Simian were an English rock band, formed in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in 2000.

Members

* Simon William Lord (vocals, lead guitar, drum programming) *Alex MacNaghten (bass) *James Anthony Shaw (keyboards, drum programming, percussion) * James Ellis Ford (drums, drum programming)

Touring members

* Michael Tighe - additional guitar, keyboards, percussion (2003)

History

Simian were formed while members of the band were studying at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Unive ...

. MacNaghten, Shaw and Ford were formerly members of live breakbeat project King Rib, alongside MC Mr. Wrong and DJ Silver.

Main releases

Their debut album '' Chemistry Is What We Are'' was first released in the UK on 9 July 2001 on Source Records and in the US on 18 September 2001 on

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

. The US edition contained two

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...

s, "The Tale of Willow Hill" and "Grey", that had previously been released in the UK as part of ''The Wisp'' and ''Watch It Glow'' EPs respectively. Their second album, ''We Are Your Friends'' was released in the UK on 28 October 2002 (on Source Records) and in the US on 29 October 2002 (on Astralwerks). The Japanese release (26 March 2003) also included the bonus tracks, "Out of Bed", "Coins" and "Reasons", the first two of which had previously been released in the UK as

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

of the "Never Be Alone" single.

Other work

In 2000, the band recorded a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

of the

Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...

song "Under the Cherry Moon" from his album ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

'' (1986). This song was released on the

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, ''If I Was Prince'' (2001). The band remixed various tracks by other artists, including "

Playgirl ''Playgirl'' was an American magazine that featured general interest articles, lifestyle and celebrity news, in addition to nude or semi-nude men. In the 1970s and 1980s, the magazine printed monthly and was marketed mainly to women, although it ...

" by

Ladytron Ladytron are a largely British electronic band formed in Liverpool in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and Reuben Wu (synth ...

, "AM/PM" by Appliance, "

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although oft ...

" by

Zero 7 Zero 7 are an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. They began as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, '' Simple Things'', was released in 2001 in which their song "Destiny" stayed ...

, and "

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

" by

The Future Sound of London The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated FSOL) is a British electronic music duo composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. They have been described as a "boundary-pushing" electronic act, covering techno, ambient, house music, trip ...

. In 2005, their song "La Breeze" was featured in a

Peugeot 1007 The Peugeot 1007 is a small three-door car manufactured by Peugeot from 2004 to 2009, noted for its user-swappable interior trim pieces and its four pillar design incorporating two power sliding doors. It shares its platform with the Peugeot 206, ...

television advertisement. It was also used in the 2007

Dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primaril ...

advertisement " Onslaught".

Split

The band split up in 2005 with Ford and Shaw forming the spin-off group

Simian Mobile Disco Simian Mobile Disco are an English electronic music duo and production team, formed in 2003 by James Ford and Jas Shaw of the band Simian. Musically, they are known for their analogue production. Ford is also known for his production work. ...

. The new group is more dance-oriented and are in demand as

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ers and

DJs A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

. Ford is also in the baroque pop group

The Last Shadow Puppets The Last Shadow Puppets are an English supergroup consisting of Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Miles Kane (The Rascals, solo artist), James Ford (Simian, Simian Mobile Disco, music producer), and Zach Dawes ( Mini Mansions). The band released ...

with

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, ...

singer

Alex Turner Alexander David Turner (born 6 January 1986) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is well known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has released seven albums. He ...

. Lord is now in The Black Ghosts, an electronica act with

DJ Touche Theo Keating, also known as Fake Blood and Touché, is an English DJ, musician and music producer who made his name as one half of the Wiseguys, a British hip hop/ big beat group, together with Paul Eve. Some of their best-known songs are " ...

from The Wiseguys.

Justice Remix

In 2006, the single " We Are Your Friends", which is a remix of their song "Never Be Alone", was released on a reactivated

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...

subsidiary label called Ten Records. This single was credited to "Justice vs Simian", and started life as a submission by the French music group

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

in a remix competition. The

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

for the single won the award for best video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards. At the awards ceremony, fellow nominee

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

appeared on stage to complain about the Justice vs Simian victory. "Illmerica" (by

Wolfgang Gartner Joseph Thomas Youngman (born March 17, 1982), better known by his stage name Wolfgang Gartner, is an American DJ and music producer. Much of his music prior to 2010 was released through his own record label, Kindergarten, but he signed with Ult ...

) was, in turn, mashed up with "We Are Your Friends" to form the track "Illmerica Are Your Friends" by Australian DJ Steve Camp; the song became popular after it was played as the opening track on episode 186 of

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was vo ...

's radio show '' Club Life'' in 2010. In 2011, '' NME'' placed "We Are Your Friends" at number 19 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

Discography

Albums

*'' Chemistry Is What We Are'' (2001) * ''We Are Your Friends'' (2002)

Singles and EPs

The following releases were in the UK only on Source Records: *''Watch It Glow'' ( EP, 16 October 2000) *''The Wisp'' (EP, 21 May 2001) *"One Dimension" (22 October 2001) - UK #95 *"Mr. Crow" (4 February 2002) - UK #84 *"Never Be Alone" (21 October 2002) - UK #76 *"La Breeze" (31 March 2003) - UK #55 *"In Between" (15 September 2003) *" We Are Your Friends" -

vs Simian (2006) - UK #20

References

External links

Simian fan blogSimian Mobile DiscoBBC Collective article on Simian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simian English rock music groups Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Musical groups from Manchester Astralwerks artists Psychedelic pop music groups English synth-pop groups Trip hop groups MTV Europe Music Award winners