The Longcut are an English rock band, formed in 2002 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 ...

Career

The Longcut formed in Manchester in 2002, while attending the

University of Manchester 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 ...

. Originally a four-piece, their vocalist left soon after the band started and the remaining members intended to make purely instrumental music. In 2003 their experiments with cheap drum machines led to a new sound and their unusual stage setup. The band's original sound and energetic live performances brought them to the attention of the record industry in 2004, eventually signing to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

's Deltasonic label. During 2004 the band also became friends with Manchester promoters Akoustik Anarkhy and indie/grunge band,

Nine Black Alps Nine Black Alps were an English alternative rock band, formed in 2003 in Manchester. From 2011 until their split, the band consisted of vocalist-guitarist Sam Forrest, guitarist David Jones, drummer James Galley and bassist Karl Astbury. Prior ...

. The two groups shared bills together at various house parties (one in Longsight was filmed for the video to "Transition") organised by Akoustik Anarkhy and The Longcut, eventually touring together in early 2006. The Longcut released their debut EP ''Transition'' in November 2004, followed by ''A Quiet Life'' in June 2005. Both EPs sold out and were well received by the music press. The band continued to tour throughout 2005, including appearances at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

and

Fuji Rock Festival is an annual music festival, rock festival held in Naeba Ski Resort, in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The three-day event, organized by Smash (Music promoters), Smash Japan, features more than 200 Japanese and international musicians, making it th ...

. Work on their debut album, ''A Call and Response'', began in the summer of 2005. Production duties were handled by

Jonny Dollar Jonathan Peter Sharp (20 February 1964 – 29 May 2009), better known by the pseudonym Jonny Dollar, was an English record producer and songwriter. Sharp was born in Westminster, London, and his father was the Australian film director Do ...

, and was mixed by

TV on the Radio TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock music, rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), Dave Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and ...

's David Andrew Sitek. A mini-album (a compilation of their UK EPs) was released internationally in 2006. '' A Call and Response'' was released on 12 June 2006, followed by "Vitamin C" as a lead promotional single. "A Tried and Tested Method" would soon follow, and continued to attract album sales, released on 2 October. The single received more media coverage than any of their other releases to date, with the video being played frequently on a lot of the UK music channels. After ''A Call and Response'' the band released ''The Airtight Sessions'' EP, a compilation of the band's previous work and one new song "Idiot Check" making up the four-track listing. The EP was made available as a free download for all subscribers to the band's official site for a limited time, then made available for purchase at

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

's iTunes Store. The next release by the band was a 7-inch single on the Melodic Records label, on 19 March 2007. Limited to 500 copies, the

double A-side 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 ...

featured "Idiot Check" (recorded at the sessions for ''A Call and Response'') and a cover of the

Candi Staton Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (, ) (born March 13, 1940) is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 cover of Tammy Wynette's " Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper " Young Hearts Run Free". In E ...

rave track " You Got the Love". Their second album, ''Open Hearts'', was produced by

guitarist David Jones. It was released by Melodic Records as a download in June 2009, then on CD and LP in October. It was followed in 2010 by an EP, ''Broken Hearts'', consisting of remixes of songs from the album. The band returned in 2018 with their third album, entitled ''Arrows''.

Members

* Stuart Ogilvie -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, keyboard,

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Lee Gale -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Jon Fearon -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Discography

Studio albums

*'' A Call and Response'' 12 June 2006 ( UK) *''Open Hearts'' 6 June 2009 (UK) *''Arrows'' 20 April 2018 (UK)

Singles and EPs

*November 2004 - ''Transition'' - Limited edition EP, not chart eligible. *April 2005 - ''A Quiet Life'' - Limited edition EP, not chart eligible. *November 2005 - ''The Longcut'' - 5 track Japanese EP. *Various release dates, 2006 - ''The Longcut'' - 6 track international mini-album. *July 2006 - "Vitamin C" - Download & 12-inch Vinyl single. *August 2006 - ''Airtight / Idiot Check'' EP - 4 track download only live EP. *October 2006 - "A Tried & Tested Method" - Download, CD & coloured vinyl single. *March 2007 - "Idiot Check" / " You Got The Love" - Limited 7-inch and download. *2010 - ''Broken Hearts'' - 7 track EP.

References

External links

Official websiteThe Longcut's Myspace siteMelodic
- label site {{DEFAULTSORT:Longcut, The English indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2002 Rock music groups from Manchester Alumni of the University of Manchester Deltasonic Records artists