Easyworld - The Band
Created | Updated Sep 21, 2005
A relatively unknown trio of indie-rock types, Easyworld hail from that centre of opulence and retirement homes, Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Reputedly they formed because they were "the only musicians in Eastbourne not in Toploader", but they have been around in various forms and under various names since drummer Glenn Hooper and frontman Dav Ford were at College together - Park College in Eastbourne in fact. The website for one of those early incarnations - Sheadly - is still up and running. There's some great little snippets such as:
Note to Editors: The band features Glenn on drums, Omar on bass, Gavin on lead guitar with Dave on rhythm. Still at school and taking A-levels in June, the band all contribute to song writing and development, each with their own musical and political agendas. The band have been described by a former Press Director for Virgin Records as "fresh and energetic" and the band "young enough to make it happen". Formerly known as the S***heads, they have been persuaded to change their name but not their passion and have become an adverb.
Thankfully though, however interesting the Sheadly website is as a curio for fans, Easyworld are these days slightly more lyrically sophisticated than the days when lines like "They call me Cowman. (Moooo) Your mouse is down my shoe." were the typical fare.
For a long time, the band floundered in its attempts to get signed or to find their identity. Dav went off to university in Manchester, but soon returned disheartened and ended up working in Our Price back in Eastbourne. Around this time, the band took the form we know today - Jo took over on bass. The story goes that she saw them live and, deciding the bassist couldn't play for toffee, told the band that she should be there instead. After reeling for a while over the sheer cheek of her, they took her up on the offer.
Taking the name 'Beachy Head', in reference to the famous (and actually breathtakingly beautiful) suicide spot near their homes, at the suggestion of their then manager. Under this name they recorded several demos such as "Get", "Right Thing", "Feensong", "So Young, So Freaky", "3 Minute Pop Song" and early versions of "Me", "Hundredweight", "You Were Right" and "Lights Out". These recordings were never officially released, but it is possible for a dedicated fan to get hold of them from other fans.
Towards the end of 2000 the name 'Beachy Head' was shed along with the manager and another, Doug Sturrock, who still manages the band was aquired. The new name, Easyworld, was taken from a lyric from the song "Better Ways To Self-Destruct" and, at the beginning of 2001, complete with a casual deal with legendary indie record label Fierce Panda and a single, Hundredweight, recorded and ready for release, they embarked on their first nationwide tour with sleazy birmingham rockers, King Adora and Crackout.
Another tour with King Adora and fellow sparkly indie-ers Mo*Ho*Bish*O*Pi soon followed, accompanied by the release of mini-album "...Better Ways To Self Destruct". Which did not include the song "Better Ways To Self Destruct", although the lyrics were printed in the sleeve. It was on this tour that the much fames junkie:whore t-shirts were produced. The King Adora fans lapped them up, and they're now particularly difficult to come by, but Dav later regretted them, thinking that they contributed to people getting the wrong impression of the band.
Following the King Adora tours, the band spent most of the rest of the year playing one-off gigs and negotiating a deal with Jive records, home of Birtney Spears and one of the few large independant labels left in the industry.
The first major outing for the band under Jive was a tour with rising stars, The Cooper Temple Clause to support their first release on their new label - Try Not To Think.1 At this point the band began to rise in favour with the magazine 'The Fly', gaining several favourable reviews and small articles.
Also at this time, the wabsite was taken over by Paul Annett AKA Pauly and a messageboard was added in place of the original guestbook. The community on this messageboard has continued to grow and support the band ever since.
