Associated acts White Lies, Mirrors | Website Official website | |
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Years active 2000–2008, 2012–present Origin Sussex, United Kingdom (2000) Albums These Things Move in Threes, Back to the Shore Genres Indie rock, Alternative rock Members Niall Buckler, James New, Oli Frost, Gareth Jennings, James Arguile, Tommy Bowen Record labels Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Columbia Records Similar Meaghan Smith, Doves, Lo‑Key?, GrewSum, Saint Sinna Profiles | ||
Mumm-Ra are an English indie rock band originally from Bexhill on Sea. The group was first composed of vocalist, keyboard player, and occasional guitarist James New, guitarists James Arguile and Oli Frost, bassist Niall Buckler, and drummer Gareth Jennings, before being joined by Tommy Bowen in 2006 as touring keyboard and synthesizer player; in 2012, Bowen became a fully fledged member.
Contents
- Formation early releases 20002006
- These Things Move in Threes and hiatus 20072008
- Reformation and Back to the Shore 2013present
- Members
- Albums
- EPs
- Other contributions
- Songs
- References
Niall Buckler formed the band in 2000, taking their name from Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, the main villain of the 1980s cartoon ThunderCats. They first rose to public attention when they performed with the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour alongside The Automatic, The View, and The Horrors, and were featured in the January 2007 edition of NME as one of ten bands who were "guaranteed to soundtrack" 2007. The band released their debut album These Things Move in Threes in 2007, which spawned the singles "Out of the Question" "What Would Steve Do?" and "She's Got You High" before entering hiatus in April 2008.
In 2012, the band made their live return, before announcing a full comeback in 2013 with new material. New tracks "Technicolour", "Your Father's Son", and "Jeremy" were released across the year, with an 8 track EP titled Back to the Shore released on 17 February 2014.
Formation & early releases (2000–2006)
After being "hotly tipped" by music magazine NME, the band were announced as the act to open for The Automatic on the 2007 NME Awards Tour along with The View and The Horrors.
These Things Move in Threes and hiatus (2007–2008)
The band released their debut album, These Things Move In Threes on 28 May 2007 proceeded by singles "Out of the Question" and "What Would Steve Do?" and followed by "She's Got You High", which would go to gain significant popularity through being featured in the soundtrack of (500) Days of Summer. "Starlight" had been slated to be the fourth single but it was ultimately never released. The band was in the process of writing material for their second album, and had trialled some new tracks live on their tour of Japan and then on what transpired to be their final UK tour, but no further details of their second album was ever released. Gareth Jennings came back to Bexhill on 15 July 2007, to appear on radio station Bexhill FM. A whole hour was dedicated to Mumm-Ra, where the breakfast show presenter Richard Harris played a whole hour of their music, as well as their inspirations and their second album.
On 17 April 2008, the band released a statement announcing that they had decided to split; "after 7 years, 11 months and 21 days of writing and playing music together us Mumm-ra boys have decided our journey as a band has come to an end". The reason for the split was not cited.
Reformation and Back to the Shore (2013–present)
Before entering hiatus the band had begun performing a host of new material at shows, including "Sticks and Stones", "Secrets", "Clowns" and "Jeremy".
In October 2012 the band reformed to perform two sold out dates at Flairz Retro Bar in Hastings. In February 2013 the band began teasing a comeback over Twitter, before formally announcing their full return along with plans to release new material & a new track titled "Technicolour" on 7 February, declaring "everything's ready to go and we hope to have something for your ears in the next couple of months. To whet your appetite until that time, here is a little acoustic number called Technicolour." On 15 April the band released their new track "Technicolour" as an EP on Bandcamp along with a second new track "Your Father's Son" and a previously unreleased track from the These Things Move In Threes recording sessions, titled "Ho Hey!". Discussing the track the band noted that "Technicolour" was first written in 2007 but was recorded by James New in his home studio after the announcement of the bands return "stirred some public interest, frankly a lot more than I expected". New describes the Technicolour EP as a "taster", and that more material would be recorded as a full band at a later date. On 20 September 2013 the band released their first track as a full, reformed band, titled "Jeremy".
The band performed their second show since reforming on 1 November 2013 to a sold out audience at The Barfly, Camden. In January 2014 the band were announced as one of the acts for Acoustic Lakeside Festival in Austria which takes place on 25–26 July. On 17 February 2014 the band released Back to the Shore, an EP with eight tracks; "Goodbye", "Lizzy Lu", "Last Look", "Make Pretend", "Technicolour", "Sticks & Stones", "Jeremy" and "Chasing Footsteps".
Members
Albums
EPs
Other contributions
Songs
She's Got You HighThese Things Move in Threes · 2007
Song BThese Things Move in Threes · 2007
Lizzy LuBack to the Shore · 2014