Nosferatu D2

Nosferatu D2 were an indie rock band from Surrey, England. Although their years were short, the band would experience something of a posthumous renaissance on the strength of their shelved debut album being released by the fledgling Audio Antihero label. The album and the story of its release would be the subject of a number of BBC stories, while the album itself has received continued acclaim and airplay long after its release.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Nosferatu D2
OriginCroydon, United Kingdom
GenresIndie rock, Lo-Fi, Alternative
Years active2005–2007
LabelsAudio Antihero
Associated actsSuperman Revenge Squad, Tempertwig, The Superman Revenge Squad Band, Los Campesinos!, Benjamin Shaw, Sky Larkin, The Jonbarr Hinge, Clarity, Air Formation
Websitewww.nosferatud2.bandcamp.com
Past membersBen Parker
Adam Parker

2005–2007

Nosferatu D2 formed in the ashes of the similarly short-lived band called Tempertwig who released one single (a 7" split with Air Formation)[11] before splitting up and freeing brothers Ben (Guitar/Vocals) and Adam Parker (drums) to begin again as Nosferatu D2.[12] Tempertwig would however find a fan in the BBC's Steve Lamacq before their split, with Lamacq airing their "Bratpack Film Philosophy" single on his evening show.[13] After Tempertwig, Nosferatu D2 began to play shows and demo new material, some of which was aired on XFM by John Kennedy[14] and BBC Radio 1 by Huw Stephens.[15] One of these demos received a praising review from the NME courtesy of James McMahon[16] and another earned a recommendation from Art Brut member Chris Chinchilla.[17]

Their most notable shows were with Air Formation[18] and an opening slot for Los Campesinos! and Sky Larkin at The Spitz.[19][20] Los Campesinos! would soon achieve success on the Wichita Records label and would give Nosferatu D2 a "thanks to" credit on their debut "Hold on Now, Youngster..." LP.[20]

Ben Parker would then begin writing and recording under the Superman Revenge Squad name (taken from the comic book organisations of the same name) and Nosferatu D2 would quietly disband.[21][22]

Despite the sparsity of their catalogue at this time and only having played a handful of shows, their song "Springsteen" caught the attention of Jamie Halliday the future founder of Audio Antihero records.[23][24] His enthusiasm for the band would finally materialise in the release of their debut album in October 2009, more than two years since they disbanded.[25][26][27]

Debut album/Posthumous acclaim

In October 2009, the fledgling Audio Antihero label announced Nosferatu D2's "We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise" LP as their debut release.[28][29] This announcement was met by praise from Los Campesinos! member Gareth Campesinos! who said it "fucks up his provisional albums of the year list."[30] The album was distributed by PMD.

The album itself was critically acclaimed. Drowned In Sound gave it 9/10 and called it "some kind of alchemy, not to be repeated",[3] Pitchfork said it was "perfect in its hopelessness",[2] The 405 awarded them 9/10 and speculated that it might be "one of those forgotten albums that will be hailed as influential come five or ten years",[31] This Is Fake DIY graded it 8/10,[32] The Music Fix labeled it a "lo-fi masterpiece" with a 9/10,[33] Music Emissions awarded the LP a perfect 10/10,[14] The Organ simply stated "I do like this, like it lots actually",[34] Scotland's The Skinny marked it as 4/5,[35] and The Line Of Best Fit stated that "your record collection is incomplete without its inclusion."[1]

The album was also well received internationally by radio with songs from the album given multiple airings on BBC 6 Music,[4][5][6][36] Dandelion Radio,[37] NME Radio,[38] ResonanceFM,[39] Florida's WVUM FM,[40] Melbourne's Triple R FM,[41] Kooba Radio,[42] BSM Rocks! Radio,[43] the inaugural God Is In The TV podcast.[44] Jon Solomon's show on New Jersey's WPRB FM,[45][46] Vancouver's CITR-FM and The Wrong Rock Show on South Africa's Bush Radio.[47]

The album and its story has endured and several radio features have been dedicated to it. In January 2011 Tom Robinson interviewed Ben Parker and Jamie Halliday about the album on a special "I Need An Antihero" edition of BBC Introducing,[10][9] in September 2010 Spark Radio named the disbanded Nosferatu D2 as their "Artist Of The Month" and interviewed Audio Antihero about the release,[48] in August 2011 Miami's WVUMFM featured an hour long Audio Antihero special in which Nosferatu D2 were a main topic,[40] and in August 2012 BBC World Service/PRI's "The World" aired a feature story on the Nosferatu D2 album which included music from the band and interviews with the artist and label.[8][49]

In September 2012 the band would re-issue remastered recordings of their final show as "Nosferatu D2 – Live At The Spitz" on the Audio Antihero label.[50] It was made available as a free download via Bandcamp and like their debut album found acclaim from the online press.[50][51][52][53][54][55][56]