After the Cooper Temple Clause tour, Easyworld had their first taste of a headline tour, with a mini-tour of mostly impossibly small venues in Scotland. This was followed by a successful tour with The Bluetones where a considerable chunk of fans were picked up and then finally, in May, Easyworld set sail on their first headline tour. The tour supported the release of 'Bleach' (which had had two previous incarnations as 'u make me want to drink bleach' on the b-side to Hundredwight and 'u make me want to drink bleach - stylophone mix' on the mini-album). This was the band's first glimpse of success as the video, filmed in a laundrette in london, was played occasionally on the music channel MTV2. However, this was not without controversy - the video was apparently banned for the line 'You make me want to drink bleach', in spite of the obvious metaphorical-ness. Ah well, it didn't make any difference anyway, the video was shown a good few times. Mostly at 3:17am. Bleach was their first release to actually chart, scaling the dizzy heights of No72, with the help of a couple of in-store signings.
By this point too, the fan community was fast explanding. over the summer a real group built up, seperate from the fans who just happened to be there when Easyworld were supporting King Adora. Inexplicably, they found common ground with asparagus, badgers and home-made t-shirts.
The album came out in June and was a suprise to most who had hoped just for a longer 'Better Ways...' It was almost entirely different in style, in spite of the fact that most of the songs from the mini-album were re-recorded for it. It was mellow, more adult and began to attract a different audience because of that. For the most part, the album passed under the radar of the music press, but there were some rather positive murmurings here and there.
Over the summer there were some spurious reports of Dav 'doing a Richey'.2 The truth was, he was just having a holiday in France. Some sections of the fanbase recount a story of a waiter who looked suspiciously like Mr Ford with a decidedly dodgy French accent being spotted in the South of France during this period. Dav later confirmed that he did spend time in the town in question, but has neither confirmed nor denied that he was that waiter.
The band came back with the release of 'You and Me', a song which they - particularly Dav - never seemed to like that much themselves. It was not representative of the sort of music they wanted to produce. Spunky and shallow, it was regularly introduced live as 'a song about shagging', often with a note that this is not what Easyworld are about. The public seemed to like it though, especially MTV2, who played the cheap-n-sleezy multi-layered blue-screen video (which featured freaky majorettes, seasides, a girl in stripy socks and a pillow fight) almost as regularly as they played Envy by Ash. Even Channel 4's 'Popworld' had a 30-second plug of it.
END PROPER BIT SO FAR
Their official site is here: http://www.easyworldinfo.com
and there are a few interviews here: http://spcam.cjb.net
Tour Dates (as Easyworld only) 3
On tour with King Adora27th January 2001 - King Tuts, Glasgow
28th January 2001 - Glow 303, Aberdeen
29th January 2001 - The Venue, Edinburgh
30th January 2001 - Roadhouse, Manchester
2nd Febuary 2001 - Lomax, Liverpool
3rd Febuary 2001 - Leadmill, Sheffield
4th Febuary 2001 - Adelphi, Hull
6th Febuary 2001 - Sugarmill, Stoke
7th Febuary 2001 - Roadmenders, Northampton
8th Febuary 2001 - Princess Charlotte, Leicester
10th Febuary 2001 - Cavern, Exeter
11th Febuary 2001 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
12th Febuary 2001 - Arts Centre, Norwich
13th Febuary 2001 - Academy, Birmingham
15th Febuary 2001 - Dingwalls, London
16th Febuary 2001 - Colosseum, Coventry
17th Febuary 2001 - Cockpit, Leeds
One-off Headliner
13th March 2001 - Dublin Castle, Camden
Random dates with ?
