Pulp
Background information
Origin	Sheffield, England
Genres	Alternative rock, post-punk, Britpop
Years active	1978–2002, 2011-Present
Labels	Island
Associated acts	Relaxed Muscle Venini
Members
Jarvis Cocker Candida Doyle Mark Webber Steve Mackey Nick Banks
Past members
Russell Senior Magnus Doyle Peter Mansell Simon Hinkler Peter Dalton Richard Hawley David Hinkler Wayne Furniss Jamie Pinchbeck Peter Boam Tim Allcard Steven Havenhand Gary Wilson Saskia Cocker Antony Genn Mark Swift Jimmy Sellers Philip Thompson David Lockwood Katey Rigby Michael Paramore Captain Sleep Ian Dalton

Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar), Candida Doyle (keyboards), Mark Webber (guitar), Steve Mackey (bass) and Nick Banks (drums).

Throughout the 1980s, the band struggled to find success, but gained prominence in the UK in the mid-1990s with the release of the albums His 'n' Hers in 1994 and particularly Different Class in 1995, which reached the number one spot in the UK Albums Chart. Different Class spawned four top ten singles, including "Common People" and "Sorted for E's & Wizz", both of which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. Pulp's musical style during this period consisted of disco influenced pop-rock coupled with "kitchen sink drama"-style lyrics. Jarvis Cocker and the band became major figures in the Britpop movement, and were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1994 for His 'n' Hers; they won the prize in 1996 for Different Class. They headlined the Pyramid Stage of the Glastonbury Festival twice.

The band would release two further albums, This is Hardcore (1998) and We Love Life (2001), after which they entered an extended hiatus, having sold more than 10 million records.^[1]

On 8 November 2010, it was announced that Pulp would return to playing live in 2011, with dates at the Isle of Wight Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Sziget Festival, Primavera Sound, the Exit festival, and the Wireless Festival. A number of additional concert dates have since been added to their schedule.

History[link]

Early years: 1978–83[link]

A 15-year-old Jarvis Cocker and his friend Peter Dalton, who was 14, conceived the band at The City School in Sheffield. Cocker's original preference was to name the band after the film Pulp starring Michael Caine, though it was decided that this was too short. Instead, the two took inspiration from a copy of the Financial Times which listed the Arabicas coffee bean in its commodity index. Cocker and Dalton used this, with a slight spelling change, and the band became "Arabicus".^[2] Early rehearsals took place in Cocker's house and featured Cocker, Dalton and Dalton's younger brother Ian. After finally deciding on "Arabicus Pulp", a fixed line-up was then established: Cocker, Dalton and two friends of theirs, David Lockwood and Mark Swift.^[3] The band played their first public gig at Rotherham Arts Centre in July 1980.^[4] Later that year, Cocker met future member, Russell Senior who recognised Cocker from his charismatic sales techniques in his part-time job at the local fish market.^[5]

Their musical style at this time was varied, approximately described as "a cross between Abba and The Fall".^[6] A local fanzine also noted this eclecticism, describing them as sounding "as if they listen to the John Peel show every night in an endless quest for influences".^[7] Indeed, in October 1981, they gave a demo tape to Peel, who granted them a Peel Session.^[8] The session was a giant leap forward for the young band, who became well-known on the local music scene as a result. The tracks recorded were in the typical Sheffield sound of the time (cf. The Human League and Comsat Angels): electronic New Wave and post-punk. These tracks were released in 2006 on The Peel Sessions compilation.

Despite their exposure on national radio, success was not forthcoming and, apart from Cocker, most of the core line-up left for university. Soon, a new set of musicians was gathered: Simon Hinkler (who later joined The Mission and produced All About Eve), David Hinkler, Wayne Furniss, Peter Boam, Gary Wilson, and Cocker's sister, Saskia. They managed to get enough local backing to record a mini-album in late 1982, entitled It (the title was a pun on pulp-it, as if the band were preaching to the audience^[4]), which was released in April 1983 by Red Rhino Records. This largely consisted of folkish, romantic pop songs influenced by Leonard Cohen and was a change of direction from the Peel Sessions a few years earlier. The album was later released by Cherry Red records.

