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Edinburgh, United Kingdom (1995 – present)

Idlewild started out at a flat party in Edinburgh in 1995 where founding band members met and found common ground in musical tastes. The starting line up was Roddy Woomble, Rod Jones, Colin Newton and Phil Scanlon. Scanlon was soon replaced by Bob Fairfoull. Appearing in 1996 as an angry band of Scottish punks with Woomble of Carnoustie leading the band, Idlewild eventually achieved commercial recognition by refining their taste for large-scale guitar rock, and combining it with an apparently unknown gift for melody and tenderness.

1996’s Queen of the Troubled Teens was their debut, a self released 7” single that got praised by popular BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamaq. 1997 saw their next single “Chandelier”, which was released by Feirce Panda. 1998 saw the release of “Captain” (on Deceptive Records) a mini-album of chaotic punk, which, while achieving a significant fanbase among British teenagers, demonstrated little of the facets that would mark them out as such talented indie-rockers. Some of those were seen on that year’s full-length, “Hope Is Important”. Carrying a more subdued, top 20 hit single “When I Argue I See Shapes”, Idlewild started to make commercial and critical inroads. Jeremy Mills joined the band in 1999 (he left in 2002).

2000’s “100 Broken Windows” took this indie-punk sound and refined it, ballads like album closer “The Bronze Medal” were already a million miles from the nihilism and chaos of early tracks such as “Self Healer”. “Windows…” was a substantial success, charting inside the top 15, and drawing early comparisons to R.E.M’s angrier output - as both bands were declared fans of each other at the time, this is unsurprising.

Tagged as:

indie, indie rock, rock, scottish, alternative
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Top Albums

The Remote Part
Idlewild
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100 Broken Windows
Idlewild
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Make a New World
Idlewild
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Warnings / Promises
Idlewild
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Top Tracks

1	You Held the World in Your Arms full track	608
2	American English full track	480
3	A Modern Way of Letting Go full track	468
4	No Emotion full track	396
5	Love Steals Us From Loneliness full track	379
6	When I Argue I See Shapes	300
7	Little Discourage	295
8	Live in a Hiding Place full track	288
9	Readers & Writers	271
10	These Wooden Ideas	250
11	Younger Than America	247
12	City Hall	244
13	Let Me Sleep (Next to the Mirror) full track	227
14	(The Night Will) Bring You Back To Life	217
15	Roseability	216

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Ze_Criz wrote:
last week

Liking the new album alot, sounds like Warnings/Promise Part 2 which is only a good thing... mind you after MAW anything's an improvement

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Idizzen wrote:
last week

Listening to them for the first time right now, and I'm pretty impressed! I think I really should check out this band a bit more!

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oscar478 wrote:
last week

can anyone send the live and acoustic version of "live in a hiding place" mp3 to me? get in touch on my page. cheers!

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EduAS wrote:
last month

Epic [3]

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skyright wrote:
last month

yeah, new album is epic! [2]

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TheRacingRat wrote:
last month

STILL not even 4,000,000 plays, shocking. new album is good, first 6 or so tracks are great, does lose it a bit towards the end though. still, only on my 3rd listen so it might be a grower (Y)

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S_JnrIII wrote:
last month

Not too sure about the new album

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belgianbc wrote:
last month

well new album is epic!

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shinelune wrote:
last month

I couldn't get my own copy of the new album,I want to listen to it as soon as possible!!! and i hope to see them in Japan soon :)

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tomski95 wrote:
last month

why is Love Steals Us From Loneliness so high??? Their worst song by a long way.

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Gilaventi wrote:
last month

The British Rock Artists League has run for two successful seasons now. Now we need 4 new artists to begin Season 3, so click here and vote for Idlewild!

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El_Hound wrote:
last month

The new one on first listen has nothing on MAW, but then again 10 listens later...

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oceanbutnone wrote:
last month

haha Warnings/Promises, i find it's the best but the new album is not badddddddd :p 这是一个耐人寻味的乐队啊

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aidanmreynolds wrote:
last month

First time I listened to the new album I thought it was one of the dullest things I'd ever heard; now I can't stop playing it and it's made me run back through all their albums to determine its place in the catalogue. It took nearly 5 years, but I've finally got into Warnings/Promises. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

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christurner20 wrote:
last month

Mr antigravity is very welcome :)

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Manatees wrote:
last month

well new album is brilliant

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micro_cutter wrote:
last month

Yes improvement, definitely. I prefer it to MaNW.. I think I'll really like it actually.

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Tellmetenwords wrote:
last month

Post Electric Blues is the shiz.

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Treviz wrote:
last month

euhm, i dont know what to think about the new album. i have to listen it more times, i guess it will grow on me. anyway it looks like a decent work, dreams of nothing is a really good song.

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wasoe wrote:
last month

New Album is an improvement. Not a major improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.

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Videos

Events

Jul 24 Wickerman Festival Dundrennan, Scotland, Dundrennan, Dumfries & Galloway, United Kingdom
1 shout | 32 attendees
Jul 31 Kendal Calling Lowther Estate, Cumbria, United Kingdom
2 shouts | 43 attendees
Aug 14 Summer Sundae Weekender De Montfort Hall, Leicester, United Kingdom
14 shouts | 92 attendees

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News

Idlewild's Quick Guide to Glasgow

14 Dec 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/idlewild

Glasgow. Murder and heart disease capital of Europe. Also venue of our five nights' gigs so for all you folks unfamiliar with the city, here's as few of our favourite haunts to keep you well fed, wate. …

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Idlewild's Quick Guide to Glasgow
14 Dec 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/idlewild
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www.idlewildmusic.com
21 Nov 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/idlewild
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www.idlewildmusic.com
21 Nov 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/idlewild
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