Scarfo were 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 Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

, formed in

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, England in 1994, by former art college students

Jamie Hince James William Hince (born 19 December 1968) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as the guitarist for the indie rock duo The Kills. He started his musical career in the bands Fiji, Scarfo, and Blyth Power. He co-founded Th ...

(vocals, guitar), Nick Prior (bass), and Al Saunders (drums). Scarfo was the culmination of several other bands and lineups involving Hince and Saunders including Remember the Rabbits (a reference to medical trials on animals), and Electric Turkey Land. The line up for both these bands included long-term friend of Hince and fellow resident of the Newbury area, Wob Williams. Williams went on to play, like Hince, with the punk-folk ensemble

Blyth Power Blyth Power are a British rock band formed in 1983 by singer and drummer Joseph Porter, formerly of anarcho-punk bands Zounds and the Mob. The band's music shows strong influences from punk rock and folk music and Porter's lyrics often centr ...

Career

Scarfo moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

where they played many gigs, attracting the attention of

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 ...

, who issued their debut single, "Skinny" in 1995. They then signed to

Deceptive Records Deceptive Records was a British independent record label formed in 1993 by Steve Lamacq, Tony Smith and Alan James, which concentrated on rock and alternative rock. The most famous group signed to the label were Elastica. Steve Lamacq left t ...

and their self-titled debut album produced by Philip Thomas was released in November of that year to critical acclaim. They released several singles over the following three years (two of these - "Alkaline" and "Cosmonaut No. 7" - making it onto the UK Singles Chart),Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Scarfo", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, and the

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''Luxury Plane Crash'' (1997). During the height of Scarfo's early success, progress ground to a halt after Al Saunders was badly injured after being run down by a car in London. This incident caused the momentum of the band to falter and led directly to the band folding. "Alkaline" and a cover of

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

's "I Want You" (as a bonus track), were included on '' Deceptive Fifty'', a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

released by Deceptive Records to celebrate their 50th release. Jamie Hince went on to release ''The Glue Hotel Tapes'' mini-album as Fiji on Impresario Records in February 2004 and a single, "Pillshop", also on Impresario. He is now the guitarist in

the Kills The Kills are an English-American rock music, rock duo formed by American singer Alison Mosshart, Alison "VV" Mosshart and English guitarist Jamie Hince, Jamie "Hotel" Hince. They are signed to Domino Recording Company, Domino Records. Their fi ...

Discography

Albums

*''Scarfo'' (November 1995), Deceptive *''Luxury Plane Crash'' (July 1997), Deceptive

Singles

*"Skinny" (May 1995), Fierce Panda *"Tunnel of Love" (December 1995), Deceptive *"Bingo England" (April 1996), Deceptive *"ELO" (May 1997), Deceptive - UK #100 *"Alkaline" (July 1997), Deceptive - UK #61 *"Cosmonaut No. 7" (October 1997), Deceptive - UK #67 *"A Year from Monday" (September 1998), Deceptive - UK #163

References

{{Authority control English rock music groups English musical trios Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Musical groups from Hampshire Deceptive Records artists Fierce Panda Records artists