The Needs
Encyclopedia
Special Needs are a five-piece alternative rock group formed in London
, England
in 1998, disbanded in 2005 and reformed in 2011. They regularly appeared live on bills with bands such as Razorlight
, The Libertines
, Art Brut, and Maximo Park
.
in the autumn of 1998 and it appeared that the band would never get off the ground. At Sheffield, Shack and James met Andrew Pearson who would join the band on rhythm guitar and convinced Stephenson that the band could still work despite the distance between members. The band played their first gig in September 1999 at the Bull & Gate, Kentish Town. In the first three years several drummers played with the band that went under the name of Panacea, having originally considered the name Mute Witness. The first of these was former BBC Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year, the violinist Yuri Zhislin.
The band finally located to London in 2001 and deployed former The Men They Couldn't Hang
drummer Jon Odgers. At this time the group, tired with pleading with venues for gigs started their own club night called Funfairs & Heartbreak after a lyric from their demo ‘Stick Around.’
At the end of 2002 Neil Allan was recruited on drums and would continue in this role until the band’s original disbandment.
In 2003, the band began to play more high profile gigs, as John Kennedy of London station Xfm
began to champion the band. All of the band’s singles became John Kennedy’s ‘Single of the Week.’ At the start of 2004, Twinstar Revolution released the double a-sided single ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Tarts.’ The single was met with some critical acclaim but did not chart.
The band formed close alliances with other bands on the London scene such as The Rocks, The Barbs and Cherubs and embarked on two tours with the former two.
In the summer of 2004, former Creation Records
boss Alan McGee
signed the band to his Poptones label and the band released the single ‘Francesca,’ which entered the British charts at number 69.
The band’s profile continued to rise as the video was featured frequently on MTV2
and by the end of the year the band had signed to Mercury Records
. There was also interest from Rough Trade
but they failed to officially declare their interest until after the day after the group had signed to Mercury.
In September 2004, the band flew to Belfast
at the request of Johnny Borrell
of Razorlight to support them at their Rizla ‘Inspired By’ gig at Belfast Empire. Borrell also named Andrew Pearson as a person who should have been included in the 2004 NME
Cool List.
Possibly the most tumultuous incident in the band’s history occurred around this time when a clearly intoxicated Stephenson punched Pearson on stage at the Infinity in Mayfair and for a while the band’s future appeared in doubt. Management moved swiftly to address certain issues and the band continued to function. Q magazine chose the band as one of their acts to look out for in 2005.
On New Year’s Eve 2004, the band played their biggest gig at the London Forum
. In March 2005 the band began recording their album ‘Funfairs and Heartbreak’ at 2khz studio in Kensal Green with Ian Grimble who had previously engineered albums for Manic Street Preachers
and Travis
. The band’s third single Blue Skies was released in June 2005 and entered the charts at number 56. The band embarked on several UK tours and on the sold out London leg of the tour stopped traffic by arriving at the venue in motorized dodgem cars. The single was runner-up for the NME’s Single of the Week and Single of the Week by Tom Robinson
on his BBC 6 Music
show. The band played the 2005 Glastonbury Festival
, the 02 Wireless Festival
in Hyde Park
and partook in Channel 4’s Road to V competition although they lost out to The Young Knives
who coincidentally supported Special Needs around this time on an NME Tour.
In the autumn of 2005, Mercury Records decided to cancel the band’s recording contract. New label management culled many of the bands around this time, including several other bands that had also started out on Alan McGee’s Poptones
label such as Thee Unstrung
, The Boxer Rebellion (band)
and The Others
.
At this point, the band decided to change their name to The Needs as they felt the name was a hindrance, anecdotally quoting one booking agent who refused to even listen to their record because of their name.
After several months of discussions with various labels about releasing the album, no offer was on the table and the band, feeling that they were starting to go backwards decided to break up.
During 2006 the members of the band were approached by ReAction records with a view to release the album and it was released (under the resumed moniker of Special Needs) in August 2006. The album was very well received, with the NME giving it 8/10 and The Sun
and The Independent
on Sunday offering glowing reviews. The only exception being a fairly negative review in Q by John Robinson who ironically had previously described the band as ‘essential’ on his Channel 4 teletext column.