Though It failed commercially and fame was still elusive, the band continued to seek commercial success even to the point of recording a single, "Everybody's Problem"/"There Was". The single demonstrated a style shift advised by Red Rhino's Tony Perrin who had convinced Cocker that he "could write commercial songs like Wham!".^[9] This approach also failed and Cocker was becoming unhappy with his chosen musical direction. He was set to break up the band and go to university himself before a practice with Russell Senior (violin, guitar, vocals) and Magnus Doyle (drums) led to the establishment of a new, more experimental, artier and noisier direction for Pulp. They were subsequently augmented by Peter Mansell (bass) and Tim Allcard (keyboards, saxophone, poetry).

Independent days: 1984–91[link]

The new incarnation of Pulp survived a number of ill-fated gigs (including one at a rugby club at Brunel University which ended in a riot^[4]) before Allcard left to be replaced on keyboards by Magnus Doyle's sister Candida. Following her first performance with the band, they were signed to Fire Records. Soon after signing to Fire, in November 1985, Cocker fell out of a window while trying to impress a girl with a Spider-Man impression and ended up in hospital, temporarily requiring the use of a wheelchair in which he appeared during concerts.^[10] Pulp's relationship with Fire Records was tempestuous and Cocker admitted later that the band only accepted the deal as it "was the only offer on the table".^[4] During this period, the singles "Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)" and "Dogs Are Everywhere" were released.

Pulp's next major release was Freaks (1987), an album recorded in one week due to record label pressure. Cocker was irritated, and remarked that "the songs could've been done a lot better if we'd have had a bit more time...".^[11] The release of Freaks ended up being delayed for a year, and the record was not well received. The album's darker style may be considered the antithesis of the happy and optimistic It. When Freaks failed to be a success, Pulp recorded tracks with FON, a Sheffield-based label. A single called "Death Comes To Town" was due to be released by FON in early 1988, but this relationship disintegrated and the release was cancelled.^[12] It was during this time that Cocker was taking a part-time foundation course at Sheffield Polytechnic. This led to him leaving for London to study film at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, effectively folding the band.

The fold was short-lived however. Steve Mackey, a regular at their Sheffield and London gigs, was also studying in London and was asked to join the band as a bass player.^[13] The line-up now consisted of Cocker, Mackey, Senior, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks (drums). In mid-1989, they began recording another album for Fire, this time with a bigger budget and production from Alan Smyth, called Separations. This was a progression of the style of Freaks, with Leonard Cohen-esque ballads on side one and an Acid House infused track-listing on side two. The disparate styles can be attributed to Cocker and Mackey's different and changing tastes; Mackey introduced Cocker to house music which led to them both going to raves, while Cocker introduced Mackey to "Scott Walker and Serge Gainsbourg".^[14] Like Freaks, the release of Separations was delayed, to an extent lessening the potential impact. In the meantime, however, in 1991, a 12" recording - "My Legendary Girlfriend" became music periodical NME's single of the week. Stuart Maconie described it in his review as "a throbbing ferment of nightclub soul and teen opera".^[15] Furthermore, "Countdown" began to be mentioned in the mainstream press,^[16][17] heralding a turning point in Pulp's quest for fame.

