Mumm-Ra
Encyclopedia
Mumm-Ra were an English
indie rock
band originated from Bexhill on Sea. Niall Buckler was only fourteen years old when he formed the band, which took their name from Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, the main villain of the 1980s cartoon, Thundercats
. They first rose to public attention when they performed with the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour alongside The Automatic
, The View
and The Horrors
, and were featured in the January 2007 edition of NME
as one of ten bands who were "guaranteed to soundtrack" 2007.
and then on what transpired to be their final UK tour, but no further details of their second album was ever released. Gareth Jennings came back to Bexhill on July 15, 2007 to appear on radio station Bexhill FM
. A whole hour was dedicated to Mumm-Ra, where the breakfast show presenter Richard Harris played a whole hour of their music, as well as their inspirations and their second album. The interview was also conducted by Declan Nye and Jonathan Higgins.
for two shows in Berlin and Munich. March 2007 saw the band supporting The Killers for dates in Amsterdam, Cologne, Berlin, and Frankfurt.
Mumm-Ra had a toy duck as the band's mascot named "Matthew the Duck," who lead singer James New often used as a prop in live events.
From late 2006 Mumm-Ra was joined by Tommy B on keyboards for live performances only. He played all subsequent gigs, missing only one, Hertford Marquee, in March 2008, and played his final gig with the band in Cambridge at the end of March 2008.
page:
An official reason for the band's split was never given, giving rise to some speculation as to record company pressure (Columbia cancelled the proposed fourth single, Starlight, after the release date had been arranged and a promotional video had been completed). The band's official website was closed shortly after the split was announced, effectively ending any further discussion on the reasons behind the band's demise. The band members are now pursuing other musical projects, except for drummer Gareth who enrolled at University. Keyboard player Tommy has gone on to become the keyboard player backing UK band White Lies
when playing live. Noo and Tate are now part of the band Mirrors
. Before the split, it was mentioned on a MySpace blog that Mumm-Ra cancelled the remaining dates of their UK tour so they could work on a new album, which never emerged. Only four of the planned second album tracks are believed to have been played live - "Sticks and Stones", "Secrets", "Jeremy" (later changed to "Jenivive"), and "Clowns". A demo version of "Clowns" was recorded but never released in full, while "Sticks and Stones" was recorded live at Wireless 2007, being the only clear audio of a live performance of any of the unreleased songs intended for the second album. At their Hertford Marquee show in March 2008, a song titled "Organ" appeared on the setlist but was not played. It is unclear if this was a working title for one of the already played new songs.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band originated from Bexhill on Sea. Niall Buckler was only fourteen years old when he formed the band, which took their name from Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, the main villain of the 1980s cartoon, Thundercats
ThunderCats
ThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions debuting in 1984, based on the characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. The series follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens...
. They first rose to public attention when they performed with the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour alongside The Automatic
The Automatic
The Automatic , are a Welsh rock band. The band is composed of Robin Hawkins on vocals, bass and synthesizers, James Frost on guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals and occasional bass, Iwan Griffiths on drums and Paul Mullen on vocals, guitar and synthesizer - since 2007...
, The View
The View (band)
The View are a Scottish indie rock band. They incorporate various styles such as punk, pop, alternative rock, pop punk, powerpop, folk, and acoustic in their music....
and The Horrors
The Horrors
The Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK...
, and were featured in the January 2007 edition of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
as one of ten bands who were "guaranteed to soundtrack" 2007.
Recording history
The band released their debut album on May 28, 2007, with three singles, Out Of The Question, What Would Steve Do? and She's Got You High. Mumm-Ra's song She's Got You High was music in the hit movie, 500 Days of Summer. Starlight had been slated to be the fourth single but it was ultimately never released. The band was in the process of writing material for their second album, and had trialled some new tracks live on their tour of JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and then on what transpired to be their final UK tour, but no further details of their second album was ever released. Gareth Jennings came back to Bexhill on July 15, 2007 to appear on radio station Bexhill FM
Bexhill FM
Bexhill FM is a Restricted Service Licence FM frequency station broadcasting to Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, UK for one week a year.The station is regulated by the Office of Communications, usually known as Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator whenever it is on air in its RSL period...
. A whole hour was dedicated to Mumm-Ra, where the breakfast show presenter Richard Harris played a whole hour of their music, as well as their inspirations and their second album. The interview was also conducted by Declan Nye and Jonathan Higgins.
Live performances
In addition to co-headlining the NME tour, Mumm-Ra also opened for several other acts. In October 2006, Mumm-Ra performed at the MTV2 Gonzo show with The View and The Kooks. In November of that same year, Mumm-Ra supported the Kaiser ChiefsKaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 1996. They were named after the South African football club Kaizer Chiefs....
for two shows in Berlin and Munich. March 2007 saw the band supporting The Killers for dates in Amsterdam, Cologne, Berlin, and Frankfurt.
- Les Inrock Tour, France, November 9–13, 2006
- O2 Wireless Festival 2007
- Glastonbury Festival, June 2007, playing the John PeelJohn PeelJohn Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
Stage - Shockwaves NME Award Indie Rock Tour 2007, along with The HorrorsThe HorrorsThe Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK...