On January 1, 2011, the band announced via Facebook that they had reformed with Nicholas Bukowski (formerly of The Rocks) replacing Neil Allan on drums, who has returned to his home country of Scotland. They played their first gig back together in Camden on February 15, 2011 and have since played their first gigs outside the UK in Bergen and New York. They have also recorded new material. The band will embark on their first UK tour for six years on November 22nd and release a new digital single "I Agree With Nick" on November 28th.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
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...
in 1998, disbanded in 2005 and reformed in 2011. They regularly appeared live on bills with bands such as Razorlight
Razorlight
Razorlight are a UK based indie rock band formed in 2002. They are primarily known in the UK, having topped the charts with the 2006 single "America" and its parent self-titled album, their second...
, The Libertines
The Libertines
The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...
, Art Brut, and Maximo Park
Maxïmo Park
Maxïmo Park are a British alternative rock band, formed in 2000. They are signed to Warp Records. The band consists of Paul Smith , Duncan Lloyd , Archis Tiku , Lukas Wooller and Tom English...
.
History
The band was formed in fledgling form in 1998 by London guitarist Daniel Shack and Irish singer Zachery Stephenson. Shack recruited school friend Philip James to play bass. Shack and James moved to University of SheffieldUniversity of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...
in the autumn of 1998 and it appeared that the band would never get off the ground. At Sheffield, Shack and James met Andrew Pearson who would join the band on rhythm guitar and convinced Stephenson that the band could still work despite the distance between members. The band played their first gig in September 1999 at the Bull & Gate, Kentish Town. In the first three years several drummers played with the band that went under the name of Panacea, having originally considered the name Mute Witness. The first of these was former BBC Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year, the violinist Yuri Zhislin.
The band finally located to London in 2001 and deployed former The Men They Couldn't Hang
The Men They Couldn't Hang
The Men They Couldn't Hang are a British folk punk group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush , Paul Simmonds , Philip "Swill" Odgers , Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley .- Controversy and success:Their first single, "The Green Fields...
drummer Jon Odgers. At this time the group, tired with pleading with venues for gigs started their own club night called Funfairs & Heartbreak after a lyric from their demo ‘Stick Around.’
At the end of 2002 Neil Allan was recruited on drums and would continue in this role until the band’s original disbandment.
In 2003, the band began to play more high profile gigs, as John Kennedy of London station Xfm
Xfm
Xfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio.-History:Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME Radio in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are...
began to champion the band. All of the band’s singles became John Kennedy’s ‘Single of the Week.’ At the start of 2004, Twinstar Revolution released the double a-sided single ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Tarts.’ The single was met with some critical acclaim but did not chart.
The band formed close alliances with other bands on the London scene such as The Rocks, The Barbs and Cherubs and embarked on two tours with the former two.
In the summer of 2004, former Creation Records
Creation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
boss Alan McGee
Alan McGee
Alan McGee has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for The Guardian.McGee is best-known for co-forming and running the independent Creation Records label from 1983–1999, and then Poptones from 1999-2007...
signed the band to his Poptones label and the band released the single ‘Francesca,’ which entered the British charts at number 69.
The band’s profile continued to rise as the video was featured frequently on MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
and by the end of the year the band had signed to Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
. There was also interest from Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
but they failed to officially declare their interest until after the day after the group had signed to Mercury.
In September 2004, the band flew to Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
at the request of Johnny Borrell
Johnny Borrell
Johnny Borrell is an English guitarist and singer, currently the frontman of the band Razorlight.-Early life and career:...
of Razorlight to support them at their Rizla ‘Inspired By’ gig at Belfast Empire. Borrell also named Andrew Pearson as a person who should have been included in the 2004 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...
Cool List.
