Working for a Nuclear Free City

Working for a Nuclear Free City
Origin Manchester, England
Genres Nu gaze, Alternative rock
Years active 1999-2014, 2015
Labels Melodic Records
Associated acts American Wrestlers
Members Phil Kay
Gary McClure
Jon Kay
Ed Hulme
Neil Harris

Working for a Nuclear Free City (sometimes abbreviated to WFANFC) was an indie nu gaze band from Manchester, England.

History

Original members Phil Kay (production and keyboard) and Gary McClure (guitar) formed as a studio entity in 1999; WFANFC began performing live in 2004, after adding drummer Jon Kay and bassist Ed Hulme to the group. Guitarist Neil Harris joined the band shortly before their American tour in 2008.

The band's self-titled debut album was released in the UK in 2006. Tracks from the album also formed part of their debut American release, Businessmen & Ghosts, which came out in November 2007.[1] The band cites a wide array of influences, including artists as disparate as Bill Evans, Devo, The Grateful Dead, and Yes.[2] WFANFC's sound has been described as "a flawless lucid-dream trip through a thousand fantastical influences"[3] and "as fresh as morning rain on Piccadilly Gardens".[4] Regarding their importance, major media outlets such as the BBC have stated: "it’s the way that [WFANFC and The Longcut, another British music group] have distilled Manchester’s history into an exciting future brew that makes them important."

WFANFC's releases have won them praise from a variety of media outlets, including Spin (magazine), the BBC, Stylus Magazine, and Citylife Magazine; their song "Rocket" was featured on National Public Radio in June 2007.

The band performed on the Topman Unsigned Stage at the Carling Weekend's Leeds Festival in 2007.

In 2009 the band was approached by the development team for the video game Infamous to create the song that plays at the end of the game. The song is called "Silent Melody".

The band released their third album, Jojo Burger Tempest, in October 2010, and in January 2011 the band opened a YouTube channel, uploading snippets of a fourth album, Apoptosis. No record label was named.

In 2011 the band released the single Turning Shadow via their Bandcamp.[5]

In 2013 guitarist Gary McClure released his solo record, Wreaths, on AED Records.[6] In celebration of this release, the band's Facebook page shared an unreleased 52-minute long album titled Odds and Sods posted to member Phil Kay's SoundCloud.[7] The Facebook post and SoundCloud upload have since been removed.

In 2014 producer and keyboardist Phil Kay released his solo record, Zoetrope as King of the Mountains on Melodic Records.[8]

Gary McClure currently records under the name American Wrestlers, and released his debut album, American Wrestlers, in 2014. During promotion for the album, he noted the band had broken up. A new album, however, entitled What Do People Do All Day? was announced in December 2015.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Related Albums

In Other Media

In 2008 the band composed a commissioned piece, "History", for the Go On Lad Hovis advertisement.[9] In 2009, Spoke Film's director Gary Holder[10] used the song "England" in a launch film for the Jaguar X-Type: X409.[11] In 2009 the band produced another commissioned track for the PlayStation 3 game inFamous, and was recently used in the Power Trip trailer for the game.[12] The track, entitled "Silent Melody", was available for download on iTunes on May 21, 2009.[13]

The song "Dead Fingers Talking" was featured in Pilot of the AMC Original Series Breaking Bad.

The song "Asleep at the Wheel" was used for a relaunch trailer for the British Channel 5 re-branding in 2008 and at the close of an Apple promotional video for the 10/2009 update of the iMac.

The song "Rocket" was used in the soundtrack for the movie Push.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, December 18, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.