Though the band have not recorded since their split and have stated that they will not reform[57] they have contributed unreleased recordings to charity compilations to raise money for FSID,[58][59][60][61] Shelterbox, Save The Children, Red Cross, Japan Society[62][63][64] and New York (following Hurricane Sandy).[65][66][67][68]

The band were remembered again in a "Buried Treasures" article for the Faded Glamour culture site[69] and in a "Lost Bands" story dedicated to the band in a paperback book published by Rhubarb Bomb.[70][71] Label-mate Benjamin Shaw would also cover their Anti-Christmas song "It's Christmas Time (For God's Sake),"[72][73] the song was used once more for Darren Hayman (Hefner/The French) and FIKA Recordings' 2011 Digital Advent Calendar where they were featured alongside fellow AAH artists including Jack Hayter, Fighting Kites, Paul Hawkins, Ian Button, Broken Shoulder and Benjamin Shaw.[74]

In 2015, the album was reissued on cassette by Audio Antihero alongside a pay-what-you-want EP of non-album recordings entitled "Older, Wiser, Sadder" – which praised by Drowned in Sound.[75][76][77]

Other projects from the Parker brothers

Pre-Nosferatu D2, Ben and Adam Parker performed bassist Daniel Debono under the name Tempertwig between 1999 and 2004. They released a split single with Air Formation and a number of independent demos. Their music was praised at the time by Drowned in Sound[78] and Steve Lamacq.[79] In 2019, the majority of their recorded material was compiled under the name "FAKE NOSTALGIA: An Anthology of Broken Stuff" by Audio Antihero Records and Randy Sadage Records for a 29 March release.[80][81]

Post-Nosferatu D2, Ben and Adam Parker reunited with a number of other musicians for the "There is Nothing More Frightening Than the Passing of Time" album by The Superman Revenge Squad Band, an expanded version of Ben Parker's Superman Revenge Squad solo project.[82] The album received positive reviews[83][84][85] and support from BBC 6 Music.[86]

Discography

Albums and EPs
  • We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On to Block Out the Noise (Audio Antihero, 2009)
  • Older, Wiser, Sadder – EP (Audio Antihero, 2015)

Live albums
  • Live at the Spitz (05/03/2007) (Audio Antihero/BarelyOut Recordings, 2012)

Compilation appearances
  • Bob Hope Would – for Japan (Audio Antihero, 2011) – contributes "The Kids From FAME" / "Older, Wiser, Sadder" / "A Man at War With Himself"
  • Some.Alternate.Universe – for FSID (Audio Antihero, 2012) – contributes "A Footnote" (Demo)
  • Audio Antihero's Commercial Suicide Sampler (Audio Antihero, 2012) – contributes "Springsteen"
  • The Hüsker Doo-wop EP for New York (Audio Antihero/Hear It For NY, 2012) – contributes "Older, Wiser, Sadder"
  • Into the Light: Volume Three for Pussy Riot (Unwashed Territories, 2012) – contributes "It's Christmas Time (For God's Sake)"
  • Elder Statesman: Nine Long Years of Audio Antihero Records (Audio Antihero, 2019) – contributes "Springsteen"
gollark: Browsers are very complex.
gollark: Well:- It's Java, I don't like Java- You'll have to maintain two insanely complex codebases
gollark: PotatOS = potatoS = potatOS = POTATos
gollark: It's both.
gollark: PotatOS, obviously.