Commercial height: 1992–96[link]

	"Do You Remember The First Time?" noicon "Do You Remember The First Time?" was one of the preceding releases to His 'n' Hers. To promote the release a short film was produced featuring loss of virginity stories from celebrities including Justine Frischmann, Jo Brand and John Peel.
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Pulp's repertoire was growing rapidly. Tracks such as "Babies", "Space" and "She's a Lady" were being played live throughout 1991 and in October of that year, they played their first overseas gig, a concert organised by French magazine Les Inrockuptibles.^[18] However, the band were still frustrated that Separations still had not seen a release and so Pulp left Fire and signed to Warp Records imprint Gift Records in 1992. Buoyed by a changing musical current, in June 1992 Pulp released "O.U. (Gone, Gone)" on Gift while Fire finally released Separations in the same month. Melody Maker made "O.U" a single of the week alongside "The Drowners" by Suede, another prominent new band. Pulp then signed to Island Records, who jointly released (with Gift) the singles "Babies" and "Razzmatazz" to increasing chart success. Next were the singles "Lipgloss" and their first top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart, "Do You Remember the First Time?",^[19] which were put out as full Island releases. These singles were followed by the Ed Buller-produced album, His 'n' Hers (1994), which reached number nine on the UK Albums Chart and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.^[19]

This sudden increase in popularity was helped by the massive media interest in Britpop alongside acts such as Suede, Oasis and Blur, with Pulp supporting the latter in a 1994 tour of the United States. 1995 saw the peak of Pulp's fame, with the release of their number two single on the UK Singles Chart, "Common People",^[19] in May 1995 and their performance in June at the Glastonbury Festival (standing in for The Stone Roses at the last minute). A double-a side single, "Sorted for E's & Wizz/Mis-Shapes", was to precede the release of their next album, Different Class (1995). Upon the release of "Sorted for E's and Wizz", the Daily Mirror printed a front-page story headed "BAN THIS SICK STUNT" alongside a story by Kate Thornton which said the song was "pro-drugs" and called for the single to be banned.^[20] The single had an inlay which showed how to conceal amphetamines in a DIY 'wrap'. Cocker released a statement two days later saying: "...'Sorted' is not a pro-drugs song. Nowhere on the sleeve does it say you are supposed to put drugs in here but I understand the confusion. I don't think anyone who listens to 'Sorted' would come away thinking it had a pro-drugs message." The single reached number two on the UK Single Charts.^[19]

Released in October 1995, Different Class garnered significant critical praise and debuted at the top of the UK Album Chart.^[19] This was the first album featuring Pulp fan-club president Mark Webber, who became a permanent member of the band on guitar and keyboards. The album followed similar themes to their previous work with observances of life expressed through Cocker's sexualised, sometimes dark and witty lyrics. Other singles released from Different Class were "Disco 2000" and "Something Changed", which reached numbers seven and ten respectively in the UK.^[19] In September 1996, Different Class won the Mercury Music Prize.

It was at this time that Cocker gained significant media exposure due to a notorious prank at the 1996 BRIT Awards, where he invaded the stage in protest during pop singer Michael Jackson's performance of "Earth Song" and "wiggled his backside" at the audience. After complaints by Jackson and his entourage, Cocker spent the night in Kensington Police Station charged with actual bodily harm and assaulting the child performers. However, with British comedian and former solicitor Bob Mortimer acting as legal representation, he was released without charge.^[21] This incident propelled Cocker into great controversy in the UK and elsewhere, and Pulp's record sales soared as a result. The event also coincided with the beginning of their first arena tour and the Daily Mirror, who had attacked the band months earlier, set up a "Justice for Jarvis" campaign backing his actions and carried out a stunt at Pulp's Sheffield Arena gig on 29 February, handing out free T-shirts. The NME described Cocker's actions as a "great publicity stunt" which was "creative, subversive and very, very funny",^[22] while Melody Maker described Cocker as, "arguably the Fifth Most Famous Man In Britain"^[23] and suggested he should be knighted.

In March 1996, a compilation of Pulp's early recordings on Fire Records entitled Countdown 1992–1983 was released on the Nectar Masters label. It received largely negative reviews, but due to the band's popularity at the time it reached the top 10 of the UK charts. Cocker, whose permission was not sought before release, urged fans not to purchase the album, comparing it to "a garish old family photograph album".^[23] Later in 1996, Pulp gained minor international recognition on the back of the inclusion of the track "Mile End" on the Trainspotting soundtrack. In August, the band played their last public performance for almost two years as headliners of the 1996 V Festival.

