Elliot Minor (formerly The Academy) is a rock/pop band from York, England. They cite among their influences, Muse, The Used, Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, The All-American Rejects, Queen and The Beach Boys. According to the band’s Myspace page, they also blend classical music into their sound. Elliot Minor also supported McFly in Newcastle in 2006 to an audience of over 13,000 people and also performed at Wembly Arena. Were spotted by a representative of Repossession Records to whom they later signed a record deal.
Alex Davies is the creative force behind the band. He was born into the world of classical music, and was expected to become a concert violinist, but when he met Ed Minton at Uppingham School in 2000 his eyes were opened wide to the world of rock. Overnight he went from listening to ‘Adagio for Strings’ to Green Day, The Starting Line, Something Corporate, Blink-182 and The Ataris. Alex and Ed quickly became great friends.
Elliot Minor started as an acoustic duo (Alex Davies and Ed Minton) in 2004/2005. In their last year at school, Alex and Ed got serious about the band and built a simple recording studio in their attic flat, where they spent every spare minute writing songs, recording demos and performing. At the end of their time at Uppingham, they both decided to take a gap year to develop the band and Alex built a more sophisticated home studio in his garage. They made great progress, but something was lacking: they needed a drummer.
In October 2005, Alex Davies and Dan Hetherton found themselves at the Minster School in York, both picking up younger brothers. They arranged to have a jam back in Alex’s garage and shortly after, the original duo became a trio. The three began recording new songs, improving old songs and sending out demos.
For their live performances, a keyboard player and a bass player were needed, so Ali Paul, a childhood friend of Alex, and Teddy Hetherton, Dan’s brother and also a childhood friend of Alex, were invited to join the band.
Elliot Minor is classically trained in the violin, piano, clarinet, cello, double bass, saxophone and singing. Alex, Dan and Ali were choristers at York Minster Choir School, while Ed Minton, born in Japan, began his education in England as a chorister and ultimately head chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge.
In a few short months the band was signed to Repossession Records, a new label founded by former MCA Vice President and Head of A&R Gary Ashley, who is credited with signing and developing legendary acts including Kylie Minogue, Blink-182, Shaggy, New Found Glory, Something Corporate, Aqua and Sublime among others.
In November 2006, they flew out to Los Angeles to record the first single with producer Jim Wirt (Hoobastank, Incubus, Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin) in Los Angeles, California. After hearing the track, Neal Avron (Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy) offered to mix the record and, of course, the boys accepted.
Their first single, Parallel Worlds, was released on April 9th, 2007. Parallel Worlds is energetic rock track, driven by guitars, but woven together with violin and piano. The song is about the spooky/paranormal events that occurred in Alex and Ed’s attic flat at school. Alex swears the room was haunted. Drawers would fly open, lights would swing and posters would mysteriously peel off the wall. In the video for the single the boys rehearse the song in a spooky old room, and as they play the energy from the music is transferred to the objects around them. The single entered at number 31 on the UK Singles Charts. Prior to this it had already been playlisted on major channels such as Kerrang! TV, MTV2, The Box and The Hits.
Elliot Minor currently have 26+ songs recorded and are still writing and recording. All material to date are original songs written and recorded by Elliot Minor.
Their second single, ‘Jessica’, was released on August 6th, it entered at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. Prior to this it had already been playlisted on Kerrang! TV, The Box and The Hits and MTV Hits. ‘Jessica’ is a passionate love song based on Jessica Alba. Every Monday, the band posts a new Webisode.
Elliot Minor have played numerous small gigs in their local area, including The Mount School, York where there was no entry fee. Since March 2007, they have been touring around the country including Scotland. Locations include Southampton, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, London, Glasgow and Birmingham. The majority of the venues booked are smaller halls within various Carling Academies. They were the second band to play on the Dimebag Darrell Stage on Saturday 9th June at the Download Festival 2007.
Their new tour which kicked off in Edinburgh sees them play many venues in England, Scotland and Ireland. Tickets are still available at Seetickets.com.
Elliot Minor’s third single ‘The White One Is Evil’ was released on October 29th 2007 and is playlisted on Radio 1’s upfront list.
Their first album (self-titled) was released on 14th April 2008.
Edited by IudLlewelyn on 14 Nov 2008, 11:00 Sources (view history)
