- The Thrills
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The Thrills Origin Dublin, Ireland Genres Classic rock, Alt-country, Folk rock Years active 2001–2008 (on hiatus) Labels Virgin (2002–2008) Website Official website
The Thrills MySpaceMembers Conor Deasy
Daniel Ryan
Padraic McMahon
Kevin Horan
Ben CarriganThe Thrills are an Irish rock band, formed in 2001 in Dublin, Ireland. The band was founded by lead vocalist Conor Deasy and guitarist Daniel Ryan, guitarist and bass player Padraic McMahon, pianist Kevin Horan and drummer Ben Carrigan. Their big break came with their debut album, So Much for the City, which became an Irish number one and charted at number 3 in the UK. The band's sound has been described as "inspired by classic American pop of the late '60s and early '70s" by MTV.com[1] and "an ocean-soaked, harmony-heavy homage to California's dreamy dreams, shaking ground, and unrelenting sunshine" by Pitchfork Media.[2]
Contents
History
The Thrills were formed in the Dublin suburb of Blackrock in the mid-'90s, when neighbors Conor Deasy and Daniel Ryan formed the Cheating Housewives with friends Kevin Horan, Padraic McMahon and Ben Carrigan. Several of the members attended primary school together at Hollypark Boys School in Foxrock. In 2001, they changed their name and became The Thrills. The band began writing and demoing material with a view to securing a record deal, which they soon did with local label Supremo Recordings, home of Chicks[3], San Diego where they wrote several of the tracks for their debut album, So Much for the City such as "One Horse Town".
In late 2002, The Thrills signed with Virgin Records, attracted by the promise of artistic freedom and the label's decision to allow them to record their debut record in Hollywood with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air).[1] Their debut album was released in 2003, debuting at #1 in Ireland, #3 in the UK and going platinum in both the UK and Irish Album Charts.[4] The album was nominated for the 2003 Mercury Prize but lost to Dizzee Rascal's 'Boy in da Corner'.[5] The album also won the 2003 Q Award for Best New Act, and Best New Act at the 2003 Irish Meteor Awards.
Released in September 2004, Let's Bottle Bohemia was again recorded in L.A., this time with Dave Sardy and featuring orchestration by Van Dyke Parks and a guest mandolin performance by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.[1] The album enjoyed similar success to the band's debut, entering the charts at number one in Ireland and number nine in the U.K – largely on the back of the single "Whatever Happened To Corey Haim?". The band often cites Neil Young and the Beach Boys as its main inspirations. The band took part in the Band Aid 20 charity assemble in 2004, and performed the song "Santa Cruz" at the Live 8 Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push charity concert , which is also featured on the DVD release of the event. The band also performed a medley[6] with Ronnie Wood of their single "The Irish Keep Gatecrashing" and the Rod Stewart song "Maggie May" at the Irish Meteor Awards 2005.
The band took an extended break after their second album, in an effort to evolve their sound. New material was written, including the single and opening track "Midnight Choir", and at R.E.M.'s suggestion, the five relocated to a renovated morgue in inner-city Vancouver to re-record the album with Tony Hoffer.[7] Teenager was released in Ireland on 22 July 2007 and Central Europe on 25 July 2007. It failed to light up the British and Irish charts, but received mixed reviews, getting a Metacritic score of 71,[8] positive reviews from the BBC[9] 7/10 from the NME[10], a 6.9/10 from Pitchfork[2] and a 2/5 review from the Guardian UK.[11]
The band was dropped by EMI in 2008 after the poor performance of their Teenager album, which only charted at #48 in the UK.[12][13]
In an August 2010 interview with the Irish Times, Ben Carrigan confirmed that the Thrills remain on indefinite hiatus.[13] Carrigan was working on his debut solo record entitled 'The Greatest Narrators' and it was released 23 September 2011.[14] The first single entitled 'You Knew It All Along' will be released on August 19.