The band also played a gig in the Shetland Islands, as arguably the most high profile band to do so. (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Shetland's+Pulp+fans+sleep+out.-a061259683)

Till break-up: 1997–2002[link]

	"This Is Hardcore" noicon "This Is Hardcore" was released as the second single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore. Its style is a marked difference from their previous two albums. Its minimal sound and subject matter is reminiscent of earlier, pre-Britpop tracks such as "Sheffield: Sex City"
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It was during this period of intense fame and tabloid scrutiny that long time member and major innovator in the band's sound Russell Senior decided to leave the band saying "it wasn't creatively rewarding to be in Pulp anymore".^[24] The band were due to begin working on a new album in late 1996. However, Cocker was having difficulty with the celebrity lifestyle, battling cocaine addiction and a breakup of a long-term relationship. When the band came to begin work on the next album, they had only one song - "Help The Aged".^[24] This creative inertia meant the band took over a year to finish the next record. Indeed, it was Cocker's disillusionment with his long-desired wish for fame that made up much of the subject matter of the This Is Hardcore, which was released in March 1998. The album took a darker and more challenging tone than that of Different Class and lyrical topics - pornography (the title track), fame ("Glory Days") and the after effects of drugs ("The Fear") - were dealt with more earnestly than on previous records. This shift in style meant This Is Hardcore received mixed critical and commercial reactions. Also in 1998, Pulp collaborated with Patrick Doyle on the song "Like A Friend" for the soundtrack to the film Great Expectations. The song was also used in the Adult Swim cartoon The Venture Bros. season 4 finale Operation P.R.O.M.

Pulp then spent a few years "in the wilderness" before reappearing in 2001 with a new album, We Love Life. The extended period between the release of This is Hardcore and We Love Life is partly attributed to having initially recorded the songs which comprise the album and being dissatisfied with the results. Subsequent interviews also suggested interpersonal and artistic differences, including managing the fallout of the Britpop/Different Class era. Singer/songwriter Scott Walker agreed to produce the record and this symbolised a new phase in Pulp's development. The record was lighter in tone to This is Hardcore, with a more pastoral tone.

Pulp subsequently undertook a tour of the National Parks in the UK, even playing a show as far North as Elgin in Scotland. Richard Hawley, the Sheffield-based singer/songwriter, was also present on various dates on this tour. In 2002 the band announced that they were leaving their label, Island. A greatest hits package was released: Hits, with one new track. It is unclear whether this was the band's decision or released to satisfy contractual agreements. A music festival, Auto, was organised (held at Rotherham's Magna centre) where they played their last gig before embarking on a 9-year hiatus.

After break-up: 2003–10[link]

Cocker was involved in a number of one-offs and side projects, including the group Relaxed Muscle with Jason Buckle and the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where he fronted a group which included Steve Mackey and members of Radiohead. Also in 2007, Cocker appeared on Air's album Pocket Symphony giving vocals to the two tracks "One Hell Of A Party" and "The Duelist". His first solo album Jarvis, with the participation of Mackey, was released to critical acclaim in November 2006. Also, Candida Doyle has performed live with Cocker on his solo tours. Mackey has produced tracks on the debut album by M.I.A., Arular and on Someone To Drive You Home by The Long Blondes, both of which were critically well-received. He has also produced tracks for Bromheads Jacket and Florence + The Machine.

On 11 September 2006 the band re-released three of their albums (His 'n' Hers, Different Class, and This Is Hardcore), each with a bonus disc of B-sides, demos and rarities. On 23 October 2006 a 2CD set compiling all of Pulp's John Peel Sessions from 1982 to 2001 was released.

