The Cribs

The Cribs are an English three-piece indie rock band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths and Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr who was made a formal member of the group in 2008. Marr would remain as part of the band until 2011; his departure was officially announced on 11 April through the band's website. Despite returning to the original trio, the band currently enlists David Jones of Nine Black Alps as a second guitarist for live shows. The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".

History

Formed in 2000, The Cribs began gigging locally and caught the eye of Leeds-based indie Squirrel Records; a handshake deal to release a one-off 7" was agreed soon after. Primarily a punk/garage/riot grrrl-based label, Squirrel was still in its infancy at this point, and the single "Baby Don't Sweat/You & I" (a split 7" with Jen Schande) didn't materialise until 2002. It was recorded by the band at their own Springtime Studios, a lo-fi all analogue set-up in an ancient mill.

The band has released four albums on the Wichita label - self-titled debut The Cribs in 2004, The New Fellas in 2005, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever in 2007 and Ignore The Ignorant in 2009. Known for their staunchly purist approach to recording, the band have often been labeled as 'Lo-Fi'. Significantly, their debut album was recorded in seven days at London's Toe Rag Studio, onto 8-track. Toe Rag Studio is known for its vintage set-up which is as authentic to an original 1960s studio as is possible in the modern day. Parts of this record were taken from the original sessions the band recorded with Chicago-based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn.

The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own studio. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. It was leaked onto the internet several months before the official release date, which hampered its chart placement – it has since however been certified a silver record by the BPI. B-sides from this period were self-produced by the band at their Springtime Studios.

Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots,^[1] being recorded in Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). The album was released on 21 May 2007 and was preceded by a single, "Men's Needs", on 7 May, which reached #17.

Currently, the bands last seven chart-eligible single releases have charted inside the UK Top 40.

Their song "Martell" from The New Fellas release was featured in the Canadian Telus commercial.

The band appeared on Later with Jools Holland in May 2007, prior to the release of Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever, where they played the songs "Men's Needs", "Our Bovine Public" and "I'm a Realist". "Men's Needs" is the band's biggest hit to date, reaching number 17 in the UK charts. The track has also picked up many accolades, including being named 3rd-best track of 2007 by NME, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro paper and finishing in the 100 best tracks in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.

Their song "Hey Scenesters!" was listed in NME's "50 Greatest Indie Anthems Of All Time". The band were one of only a few contemporary bands included in the list.

They appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on 18 July 2007, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 27 July 2007 and The Late Show with David Letterman on 18 March 2008.

Recently, the band were personally invited to support the Sex Pistols at four of their five comeback concerts in Brixton in November. In November 2007, The Cribs were named as the headlining act of the 2008 NME Awards Tour. They were nominated for four NME awards: Best British Band, Best Live Act, Best Track ("Men's Needs") and Hero Of The Year (Ryan Jarman),^[2] but won none of these awards. In February 2008, they released "I'm A Realist"/"Bastards of Young", the latter a cover of a song by The Replacements.^[3]

Johnny Marr, former guitarist for The Smiths, would become a full-time member of the band in 2008. In an interview with Baeblemusic.com, Ross Jarman said they met Marr at "the Glastonbury Festival and have been jamming together for the last couple years".^[4]

The band's fourth album Ignore The Ignorant was recorded with post-punk producer Nick Launay at Los Angeles' Seedy Underbelly studios and released in the United States on 7 September 2009, preceded by first single "Cheat On Me".^[5]

In December 2009, Ignore The Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums Of The Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums Of The Year". At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album Of The Century" by Q.

On 9 August 2010, Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, "Housewife" was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment.

On 11 April 2011, the band confirmed that Marr would no longer be part of the band,^[6] while Marr also released a statement saying that he would be working on solo material.^[7] Earlier in the year, the band announced their plans to work on their fifth album after the summer's festival season.^[8]

As of November 2011, the band is in the process of recording their fifth album for release in 2012. According to an interview in The Fly, the producers are Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips) and David Richards (Queen). Gary Jarman recently said in an interview at Clockenflap that the album should be ready around May 2012. Three new Cribs tracks have been played live, these are Leather Jacket Love Song, Anna and Come.

