The Veils
are a London based Indie/Alternative rock band fronted by lead singer/songwriter Finn Andrews.
Drowned In Sound said recently of Andrews' live performance "it reminds us less of Nick Cave as is often said, and more of people’s accounts of watching Ian Curtis, at once uncomfortable and impossible to look away". August Brown of The LA Times recently described their live show as "probably the most moving, unsettling and unexpectedly haunting thing I've seen in rock music this year."
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THE VEILS TICKETS
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History
Early years, The Runaway Found
and split (2001-2004)
Finn was born in London but grew up "Ping-Ponging" between his father (musician
Barry Andrews) who lived in England, and his mother and sister in
Auckland,
New Zealand. Finn began writing music while in Auckland though and frequented the local folk club during his early teens where he also played in 12 piece band. Eight of the ten songs that would make up
The Runaway Found were written during this time, when Finn was between 14 and 16 years old. When Finn was 17 he sent a demo tape around to record companies in
London and received several replies from record labels asking him to come
London and make a record. Finn had apparently received no interest from labels in his home of
New Zealand so left school at the start of his 7th form year and moved to
London. He was signed by
Geoff Travis a mere 3 weeks after stepping off the plane. Things were not plain sailing from there though - due to a long running dispute between
Blanco Y Negro (a major label/indie label hybrid of
Rough Trade Records and
Warner Brothers) and the head of
Warner Music at that time, The Veils record was delayed 2 years before it finally hit the shelves on February 16th, 2004, now signed straight to
Rough Trade Records. Two weeks after the album was released, Andrews, now 20 years old, announced he was unhappy with the direction the band had taken and that he would be disbanding the group, perhaps indefinitely.
New line-up and Nux Vomica
(2005-2006)
Andrews returned to New Zealand, where he instantly started writing new material. He spent the Summer of 2005 rehearsing with high-school mates Liam Gerrard (keyboards) and
Sophia Burn (bass) in Liam's bedroom and soon amassed an album's worth of material. When the trio returned to London they were joined by Dan Raishbrook (guitar) and Henning Dietz (drums), who completed the new line-up.
Nux Vomica
was recorded with producer
Nick Launay between Los Angeles and New Zealand in the Spring of 2006 and then released on September 18. The new, far heavier and complex sound of the band was partially built on string arrangements by ex
Lounge Lizard Jane Scarpantoni, but also a newly found, highly animalistic energy. Two singles were released from the album: "
Advice for Young Mothers to Be" (September 4 2006) and "One Night on Earth" (April 15 2007), and the album featured on 16 English & American critics best of the year lists that year.
Sun Gangs
(2007-2009)
In the following 16 months after the release of
Nux Vomica
the band played about 167 shows across 15 countries and during the
U.S. leg of the tour it was announced that the keyboardist Liam Gerrard decided to leave the band to return home in New Zealand, due to personal reasons. The Veils carried on as a four piece and, whilst based in a garage in
Oklahoma, they started recording new demos between playing shows on the east and west coast of America. By mid-2008 they were back to London to begin work on the third album with producer
Graham Sutton. The recording sessions at West Point Studios lasted three weeks and at the end of the summer the album was done and ready to be mixed. In March 2009 they began touring the new songs in
Europe and America with temporary drummer Raife Burchell.
Sun Gangs
was released on April 6 2009 and three weeks after drummer Henning Dietz left the band. The Veils are currently playing festivals in Europe and Andrews is said to have begun writing a new album which he intends to finish after the band's yet to be confirmed tour of
Australia and
New Zealand at the end of the year.
Discography and Videography
Studio albums
- The Runaway Found
(February 16 2004, UK Albums Chart #26)
- Nux Vomica
(September 18 2006, UK Albums Chart #19)
- Sun Gangs
(April 6 2009, UK Albums Chart #21)
Singles
- "Death & Co." (August 19 2002)
- "More Heat Than Light" (November 18 2002)
- "The Leavers Dance" (February 24 2003)
- "Guiding Light" (July 28 2003)
- "Lavinia" (November 24 2003)
- "The Wild Son" (January 26 2004, UK Singles Chart #74)
- "The Tide That Left and Never Came Back" (June 7 2004, UK Singles Chart #63)
- "Advice for Young Mothers to Be" (September 4 2006)
- "One Night on Earth" (April 15 2007)
Videos
- "Lavinia" (directed by Gavin Boyter, 2003)
- "The Wild Son" (2004)
- "The Tide That Left and Never Came Back" (directed by Gina Birch, 2004)
- "Advice for Young Mothers to Be" (directed by Suzanne Schurgers for Minivegas, 2006)
- "Calliope!" (directed by The Brownlee Brothers, 2007)
- "The Letter" (directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, 2009)
- "Begin Again" (directed by Sean Grattan, 2009)