The Crimea (band)

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The Crimea are a British indie band, based in Camden, London. The band were featured in the late John Peel's Festive Fifty, ranking higher than bands such as The White Stripes and all eleven of the initial album demos were played on his show. The Guardian has described The Crimea's songs as "mini-epics" that reduce frontman Davey to "spasms of jerking anguish".

Led by singer and guitarist Davey MacManus (brother of BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac), former lead singer of The Crocketts, The Crimea also consists of:

Andy Norton - Lead guitar
Joe Udwin - Bass, backing vocals
Andrew Stafford - Keyboards, backing vocals
Owen Hopkin - Drums

1 History
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
3 External links

[edit] History

The Crimea began life as The Crocketts, signing to a UK major label, V2, in 1998 and releasing two albums; however, in late 2001, the band were dropped from the label's roster as part of a 'rationalisation' plan. Unwilling to quit following this setback, Davey MacManus and Owen Hopkin formed The Crimea. Comparing The Crimea to their former band in an early press release, "if the Crocketts were four cavemen banging stones together, [then] this is the sound of four Tchaikovskys banging Kylie Minogue".

The Crimea were signed to Warner Bros Records following a showcase at the 2004 SXSW Festival in Texas. Their debut album, Tragedy Rocks, was released in 2005, with the first single from the album, "Lottery Winners On Acid", released on January 9th, 2006; it entered the UK singles chart at No. 31 and became the first of three singles to appear as Single of the Week on what was then the show hosted by both Colin Murray and Edith Bowman on BBC Radio 1. In support of The Crimea's second single, "White Russian Galaxy", the band then performed on Top of the Pops. In the spring of 2007 the band were nearing completion on their second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour.

The Crimea have toured with artists including Regina Spektor, Billy Corgan and Ash. During December 2006 the band played three dates in support of Snow Patrol on their UK arena tour ending at Wembley Arena, London.