Simian were an English rock band, formed in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

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 The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. 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 (or Astralwerks Records) is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music that is now owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in ...

. The US edition contained two bonus tracks, "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 vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

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 release ...

of the

Prince A prince is a 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, in some European states. The ...

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 some variety ...

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

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

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

Playgirl ''Playgirl'' is an American magazine that has historically featured pictorials of nude and semi-nude men alongside general interest, lifestyle, celebrity journalism, and original fiction. For most of its history, the magazine printed monthly a ...

" by

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

, "AM/PM" by Appliance, "

Destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

" by

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

, and "

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

" 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 music, ambient, house ...

. In 2005, their song "La Breeze" was featured in a Peugeot 1007 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 small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

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, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, 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, poem, or photograph ca ...

ers and DJs. 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 Little Flames, the Rascals), James Ford (Simian, Simian Mobile Disco), and Zach Dawes ( Mini Mansions). The Last Shadow Puppe ...

with

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...

singer

Alex Turner Alexander David Turner (born 6 January 1986) is an English musician. He is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Arctic Monkeys. Turner is known for his Songwriter, lyricism ranging from kitchen sink realism to surrealism, surreal ...

. Lord is now in

The Black Ghosts The Black Ghosts are an English electronic music duo composed of Theo Keating and Simon William Lord, formed in 2006. They are currently signed to Southern Fried Records in the UK and IAMSOUND Records in North America. Keating and Lord had p ...

, 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 " Sta ...

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 British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

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 In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

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 and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

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 Americans, American DJ and music producer. Much of his music prior to 2010 was released through his own record label, Kindergarten, but he signe ...

) 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 record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...

's radio show '' Club Life'' in 2010. In 2011, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' 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 blog

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