11th April 2001 - Esquires, BedfordOne Live In London
12th April 2001 - The Garage, London
Tour supporting King adora with Mo*Ho*Bish*O*Pi
25th April 2001 - Arts Centre, Norwich
26th April 2001 - Zodiac, Oxford
27th April 2001 - Leadmill, Sheffield
28th April 2001 - Stanley Theatre, Liverpool
30th April 2001 - Newcastle University
1st May 2001 - The Venue, Edinburgh
2nd May 2001 - King Tuts, Glasgow
3rd May 2001 - On Air East, Dundee
5th May 2001 - Glow 303, Aberdeen
6th May 2001 - Hop and Grape, Manchester
7th May 2001 - Cockpit, Leeds
11th May 2001 - Concorde 2, Brighton
12th May 2001 - Arts Centre, Colchester
13th May 2001 - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
15th May 2001 - Cavern, Exeter
17th May 2001 - Princess Charlotte, Leicester
19th May 2001 - Astoria, London
20th May 2001 - Fibbers, YorkFeetFirst
31st July 2001 - FeetFirst@The Palace, CamdenCarling Weekend Festival 2001
Friday 24th August 2001 - Reading Festival - 1st on Evening Session Stage
Saturday 25th August 2001 - Leeds Festival - 1st on Evening Session Stage One-Off Headliner (Club Fandango)
20th November 2001 - Dublin Castle, Camden
The Barfly Threesome
10th December 2001 Cardiff Barfly
11th December 2001 Sheffield Barfly
12th December 2001 London Barfly @ Camden Monarch
New Years Eve Gig With Ikara Colt and The Parkinsons
31st December 2001 London Highbury Garage
On Tour With The Cooper Temple Clause
31st January 2002 Newcastle Northumbria University
1st February 2002 Leicester Charlotte
2nd February 2002 Sheffield Barfly
3rdFebruary 2002 Manchester University
5th February 2002 Nottingham Rock City
6th February 2002 Stoke Sugarmill
7th February 2002 Wrexham Central Station
8th February 2002 Liverpool University
10th February 2002 Bristol Fleece
11th February 2002 Cardiff Barfy - Headlining
Easyworld's Scotland Headline mini-tour
21st February 2002 Glasgow King Tuts
22nd February 2002 Aberdeen Lava
23rd February 2002 Inverness Ragimor
24th February 2002 Dundee On Air East
26th February 2002 Perth Curly Lloyds
Supporting the Bluetones
1st March 2002 - Sheffield Foundry
2nd March 2002 - Warrington Parr Hall
3rd March 2002 - Leicester DeMontfort University
5th March 2002 - Norwich Waterfront
6th March 2002 - London Forum
7th March 2002 - Wolverhampton Wulfrun
9th March 2002 - Oxford Brookes University
10th March 2002 - Newcastle University
11th March 2002 - Leeds Met University
13th March 2002 - Southampton University
14th March 2002 - Exeter Lemon Grove
15th March 2002 - Replay Records, Bristol - Instore gig
15th March 2002 - Bristol Anson Rooms
17th March 2002 - Northampton Roadmenders
18th March 2002 - Lancaster Sugarhouse
19th March 2002 - Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
Headline date with Woodstar and Melaton supporting
27th March 2002 London Barfly @ Camden Monarch
Essential Festival
5th May 2002 -Ashton Court, Bristol
Headline tour with the Moonies supporting
15th May 2002 Leicester University
16th May 2002 Wolverhampton Civic
17th May 2002 Northumbria University
19th May 2002 Birmingham Academy
20th May 2002 Manchester Roadhouse
21st May 2002 Glasgow King Tuts
22nd May 2002 Sheffield Barfly
23rd May 2002 Oxford Zodiac
27th May 2002 Chelmsford Army and Navy
28th May 2002 Northampton Soundhaus
29th May 2002 London Garage
Play-and-Sign dates for Bleach
24th May 2002 - Virgin Megastore, Oxford Street, London (1pm)
24th May 2002 - Our Price, Eastbourne (6pm)
Middlesbrough Music Live (free festival)
3rd June 2002 - Middlesbrough
Signing for This Is Where I Stand
