Francesqa were a British four-piece

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 Newbury, England.

History

Formation

Francesqa formed in early 2009, and in its initial incarnation, consisted of just Ashley Wilkie and Ben Hordos. Both of which shared song writing and performing duties. The remaining members joined from recently broken up local

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bands Monroe (where both Wilkie and Hordos were members alongside Joe Hicks and Tom Millar) and Greenacre (where Warren Senior had previously played drums and sang).

First EP

In the summer of 2009 the band self released a three track EP that subsequently became available on iTunes and from the band at shows (a fourth track entitled "Boy" became available as a b-side on the iTunes release). The band also played across much of the south of England in the latter half of 2009, often seen with likes of Canterbury and Lights And Sounds. In March 2010 the band embarked on a nationwide tour of the UK supporting Deaf Havana and All Forgotten. April also saw the band on a nationwide tour supporting The Broadcast.

Second EP: ''We Lived''

Having already entered the studio in December 2009 with producer Peter Miles, Francesqa completed work on their follow-up EP, ''We Lived'' during the beginning of 2010. They independently released the five track record on 19 July 2010. They also gained further fame after being picked by Tom DeLonge to play the

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

Introducing Stage at the 2010 Slam Dunk festival alongside

Futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded *''Modern Trader'', formerly Futures, an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures' ...

Deaf Havana Deaf Havana is an English alternative rock band from Hunstanton and King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. The band was formed in 2005 at the King's Lynn campus of The College of West Anglia. Biography Early days (2005–2008) Deaf Havana was form ...

, Not Advised, Straight Lines, and Kill Casino. Summer 2010 also saw them play the

Arts Fest in Birmingham alongside both

Elliot Minor Elliot Minor are an English rock band from York, England. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Alex Davies, vocalist and guitarist Ed Minton, drummer Dan Hetherton, bassist Ed Hetherton and keyboardist Ali Paul. The band had a str ...

and Young Guns.

Re-release of ''We lived'' EP

June 2010 saw the band sign to the UK booking agency 'The Agency Group' and the release of their first single and accompanying music video for "Ghosts". On 30 August 2010, the band released a Split EP with Philadelphia act

Person L Person L was an American rock music, rock band fronted by Kenny Vasoli, of the pop punk band The Starting Line. Vasoli formed Person L in the winter of 2006 as an outlet to explore other musical styles. The group also consisted of drummers Brian ...

through the UK label, Scylla. The split record contained Francesqa's song "Years" plus a previously unreleased track titled "Lonely Home". The band's second single and accompanying video "Years" premiered exclusively on Kerrang.com on 6 September 2010. The band joined

Aiden Aiden was an American punk rock band from Seattle, Washington that formed in the spring of 2003. They achieved underground success during the mid to late 2000s with their classic lineup, featuring vocalist wil Francis, William Francis, guitaris ...

as main support on their UK tour throughout November 2010. In December 2010, they supported

The Pretty Reckless The Pretty Reckless is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2009. The band consists of Taylor Momsen (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Ben Phillips (lead guitar, backing vocals), Mark Damon (bass), and Jamie Perkins (drums). In Augus ...

on their UK tour. February 2011 saw the band embark on their first full UK headline tour. The band also re-released the ''We Lived'' EP with "All I Had" and additional acoustic renditions of their previous work. They embarked on their second headline tour shortly after the departure of Joe Hicks on 6 May 2011. Francesqa joined Kids in Glass Houses' October 2011 tour as main support alongside Blitz Kids and Save Your Breath.

Debut album and break-up

The band were working on various demos and writing songs for their debut album. On 5 December 2011 the band announced on their website that they were going their separate ways but have since reformed as MMX and released their debut single "Cold World" and later in 2012, released their second single "Follow".

References

{{Authority control English rock music groups Musical groups established in 2009