Feeder tribute site

Feeder are an alternative rock band, formed in Newport, Wales during 1992 by lead singer, songwriter and lead guitarist Grant Nicholas and drummer Jon Lee. Bass guitarist Taka Hirose joined later.

Feeder first saw mainstream success from their third album Echo Park (2001), and its first single "Buck Rogers" which also became their first top 10 hit. Feeder have won two Kerrang! Awards in 2001 and 2003 for "Best British Live Act" and "Best British Band", as well as charting 24 singles and eight albums, with six of those making the top 10 between 1999 and 2008.  They are launching a side project band called Renegades on their own Big Teeth Music label, after Echo ceased existence as a label. During this time Feeder are on hold, but announced they will resume in the future.

Formation (1992-1994)

At the age of 14, singer and guitarist Grant Nicholas joined a band called 'Sweet Leaf', named after a Black Sabbath song and were the first band he had seen play live. At this time Japanese bassist Taka Hirose and drummer Jon Lee were playing in different covers bands, but did not know each other at the time. While playing in different bands on the Newport gig circuit, Grant and Jon became friends. They formed an electronic duo called 'Temper Temper' after Jon left Newport band The Darling Buds. Shortly thereafter, they formed a band called 'Rain Dancer'. Both of these bands failed to win a recording contract, with the sound of the latter once being compared by Grant with that of The Waterboys.

Going back to the drawing board, they formed a three-piece band called 'Reel'. They fired their bass player and then changed their name to 'Real'. During this time they recruited Taka Hirose via an advert in Loot, which Taka placed himself. The band then changed their name to Feeder, named after Grant's pet goldfish. They won their recording contract with Echo after sending a demo tape, and then completed the deal after an employee from the label witnessed one of the band's gigs. A track from the demo entitled "Don't Bring Me Down", appeared as a b-side on the "Day in Day Out" single and is also a different version.

 Early releases (1995–1996)

Feeder's first official release was a two-track EP entitled Two Colours, released in 1995 which was only available at the band's early gigs. It was limited to 1,500 CDs and 1,000 7" vinyls. In 1996, the band released their first commercially available release, being the EP Swim and received a 4/5 review in Kerrang! magazine  Swim was later re-released in July 2001 with extra tracks, being a selection of b-sides from their earlier singles, alongside the videos for the Polythene singles "Crash" and "Cement". Overall unit sales for Swim stand at 40,000 as of February 2005.

Shortly before the release of Swim, a cassette tape titled Two Tracker was given away free with the magazines Kerrang! and Edge and contained the tracks "Sweet 16" and "Waterfall". The latter was described on the inlay card, as one of the tracks that would be on their forthcoming debut album proper, with the working title Here in the Bubble (whose name was soon changed to Polythene).[ The photography for the inlay of Swim was produced by Grant himself, while Chris Sheldon produced the recordings. The band released "Stereo World" as its only single, after appearing at the Reading festival.

Polythene 1997

After the recording sessions were completed, the album's first single "Tangerine" was released and charted at #60 in the UK charts. This was followed by "Cement", charting at #53 and then the release of the album which charted at #65. Two more singles were released before and after their main stage debut at the Reading festival of 1997, with "Crash" making number #48, while "High" charted at number #24.

The album as of March 2003, has been certified silver by the BPI for shipments of 60,000 units, with total sales of 89,000 as of February 2005. They also re-issued the album in October 1997, with "High" included and the "Stereo World" b-side "Change" replacing "Waterfall" from the original tracklist. Also included as an enhanced element was the video for "High". The album caused many critics to label the band "The UK's answer to the Smashing Pumpkins", and also draw comparisons to The Pixies and Talk Talk.

In early 1998, following the band's final 1997 tour in support of Polythene, the band travelled to the United States as a support act for Everclear. During their U.S. tour, the band released a re-worked version of "Suffocate" for UK release, which charted at #37. After their return to the UK, they played their own headline tour with Everclear this time in the supporting position. Later that year, Feeder started to play various music festivals in the United States, alongside a headline tour with "High" being released to radio stations and charting at #24 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart; it was the follow up to "Cement" which had charted at #31, also on the same listing. During the bands first U.S. tour, Grant broke his ankle and picked up other injuries, while finding it hard to sleep at nights. This inspired him to write "Insomnia", which later appeared on their second album. They stayed in the U.S. for the majority of the year, with a trip back to the UK for their V98 appearance. Feeder later included live-only guitarist Dean Tidey; Grant once said in an interview with Kerrang!, that he was considering bringing in another guitarist for their live gigs.

1999 Yesterday went too soon

For 1999's Yesterday Went Too Soon, the band decided to self-produce the album, brought in Matt Sime for engineering duties and had the album mixed in New York by Andy Wallace. "Dry" was re-recorded as a full band version after the original acoustic version appeared on "Suffocate" as a b-side. That single's b-sides featured tracks from the sessions for that album, therefore revealing what sort of direction it would take on. The working title for the album was originally A Life Through Headphones, and was originally set to be a double album.[28] The name change was due to former Take That singer Robbie Williams releasing his solo debut album Life Thru a Lens, with the band not wanting to be compared to him.

When the album was released, the band's reputation was on the rise and it entered the UK charts at number eight, which was at the time an unexpected chart position for the band. Before that, the band had released the album's first single, "Day in Day Out", in March 1999 which charted at #31 followed by "Insomnia" at #22, resulting in their first appearance on Top of the Pops. A week before the album's release, the band played the main stage of the Reading and Leeds festivals, while the title track from the album was at #20 in the singles chart. The album was then released on 30 August 1999. Only one single was lifted from the album after its release, in which a re-recorded version of "Paperfaces" charted at #41.

Some of the album's lyrical themes were derived from Grant's personal perspective of working in a menial supermarket job on a daily basis ("Day In Day Out"), his experiences after gigs on their US tour ("Insomnia" and "You're My Evergreen"), past relationships (the title track and "Dry"), the music industry ("Hole in My Head") and "fear of commitment in relationships" ("Anaesthetic") amongst others. Musically, the album employed an indie rock feel to it, which also featured extended appearances of an acoustic guitar on some of its tracks.

The album was due for release in June, but this was delayed until August to include material written after its completion which the band felt was too good to leave off. Upon its release, the UK music press immediately warmed to the album, with Rob Fitzpatrick, then of Melody Maker, writing "an absolute stormer it is. Unmissable. Absolutely." The album also received the magazine's Album of the Week accolade. This enthusiasm was shared by Metal Hammer, who awarded the album a 10/10 mark. The year ended with the band providing support for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Wembley Arena and Manic Street Preachers at the Millennium Stadium. As of March 2003, the album has gone gold shipping 100,000 units in the UK, with total counter sales standing at 110,000 as of February 2005. The album was voted in 2005 by Kerrang! readers, at #73 in their British Rock albums of all-time list. It was Melody Maker's #24 album of 1999, while Metal Hammer placed the album in at #6 and Kerrang! ranked it at #16.