Reunion: 2011-present[link]

In November 2010 it was announced that the Different Class line-up (Cocker, Banks, Doyle, Mackey, Senior and Webber) would be playing at the Wireless festival in London's Hyde Park and a Saturday slot at the Isle of Wight festival in 2011.^[25] In a message sent to the band's official mailing list on 1 January 2011, Cocker said the large amount of interest in the band's reunion had been "an inspiration," and that he was pleased with how rehearsals were going.^[26]

The band announced 22 concerts between May and September 2011, taking place in Europe and Australia.^[27] Pulp were one of the surprise special guests at Glastonbury Festival 2011 in June where they played on The Park stage on Saturday evening.^[28][29] They performed at the Way Out West Festival in Sweden on 13 August, and played as co-headliners to The Strokes at the Reading Festival and the Leeds Festival during the final weekend of August 2011 . They headlined the Electric Picnic on the 4 September, their last festival of the year. On 9 January 2012, the Coachella festival lineup was released, with Pulp listed as part of the lineup. Further dates have been announced, including a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Senior has not been taking part in the 2012 gigs.

In February 2012, It ^[30], Freaks^[31] and Separations^[32] (the albums released by Fire Records (UK)) were re-issued. These editions came with bonus tracks, including "Death Goes To The Disco", "Dogs Are Everywhere" and "Sink Or Swim".

In April 2012, in an interview with ShortList magazine Cocker revealed that he's working on ideas for new Pulp songs.^[33]

May 2012 saw a group of Pulp fans create a petition to attempt to gain support for a re-released We Love Life, with a deluxe edition^[34]. While His 'n' Hers, Different Class and This Is Hardcore were re-released in this way, We Love Life never followed suit.

Discography[link]

• It (1983)
• Freaks (1987)
• Separations (1992)
• His 'n' Hers (1994)
• Different Class (1995)
• This Is Hardcore (1998)
• We Love Life (2001)

References[link]

• Mark Sturdy, Truth & Beauty: The Story of Pulp (Omnibus Press, 2003) - comprehensive biography
• Jean-Marie Pottier, Brit Pulp. La britpop selon Pulp, de Thatcher à Blair (Autour du Livre, 2009) - a French essay about the connections between Pulp and English popular culture of its time

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Pulp People - the band's official site, relaunched in 2010
• Discography at acrylicafternoons.com
• PulpWiki - a comprehensive user-generated resource for everything related to Pulp
• Bar Italia - active discussion forum for Pulp fans worldwide
• The Beat Is The Law - Fanfare For The Common People (2011) - critically acclaimed music documentary about Pulp's rise to fame. Now available to watch online.

Look up pulp in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up beat to pulp in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Pulp may refer to:

Films and television[link]

• Pulp (1972 film)
• Pulp (2012 film)

Medical[link]

• Pulp (spleen)
• Pulp (tooth)

Music[link]

• Pulp (band)

Places[link]

United States

• Pulp, Wisconsin

Publications[link]

• Pulp (Filipino music magazine)
• Pulp magazine (or pulp fiction), inexpensive fiction magazines or paperbacks
• Pulp (magazine), a monthly manga anthology
• Pulp (novel), by Charles Bukowski

Other uses[link]

• Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
• The act of pulping, a process in papermaking
• Molded pulp, a packaging material
• Pulp (juice), a brand of juice
• The juice vesicles of a citrus fruit
• Pretoria University Law Press

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up band in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Band may refer to:

Clothing, jewelry, and accessories[link]

• Bands (neckwear), two pieces of cloth fitted around the neck as part of formal clothing for clergy, academics, and lawyers
• Bandolier or bandoleer, an ammunition belt
• Belt (clothing)
• Wedding ring or wedding band
• Strap, an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of fabric or leather

Science and technology[link]

• Band (radio), a range of frequencies or wavelengths used in radio transmission and radar
• Rubber band, a short length of rubber and latex formed in the shape of a loop
• Möbius strip or Möbius band, an artifact with interesting topological features
• Band (mathematics), an idempotent semigroup
• Spectral bands, part of the optical spectra of polyatomic systems
• Metals and semiconductors
  • Valence band
  • Conduction band
  • Band gap