5th June 2002 - Virgin Megastore, Brighton
Dav, Milk + Cookies II
5th July 2002 - Park College, Eastbourne
Fierce Panda and Club Fandango present...Pandamonium 4
10th July 2002
Ashton Court Festival
20th July 2002 - Ashton Court, Bristol
Carling Weekend
23rd August 2002 - Leeds Festival
25th August 2002 - Reading Festival
Headline 'You and Me' tour
27th August 2002 - Newcastle Arts Centre
28th August 2002 - Glasgow Barfly
29th August 2002 - Sheffield Barfly
30th August 2002 - Liverpool University
31st August 2002 - Tunbridge Wells Forum
3rd September 2002 - Leicester Charlotte
4th September 2002 - Southend Chinnery's
5th September 2002 - Southampton Joiners
6th September 2002 - Cardiff Barfly
7th September 2002 - Bath Moles
9th September 2002 - Sanity Records, Eastbourne
10th September 2002 - Virgin Records, Camden
10th September 2002 - Feet First@The Palace, Camden
Headline homecoming gig
8th November 2002 - Library Theatre, Eastbourne
Acoustic Christmas Show
19th December 2002 - Union Chapel, Islington
Headline 'Junkies' Tour with Little Nikita and Longview
9th January 2003 - The Sugarmill, Stoke
10th January 2003 - Academy 2, Birmingham
11th January 2003 - The Empire, Middlesborough
12th January 2003 - King Tuts, Glasgow
14th January 2003 - Lava, Aberdeen
15th January 2003 - Raigmore, Inverness
16th January 2003 - Twa Tams, Perth
17th January 2003 - Fibbers, York
18th January 2003 - Civic Hall, Whitehaven
19th January 2003 - Leadmill, Sheffield
21st January 2003 - Soundhaus, Northampton
22nd January 2003 - Roadhouse, Manchester
23rd January 2003 - Rock City, Nottingham
24th January 2003 - Charlotte, Leicester
25th January 2003 - Liverpool University
27th January 2003 - Arts Centre, Norwich
28th January 2003 - Boat Race, Cambridge
29th January 2003 - Fleece, Bristol
30th January 2003 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
31st January 2003 - The Garage, London
Middlesbrough Music Live (free festival)
26 May 2003 - Middlesbrough
Headline tour with The Delays and Atlas
6th July 2003 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
7th July 2003 - Fleece, Bristol
8th July 2003 - Soundhaus, Northampton
9th July 2003 - Manchester University
11th July 2003 - Leadmill, Sheffield
13th July 2003 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
14th July 2003 - Liverpool University
15th July 2003 - Academy 2, Birmingham
16th July 2003 - Charlotte, Leicester
17th July 2003 - ULU, London
Randomised Dates
11th August 2003 - Underbelly, Edinburgh (Acoustic)
13th August 2003 - Cluny, Newcastle
16th August 2003 - Park Life Festival, Medway
Tour supporting Skin
Fri 26th September - Manchester Academy 3 (Hop and Grape)
Sat 27th September - Birmingham Academy 2
Sun 28th September - Leeds Cockpit
Wed 1st October - Bristol Fleece and Firkin
Thu 2nd October - Brighton Concorde
Fri 3rd October - London Shepherds Bush Empire
HMV instore tour (to support the release of 'Second Ammendment'
Mon 6th Oct - 5.30pm - 38 High St, BIRMINGHAM
Tues 7th Oct - 5.30pm - 90 Market St, MANCHESTER
Weds 8th Oct - 5.30pm - Argyle St, GLASGOW
Thurs 9th Oct - 5.30pm - 56 Northumberland St, NEWCASTLE
Fri 10th Oct - 5.30pm - 1 Victoria Walk, Headrow Centre, LEEDS
Dav, Milk, Cookies III
17th DECEMBER 2003- Eastbourne, Underground Theatre
Nationwide tour to support the releases of Til The Day and Kill The Last Romantic
January 7th - Southampton - Joiners
January 8th - Leicester Charlotte
January 9th - Little Civic, Wolverhampton
January 10th - Empire, Middlesborough
