The Bees (UK band)

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For the US band of the same name, see The Bees (US band)

The Bees (a.k.a. A Band of Bees)

Background information
Origin	Isle of Wight, England
Genre(s)	Indie rock
Years active	2001 – present
Label(s)	Virgin Records (formally We Love You) Astralwerks
Website	www.thebees.info
Members
Paul Butler Aaron Fletcher Kris Birkin Michael Clevett Tim Parkin Warren Hampshire

The Bees (known in United States as A Band of Bees) are an English band from Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Although they are classified as a indie rock group, they play a particular style of music that is somewhat hard to categorize, as the band have a colourful range of influences, such as 60's rock, reggae and jazz.

The band consist of:

Paul Butler - lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, etc.
Aaron Fletcher - bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, etc.
Kris Birkin - guitar, backing vocals
Michael Clevett - drums, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals, etc.
Tim Parkin - trumpet, bass guitar, backing vocals, etc.
Warren Hampshire - hammond organ

The Bees have so far released two albums, 2002's Mercury Prize-nominated Sunshine Hit Me (which was acclaimed by critics for being recorded in Butler's own garden shed) and its' 2004 major label follow-up Free the Bees. Both albums feature songs that have been used in British television advertisements, which are partially responsible for the band's recognition: Sunshine Hit Me's "A Minha Menina", a cover of an Os Mutantes track, appeared in a Citroën car commercial, whilst "Chicken Payback" and "Wash in the Rain", both from Free the Bees, were incorporated in adverts for Sure Deodorant for Men and Sainsbury's, respectively.

A third album, called Octopus, is currently being finished and should be released by March 2007. There are already are some new songs listenable on their MySpace [1], including "Who Cares What The Question Is?", due to be the album's lead single.