The Lafontaines
Encyclopedia
The LaFontaines are a 5-piece, rap rock
band from Motherwell
, North Lanarkshire
, Scotland
. Currently they are a local unsigned band who have recently been gaining publicity from many different media sources including: The Herald
, The Times
, and BBC Radio Scotland
.
and Wishaw
area. Some of the current band members met each other whilst being educated at the local Dalziel High School
. It is led to believe that a few impromptu jams took place in late summer 2008 after meeting busker Jamie Keenan who was recommended to play the drums. The quartet recorded a few homemade demos in the autumn before returning to the studio in April 2009 with recently recruited bass player Anna Smith to rehearse for a show in Glasgows prestigious venue "King Tuts Wah Wah Hut" as opener for American rap duo The Cool Kids. The band's name is derived from voice-over actor Don LaFontaine
. Since then the band have self-released their debut EP and toured relentlessly around the country. In August 2010 The Lafontaines listed John Gerard as bassist replacing Anna Smith due to her increasing involvment in the British army. They featured as the opening act for Twin Atlantic
on their 2011 Free tour. On 9 July 2011, they performed to a record-breaking crowd on the T Break Stage at T in the Park 2011
. The band also performs every year at the Wishaw-based music festival Be in Belhaven
.
style, and it is a fusion between hip hop
, indie
, pop
, rock
and electro. Fans and critics alike usually mistake this style for a fusion of rock and hip hop, which the band have denied. Unlike similar recent Scottish music acts, the singer, Kerr Okan, does not lose his central Scottish accent when rapping The LaFontaines songs. The fusion of styles during songs has also made The LaFontaines be a very popular band in the Glasgow
music scene. The lyrics are based on life in Scotland. As there is a lack of gang warfare in Motherwell, and none of them have a spouse to speak about, The LaFontaines base their lyrics on their relationships, living in an urban town, and adventures of their short lives so far. Their song "The Vulcan" shows the band's attempts to try and further their fanbase, as the lyrics of this song revolve around the Star Trek race the Vulcans, and this shows that the references manage to attract people with Sci-Fi interests.
Rap rock
Rap rock is a cross-genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock is often confused with rap metal and rapcore, subgenres that include heavy metal-oriented and hardcore punk-oriented bands, respectively....
band from Motherwell
Motherwell
Motherwell is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, south east of Glasgow. The name "Moderwelt" appears on a map of Lanarkshire made by Timothy Pont some time between 1583 and 1611 and printed in the Netherlands in around 1652, although the settlement was probably little more...
, North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Currently they are a local unsigned band who have recently been gaining publicity from many different media sources including: The Herald
The Herald (Glasgow)
The Herald is a broadsheet newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, and available throughout Scotland. As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 47,226, giving it a lead over Scotland's other 'quality' national daily, The Scotsman, published in Edinburgh.The 1889 to 1906 editions...
, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, and BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming, including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...
.
History
It is unknown when the band actually began due to everyone playing in various other bands in the MotherwellMotherwell
Motherwell is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, south east of Glasgow. The name "Moderwelt" appears on a map of Lanarkshire made by Timothy Pont some time between 1583 and 1611 and printed in the Netherlands in around 1652, although the settlement was probably little more...
and Wishaw
Wishaw
Wishaw is a large town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the edge of the Clyde Valley, 15 miles south-east of Glasgow....
area. Some of the current band members met each other whilst being educated at the local Dalziel High School
Dalziel High School
Dalziel High School is a non-denominational secondary school that is based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The current rector of the school is Levi toi.1.-Overview:...
. It is led to believe that a few impromptu jams took place in late summer 2008 after meeting busker Jamie Keenan who was recommended to play the drums. The quartet recorded a few homemade demos in the autumn before returning to the studio in April 2009 with recently recruited bass player Anna Smith to rehearse for a show in Glasgows prestigious venue "King Tuts Wah Wah Hut" as opener for American rap duo The Cool Kids. The band's name is derived from voice-over actor Don LaFontaine
Don LaFontaine
Donald Leroy "Don" LaFontaine was an American voiceover artist famous for recording more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers. His nicknames included "Thunder Throat" and "The Voice of God"...
. Since then the band have self-released their debut EP and toured relentlessly around the country. In August 2010 The Lafontaines listed John Gerard as bassist replacing Anna Smith due to her increasing involvment in the British army. They featured as the opening act for Twin Atlantic
Twin Atlantic
Twin Atlantic are an alternative rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band is composed of Sam McTrusty , Barry McKenna , Ross McNae and Craig Kneale ....
on their 2011 Free tour. On 9 July 2011, they performed to a record-breaking crowd on the T Break Stage at T in the Park 2011
T in the Park 2011
T in the Park 2011 was a three day music festival which took place from 8–10 July 2011 in Balado, Scotland, the eighteenth event to take place. The full line up was revealed in February 2011: Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Beyoncé and Foo Fighters were revealed as the headliners...
. The band also performs every year at the Wishaw-based music festival Be in Belhaven
Be in Belhaven
Be in Belhaven is an annual music festival which takes place in Scotland at Belhaven Park, a public park in the town centre of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. The first Be in Belhaven festival took place on 2 August 2008...
.
Music and lyrics
The band play music in the rap rockRap rock
Rap rock is a cross-genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock is often confused with rap metal and rapcore, subgenres that include heavy metal-oriented and hardcore punk-oriented bands, respectively....
style, and it is a fusion between hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, indie
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and electro. Fans and critics alike usually mistake this style for a fusion of rock and hip hop, which the band have denied. Unlike similar recent Scottish music acts, the singer, Kerr Okan, does not lose his central Scottish accent when rapping The LaFontaines songs. The fusion of styles during songs has also made The LaFontaines be a very popular band in the Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
music scene. The lyrics are based on life in Scotland. As there is a lack of gang warfare in Motherwell, and none of them have a spouse to speak about, The LaFontaines base their lyrics on their relationships, living in an urban town, and adventures of their short lives so far. Their song "The Vulcan" shows the band's attempts to try and further their fanbase, as the lyrics of this song revolve around the Star Trek race the Vulcans, and this shows that the references manage to attract people with Sci-Fi interests.
Critical acclaim
The band have received various amounts of praise from many different media sources in their short career. Some of the statements made are as follows:- "It shouldn’t work, but it does. The LaFontaines are the real deal” - Rachel Devine (The Sunday Times)
- "The time is surely ripe for the world to take notice of Motherwell’s The LaFontaines” – (The Herald)
- "The LaFontaines make GlasvegasGlasvegasGlasvegas are a Scottish indie rock band from Glasgow. The band consists of James Allan , Rab Allan , Paul Donoghue and Jonna Löfgren . The band received critical acclaim for their debut album Glasvegas which was released in September 2008, reaching No...
sound like they come from Bearsden" - Tom Morton (BBC Radio Scotland)