January 11th - York, Fibbers
January 12th - Academy, Liverpool
January 14th - King Tuts, Glasgow
January 15th - Cockpit, Leeds
January 16th - Louisiana, Bristol
January 17th - Barfly, Cardiff
February 17 OXFORD - Zodiac
February 18 READING - Fez
February 19 EXETER - Cavern
February 20 SWANSEA - Face Off @ Escape
February 21 BATH - Moles
February 23 NORTHAMPTON - Soundhaus
February 24 WARWICK - University
February 25 STOKE - Sugarmill
February 26 SCARBOROUGH - Kazbah
February 27 SUNDERLAND - Bar 36
February 28 EDINBURGH - Venue
March 1 INVERNESS - Raigmore
March 2 ABERDEEN - Lava
March 3 NEWCASTLE - University
March 4 MANCHESTER - Night and Day
March 5 BIRMINGHAM - Academy 2
March 6 LIVERPOOL - University
March 8 NORWICH - Arts Centre
March 9 PORTSMOUTH - Wedgewood Rooms
March 10 ALDERSHOT - West End Centre
March 11 LONDON - ULU
Discography
Hundredweight7" Vinyl
1. Hundredweight
2. You Make Me Want To Drink Bleach
CD
1. Hundredweight
2. You Make Me Want To Drink Bleach
3. All I Ever Had
Released 19th Febuary 2001...Better Ways To Self Destruct
CD
1. Lghts Out
2. Hundredweight
3. Junkies and Whores
4. Someone Do Something
5. A Stain to Never Fade
6. U Make Me Want To Drink Bleach (stylophone mix)
7. Try Not To Think
8. Compilation Blues (Hidden Track
Released 21st May 2001Try Not To Think
7" Vinyl
1. Try Not To Think
2. Everyone Knows
CD
1. Try Not To Think
2. Everyone Knows
3. She's Something Else
Released 11th March 2002Chart Placing - 72Bleach
7" Vinyl
1. Bleach
2. People Who Don't Climb Ladders (aren't particularly likely to fall off ladders now, are they?)
CD
1. Bleach
2. Lights Out
3. People Who Don't Climb Ladders (aren't particularly likely to fall off ladders now, are they?)
Released 20th May 2002 Chart Placing - 67This Is Where I Stand
CD
1. Armistice
2. Try Not To Think
3. 100 Weight
4. Junkies and Whores
5. This Is Where I Stand
6. A Stain To Never Fade
7. Demons
8. By The Sea
9. Bleach
10. You and Me
11. You Were Right
Released 3rd June 2002You and Me
7" Vinyl
1. You and Me (single mix)
2. Right Thing
CD1
1. You and Me (new versions)
2. Little Sensation
3. Hopelessly Devoted To You
CD2
1. You and ME (album version)
2. Better Ways to Self Destruct
3. Bleach video
Released 9th September 2002Chart Placing - 57Junkies
7" Vinyl
1. Junkies
2. Enjoy The Silence
CD1
1. Junkies Radio Edit
2. Me
3. You And Me Promo Video
CD2 - Live at the Underground
1. Junkies
2. Demons
3. People Who Don't Climb Ladders
4. Junkies promo video
Released 27th January 2003Chart Placing - 40This Is Where I Stand - Japanese Release
CD
1. Armistice
2. Bleach
3. You And Me (single mix)t
4. Everyone Knows
5. Try Not To Think
6. 100 Weight
7. Junkies And Whores
8. This Is Where I Stand
9. A Stain To Never Fade
10. Demons
11. By The Sea
12. Better Ways To Self Destruct
13. Little Sensation
14. Lights Out
15. Hopelessly Devoted To You
16. You Were Right
17. Right Thing
Released 5th Febuary 2003Second Ammendment
7" Vinyl
1. Second Ammendment
2. Where Happy Is
CD1
1. Second Ammendment
2. Young In Love
3. Dave, Where Have You Gone?
CD2
1. Second Amendment
2. Other Man
3. A Lot Like...
4. Second Ammendment promo video
Released 6th October 2003Chart Placing -42
1An interview with the band conducted on this tour is available here for those who are interested.2Richey Edwards, guitarist and lyricist with the Manic Street Preachers, went missing in 19953Thanks to those who reside at the EasyBoard and especially a certain Ms. Jo Taylor, for their invaluable help with this section