KD lang included a cover of "Hollywood Kids" as a bonus track on her 2011 album with the Siss Bam Boom "Sing It Loud".[15][16]
The Thrills are releasing a Best Of compilation entitled "2002–2007" on 22 August 2011.[17]
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album UK
[4]IRE
[18]BEL
[19]FRA
[19]ITA
[20]NED
[19]NOR
[19]SWE
[19]USA Billboard
HeatseekersUSA Billboard
Top 2002003 So Much for the City 3 1 — 100 47 75 28 23 14 — 2004 Let's Bottle Bohemia 9 1 79 183 — 85 — — 6 152 2007 Teenager 48 24[21] — — — — — — — — EPs
Year Title 2007 The Thrills Bite Size Singles
Year Single UK
[4]IRE
[22]NED
[23]Album 2002 "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" — — — So Much for the City 2003 "One Horse Town" 18 7 — "Big Sur" 17 9 55 "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far) (Re-Issue)" 33 17 — "Don't Steal Our Sun" 45 38 — 2004 "Whatever Happened To Corey Haim?" 22 17 — Let's Bottle Bohemia "Not for All the Love in the World" 39 38 — 2005 "The Irish Keep Gate-crashing" 48 44 — 2007 "Nothing Changes Around Here" 40 — — Teenager "The Midnight Choir" — — — Other contributions
- WFUV: City Folk Live VII (2004) – "Santa Cruz"
- Music from the OC: Mix 2 (2004, Warner Bros./Wea) – "Big Sur"
- Eklektikos Live (2005) – "Say it Ain't So"
- The Acoustic Album (2006, Virgin) – "Santa Cruz"
In media
"Big Sur" from So Much for the City features in commercials on French television, for the Midi-Pyrénées tourism center.
"One Horse Town" from So Much for the City was used as the title music for the second and third series of the BBC sketch comedy series Tittybangbang, and also features in commercials for Volvo.
Adam Brody, who played Seth Cohen on The O.C., is a fan of The Thrills.[citation needed] Their music featured in two episodes of The O.C. including a guest appearance by the band members themselves on the second season episode "The Ex-Factor", where they played "Saturday Night", "Not For All the Love in the World" and "The Curse of Comfort".
"Big Sur" appears on the soundtrack and compilation album, Music from the OC: Mix 2.
"There's Joy to Be Found/The Boy Who Caught All the Breaks" featured in the 17 October 2007 episode of Private Practice.
"Midnight Choir" is used in the background for many scenes in Season 2 of the French television drama Clara Sheller.
References
- ^ a b c "The Thrills | Music Videos, Songs, News, Photos, and Lyrics". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/thrills_ireland_/artist.jhtml. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ a b "Album Reviews: The Thrills: Teenager". Pitchfork. 2007-11-26. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10846-teenager/. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "The Thrills tour dates, concert photos, music news, show cancellations and concert ticket info". Livedaily.com. 2004-09-16. http://www.livedaily.com/artists/2196.html. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ a b c "The Thrills". Chart Stats. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=256. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Rocklist.net...Mercury/Nationwide Music Prize Nominations And Winners". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/murcurytechnics.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ now to post a comment! (2007-06-15). "The Thrills and Ronnie Wood Live @ The Meteors". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r41YcHPCU-8. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ Balderston, Adele. "The Thrills Awaken Inner Adolescence with 'The Midnight Choir'". SPIN. http://www.spin.com/articles/thrills-awaken-inner-adolescence-midnight-choir. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ "Teenager Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/thrills/teenager. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Music - Review of The Thrills - Teenager". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/cw4h/. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "NME Album Reviews - The Thrills; Teenager". Nme.Com. 2007-07-30. http://www.nme.com/reviews/8821. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ Maddy Costa. "CD: The Thrills, Teenager | Music". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/jul/20/folk.shopping. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "The Thrills - Teenager". Chart Stats. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=39327. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ a b "Mon, Aug 09, 2010 - The Thrills now pursuing 'other personal goals'". The Irish Times. 2010-08-08. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0809/1224276416988.html. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Welcome to Ben Carrigan.com". Bencarrigan.com. 2011-07-28. http://bencarrigan.com/tgn.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Hollywood Kids by k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang on Sing It Loud | Grooveshark - Listen to Free Music Online - Internet Radio - Free MP3 Streaming". Grooveshark. http://grooveshark.com/s/Hollywood+Kids/3IOffG?src=5. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Hollywood Kids: k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004U42NCK. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "2002-2007". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004Z0N24W. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 558. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ a b c d e Steffen Hung (2010-10-26). "The Thrills - Let's Bottle Bohemia". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Thrills&titel=Let's+Bottle+Bohemia&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "The Thrills - So Much For The City - Music Charts". Acharts.us. http://acharts.us/album/16366. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "The Thrills - Teenager - Music Charts". Acharts.us. http://acharts.us/album/27066. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "The Thrills - Big Sur - Music Charts". Acharts.us. http://acharts.us/song/1117. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "Dutch charts portal". dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=the+thrills&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
External links
Extended plays The Thrills Bite SizeSingles "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" · "One Horse Town" · "Big Sur" · "Don't Steal Our Sun" · "Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?" · "Not for All the Love in the World" · "The Irish Keep Gate-crashing" · "Nothing Changes Around Here" · "The Midnight Choir"Categories:- Irish indie rock groups
- Music from Dublin (city)
- Musical groups established in 2001
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