Panda Bear Jones
Encyclopedia
Panda Bear Jones were a British pop band, formed in the 2000s, well known for their empty gigs and awful music.
The initial practise sessions went so well that Jones began to contribute to the music writing process, with songs for what is now The Rigdale Demos EP (2010) being produced.
The band's name, according to Ramen Music was derived from Lloyd Jones' sympathy with Chinese culture in a wider sense, and Ross Graham's disdain for this fact.
Lead vocalist Ross Graham is purportedly a flamenco guitarist whilst bassist Lloyd Jones hails from a death-metal background. Steven Brown (percussion) originates from gospel music.
The band had seen quick success, with The Rigdale Demos EP receiving airplay on BBC Radio6
and appearing on the iTunes Store
and Spotify
service respectively.
Their single-only song 'Stuck In Eggbuckland' was released on Friday the 18th of February 2011. The song was also posted to their myspace page.
The 5 track EP (1 hidden) was produced by Peter Miles
and eventually released on the 5th of August 2011 and made available for free streaming on the band's website . The EP is purportedly named after Ross' brother's stock response to the occurrence of natural disasters .
The band announced via a video posted to their official Youtube channel that they had split up and were to play one final live performance, with Lou Reed and Metallica, in December 2011.
riffs at live performances, mixed with their usual pop music.
The pictures were all unified by their inclusion of a dog somewhere in the image, and all performance titles were usually absurdist puns, such as 'Child Prawn', 'Car Pork' and 'Piss Wizard'.
'Piss Wizard' was adopted as the anthem for the UK National Kidney Federation. Controversy arose when they realised the Witches and Wizards Association of Nigeria were using the same song, after finding it on the popular P2P music sharing service, Limewire
. The UK National Kidney Federation are currently in the process of making legal action to keep the song for themselves.
'Child Prawn' was used in a major advertising campaign by the US pro-life group, ProLife Alliance
. The campaign depicted advocates of abortion as cannibalistic, eating fetuses by snapping their heads off similar to the preparation of prawns to be eaten. Due to the campaign, ProLife advocate and Republican Ron Paul
listed it as his favourite song of the past decade.
2000s - 2011
Frontman Ross Graham (acoustic guitar & vocals) formed the group after contacting longtime friend Lloyd Jones (electric bass & harmonised vocals) about the prospect of playing on a few of his tracks in order to produce a demo recording.The initial practise sessions went so well that Jones began to contribute to the music writing process, with songs for what is now The Rigdale Demos EP (2010) being produced.
The band's name, according to Ramen Music was derived from Lloyd Jones' sympathy with Chinese culture in a wider sense, and Ross Graham's disdain for this fact.
Lead vocalist Ross Graham is purportedly a flamenco guitarist whilst bassist Lloyd Jones hails from a death-metal background. Steven Brown (percussion) originates from gospel music.
The band had seen quick success, with The Rigdale Demos EP receiving airplay on BBC Radio6
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
and appearing on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
and Spotify
Spotify
Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had...
service respectively.
Their single-only song 'Stuck In Eggbuckland' was released on Friday the 18th of February 2011. The song was also posted to their myspace page.
2011 - present
The band announced on Facebook that their first studio-recorded EP would be released on the 29th of July 2011, entitled 'Such Is The Mirth'..The 5 track EP (1 hidden) was produced by Peter Miles
Peter Miles (record producer)
Peter Miles is a British record producer, currently based in Devon, England.Although Peter Miles has worked in a variety of genres he is currently most recognised as a rock producer...
and eventually released on the 5th of August 2011 and made available for free streaming on the band's website . The EP is purportedly named after Ross' brother's stock response to the occurrence of natural disasters .
The band announced via a video posted to their official Youtube channel that they had split up and were to play one final live performance, with Lou Reed and Metallica, in December 2011.
Musical style
Originally branded as pop, the band flippantly suggested their musical genre is one of 'finger metal' on Tom Robinson's BBC6 Introducing show when asked what their musical genre could best be described as. This is allegedly due to the incorporation of Heavy metal musicHeavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
riffs at live performances, mixed with their usual pop music.
2011 Festival Appearances
It was announced via Facebook that the band were playing a 2011 festival tour, concluding with the Maker Festival. They also made appearances at the Run To The Sun festival in Newquay, Cornwall and the Freedom Festival at Freedom Park, Plymouth.2011 Sexual Assault Allegations
In August 2011, Jones was allegedly involved in a controversial stunt to promote the bands' closing gigs. Witnesses claimed that Jones used a live dove to "inappropriately caress" female patrons, including members of Plymouth's female wheelchair basketball squad in bars across Plymouth's North Hill area. Jones was arrested and bailed the following morning, but the cases, due in November 2011 were settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.Giant Johnson
A post to the band's Facebook page on November 6th 2011 confirmed that Graham and Brown have created a new group called 'Giant Johnson'.Live performance nomenclature and pictures
The astute observer could note that the band had (via the Facebook social networking site) created 'events' for their live performances each with a unique name and accompanying picture.The pictures were all unified by their inclusion of a dog somewhere in the image, and all performance titles were usually absurdist puns, such as 'Child Prawn', 'Car Pork' and 'Piss Wizard'.
'Piss Wizard' was adopted as the anthem for the UK National Kidney Federation. Controversy arose when they realised the Witches and Wizards Association of Nigeria were using the same song, after finding it on the popular P2P music sharing service, Limewire
LimeWire
LimeWire is a free peer-to-peer file sharing client program that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other operating systems supported by the Java software platform. LimeWire uses the gnutella network as well as the BitTorrent protocol. A free software version and a purchasable "enhanced"...
. The UK National Kidney Federation are currently in the process of making legal action to keep the song for themselves.
'Child Prawn' was used in a major advertising campaign by the US pro-life group, ProLife Alliance
ProLife Alliance
ProLife Alliance is an advocacy group in the United Kingdom, formed in October 1996. It is opposed to human cloning and abortion, opposes experiments on human embryos and also opposes any form of euthanasia. It supports anti-abortion taxation policies and guaranteed maternity and paternity leave...
. The campaign depicted advocates of abortion as cannibalistic, eating fetuses by snapping their heads off similar to the preparation of prawns to be eaten. Due to the campaign, ProLife advocate and Republican Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
listed it as his favourite song of the past decade.
Members
- Ross Graham – lead vocalsLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
(2000s–present) - Lloyd Jones – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, harmonised vocalsVocal harmonyVocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
(2000s–present) - Steve Brown – drums, percussion (2011–present)
- Trent Reznor - mellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
, double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
(the future)
Discography
- The Rigdale Demos (2010)
- Stuck In Eggbuckland (Single) (2011)
- Such Is The Mirth (2011)