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The Sequins

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Active from
  
2002

The Sequins are an indie-pop band from Coventry, England. Talking Heads, Pulp, Joy Division, The Cure and The Smiths are cited among their musical influences.

Contents

History

The Sequins were formed in 2002, after vocalist Hywel Roberts and guitarist Justin Hui performed a version of Talking Heads' Psycho Killer on the ukulele at the University of Warwick in 2002. Roberts and Hui were joined by Rob Hinchliff, Karthic Kukathasan and Simon Vint.

Tough Love Records

Brendan Casey replaced Vint in 2004, and the following year the band joined Coventry-based label Tough Love Records. Their first single, 'Nobody Dreams About Me', in 2005 became the very first release on Tough Love Records and was a double CD and vinyl format.

It was followed up in 2006 by 'Patients'. Karthic Kukuthasan left the band shortly afterwards and was replaced by Steve Weird.

They released their debut album The Death of Style in November 2007, the first full-length album to be released on Tough Love Records to largely positive critical acclaim.

Post Tough Love

In early 2008, both Brendan Casey and Rob Hinchliff left the band, and Donna Crawford, a former member of Rugby-based punk rockers Any Given Day joined to play drums. At around the same time, Tough Love Records relocated to London, and it became clear that Death of Style would be the band's last release on the label.

The new four-piece line up began to record music at home after some bad experiences in commercial recording studios, and an EP called 'Risky Woods' is scheduled for release by London-based label Indie-MP3 in Spring 2010.

Hack Attack

In 2007, the band's website was hacked, and the content was replaced with pornography, an announcement that they had split up. This was received as a backhanded complement by the band, who were mildly surprised that anyone would take the trouble to attack their website.

Special

Members of the band play in various other groups, including Special, which entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and 2006 but were unsuccessful in their attempts to make the final.

Current members

Hywel Roberts - Vocals

Justin Hui - Guitar

Donna Crawford - Drums

Steve Weird - Bass

Past members

Rob Hinchliff - Guitar (2002–2008)

Brendan Casey - Drums (2003–2008)

Karthic Kukathasan - Bass (2002–2003, 2004–2005)

Felix Meller - Bass (2003–2004)

Simon Vint - Drums (2002–2003)

Quotes

  • “Wild Beasts-style goosey-voicedness strapped to Sparksian glam melodies worn with an air of Maccabees wistfulness" - NME
  • “An absolute must for indiepopsters everywhere” - The Fly
  • “Blissfully tuneful indie-pop contenders” - NME
  • “Great pop music” - Plan B
  • “Wide eyed melodies and breakneck energy” - Rough Trade
  • “I'm too lost in the world of Sequins and was trying to work out what I was going to do...” - John Kennedy (XFM)
  • “Melancholic melodies that somehow remain uplifting” - Loud and Quiet
  • “Sounding like The Smiths playing Life on Mars!” - Careless Talk Costs Lives
  • Discography

    Singles:

  • "Nobody Dreams About Me" (2005)
  • "Patients" (2006)
  • "Risky Woods EP" (2010)
  • "Japan / Alive" (2010)
  • Albums:

  • The Death Of Style (2007)
  • References

    The Sequins Wikipedia