James Righton | |
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Righton in 2007
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Background information | |
Birth name | James Nicholas Righton |
Born |
Stratford-upon-Avon, England |
25 August 1983
Genres | Indie rock,post-punk revival,new rave, neo-psychedelia |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer |
Instruments | Piano, guitar |
Years active | 2005–present |
Labels | Marathon Artists, House Anxiety, Polydor, Geffen |
Associated acts | Klaxons, Shock Machine |
Website | http://shock-machine.com/ |
James Nicholas Righton (born 25 August 1983) is an English musician. As well as singing, he was the keyboard-player of the London-based new rave band Klaxons, disbanded in 2015. In March 2016, Righton announced his new project Shock Machine with a video directed by Saam Farahmand.
Righton was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Righton's father, a musician, encouraged him to be a part of several bands that performed regularly while he was still at Stratford-upon-Avon High School.
While attending the High School at Stratford-upon-Avon, Righton met Simon Taylor-Davis and taught him to play the guitar. While working towards a career as a performer, Righton worked as a music teacher. He attended the Benicassim festival, where he again met Simon Taylor-Davis, and soon after that the two met Jamie Reynolds in New Cross, London. When Reynolds lost his job, he bought a studio kit with his redundancy money. The three men began to record and perform live under the name of "Klaxons (Not Centaurs)", a name inspired by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's The Futurist Manifesto. In 2005 this band played with Finnigan Kidd as drummer, until Kidd left and Steffan Halperin joined in 2006, Around this time, the band began using the shorter name of "Klaxons".
Klaxons signed to Polydor Records in 2006. After many successful tours, they announced in 2014 that their current tour would be their last.
James Righton signed to Marathon Artists/House Anxiety in 2016 under the moniker, Shock Machine. Righton's new project was announced in March with the release of the video for the first single, Shock Machine, directed by Saam Farahmand. The eponymous introduction to this project was recorded in a cabin in the south of France with producer James Ford. 'Shock Machine' is the first track off the upcoming EP, 'Open Up The Sky'.
In February 2011 Righton began dating actress Keira Knightley and on 4 May 2013 they were married in Mazan, Vaucluse in the south of France. Since early 2014 they have lived in Canonbury, Islington. Their daughter, Edie, was born in May 2015.