Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

We Were Promised Jetpacks

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Years active
  
2003–present

Associated acts
  
Frightened Rabbit

Labels
  
Fat Cat Records

We Were Promised Jetpacks Adam Thompson We Were Promised Jetpacks Songwriters on Process

Past members
  
Stuart Michael McGachan

Origin
  
Edinburgh, United Kingdom (2003)

Members
  
Darren Lackie, Adam Thompson, Michael Palmer, Sean Smith

Genres
  
Indie rock, Post-punk revival

Albums
  
These Four Walls, In the Pit of the Stomach, Unravelling, The Last Place You'll Look, E Rey ‑ Live in Philadelphia

Profiles

We were promised jetpacks short bursts


We Were Promised Jetpacks are a Scottish indie rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 2003. The band consists of Adam Thompson (vocals, guitar), Michael Palmer (guitar), Sean Smith (bass), and Darren Lackie (drums). Stuart McGachan (keyboards, guitar) was briefly in the band from 2013 to 2015.

Contents

We Were Promised Jetpacks In the Open Full Disclosure We Were Promised Jetpacks

The band's debut album, These Four Walls, was released on 15 June 2009 on Fat Cat Records. In October 2011 the band released their second full-length album, In the Pit of the Stomach. They released E Rey: Live in Philadelphia, a recording of the last show of their 2012 tour, in February 2014. The band's third album, Unravelling was released in October 2014.

We Were Promised Jetpacks We Were Promised Jetpacks Stereogum

The band cites label mates, Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad, as influences, alongside Biffy Clyro's early material.

Thompson also cites Scotland itself as a major influence on their music. “It’s rainy and miserable in Scotland and there are lots of angry people. In a way, that’s a big part of why our music sounds the way it does. It’s music that sounds sort of like that.”

We Were Promised Jetpacks httpswwwfatcatcoukpresspressarticleswe

We were promised jetpacks untitled curse unreleased song live 2016


Beginnings

We Were Promised Jetpacks We Were Promised Jetpacks Stereogum

We Were Promised Jetpacks formed in Edinburgh, in 2003. The band played their first gig at their school's 'battle of the bands' competition, which they won. The four-piece eventually relocated to Glasgow:

"There was a time when we first moved to Glasgow (we grew up and went to school in Edinburgh, then three of us moved to Glasgow and one of us to Stirling) and started playing proper gigs in proper venues. Playing in Edinburgh before was weird as we were underage, so ended up playing some odd nights. Which was cool, but when we moved to Glasgow we were of drinking age and we started playing places like Sleazy's and whatnot. We felt like a proper band."

In September 2008, the band supported Frightened Rabbit during their tour for The Midnight Organ Fight. The band signed to Fat Cat Records after the label listened to some tracks on their MySpace following a recommendation from future label mates Frightened Rabbit.

These Four Walls

On 15 June 2009 the band released their debut album, These Four Walls, and performed the album in full at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. The album reached No. 27 on the US Billboard Heatseekers chart. In late 2009 and early 2010, the band toured America, with support from Cincinnati-based band Bad Veins. Their early 2010 tour also included support from Brooklyn-based band Bear Hands and Washington natives The Lonely Forest. In March 2010, the band released a new EP, entitled The Last Place You'll Look. In October 2010 the band toured in North America to open for Jimmy Eat World. On 15 October 2010, their song "Quiet Little Voices" was featured on the Persian-language political satire show, Parazit, on Voice of America and their song "An Almighty Thud" was featured in the opening sequence in Sons of Anarchy episode, "Turas", on 2 November 2010. On 7 December 2010, the single "It's Thunder and It's Lightning" from the album These Four Walls was played on season 8, episode 11, "Darkness on the Edge of Town" of the CW network's successful television series, One Tree Hill, and on season 1, episode 8 of the Showtime series, "Shameless". Their song "Quiet Little Voices" is also featured in the 2011 comedy Hall Pass with Owen Wilson. The band recorded four of the album's tracks ("Roll Up Your Sleeves", "This Is My House, This Is My Home", "An Almighty Thud", and "Ships With Holes Will Sink") for a 30 June 2010 Daytrotter session. The track "Keeping Warm" was also featured in the trailer for the 2013 coming-of-age comedy-drama, The Kings of Summer.

In the Pit of the Stomach

In July 2011, the band announced their second album, In the Pit of the Stomach, and released the track, "Act on Impulse". The album was released on 4 October 2011. It was met with general approval from music critics, and achieved an overall rating of 7.3/10 at AnyDecentMusic? based on 23 reviews.

Unravelling

The third album, Unravelling, was released on the 6 October 2014 in the UK and 14 October in the US. The album was 11 tracks long with a combined length of roughly 48 minutes. The album was recorded and mixed at Chem19 Studios in Glasgow, Scotland.

EPs

  • The Last Place You'll Look (March 2010)
  • Singles

  • "Quiet Little Voices" / "Let's Call This a Map" (May 2009)
  • "Roll Up Your Sleeves" / "Back to the Bare Bones" (June 2009)
  • "It's Thunder and It's Lightning" / "Ships With Holes Will Sink" (November 2009)
  • "Medicine" / "Building Buildings" (September 2011)
  • "Human Error" / "Ink Slowly Dries" (December 2011)
  • Songs

    Quiet Little VoicesThese Four Walls · 2009
    It's Thunder and It's LightningThese Four Walls · 2009
    Ships With Holes Will SinkThese Four Walls · 2009

    References

    We Were Promised Jetpacks Wikipedia