The Hoosiers are an English pop/rock band, consisting of members Irwin Sparkes (lead vocals, lead guitar), Martin Skarendahl (bass guitar, rhythm guitar) and Alan Sharland (drums, percussion).
Their first single "Worried About Ray" reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart in July 2007. In October 2007, they released their debut album The Trick to Life, which reached number 1 in the album charts. The band have recently released their second top ten album The Illusion of Safety which was released on 16 August 2010 and was preceded by the lead single "Choices" which was released on 1 August 2010.
Hailing from Exeter (Sharland), Reading (Sparkes) and Stockholm (Skarendahl), the band claimed to create a sound that they called "odd pop", combining a number of musical genres with their first album The Trick to Life. They reinvented themselves for the release of The Illusion of Safety as a more conventional pop band with electro influences.
According to the band's self-penned biographies (found on websites and in album sleeves), 'Alphonso' Raymond Sharland (drummer) and Irwin Nathaniel Sparkes (lead singer and guitarist) spent some time in the United States, encouraged by their chemistry teacher (Grant Serpell who was part of the band Sailor during their fame in the 1970s), in an attempt to broaden their horizons. The pair won themselves a football (soccer) scholarship at the University of Indianapolis, despite a reputed claim to be "allergic to running" (a claim which is backed up by lead singer Sparkes' asthma).
Their time spent in Indiana inspired the band's name: a citizen of Indiana is colloquially called a Hoosier. Having gathered enough material to compile an album, Al and Irwin returned to London where they met Swiss keyboard player and sound engineer Duri Darms and Martin Skarendahl, a Swedish ex-fireman who was then working with Darms as a recording studio engineer and studying at The London Music School. The original group included two band members (Tony Byrne and Tom Easey) who had by this point left, leaving Sparkes and Sharland to replace them with Skarendahl.
This newly-revamped trio of Sparkes, Skarendahl and Sharland subsequently signed to RCA and released their first album The Trick to Life on 22 October 2007. The band have spoken of their desire to write songs that are about more than just "boy and girl... finding love on a Friday night on the lash with your mates".
In February 2008 they were named as Worst Band at the annual NME awards. They are produced by ex-member of Jamiroquai, Toby Smith, and managed by Steve Morton.
The band's second single, "Goodbye Mr A", appeared in the football video game FIFA 08, and the game can also be seen in the "Goodbye Mr A" music video. Lead singer Irwin Sparkes, who is from Reading, is playing on the game as Reading against Manchester United. The song also appears in a trailer for the 2007 film Juno. Following the release of "Worst Case Scenario", the next release from The Trick to Life was "Cops and Robbers", as confirmed in a live webchat with The Hoosiers on GMTV. The video was broadcast on Channel 4 at 12:10pm on 22 March 2008.
The title track "The Trick to Life" is featured as the end credits music on the thriller From Within released in 2009 which is ironically about a series of unexplained deaths in a small town.
For their second album, The Illusion of Safety, several changes were made including a new, more synthesised sound and the drummer 'Alphonso' returning to his given name Alan. The Illusion of Safety gave the first single "Choices" and includes the song "Unlikely Hero", for which a video was filmed in a quarry in Derbyshire. The latter was due to be a single until it was announced that this was not the case on 14 October 2010.
In February 2011, the band announced via their official website that "Bumpy Ride" was to be their new single and would be released at the end of March. Their new deluxe album, also titled Bumpy Ride, was out in the April of the same year. The music video for 'Bumpy Ride' tells a story of how The Hoosiers travelled around the United States of America by various means of transport, and was possibly inspired by their earlier travels.
It was announced on April 1, 2011 that the band had departed from their record label Sony after a dispute over the promotion of their latest album The Illusion of Safety.Sparkes told Daily Record, "I don't think many people knew that the second album had been released, so we're having to reissue it to bring it to people's awareness."
At an intimate gig for Real Radio in Sheffield, the band announced that they were repackaging and rereleasing the album with a new title, Bumpy Ride, on April 11, 2011.The rerelease comes with 4 new album tracks, and a deluxe version comes with a DVD of live performances.
