Semifinalists
Encyclopedia
History
Adriana Alba Ferry GouwFerry Gouw
Ferry Gouw is an Indonesian musician, illustrator and video director working in the United Kingdom. He is the frontman of the indie band Semifinalists, and has directed and produced music videos for several bands in the UK indie music scene, including Lightspeed Champion...
(vocals/guitar) and Chris Steele-Nicholson (vocals/guitar/bass/drums/keyboards) met at film school
Film school
The term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
, the group attempted to create a soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for a friend's film. Jamming and experimenting in a rehearsal space from this period brought about the embryonic sounds of the Semifinalists' self-titled debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
.
After signing to V2
V2 Records
V2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI....
, their debut album was released in 10 April 2006 on their own label imprint, Regal Bear.
The group recorded the follow-up to their self titled debut album, entitled 2, which was released 23 June 2008. Alba left the band in spring 2008.
The group toured with Lightspeed Champion
Lightspeed Champion
Devonté Hynes , better known as Lightspeed Champion or Blood Orange, is a British composer, songwriter, producer and author, who has written for artists such as Florence and the Machine, Diana Vickers and The Chemical Brothers on their 2007 Grammy award winning album We Are The Night...
in 2008, where Hynes played with the group in place of Alba on occasion.
Other projects
In 2005 Gouw and Steele-Nicholson started a film production company called Muscle. Gouw has directed music videos for the latest musical project of Devonte Hynes, the folk-act Lightspeed ChampionLightspeed Champion
Devonté Hynes , better known as Lightspeed Champion or Blood Orange, is a British composer, songwriter, producer and author, who has written for artists such as Florence and the Machine, Diana Vickers and The Chemical Brothers on their 2007 Grammy award winning album We Are The Night...
. Gouw directed the videos for Galaxy of the Lost
Galaxy of the Lost
-Second release:-External links:***...
and Midnight Surprise
Midnight Surprise
-External links:****...
.
In early 2009, Steele-Nicholson started a new band called Oh Minnows.
Singles
- "Show the Way" (A side) / "Your Heart" (B side)
- "You Said" (A side) / "Whispering Mice" (B side)
- "DC" (A side) / "Moonlight Bounced" (B side)
- "Odd Situation" (A side) / "Odd Situation - Tapedeck Remix" (B side)