References
  1. "Nosferatu D2 – We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise". The Line of Best Fit.
  2. "Guest List: Best of 2009 - Page 2". Pitchfork.
  3. "Album Review: Nosferatu D2 - We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise". DrownedInSound.
  4. "Nosferatu D2 - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music". BBC.
  5. Robinson, Tom. "BBC - Tom Robinson: TRACKLISTING. SUNDAY 29/05/2011". Bbc.co.uk.
  6. "TRIntro: Free Introducing Tracks 29 Nov 10 - BBC Music Introducing Mixtape — gpodder.net". gpodder.net.
  7. "Audio Antihero". audioantihero.com.
  8. "Fan Releases Nosferatu D2"²s Album Again, Ignites Cult Following". Public Radio International.
  10. "BBC Radio 6 Music - BBC Introducing with Tom Robinson, Fresh On The Net: I Need An Antihero". BBC.
  11. "Living Stereo". Living Stereo.
  12. "Robots & Electronic Brains - eclectic music zine". Robotsandelectronicbrains.co.uk.
  15. "BBC - Radio 1 - Huw Stephens - Tracklisting". Bbc.co.uk.
  17. "A review". Repeatfanzine.co.uk.
  18. "Nosferatu D2 at Buffalo Bar (07 Feb 2007)". Songkick.
  19. "Los Campesinos! at The Spitz (05 Mar 2007)". Songkick.
  21. "Superman Revenge Squad interview | Feature | The Digital Fix". Music.thedigitalfix.com. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  22. "anotherformofrelief.com at Directnic". Anotherformofrelief.com.
  23. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. "Audio Antihero Interview". 26 October 2009.
  26. "anotherformofrelief.com at Directnic". Anotherformofrelief.com.
  27. ".: Be Prepared: Nosferatu D2 | We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise | 16. Oct". 13 October 2009.
  28. "Audio Antihero". audioantihero.com.
  30. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  31. "Nosferatu D2 - We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise". The 405.
  33. "Nosferatu D2 - We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise | Capsule Review | The Digital Fix". Music.thedigitalfix.com. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  34. "ORGAN MAGAZINE ON LINE: CONTACT & SWITCH THE OTHER". Organart.demon.co.uk.
  35. "Nosferatu D2 – We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise | The Skinny". Theskinny.co.uk.
  37. "Dandelion Radio - February 2010 Tracklistings". Dandelionradio.com.
  39. "Dexter Bentley Site". Dexterbentley.com.
  40. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  42. "Audio Antihero". audioantihero.com.
  43. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  44. "God Is InThe TV Zine: God Is In The Pod Episode One". Godisinthetvzine.blogspot.com. 8 May 2010.
  47. "Playlist: The Wrong Rock Show Ep.85". 21 December 2011.
  48. "Lo-Band-Width: Audio Antihero Interview and Nosferatu D2 as Artist Of The Month". 29 September 2010.
  49. "פעילות גיבוש לקבוצות - פעילויות גיבוש קבוצתיות - Revenge Squad". Supermanrevengesquad.com.
  51. ".: Nosferatu D2 Legacy Revisited, Remastered Recording Of Final Show Now Available From Audio Antihero". 9 September 2012.
  52. "Hospital Drama". Hospitaldrama.tumblr.com. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  54. "Review // Nosferatu D2 ~ Live At The Spitz". GoldFlakePaint. 20 September 2012.
  57. "Tumblr". Sonicreverie.tumblr.com.
  58. "Jeffrey Lewis, JoFo, Paul Hawkins, Still Corners, younghusband, Benjamin Shaw & more feature on Charity double album for FSID". Godisinthetvzine.co.uk. 27 February 2012.
  59. "Review: Audio Antihero Presents: 'Some.Alternate.Universe' for FSID".
  60. "Audio Antihero release album for FSID | News Flash | The Digital Fix". Music.thedigitalfix.com. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  61. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  63. "The Creative Intersection: Audio Antihero: Broken Shoulder and Bob Hope Would". 28 March 2011.
  64. "Audio Antihero Presents: 'Bob Hope would.' // Japan Relief Effort Charity Album". The 405.
  66. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  67. "Audio Antihero: Hear It For New York Compilation - "The Hüsker Doo-wop" EP, by Hear It For New York - Audio Antihero". Hear It For New York - Audio Antihero.
  68. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  69. "Buried Treasures: Nosferatu D2". Fadedglamour.co.uk.
  70. "Rhubarb Bomb: The City Consumes Us". Rhubarbbomb.blogspot.com. 2 March 2012.
  71. "Songbird.me". 17.songbird.me.
  72. "Cigarettes Eggnog – Hi54lofi Records". hi54lofirecords.com.
  73. "Benjamin Shaw". Both Bars On.
  74. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  75. "Ep Review: Nosferatu D2 - Older, Wiser, Sadder". DrownedInSound.com.
  76. "Older, Wiser, Sadder, by Nosferatu D2". Nosferatu D2.
  77. "Six Long Years: Nosferatu D2 reissue / free "Older, Wiser, Sadder" EP / Full-Live Set Video". Audioantihero.wordpress.com. 13 October 2015.
  78. "tempertwig". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 3 January 2006. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  79. "Tangents fun'n'frenzy filled web site". Tangents.co.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  80. "FAKE NOSTALGIA: An Anthology of Broken Stuff, by Tempertwig". Tempertwig.
  81. Doyle, Jon (7 March 2019). "Tempertwig - Comfort Blanket / Everything Can Be Derailed".
  82. "There Is Nothing More Frightening Than the Passing of Time". Thesupermanrevengesquadband.bandcamp.com.
  83. "Track-By-Track: Superman Revenge Squad Band - "There Is Nothing More Frightening Than The Passing Of Time"". 18 October 2013.
  84. "LP Stream: Superman Revenge Squad Band - There Is Nothing More Frightening Than The Passing Of Time | Bearded Magazine: The Home of Independent Music". Beardedmagazine.com.
  85. "Album Review | The Superman Revenge Squad Band". GoldFlakePaint.co.uk. 13 October 2013.
  86. "The Superman Revenge Squad Band - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music". BBC.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.