The Cribs
are an English 4-piece indie rock band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The band consist of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. Recently they have been joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who has been made a formal member of the group since 2008. The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US indie rock bands of the time. In 2008, Q
magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
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THE CRIBS TICKETS
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Recordings
The band have released three albums on the
Wichita label - self titled debut
The Cribs
in 2004,
The New Fellas
in 2005 and
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
in 2007. Known for their staunchly purist approach to recording, the band have often been labeled as 'Lo-Fi'. Significantly, their debut album was recorded in 7 days at London's
Toe Rag Studio, onto 8-track.
Toe Rag Studio is known for its vintage set up which is as authentic to an original 1960s studio as is possible in the modern day. Parts of this record were taken from the original sessions the band recorded with Chicago based avant-garde musician
Bobby Conn.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with
Edwyn Collins, the singer/songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential
Orange Juice in London at his own studio. Again, a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the
Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'Lo-Fi' roots
[1] being recorded in
Canada with
Alex Kapranos of
Franz Ferdinand as producer. The album was mixed by
Andy Wallace (
Nirvana,
Foo Fighters). The album was released on 21 May 2007 and was preceded by a single,
Men's Needs
, on 7 May, which reached #17.
Currently, the bands last 7 chart-elligible single releases have charted inside the UK Top 40.
Their song "Martell" from
The New Fellas
release was featured in the Canadian
Telus Commercial, a series of commercials known for consistently featuring less mainstream yet iconic music ranging from
Daft Punk to
Supergrass.
The band appeared on
Later with Jools Holland
in May 2007, prior to the release of
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
, where they played the songs
Men's Needs,
Our Bovine Public and I'm a Realist.
Men's Needs
is the bands biggest hit to date, reaching number 17 in the UK charts. The track has also picked up many accolades, including being named 3rd best track of 2007 by NME, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro paper and finishing in the 100 best tracks in
Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
Their song
Hey Scenesters!
was listed in
NME's "50 Greatest Indie Anthems Of All Time". The band were one of only a few contemporary bands included in the list.
They appeared on the
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
on
July 18,
2007,
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
on 27 July 2007 and
The Late Show with David Letterman on 18 March 2008.
Recently, the band were personally invited to support the
Sex Pistols at four of their five comeback concerts in
Brixton in November.
In November 2007, The Cribs were named as the headlining act of the 2008
NME Awards Tour. They were nominated for four NME awards; Best British Band, Best Live Act, Best Track ("Men's Needs") and Hero Of The Year (
Ryan Jarman),
[2] but won none of these awards.
In February 2008, they released "I'm A Realist"/"Bastards of Young", the latter a
cover of a song by
The Replacements.
[3]
The new album was announced in June 2009, the title being "Ignore The Ignorant", with a release date of 7th September. It will be preceded by first single "Cheat On Me" on 31st August.
Live performances
Known for their raucous, unpredictable live shows the band have built-up a fanatical following due to a heavy touring schedule since the release of the first record. Their DIY ethic also led to them touring independently, when they were supposed to be off the road writing. Although this contributed to the bands success, and much larger venues, the band have always claimed to be more at home doing things in that way. On their first tour back after recording the third record in early 2007 the band returned to their roots and held some gigs in very small, intimate venues, including a show in their hometown at the Wakefield Escobar and another at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds (a venue they used to play at when they first started out). In June, they returned to Leeds at the climax of their full-size UK tour with two consecutive sold out nights at the University Refectory (the first band to do this since
Ian Dury and the Blockheads 30 years ago). They subsequently came back and accomplished the same feat in 2008, after the show being presented with an award by the University for being the first band in its history to have '2 consecutive years of 2 consecutive nights of sell-out shows at Leeds University Refectory'. In 2007 the band spoke out against the mainstreaming of
Indie in the
NME
.
In November 2007, they were invited by
The Sex Pistols to support them for 4 nights at the
Brixton Academy to mark the 30th anniversary of their
Never Mind The Bollocks album.
