Kingsland Road (band)

Kingsland Road
Also known as Kingsland (2012–13)
Origin East London, England
Genres Pop
Years active 2012–present
Labels Soundcheck
Website kingslandmusic.com
Members Matt Cahill
Joe Conaboy
JJ Thompson
Josh Zaré
Past members Jay Scott

Kingsland Road (originally Kingsland) are an English rock and roll-style and urban-inspired funk and disco boy band formed in 2012. The band is made up of Matt Cahill, Joe "Connor" Conaboy, JJ Thompson (known by his surname) and Josh Zaré. Originally a five-piece that included Jay Scott, they finished in ninth place on the tenth series of The X Factor in 2013.[1] They describe their sound as a mixture of predominantly 1970s urban of funk and disco with just a drop of reggae and indie pop and new wave with some Oi! of the 1980s that is furnished with 2010s hard rock.

Kingsland Road released their debut single "Dirty Dancer" in August 2014 and it peaked at number 85 on the UK Singles Chart. On 23 October, Scott quit the band due to lack of enjoyment. Their debut album We Are the Young will be released in March 2015.

Career

2012–13: Formation and The X Factor

Kingsland Road was originally made up of Josh Zaré from Maidstone,[2][3] Joe "Connor" Conaboy from Rugby,[4] Jon James "JJ" Thompson from Coventry (known by his surname),[4][5] Matt Cahill from Gloucester[6] and Jamie "Jay" Scott from Wolverhampton.[7][8] Zaré and Conaboy already knew each other from college, and invited Scott, Thompson and Cahill to form a band after seeing them on YouTube. They named themselves "Kingsland" as they lived together on Kingsland Road.[9]

In 2013, Kingsland auditioned for the tenth series of The X Factor. In their room audition they sang "Don't You Worry Child", then "Treasure" at the arena. They performed "For Once in My Life" at bootcamp and at judges' houses they sang "Dance with Me Tonight" (in front of original artist Olly Murs) and "A Thousand Years".[10] On 1 October 2013, a week before the live shows, it was announced that Kingsland had been forced to change their name as there was a band in Canada also called Kingsland,[10] so they became Kingsland Road.[10][11]

Kingsland Road lost the flash vote in week 2 and were in the bottom two, but were saved by the judges.[12] They were in the bottom two again in week 4, where they were up against Tamera Foster. This time they were voted out when Scherzinger, Osbourne and Walsh all voted to save Foster.[1] When the voting statistics were revealed at the end of the series, Kingsland Road were shown to have received more votes than Foster, meaning they would have been saved had it gone to deadlock.[13]

2014–: Debut album and US record deal

Kingsland Road funded their debut album, scheduled for release in January 2015, through PledgeMusic.[14] In June, they announced their debut single "Dirty Dancer".[15] It was released on 10 August 2014 and debuted at number 85 on the UK Singles Chart.[16] The band promoted the single and album by embarking on their debut UK tour from 2–9 August.[17]

On 7 October 2014, it was announced that Kingsland Road had signed a record deal in the United States.[18] On 22 October, the band announced via their website that Scott had quit because "the boyband life [wasn't] really for him".[19] Kingsland Road's debut album is called We Are the Young. It will be released on 15 March 2015.

Discography

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
"Dirty Dancer" 2014 85 We Are the Young
"Shoreline" 2015 -

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Prosser, Caroline (3 November 2013). "The end of the road: Kingsland Road are latest act to be eliminated from The X Factor after sing-off with Tamera Foster". Daily Mail (DMG Media). Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  2. ↑ McWethy, Claire (30 September 2013). "Maidstone singer Josh Zaré has the X factor". Kent Online (KM Group). Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  3. ↑ "Kent singers Josh Zare of Kingsland Road and Tamera Foster through to live shows stage of the X Factor". Kent Online (KM Group). 7 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Simpson, Cara (11 October 2013). "X Factor hopefuls Kingsland Road - with two local lads in the line-up - ready for first live show". Coventry Telegraph (Trinity Mirror). Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  5. ↑ Carpenter, Steve (16 September 2013). "Coventry singer gets praise from X Factor judges". Coventry Observer. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  6. ↑ Charalambous, Sophia (19 October 2013). "Sorry girls, they're taken! Matt Cahill and JJ Thompson from X Factor's Kingsland Road have secret girlfriends". Daily Mail (DMG Media). Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Leigh, Rob (8 October 2013). "Who has made it through to the X Factor live finals? The 12 remaining acts, profiled". Daily Mirror (Trinity Mirror). Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  8. ↑ Oredein, Tobi (19 October 2013). "X Factor's Kingsland Road Keeping Their Girlfriends Under Wraps To Win Votes?". EntertainmentWise. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Kingsland Road's Biography". The X Factor. itv.com. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Walker, Danny (7 October 2013). "X Factor 2013 finalists Kingsland Road: Their story so far in videos and pictures". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  11. ↑ Daniels, Colin (1 October 2013). "'X Factor' boyband Kingsland forced to change name". Digital Spy (Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Bull, Sarah (21 October 2013). "Shelley Smith becomes the second act voted off The X Factor... despite Sharon Osbourne's VERY forward attempts to get Louis Walsh to keep her in the show". Daily Mail (DMG Media). Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "REVEALED! Voting Results for The X Factor Series 10". The X Factor (itv.com). 15 December 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "Kingsland Road: Debut Album on PledgeMusic". PledgeMusic. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  15. ↑ Rainsforth, Lara (9 June 2014). "Kingsland Road Announce Album Details". ukstandup.com. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  16. ↑ "Kingsland Road's debut single misses out on the UK top 40". clickmusic.com. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  17. ↑ Creighton, Sam (30 May 2014). "Kingsland Road reveal 'relief' at escaping X-Factor". Daily Mail (DMG Media). Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  18. ↑ Campbell, Tina (7 October 2014). "X Factor's Kingsland Road not feeling pressure landing US record deal". Metro (DMG Media). Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  19. ↑ Nissam, Mayer (23 October 2014). "Kingsland Road lose a member: Jay Scott quits the band". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 27 December 2014.

External links