X-Rock, 2003'' *Peoplesound: Special Edition 4 - Day By Day ''(Track 1)
PeopleSound PeopleSound was a British audio streaming platform founded on 22 June 1999 by Ernesto Schmitt. Going live in October 1999, it was the first European music streaming platform and the most visited. At peak, it was amongst the top ten most visite ...
, 2003''


Appearances

They sold the most records in France on
Naïve Records Naïve Records is a French independent record label based in Paris, specializing in electronic music, pop music, jazz and classical music. Founding and expansion It was founded in 1998 by Patrick Zelnik, former CEO of Virgin France, Gilles Paire ...
, 20,000 or so. They toured extensively playing the
Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fest ...
twice, once on the Carling Stage (2002) and once on the Radio 1 stage (2003). Played many festivals in other European countries and supported
Frank Black Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965), better known by the stage name Black Francis, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies. Following the band's break ...
,
Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
and Feeder, on their tour in 2003 before the release of No Push Collide. Their single ''Day By Day'' appeared on the ''
Madden NFL 2004 ''Madden NFL 2004'' is the 15th installment of the ''Madden NFL'' series of American football video games. Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is on the cover. Gameplay New features in ''Madden 2004'' include a new owner mode option t ...
'' video game.


References


External links


Official WebsiteDrownedInSound (Interview, News)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serafin English rock music groups Rock music groups from London Naïve Records artists