Nizlopi
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| Nizlopi | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, UK |
| Genre(s) | Folk/Hip-Hop |
| Years active | 1990s–Present |
| Label(s) | FDM Records |
| Members | |
| Luke Concannon (Vocals, Guitar, Bodhran) John Parker (Double Bass, Beatbox) |
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Nizlopi (IPA: /nɪzlɔpi/) is a two-piece band: Luke Concannon (vocals, guitar, and bodhran) and John Parker (double bass, human beatbox and backing vocals). They were based in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom (although Luke has moved to London) and were educated at Trinity Catholic Technology College. The band is named after a Hungarian girl that Luke had a crush on at school.
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[edit] History
[edit] Half These Songs Are About You
Nizlopi released their first album, Half These Songs Are About You, in 2004 under FDM Records, and was generally very well received.[citation needed] It features the singles JCB and Girls. In 2007 Nizlopi received an Impala Platinum award recognising sales of Half These Songs Are About You in Europe.
[edit] JCB
"JCB Song" is Nizlopi's most successful song to date, after reaching number one in the UK on its second release. The song was written about Luke's troubles with dyslexia at school and his escape to accompany his dad at work, and was released as a single in June 2005, reaching number 160 in the UK Singles Chart. The single was then re-released in the UK on 12 December 2005, reaching number one the following week on 18 December 2005, selling more than twice the number than the closest contender, Westlife. Dermot O'Leary gave the track extensive airplay on his BBC Radio 2 show. Some bookmakers put it in the running for the honour of Christmas number one but it was beaten by the winner of the second series of the UK version of The X Factor, Shayne Ward's debut single "That's My Goal". The video has received lots of airplay, mainly on music TV channel VH1. It is an animated video, made by Laith Bahrani (a.k.a. 'Monkeehub'), who also animated an unofficial video for an acoustic version of "Creep" by Radiohead. In 2007 Nizlopi received an Impala Platinum award recognising sales of over 500,000 copies of JCB (song) across Europe.
[edit] "Girls"
Their next single, released on 3 April 2006, was track two on the album, "Girls". The band have described the song's video on radio interviews as "Tim Burton-esque". The video was directed by Karni & Saul of Flynn Productions, and is the first that the band appear in. It was released, in what is now traditional Nizlopi strategy, on the Internet first.
[edit] ExtraOrdinary
A mini-EP containing six songs and titled ExtraOrdinary, was released on 4 September 2006. The six tracks included two that had been released before—"Helen" and "Yesterday" which were previously released on the JCB and Girls EPs respectively. The record is an attempt to strip down the orchestral production of their early work to represent the duo's vibrant live sound.
ExtraOrdinary contains the track, "Homage To Young Men", a piece written and performed by Alastair McIntosh. Alastair is one of Luke Concannon's favourite authors (Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame is also a fan of Alastair's). Alastair is an 'eco activist' and human ecologist and was inspired to write this piece after working with Luke. He has performed live twice with the band, performing this song with them. The band have likened Alastair's performances to "..the howlings of a wild animal". Alastair is well known for his contributions to the Scottish version of 'Thought for the Day' and has been dubbed "The Rapping Reverend".
[edit] Make It Happen
The long-awaited second full album from Nizlopi was released on 31 March, 2008. The album was recorded with legendary producer Phill Brown who has produced for artists such as Bob Marley in the past. The album was recorded on 2-inch tape, a traditional style of recording said to create a more 'raw' sound that is popular with musicians preceding the era of digital recording technology.
[edit] "Start Beginning"
The release of new album Make It Happen was preceded on 17 March, 2008 by a digital single "Start Beginning". A live favourite, the single is the first version of the song to be recorded in a studio environment, and is the first full track from the new album.
[edit] Live shows
Nizlopi have relentlessly toured since early 2000. They are renowned for crowd involvement at their gigs, giving an energetic performance. They often improvise, even going so far as to invite people up on stage to sing and dance or unplugging and going into the crowd themselves. They took part in 'Healthy Concerts' or 'gigs in digs' where artists play in someone's house.
They have been on tour with, and shared gigs and stages with a diverse range of artists, touring the UK and Europe with Jamie Cullum, joined Christina Aguilera for two nights at Wembley Arena, toured Ireland with Damien Dempsey, opened Gigbeth festival with Mr Hudson and The Library, duetted with Billy Bragg at the Hackney Empire, and been supported at headline shows by Newton Faulkner and Duke Special amongst others.
The band have been able to take in a great number of venues of note, headlining shows at the Shepherd's Bush Empire and at Indigo2 at the O2 Arena (formerly the Millennium Dome. They are also popular regulars on the festival circuit, having performed to crowds for years at Glastonbury Festival, Wireless Festival, Ireland's Fleadh, and Cambridge Folk Festival to name just a few.
[edit] Trivia
John owns four double basses, whom he has named Stephanie, Catherine, Nanny and a travel bass, Jean-Philippe. The only bass that he regularly uses is Nanny.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums and EPs
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[edit] Singles
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