Percy are an English

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band from

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, England. The band is known for having drummer

Hugh Whitaker Hugh Whitaker (born 18 May 1961) is an English musician and the former drummer for the British indie rock band The Housemartins. He replaced original drummer Chris Lang and drummed for the band's first album, ''London 0 Hull 4'', and its attend ...

, as a member of the band from 1997 to 2004, and for their single "Donny Rednecks", which featured in

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with BBC Radio 6 Music. Lamacq was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire ( ...

's 'Single of the Week' column in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' in 1999.

History

Early history

The band was started in

in early 1996 by principal songwriter guitarist Colin Howard and bass player Andrew Wiles. Both of these remain members to this date. After a few local gigs in 1996 the band went into the studio to record a demo with the first drummer, Phil Garlick. The engineer for that recording was electronic composer Tim Wright, who continues to collaborate with the band to this day. That demo was circulated on

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

in November 1996. The demo scored very highly (96/100) and led to the track ''Youth Awareness Week'' being included in a CD release, which in turn led to radio airtime on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

's ''Beat Patrol'' in 1998.

The Hugh Whitaker era

In 1997, Percy recruited ex-

Housemartins The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christiani ...

member

. It was this line-up that released two of their most iconic singles. ''West Yorkshire Super Heroes'', released in June 1998, was again recorded in collaboration with Tim Wright. Percy formed their own label, Tenfoot Records, to release the single, although it was distributed with assistance from Overground Records. In spring 1999 the band were signed to Mook Records of Leeds on a single album deal. In December 1999, a single was released ahead of the album featuring the tracks ''Donny Rednecks'' and S.B.O.T.Y. ''Donny Rednecks'' was aired on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

's ''The Evening Session'' in the run-up to the release, and was

's single of the week on 15 December 1999. The B-side track, ''Small Businessman of the Year (SBOTY)'', was preferred by Scottish Radio 1 DJ

Vic Galloway Michael "Vic" Galloway (born 4 August 1972) is a Scottish radio and television presenter, writer and DJ. He hosts a self-titled show on BBC Radio Scotland every Monday from 8pm to 10pm and previously broadcast the BBC Introducing Scotland sh ...

, who included it in his ''personal record bag''. The release was delayed until early 2000 due to import problems. The album was never released, but another three-track single ''Caravan'' (with ''Being Human'' and ''King of California'') was released on CD in October 2001. Although this last single was also given air time on Radio 1, this single was their last collaboration with Mook Records under the original deal and it became apparent that the wind was out of the band’s sails and momentum was failing. In 2002, Hugh Whitaker expressed a wish to eventually leave the band, and they parted ways in 2005.

The Nielsens

In June 2008, Colin Howard and Andy Wiles decided to write and play live again they but there was a feeling that it would be difficult to perform again as Percy without Hugh. From a small ad they found a young drummer in Harrogate with a love of Funk and Jazz. With his input the new material was quite up beat and a gigs were booked in Leeds under the name The Nielsens. Promoters instead listed the band playing as The Nielsens (Percy) and it was evident that the small die hard following wanted the old band back. The old name was restored in 2010, sometimes referred to as Percy Mk2.

Percy (Mk2)

Recruiting a replacement for Hugh Whitaker proved a challenge which dogged the Nielsens, and was only resolved by rotating the lineup. Andy replaced Hugh, Colin took over from Andy, opening the position for a new lead guitarist – Geoff Cousins. This arrangement didn't last, and soon Dan Whiting (owner of a local recording studio) replaced Andy on drums, allowing the other two to return to their initial roles. The new lineup proved successful, with

Tom Robinson Living people Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits " Glad to Be Gay", " 2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with hi ...

returning the band to the airwaves on his

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

shows ''BBC Music Introducing Mixtape'' and the ''Tom Robinson Show'' – both part of the BBC Music Introducing series. This led to more radio airtime on BBC Radio 6,

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

and local radio stations. The group's first album, ''A Selection of Salted Snacks'', was released in 2013. In 2016, Dan Whiting left the band to concentrate on running the recording studio.

Percy (Mk3)

In 2017, the current lineup was formed with synth player Paula Duck and drummer Jason Wilson, and the band diversified from the

punk-pop Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

genre that had characterised the Percy Mk2 years. The group's second album ''Sleepers Wake'' was released in November 2018 on their old label Mook Records of Leeds. This is the first release on Mook Records since the single 'Caravan' came out in 2001. In late 2019, were offered the opportunity to record and release a new vinyl album on Vinyl Eddie Records of York. This 10 track album ''Seaside Donkeys'' was recorded in November 2019 at Crooked Room Studios in York and was released in 2020. Recording activities stalled due to the pandemic but the band came back with a new album "Monorail" in June 2022. This received their first review in the magazine Vive le Rock (rated 7/10). The follow up album "New Phase" in May 2024 has also been well received including by Louder than War stating "Brimming with ideas, imagination and spontaneity, this is an album touched by genius with just a hint (ok, make that a dollop) of madness thrown into the mix..."https://louderthanwar.com/percy-new-phase-album-review/

Discography

Singles and EPs

* 1996 "Settled" / "You and Me" * 1998 "West Yorkshire Super Heroes" EP – Ten foot Records * 1999 "Donny Rednecks" single – Mook Records * 2001 "Caravan" single – Mook Records * 2011 "Big Fellas" Single – Ten foot Records * 2011 "A New Kind of Discipline" Single – Ten foot Records * 2013 "Anthem for a Doomed Youth" EP – Ten foot Records * 2014 "King of California" Single – Ten foot Records * 2018 "West Yorkshire Super Heroes" EP – Ten foot Records iTunes anniversary reissue * 2020 "Seaside Donkey" / "Love Song" Single – Ten foot Records * 2020 "Will of the People" Single – Ten Foot Records * 2022 "ICU" Single – Ten Foot Records * 2023 "Last Train to Selby" Single – Ten Foot Records

Albums

* 2013 ''A Selection of Salted Snacks'' – Ten Foot Records * 2018 ''Sleepers Wake'' – Mook Records * 2020 ''Seaside Donkeys'' – Vinyl Eddie Records * 2022 ''Monorail'' – Ten Foot Records * 2024 ''New Phase'' – Ten Foot Records

Line up

References

External links

Percy page
on

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1996 English post-punk music groups English pop punk groups