Medicine and biology[link]

• Bird ringing, or bird banding, placing a numbered bands of metal on birds' legs for identification
• A group of animals, such as gorillas or coyotes
  • Herd
  • Flocking (behavior)
• Band cell, a type of white blood cell
• Protein band, see Coomassie
• Gastric band, a weight-control measure

Organizations[link]

• Bands (Italian Army irregulars), military units once in the service of the Italian Regio Esercito
• Brazilian broadcast television network Rede Bandeirantes, nicknamed Band or Band Network
• The Band (wrestling), the Total Nonstop Wrestling name for the professional wrestling stable New World Order

Society and government[link]

• Band society, a small group of humans in a simple form of society
• The primary unit of Native Americans in the United States
• Band (First Nations Canada), the primary unit of First Nations Government in Canada

People[link]

• Band (surname)

Places[link]

• Band, Mureş in Romania
• Bánd, a village in Hungary

Music[link]

• Band, a company of musicians—see Musical ensemble
  • Rock band
  • Concert band
  • School band, a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together
  • Marching band, a group of performers that consist of instrumental musicians who generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching (and possibly other movements) with their musical performance
• The Band, a Canadian-American rock and roll group
  • The Band (album), its eponymous album released in 1969

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Band"
• All pages with titles containing "Band"
• Banding (disambiguation)
• Drum and bugle corps (disambiguation)
• Stripe (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

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The Gift
The Gift - Photo by Poras Chaudhary taken at the 2010 Holi Festival in Northern India poraschaudhary.com
Background information
Origin	Alcobaça, Portugal
Genres	Synth Pop Electronic Alternative rock
Years active	1994–present
Labels	La Folie
Website	thegift.pt
Members
Sónia Tavares (vocals) Nuno Gonçalves (keyboards) John Gonçalves (bass, keyboards) Miguel Ribeiro (guitar, bass)

The Gift is a Portuguese alternative pop/rock band, formed in 1994. They have released five albums to date. In 2005 they won the MTV Europe award for best Portuguese act.

Biography[link]

Formed in 1994, The Gift was initially a side project of the Dead Souls, Nuno Gonçalves and Miguel Ribeiro’s band at the time. The evolution from one project to another was natural, as they felt the Dead Souls sound was limited by their instrumentation (guitar, drums and bass)and they wanted to experiment with new sounds and explore new musical paths.

In September 1994, Sónia Tavares, Nuno and John Gonçalves, Miguel Ribeiro and Ricardo Braga enrolled in the Bar Ben Music Competition in Alcobaça and took second place in the competition, to everyone's great surprise, given the band’s short time in existence.

The band performed its first show at the Alcobaça Monastery in July 1995. This was followed by the Belém Cultural Centre (Lisbon) in September 1996 and the Labirintho Bar (Porto) in November 1996.

The Gift masterminded their first record, with the intention of using it as a demo for the media and labels. From this effort, “Digital Atmosphere” was born, a six track enhanced CD featuring interviews and videos, recorded at home but not available in stores. In 1997 the band went on the road, playing at over 30 theatres (many of which sold out) and released video at the end of the tour at Belém Cultural Centre and the Alcobaça Cine-Teatro shows.

Soon after the Digital Atmosphere Tour finished, Ricardo Braga left the band and The Gift was now a four member group once again. In 1998, they established themselves as an independent band forming g their own label, La Folie with the visionary goal of releasing a next record as independents.

Sónia Tavares, The Gift - photo by João Loureiro

In November 1998, the band’s first true record “Vinyl” is released. "Vinyl" combined the potentials of new technologies (samples and synthesizer) with classical instruments (violins, cellos, trumpets, saxophones etc.). “Vinyl”, which was fully funded by The Gift themselves, was named Album of the Year by the Diário de Notícias newspaper a first for a Portuguese independent band and began courting the attention of the labels that previously ignored The Gift’s work. In spite of this, the band chose to stay independent, opting to use distribution contracts.

