Chikinki are an English

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

band from

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England.

History

The band formed at

Hiatt Baker Hall Halls of residence at the University of Bristol are generally located within three distinct areas of Bristol, the City Centre, Clifton and Stoke Bishop. Clifton halls Goldney Hall Goldney Hall is a self-catered hall situated in Clifton. ...

at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

in 1996. Originally there were six members: Rupert Browne (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

), Ed East (

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

), Steve Bond (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

), Simon (Boris) Exton ( keyboards), Luke Sherwood (

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

) and Trevor Wensley (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

). After Sherwood left the band, Wensley became a second keyboard/synth player. As there was no bass player the two keyboards shared rhythm, bass and melody duties. All five members write the songs. An early EP, ''Telephone Heroes'', was followed by their debut album, ''Experiment with Mother''. Recorded at home, it was released by Bristol Label Sink and Stove Records along with the single "Like It or Leave It". Having gigged regularly for many years around Bristol, they began to play further a-field. This led to them acquiring management and subsequently signing a deal with

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

. The band recorded the album ''Lick Your Ticket'' in 2003 with producer Steve Osborne at Realworld Studios. They released a number of singles from it and toured extensively, playing with bands such as

Kasabian Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and second vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karloff ...

(other than in Southampton), the

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

and The Charlatans as well as at

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

and

V festival V Festival, often referred to as V Fest or simply V, was an annual music festival held in the United Kingdom during the third weekend in August. The event was held at two parks simultaneously which shared the same bill; artists performed at one ...

s. However, they were unable to sell enough records to make a sufficient return on the large investment Island had made in them and their contract was not extended to another album. Whilst working in Berlin with dance producers Tiefschwarz they were seen performing by Kitty-Yo Records who signed the album up for release in GAS. Their next album, ''Brace, Brace'' was licensed by Weekender among other labels. Produced by Bruno Ellingham this album featured the single, "You Said" which enjoyed airplay and allowed the band to play a large number of gigs across Europe. Their most recent album, ''Bitten'' (2011), was written and recorded at Studio East in Berlin; a studio run by their guitarist East. Funded by BMG Rights and distributed by Rough Trade it featured the single "Bitte Bitte".

Discography

Albums

*''Experiment with Mother'' (2001), Sink and Stove Records *''Lick Your Ticket'', (2004), Kitty-Yo/Universal, UK #184 *''The Balloon Factory'' (2006), Urban Cow Records *''Brace, Brace'' (2007), Weekender Records *''Bitten'' (2011), Urban Cow

Singles and EPs

*"Telephone Heroes" (Urban Cow Records) - July 2000 *"Like It Or Leave It" (Sink and Stove Records) - March 2002 *"Time" (

Fierce Panda Records Fierce Panda Records is a London-based independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-s ...

) - March 2003, UK #194 *"Hate TV" (

) - August 2003, UK #97 *"Assassinator 13" (Island Records) - November 2003, UK #72 *"Like It Or Leave It" (Island Records) - March 2004, UK #65 *"Ether Radio" (Island Records) - June 2004, UK #50 *"All Eyes" (Island Records) - October 2004, UK #74 *"You Said" (Urban Cow Records) - May 2006 *"Bitte Bitte" (Urban Cow Records) - March 2011

References

External links

* * {{Authority control English pop music groups Kitty-Yo artists Musical groups from Bristol Musical groups established in 1996