Viola Beach
| Viola Beach | |
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The members of Viola Beach in 2016
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Warrington, Cheshire, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2013–2016 |
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| Past members |
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Viola Beach were an English indie rock group, formed in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2013. The band's final line-up consisted of Kris Leonard (guitar and vocals), River Reeves (guitar), Tomas Lowe (bass guitar), and Jack Dakin (drums). All four, along with their manager Craig Tarry, died in a car crash in Södertälje, Sweden, on 13 February 2016.
In the week following the crash, their single "Boys That Sing" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 80 and their previous single "Swings & Waterslides" entered at number 11, following a public campaign to boost sales. In the same week, "Swings and Waterslides" also entered at number 3 on the sales-only chart (which excludes streaming data) and "Boys That Sing" entered at number 27 on the same chart. On 29 July 2016, the self-titled album was released. It reached number one on the album chart on 5 August 2016.
Viola Beach formed in Warrington, Cheshire, in May 2013, the original members being Kris Leonard (guitar and vocals), Frankie Coulson (guitar), Jonny Gibson (bass), and Jack Dakin (drums). The band's final line-up was formed when Coulson and Gibson opted to leave the band in 2015 in order to focus on their university studies, and were replaced by River Reeves (guitar) and Tomas Lowe (bass) respectively.
By September of their formation year, their track "Daisies" was featured on Bandcamp's The Indie Cassette Player's (now known as The Mill Records) second compilation album, with "Love My Love" being featured on the website's third compilation album in October.
The band self-financed the recording of their first single, "Swings & Waterslides", releasing it on their own record label Fuller Beans. The track was produced by Ady Hall and Lee McCarthy of Sugar House and recorded at Catalyst Studios in St Helens. "Swings & Waterslides" was added to the BBC Radio 1 playlist in September 2015.
The band were supported by BBC Introducing, a platform for emerging musical talent, which described their songs as "infectious anthems" with "hints of slacker pop". They performed at the BBC Introducing Stage of the 2015 Reading and Leeds Festivals. In November 2015, the band recorded a live session for BBC Radio 1. They released their second single, "Boys That Sing"/"Like a Fool", on the Communion label on 22 January 2016.
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