In 2008, The Cribs headlined the Radio1/NME stage at the
Leeds Festival, and the
Reading Festival. The Cribs, along with
The Subways are also the only bands in the festivals history to progress through all the festivals stages in consecutive years, Carling Stage (2004), Radio1/NME Stage (2005), Main Stage (2006) - though The Cribs would trump them due to a performance they made on the Comedy Stage in 2002 and a headlining set on the Radio1/NME Stage in 2008.
On 8 December 2008,
NME
announced that the band would be playing a short
UK tour to promote their latest album, due to be recorded shortly after.
[4] The tour visits a number of small intimate venues, including
The Ritz in
Manchester,
London's
Heaven, the
ABC in
Glasgow and
St George's Hall in
Bradford.
The band have announced a UK tour to support the new album. It runs from 24 September 2009 to 15 October 2009 and takes in 14 venues. Afterwards, they have dates planned in Japan, New York, Los Angeles, and Europe (supporting Franz Ferdinand in the latter) before another four UK gigs in December. More U.S. dates are pending.
Collaborations
In 2007
Lee Ranaldo from
Sonic Youth collaborated with the band on their third album. The track "
Be Safe" is a Ranaldo
spoken word piece performed by the artist, and backed with The Cribs' music. They have a history of collaborations with artists such as
Edwyn Collins (
Orange Juice),
Jon Slade (
Huggy Bear,
Comet Gain),
Bobby Conn (Bobby Conn and The Glass Gypsies),
Bernard Butler (
Suede,
McAlmont and Butler),
Joe Plummer (
Modest Mouse), the aforementioned
Lee Ranaldo (
Sonic Youth) and
Alex Kapranos (
Franz Ferdinand). The band are currently collaborating with
Johnny Marr (
The Smiths) who has recently confirmed himself as a full time member of the band.
Discography
Albums
- The Cribs
(2004) Wichita
- The New Fellas
(2005) UK #78 Wichita
- Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
(2007) UK #13 Wichita (Silver disc)
- Ignore the Ignorant
(September 2009)
Singles
Showing UK chart positions
- "Jen Schande Split Single" (2003) Squirrel Number 3
- "Baby Don't Sweat" (2003) ''The Cribs'
- "You Were Always the One" (2004) The Cribs
UK #66
- "What About Me" (2004) The Cribs
UK #75
- "Hey Scenesters!" (2005) The New Fellas
UK #27
- "Mirror Kissers" (2005) The New Fellas'' UK #27
- "Martell" (2005) The New Fellas
UK #39
- "You're Gonna Lose Us" (2005) Non-album UK #30
- "Men's Needs" (2007) Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
UK #17
- "Moving Pictures" (2007) Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
UK #38
- "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant? / Our Bovine Public" (2007) Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
UK #39
- "I'm a Realist" (2008) Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
(none chart eligible release)
- "Cheat On Me" (2009) UK #88
[5]
Non-Album Tracks
The Wakefield band are known for writing and releasing many non-album tracks for b-sides or stand alone singles, like "You're Gonna Lose Us" (2006) and "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?" (2007).
- "You're Gonna Lose Us"
- "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?"
- "On The Floor"
- "Death To the Dead Bodies"
- "Feelin' It!"
- "I Gotta Go To LA"
- "Song From Practice 1"
- "Happy's Just a State Of Mind And A State Of Mind Is Just Electrical Impulses"
- "It Happened So Fast"
- "North Of England"
- "Im Still Blaming You"
- "Saturday Night Facts Of Life"
- "To Jackson"
- "I Was Her Man But I Done Her Wrong"
- "Advice From A Roving Artist"
- "Kind Words From The Broken Hearted"
- "Fairer Sex"
- "Tonight"
- "My Adolescent Dreams"
- "Run A Mile"
- "Get Yr Hands Out Of My Grave"
- "Bastards Of Young"
DVDs
- Live At The Brudenell Social Club
(15 December 2008), which includes an intimate live version of every Cribs song released to date.
References
- Franz Ferdinand and The Cribs team up | News | NME.COM
- NME.COM - Shockwaves NME Awards 2008
- Teletext Music News
- The Cribs showcase new songs with Johnny Marr
- British Hit Singles & Albums