Possibly the most tumultuous incident in the band’s history occurred around this time when a clearly intoxicated Stephenson punched Pearson on stage at the Infinity in Mayfair and for a while the band’s future appeared in doubt. Management moved swiftly to address certain issues and the band continued to function. Q magazine chose the band as one of their acts to look out for in 2005.
On New Year’s Eve 2004, the band played their biggest gig at the London Forum
London Forum
The London Forum, or sometimes Kentish Town Forum is a well-known venue for concerts in Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom owned by the MAMA Group. The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the closure of the cinema, The Town & Country Club was established...
. In March 2005 the band began recording their album ‘Funfairs and Heartbreak’ at 2khz studio in Kensal Green with Ian Grimble who had previously engineered albums for Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
and Travis
Travis (band)
Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
. The band’s third single Blue Skies was released in June 2005 and entered the charts at number 56. The band embarked on several UK tours and on the sold out London leg of the tour stopped traffic by arriving at the venue in motorized dodgem cars. The single was runner-up for the NME’s Single of the Week and Single of the Week by Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...
on his BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
show. The band played the 2005 Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
, the 02 Wireless Festival
Wireless Festival
The Wireless Festival is a music festival in England that takes place every year in Hyde Park, London, and took place at Harewood House, Leeds in 2006 and 2007. It is owned and managed by Live Nation....
in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
and partook in Channel 4’s Road to V competition although they lost out to The Young Knives
The Young Knives
Young Knives are an English indie rock band from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. The name is based on a misunderstanding of "young knaves", which was found by the band when rummaging through a book....
who coincidentally supported Special Needs around this time on an NME Tour.
In the autumn of 2005, Mercury Records decided to cancel the band’s recording contract. New label management culled many of the bands around this time, including several other bands that had also started out on Alan McGee’s Poptones
Poptones
Poptones is a record label launched by Alan McGee after the demise of Creation Records in 1999. Named after a Public Image Limited song, it is seen as something of a return to the staunchly independent roots of Creation...
label such as Thee Unstrung
Thee Unstrung
Thee Unstrung were an English group, signed to Mercury Records Thee Unstrung were an English group, signed to Mercury Records Thee Unstrung were an English group, signed to Mercury Records (originally signed to Alan McGee's record label Poptones. Thee Unstrung released an album in 2005 entitled...
, The Boxer Rebellion (band)
The Boxer Rebellion (band)
The Boxer Rebellion is an international indie band formed in London, United Kingdom around 2001, consisting of Tennessee-native Nathan Nicholson , Australian Todd Howe , and Englishmen Adam Harrison , and Piers Hewitt...
and The Others
The Others (band)
The Others are an English rock band, signed to Poptones in July 2004 and their eponymous debut album was released on 31 January 2005.-Career:...
.
At this point, the band decided to change their name to The Needs as they felt the name was a hindrance, anecdotally quoting one booking agent who refused to even listen to their record because of their name.
After several months of discussions with various labels about releasing the album, no offer was on the table and the band, feeling that they were starting to go backwards decided to break up.
During 2006 the members of the band were approached by ReAction records with a view to release the album and it was released (under the resumed moniker of Special Needs) in August 2006. The album was very well received, with the NME giving it 8/10 and The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
and The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
on Sunday offering glowing reviews. The only exception being a fairly negative review in Q by John Robinson who ironically had previously described the band as ‘essential’ on his Channel 4 teletext column.
On January 1, 2011, the band announced via Facebook that they had reformed with Nicholas Bukowski (formerly of The Rocks) replacing Neil Allan on drums, who has returned to his home country of Scotland. They played their first gig back together in Camden on February 15, 2011 and have since played their first gigs outside the UK in Bergen and New York. They have also recorded new material. The band will embark on their first UK tour for six years on November 22nd and release a new digital single "I Agree With Nick" on November 28th.
Singles
- "Sylvia/Tarts" (on Twinstar Revolution)(2003) – did not chart UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
- "Francesca " (Poptones)(2004) – # 69 UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
- "Blue Skies" (Poptones/Mercury)(2005) – # 56 UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
External links
- Last fm page: http://www.last.fm/music/Special+Needs
- Official Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/itwasatimetoremember