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| LLAMA FARMERS BIOGRAPHY |
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Bernie Simpson : vocals; guitar
Jenni Simpson : bass; vocals
William Briggs: guitar
Brooke Rogers : drums
Llama Farmers sprung into existence in a school classroom
in Greenwich sometime in 1996. Friends William Briggs and
Brooke Rogers, bored of algebra, asked the 14 year old Jennie
Simpson to join them on bass in their then nameless band.
On her first rehearsal Jennie brought along her older brother,
Bernie, for moral support but by the end of the rehearsal
he too had been recruited on guitar and vocals. A Chilean
friend at school, who the band had nicknamed ’Llama Farmer’,
gave them their somewhat unusual monicker.
After only a handful of gigs in the pubs of their hometown
Greenwich things soon escalated to a far more serious level.
Before they knew it the band were on stage at the Shepherd’s
Bush Empire supporting Foo Fighters, and had their first tour
lined up as guests of Green Day.
Fierce Panda Records were soon on the case, releasing two
7” singles - ’Always Echoes’ and ’Paper
Eyes’ - both were given hearty support from XFM and gathered
a flurry of great reviews. The summer of 1998 saw them very
prevalent on the festival scene with appearances at Glastonbury,
T in the Park and Reading festivals. Shortly afterwards a
deal with Beggars Banquet was signed and sealed.
The first single for Beggars ’Big Wheels’ was released
in January ’99 and coincided with the NME Bratbus tour
with Unkle, Idlewild and Delakota.
The debut album ’Dead Letter Chorus’ was released
in June 1999 to great media praise. Recorded at Sawmills Studio
in the Devonshire wilderness, it featured singles ’Always
Echoes’ , ’Big Wheels’, ’Get the Keys
and Go’ and ’Yellow’.
The year following ’Dead Letter Chorus’ saw Llama
Farmers play dates across Europe and make their first trip
to the States. Most of the time though has been spent locked
in the studio hatching incredible musical ideas and nurturing
them into fruition.
The result, ’El Toppo’ , is released on October
23rd 2000 and contains Llama Farmers’ finest songs to
date blending their signature stop-start dynamics with lurching,
jagged guitars and invigoratingly melodic pop hooks. Including
the singles ’Same Song’, ’Snow White’
and 9 other euphonious gems, it’s a must-have album for
the fast approaching autumn evenings. |
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