Mystery Jets

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Mystery Jets
Origin	Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, London, England
Genre(s)	Indie rock Pop Post-punk revival
Label(s)	679 Recordings
Website	http://www.mysteryjets.com/
Members
Blaine Harrison William Rees Kai Fish Kapil Trivedi
Former members
Henry Harrison Tamara

Mystery Jets is an English five-piece indie band, formerly based on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, London^[1].

Contents 1 Members 1.1 Former members 2 History 3 The White Cross Revival parties 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 Singles 4.3 EPs 4.4 7" special limited 4.5 Early demos 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Members

• Blaine Harrison – lead vocals, keyboards, percussion, effects
• William Rees – guitar, vocals, percussion, keyboards
• Kai Fish – bass, vocals, guitar
• Kapil Trivedi – drums
• Henry Harrison – vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion

[edit] Former members

• Tamara – keyboards

Henry Harrison – vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion

[edit] History

The band's first line-up consisted of Blaine on drums, William on guitar and Henry (Blaine's father) on bass. Henry became a second guitarist in the band and they were joined by Kai on bass, as well as Tamara on keyboards^[2]. The band at this time recorded an eponymous EP with Aswad producer Nick Sykes. Blaine (whose voice had yet to break^[3]) took lead vocals. Tamara left the band, and Blaine switched from drums to keyboards^[4]. The band had a brief stint with a friend of Will (known only as Max) on drums, but he was unreliable and for a time a drum machine was used^[5]. The band advertised on internet message boards for a drummer and found Kapil^[6].

The Eel Pie Island EP was recorded soon after, and then the band issued its first proper single, a limited edition 7" of "Zoo Time", on Transgressive Records. They went on to sign to 679 Recordings. After a number of singles in 2005, the start of 2006 saw the band gain their highest charting single with "The Boy Who Ran Away", play the ShockWaves NME Awards Tour and make their first appearance on Top of the Pops^[7]. The band's debut UK album, Making Dens, was released on March 6th 2006^[8].

On 18 September 2006, the band put on a tribute show to Syd Barrett^[9], one of their biggest influences^[10]. The show was put on at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. Performers were Kid Harpoon, Lupen Crook, Kate Nash, Dan Treacy and the Television Personalities, Drew from Babyshambles, Ben from SixToes, Lucas from the Cazals and Mystery Jets. The groups created a special fanzine made for the show with, entries from all the performers and artwork by the bands.

December 2006 saw the band release "Umbrellahead / Half In Love With Elizabeth" through its MySpace site to competition winners. The two tracks were produced by Erol Alkan and were meant to be part of a ten-inch vinyl acoustic EP, but that idea was scrapped. Throughout 2007 the band wrote new songs (including "Hand Me Down", "Pink Elephant" and "Undercover Lover", the latter two being renamed "Veiled In Grey and "Hideaway" and all three being included on their album "Twenty One") and played more gigs around the world, especially in America where they released their debut album Zootime (a collection of tracks from Making Dens, as well as EPs and singles^[11]) on May 8th, through Dim Mak Records^[12].

Mysery Jets is a special guest at The Zutons concert on Sunday 8th June at Bedgebury in Kent, home of the National Pinetum.

Henry Harrison decided to stop playing live with the band shortly afterwards, but is still very much involved and went into the studio with the rest of the band^[13]. At the end of 2007 the band went on a short club show across the UK, and released a free Christmas single, "Flakes"^[14].

Their second album, "21" was released on March 24th, 2008^[15]. Produced by Erol Alkan and mixed by renowned producer Nick Launay, it was preceded by the single Young Love featuring Laura Marling, released on March 10, 2008.

[edit] The White Cross Revival parties

Much attention has been drawn to their hosting of a series of parties, dubbed "The White Cross Revival", on Eel Pie Island^{[16] [17]}. The parties, featuring as many bands as possible on one stage each night, have played host to the likes of;

• Acoustic Ladyland
• Larrikin Love
• Dr Filth
• Jamie T
• The Noisettes
• Les Incompetents
• Ladyfuzz
• Jeremy Warmsley
• The Archive
• The Mergatroid
• The Cut Off

Over 600 people attended the final Eel Pie Party^[18].

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Making Dens (6 March 2006, 679 Recordings) UK #32
• Zootime (8 May 2007, U.S. only release, Dim Mak Recordings)
• Twenty One (24 March 2008, 679 Recordings) UK #50

[edit] Singles

• "Zoo Time" (14 February 2005, Transgressive)
• "On My Feet" (2005, Good and Evil)
• "You Can't Fool Me Dennis" (12 September 2005, #44 UK, 679 Recordings)
• "Alas Agnes" (5 December 2005, #33 UK, 679 Recordings)
• "The Boy Who Ran Away" (27 February 2006, #23 UK, 679 Recordings)
• "Diamonds in the Dark" (4 September 2006, #47 UK, 679 Recordings)
• "Young Love" featuring Laura Marling (10 March 2008, #34 UK, 679 Recordings)
• "Two Doors Down" (2 June 2008, #28 UK, 679 Recordings)

[edit] EPs

• Flotsam & Jetsam EP (9 May 2006, 679 Recordings U.S.)
• Mystery Jets EP (self financed)

[edit] 7" special limited

• Powercut Serenades (Signed with "Umbrellahead" and "Half In Love With the Radio" on. Limited edition of 300 copies all given away to competition winners)

[edit] Early demos

• Mystery Jets EP (self financed, CD)
• Eel Pie Island (self financed, CD)
• Christmas Sessions (self financed, CD)

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Mystery Jets at MySpace
• Interview with Subculture Magazine, April 2007
• Interview with and photos of the Mystery Jets, October 2006
• Interview with the band on fender.co.uk
• Blaine and Henry Harrison interviewed by The Times, February 2006
• Interview with The Times, January 2006
• Interview with the band on ukmusic.com, December 2005
• Mystery Jets reviews at Daily Music Guide

[edit] References