¡Forward, Russia!

¡Forward, Russia!
Playing live at Summer Sundae, August 2006
Background information
Origin	Leeds, England
Genres	Indie rock, dance-punk, post-punk revival
Years active	2004–2008 2013–present
Labels	Cooking Vinyl, Dance to the Radio, Mute North America, Vinyl Junkie
Members	Tom Woodhead Rob Canning Katie Nicholls Whiskas

¡Forward, Russia! are an English alternative band from Leeds, active from between 2004 and 2008, before reforming in 2013. The band's debut album, Give Me a Wall, was released in 2006. Until 2006, the band only named tracks with numbers, in the order that they were written. The band had used Faux Cyrillic, with its name occasionally typeset as ¡FФЯWДЯD, RUSSIД!. The band went on hiatus after the release of their second album, Life Processes, in 2008. They reformed in 2013 for a show at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds in November 2013 for its 100th anniversary, and then played the Live at Leeds Festival at Leeds Town Hall in 2014.

¡Forward, Russia! formed in early 2004 by Tom Woodhead and Rob Canning, formerly of Leeds band The Black Helicopters and siblings Katie Nicholls and Whiskas (Sam Nicholls), previously of Leeds band les Flames! amongst others. The band performed their first gig in April, closely followed by demos which received reviews from prominent music magazines such as Drowned in Sound and NME, who called it "Convulsing punk-funk brilliance from Leeds".

In April 2005, ¡Forward, Russia! released "Nine", a split 7-inch single with This Et Al, released on guitarist Whiskas' label Dance To The Radio. This single was reviewed by the NME, who put it on their 'Radar'. The single sold out within a week.

By summer 2005, Nicholls had finished college and others had quit their jobs to take up the band full-time.

Single "Thirteen"/"Fourteen" was released in August 2005 on White Heat Records, accompanied by a UK tour. Also during 2005, the band was featured in NME as one of Leeds' forerunners in the so-called 'New Yorkshire' scene (alongside The Research, The Sunshine Underground, The Ivories and Black Wire). This was followed by several support slots and culminated in the band's first headline UK tour, which took the band to 37 different venues.