Live performances

Known for their raucous, unpredictable live shows the band have built-up a fanatical following due to a heavy touring schedule since the release of the first record. Their DIY ethic also led to them touring independently, when they were supposed to be off the road writing. Although this contributed to the band's success, and much larger venues, the band have always claimed to be more at home doing things in that way. On their first tour back after recording the third record in early 2007 the band returned to their roots and held some gigs in very small, intimate venues, including a show in their hometown at the Wakefield Escobar and another at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds (a venue they used to play at when they first started out). In June, they returned to Leeds at the climax of their full-size UK tour with two consecutive sold out nights at the University Refectory (the first band to do this since Ian Dury and the Blockheads 30 years ago). They subsequently came back and accomplished the same feat in 2008, after the show being presented with an award by the University for being the first band in its history to have '2 consecutive years of 2 consecutive nights of sell-out shows at Leeds University Refectory'.

In November 2007, they were invited by The Sex Pistols to support them for 4 nights at the Brixton Academy to mark the 30th anniversary of their Never Mind The Bollocks album.

In 2008, The Cribs headlined the Radio1/NME stage at the Leeds Festival, and the Reading Festival. The Cribs, along with The Subways and Frank Turner are also the only bands in the festivals history to progress through all the festivals stages in consecutive years, Carling Stage (2004), Radio1/NME Stage (2005), Main Stage (2006) - though The Cribs would trump them due to a performance they made on the Comedy Stage in 2002 and a headlining set on the Radio1/NME Stage in 2008. The band were announced as one of the acts to perform on the main stage in 2010.

On 8 December 2008, NME announced that the band would be playing a short UK tour to promote their latest album, due to be recorded shortly after.^[9] The tour visits a number of small intimate venues, including The Ritz in Manchester, London's Heaven, the ABC in Glasgow and St George's Hall in Bradford.

The band announced a UK tour to support the new album. It ran from 24 September 2009 to 15 October 2009 and takes in 14 venues. Afterwards, they had dates in Japan, New York, Los Angeles, and Europe (supporting Franz Ferdinand in the latter) before another four UK gigs in December, which saw them headline their first arena when they played Doncaster Dome. January 2010 saw a full tour of the U.S. and Canada. In February 2010, they toured Australia and New Zealand - playing in Wellington on 26 February^[10] and Auckland on the 27th.^[11] In June 2011, the band played its first shows in Brazil.

The Cribs have played at Get Loaded In The Park 2011 on Clapham Common, London on Sunday 12 June.

They played at Latitude Festival 2011 in Suffolk, England on Saturday 16 July at the Obelisk Arena.^[12] They played on 20 July in Paris at the Zenith, before the Strokes and on 11 December in the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong.

On 8 December 2011 , The Cribs announced that they will be doing a 3 date headline tour of the UK in 2012. They will visit London ULU on 28 February 2012, Edinborough Liquid Rooms on 1 March 2012 and the tour will finish off at Leeds Metropolitan University on 3 March 2012.

The band have also announced that more live dates will be announced in the new year.

Collaborations

In 2007 Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth collaborated with the band on their third album. The track "Be Safe" is a Ranaldo spoken word piece performed by the artist, and backed with The Cribs' music. They have a history of collaborations with artists such as Edwyn Collins (Orange Juice), Jon Slade (Huggy Bear, Comet Gain), Bobby Conn (Bobby Conn and The Glass Gypsies), Bernard Butler (Suede, McAlmont and Butler), Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse), the aforementioned Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand).

Band members

Current members

• Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2000–present)
• Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2000–present)
• Ross Jarman – drums (2000–present)

Former members

• Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)

Touring members

• Johnny Marr – guitar (2008)
• David Jones – guitar (2011–present)

Discography

Studio Albums

Singles

References

External links

• The Cribs Official Site
• The Cribs video interview
• Cornell Daily Sun Interview
• Johnny Marr reveals new Cribs album release date
• Interview with Ryan and Gary Jarman, Sept 2009