Biography

Young Knives are an English indie rock and post-punk revival band from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, United Kingdom who formed in 1998. The group consists of Henry Dartnall (vocals, guitar), Thomas “The House of Lords” Dartnall (vocals, bass) and Oliver Askew (drums). The name is based on a misunderstanding of ”young knaves”, which was found by the band by flicking through a book.

The band are known for their energetic live performances and their taste in tweed outfits. They broke into the music industry in 2002 with the critical success of their debut mini-album ‘The Young Knives …Are Dead’, but began to garner national coverage upon the release of their single “The Decision” in late 2005 (partially due to the acclaim of its dark humoured, League of Gentlemen-esque video). They played their biggest live gig in June 2006 and are currently touring in support for their first proper album Voices of Animals and Men, which entered the #21 in the UK Album Charts in August and was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Music Prize.


Band members

* Henry Dartnall - vocals, guitar
* House of Lords (real name - Thomas Dartnall) - vocals, bass guitar
* Oliver Askew - drums, backing vocals


Career

Formed in Ashby-de-la-Zouch under the name ‘Simple Pastoral Existence’, the Young Knives began their career “playing bad funk and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin covers”,[1] but it was their subsequent move to Oxford that saw their career begin to take off. After changing their name from ‘Pony Club’ their ‘big break’ came in 2002 with a successful set at the popular Truck Festival, which was followed by the release of …Are Dead on local label Shifty Disco.

After some years playing successful support slots to bands such as The Futureheads and Hot Hot Heat in Oxford and surrounding areas, the band were signed to Transgressive, and the limited release Junky Music Make My Heart Beat Faster EP was a sell-out success. Their debut single “The Decision”, produced by Andy Gill of Gang of Four (a noted influence on the band[2]), was released in December 2005, and was followed in February 2006 by “Here Comes the Rumour Mill” - the latter their first chart success, reaching #36 in the UK and receiving significant airplay on MTV2 among others. They have continued to work with Gill ever since.

The band completed a lengthy UK tour in early 2006, and supported Dirty Pretty Things and The Rakes later in the same year, fitting in an appearance at SXSW in Texas and a terrestrial television debut on Later with Jools Holland in June. In July that year, the band made their second appearance at Truck, and two more top 40 singles, “She’s Attracted To” and “Weekends And Bleak Days (Hot Summer)” (originally the lead track of the Junky… EP) followed, just before the release of Voices of Animals and Men in August. A re-issue of “The Decision” was released on 30th October, the same day the band played what Henry described onstage as their “biggest gig ever”, at the London Astoria. According to a recent interview (dated 03/11 on http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk), the next single will be Another Hollow Line. ”…whether Radio 1 will actually play it is anyone’s guess… actually I think Radio 1 have already said that they won’t play it”

The band have recently started their smaller UK tour on March 26, 2007, after several shows in the US. Regarding plans for after this tour, Henry stated that ”…we will bring out a second album of shit songs like every other band…”
They lied, the album “Superabundance” was slightly better than “a album of shit songs” it was in fact quite good.