Emerging from Reading, England, toward the close of the 1990s, the Cooper Temple Clause united Ben Gautrey on vocals, Tom Bellamy handling guitar, synthesizer, and bass, Dan Fisher on bass and guitar, Didz also on bass, Kieran Mahon at the keyboards, and Jon Harper behind the drums. The six-piece delivered an inventive, hard-hitting fusion of alternative rock that wove together post-grunge and punk textures into an inventive strain of artful hard rock. Drawn from a handful of local outfits, the musicians quickly built a dedicated following through their earliest club appearances. A 2000 contract with RCA Records paved the way for their first commercial release. Late the following year the group unveiled the EP Hardware/Warfare, after which an extensive touring schedule brought growing attention from Britain’s alternative audience. Once the roadwork concluded, they issued the single Film Maker/Been Training Dogs, which promptly claimed the top position on the main U.K. chart. February 2002 saw the arrival of the debut album See This Through and Leave, confirming the band’s rising stature across the United Kingdom and into continental Europe. Twelve months later, Kick Up the Fire, And Let the Flames Break Loose secured broad international distribution.
