Elbow

• Guy Garvey - vocals
• Mark Potter - guitar
• Craig Potter - keyboards
• Peter Turner - bass
• Richard Jupp - drums

Elbow met ten years ago at sixth-form college in Bury, a little north of Manchester. Outsiders in a run-down, narrow-minded town, they bonded over U2, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Red Hot Chili Peppers, eventually forming a band called Soft. For a while they played what Pete calls "chilled funk" and were, it's generally agreed, "shit". Relocating to Manchester itself - most of the band getting work at local underground venue The Roadhouse - they changed their name to Elbow ("the most sensuous word in the world," according to a nurse in Dennis Potter's television-series, The Singing Detective) and began to evolve a new sound, wherein driving organ, star-kissed guitars, Guy Garvey's fallen-angel vocals and tough grooves were merged into (sometimes eight-minute long!) songs. After a patient battle with the industry- they were inexplicably dropped by Universal in 1997, before being re-signed to indie label Uglyman- they released their debut album Asleep in the Back in 2001, which earned them a Mercury Prize nomination. Since then there has been 2002's Cast of Thousands and 2005's Leaders of the Free World, both seminal records which have sealed their reputation has the thinking man's Coldplay. They remain highly involved in Manchester's music scene, producing songs for I Am Kloot and (Brummie Manc wannabes) Editors.