Whistler were a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 indie

Indie (music)

In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....

 band who released two albums on the Wiiija

Wiiija

Wiiija was a British independent record label. It was founded in 1988 by staff from the Rough Trade Shop in Notting Hill, London. The name Wiiija is a corruption of W11 1JA, the postcode of the Rough Trade Shop in Talbot Street....

 label.
Formed by Ian Dench

Ian Dench

Ian Dench is a British songwriter and musician. Dench was the guitarist and principal songwriter for EMF, who scored a major international hit reaching number 1 in the United States with "Unbelievable" in 1991....

 after leaving EMF

EMF (band)

EMF were an indie dance band from the United Kingdom. The band, from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, came to prominence at the beginning of the 1990s. During its initial eight year run , EMF had released three studio albums and had gone on hiatus and reformed twice...

, the band consisted of Dench, Kerry Shaw (who had previously released a dance single through EMI

EMI

The 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...

 called "Could This Be Love") and James Topham (who had previously played with Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

).
Both of the band's albums feature contributions from Tim Weller (of Grand Drive

Grand Drive

Grand Drive is a group led by brothers Danny and Julian Wilson. Born in Australia, they were brought up in South London but their music is distinctly tinged by American music....

) and Fuzz Townshend.

Whistler gigged regularly around London in 1998-2000, including four concerts at The Water Rats in King's Cross. Each of these performances included a special cover version. Studio recordings of these were put together as the Intermission EP.

Albums

• Whistler (Wiiija, 1999)
• Faith in the Morning (Wiiija, 2000)

Singles

• "Rare American Shoes" (Wiiija, 1998)
• "If I Give You a Smile" (Wiiija, 1998)
• "Don't Jump in Front of My Train" (Wiiija, 1999)
• "Happiness" (Wiiija, 2000)