, The ViewThe View (band)The View are a Scottish indie rock band. They incorporate various styles such as punk, pop, alternative rock, pop punk, powerpop, folk, and acoustic in their music....
and The AutomaticThe AutomaticThe Automatic , are a Welsh rock band. The band is composed of Robin Hawkins on vocals, bass and synthesizers, James Frost on guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals and occasional bass, Iwan Griffiths on drums and Paul Mullen on vocals, guitar and synthesizer - since 2007... - Great Escape Festival, Brighton, May 17–19, 2007
- UK Tour, April 14 - May 10, 2007
- T in the Park, July 2007
- V Festival August 2007
- Mumm-Ra performed "Song B" on MOJO HD's show London Live.
Mumm-Ra had a toy duck as the band's mascot named "Matthew the Duck," who lead singer James New often used as a prop in live events.
From late 2006 Mumm-Ra was joined by Tommy B on keyboards for live performances only. He played all subsequent gigs, missing only one, Hertford Marquee, in March 2008, and played his final gig with the band in Cambridge at the end of March 2008.
Breakup
On April 17, 2008, the band unexpectedly released a statement announcing that they had split, posting the following on their MySpaceMySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page:
"After 7 years, 11 months and 21 days of writing and playing music together us Mumm-ra boys have decided our journey as a band has come to an end. It has without doubt been the most fantastic adventure any of us could possibly have imagined all those years ago when the rather niave(sic) idea to form a band sprang from our young minds and led us to the nearest practise room.
Since then we have eaten in skyscrappers in tokyo, danced with tottenham fans in cologne, made a video in hollywood, posed with the playboy bunnies in barcelona, met real life rednecks in texas, had street fights with the view, played glastonbury, rocked the nme tour to pieces, supported the killers, the kooks and the kaiser chiefs around europe and generally just had the most incredible time along the way.
We would like to thank every single person who has supported us over the years whether it be through buying our album, coming to our gigs or just giving us a listen. No doubt various members will have new projects up and running in the near fututre. But until then......
Mumm-ra fur immer,
Mumm-Ra"
An official reason for the band's split was never given, giving rise to some speculation as to record company pressure (Columbia cancelled the proposed fourth single, Starlight, after the release date had been arranged and a promotional video had been completed). The band's official website was closed shortly after the split was announced, effectively ending any further discussion on the reasons behind the band's demise. The band members are now pursuing other musical projects, except for drummer Gareth who enrolled at University. Keyboard player Tommy has gone on to become the keyboard player backing UK band White Lies
White Lies (band)
White Lies is an English indie rock band from Ealing, London. Formerly known as Fear of Flying, the band consists primarily of Harry McVeigh , Charles Cave , and Jack Lawrence-Brown...
when playing live. Noo and Tate are now part of the band Mirrors
Mirrors (band)
Mirrors are an English synthpop band originating from Brighton who formed in 2008. The band consists of James New , Ally Young , James Arguile and Josef Page...
. Before the split, it was mentioned on a MySpace blog that Mumm-Ra cancelled the remaining dates of their UK tour so they could work on a new album, which never emerged. Only four of the planned second album tracks are believed to have been played live - "Sticks and Stones", "Secrets", "Jeremy" (later changed to "Jenivive"), and "Clowns". A demo version of "Clowns" was recorded but never released in full, while "Sticks and Stones" was recorded live at Wireless 2007, being the only clear audio of a live performance of any of the unreleased songs intended for the second album. At their Hertford Marquee show in March 2008, a song titled "Organ" appeared on the setlist but was not played. It is unclear if this was a working title for one of the already played new songs.
Members
- James "Tate" Arguile - GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Niall Buckler - BassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - James "Noo" New - Lead Vocals
- Oli Frost - GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Gareth "The Rock" Jennings - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Tommy B - Live KeyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
EPs
- The Dance in France (self-released 8 track EP 2005)
- The Dance on the Shore (self-released 8 track EP 2006)
- What Would Steve Do? (self-released 7", April 2006)
- Black Hurts Day and the Night Rolls OnBlack Hurts Day and the Night Rolls OnBlack Hurts Day and the Night Rolls On is the first EP by English pop-rock band Mumm-ra. "Song B" and a re-recorded version of "Light up This Room" were later included on the band's debut album, These Things Move in Threes....
(CD + 10", July 2006)
Other contributions
- The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary ShowThe Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary ShowThe Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show is a 2-disc compilation album of BBC Radio 2 popular music recordings, released in the United Kingdom in July 2007...
(2007, EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
) - "In Between Days" - (500) Days of Summer (Music from the Motion Picture) (2009, Sire RecordsSire RecordsSire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
) - "She's Got You High" - Angus, Thongs and Perfect SnoggingAngus, Thongs and Perfect SnoggingAngus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British coming of age film film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha starring Georgia Groome. It is based on two teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers...
(Soundtrack) - "She's Got You High" - The InbetweenersThe InbetweenersThe Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was...
(Soundtrack) - "She's Got You High"
External links
- Mumm-Ra at The Indie Music Database