Biography
In Brighton, brothers Alex White on vocals and guitar alongside Tom White on drums laid down rough four-track albums that they peddled to nearby residents through the Feltro Media imprint, giving rise to the Electric Soft Parade. A single one of those tapes reached indie DB, prompting the label to sign the pair in 2001. After adopting the Electric Soft Parade name and adding bassist Matt Thwaites plus keyboardist Steve Large, the outfit delivered the single “Silent to the Dark” that April, blending latter-day Brit-pop with touches of American modern rock and psychedelia. Early the following year DB put out the album Holes in the Wall, after which the group embarked on lengthy tours that drew press attention partly through Oasis-style friction between the siblings. The band then moved to BMG, releasing The American Adventure in the U.K. during October 2003; around the same time Steve Large departed and Matthew Priest joined on drums. Throughout the ensuing twelve months the musicians shared bills with Elbow, Starsailor, and the Who before returning to the studio to cut the Human Body EP, issued in 2006. Their third album, No Need to Be Down-Hearted, followed a year later. Between 2008 and 2010 the Electric Soft Parade stepped away from both touring and recording, only to reconvene in 2010 for a performance at the Maximalism! charity concert. The EP A Quick One surfaced the next year, and in 2013 the quartet issued its fourth studio album, Idiots, produced by Chris Hughes and Mark Frith.
Albums