From November 1998 through 1999, The band performs over 80 shows, including the biggest Summer Festivals, sells out the most important venues in Lisbon and Porto, wins several awards with the first hit single “Ok! Do You Want Something Simple?” and sells over 35,000 records.

At the end of that year The Gift performs for the first time abroad, in Paris (at La Cigalle) and a few months later participates in the prestigious music fair MIDEM 2000 (in Cannes), taking the first step towards the band’s career outside Portugal.

In early 2000, the band closes the “Vinyl” era, simultaneously releasing the photo book “A Single Diary” (by Ana Pereira) and the video “Single Hand Camera Documentary” (by Gonçalo Covacich), two artistic visions and documentary pieces on the Vinyl Tour. Once again, all the, costs incurred were covered by the band establishing The Gift once and for all as a solid DIY band.

The steps taken abroad continued to gain momentum in June 2000 with the band’s first mini-tour outside Portugal, including dates in Germany (Expo 2000 – Hanover), Macau and again, France (Paris).

At the end of the year The Gift take a break from touring and start writing songs for the next album, some of which are introduced later in 2001 at the Eurosonic Festival in the Netherlands, representing Portugal .

Howie B produces “Film”, The Gift’s second album released again through theirown label, La Folie Records. The band shows its “Film” throughout the country, playing at the Paredes de Coura Festival, the optimushype@meco Festival (sharing the stage with Howie B and Matthew Herbert), at the Interactive TV’s launch in Portugal, live for Sic Radical channel, and radio Antena 3.

“Film” goes Gold at 25,000 units and The Gift win several more awards for its videos (“Waterskin” and “Question of Love” – the album’s first two singles). At the end of 2001, the band was once more invited by Cap Magellan to promote “Film” in Paris.

In March 2002, The Gift flies to the United States to enter the South by Southwest Music & Media Conference in Austin, Texas; in June returned to Paris to perform at the Hôtel de Ville Square; in August Popkomm and Musikfest Am-Ring festivals in Germany; Spain followed in September with shows in Barcelona; in October the band was back in the USA for a short tour in a few north-American cities New York); and in November its first concert in Madrid, Spain, took place.

Of the few performances in Portugal, the Manchester Mad Remixers (which featured The Gift together with Rodrigo Leão and Pedro Oliveira) concerts are a highlight (first at the nightclub Lux, and later at the Frágil and the Clinic bars). This was a project specially created for the "24 Hour Party People" film's premiere.

The band performs in numerous places, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, Bilbao, Vigo, New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, San Diego, London, Caracas, Dunkirk, amongst many other cities.

The Gift was invited to open for The Flaming Lips and Cousteau, and at the end of the year, in December 2003, get an invitation to perform for the recently launched Portuguese MTV, recording one of the first MTV Live shows in the history of MTV Portugal.

In 2004, The Gift celebrated its first 10 years in music and returned to album releases. By the end of the recording sessions, The Gift was faced with a double album, where two distinctive but complementary environments surfaced (one more intimate and introspective, the other more euphoric) and in which duality was the key word. The new release, the first in three years, is entitled “AM-FM”.

“AM-FM” was released in November 2004 with great expectation from the group's fans, who rapidly sold out the presentation concerts in Alcobaça, Lisbon and Porto (a few days after the band's shows in London, New York and Los Angeles. A week after the retail release, “AM-FM” goes Silver and not long after Gold, selling more than 25, 000 copies.

In 2005 they won the MTV Europe Award for Best Portuguese Act.

The album Fácil de Entender, their first live album was released in 2006. Sells over 25,000 units.

The Gift acted with great success on the Expo 2008 Zaragoza, the day of Portugal at the exhibition.

In 2008 and 2009, The Gift's Sonia Tavares and Nuno Goncalves along with fellow musicians, Paulo Praça [Plaza]and Fernando Ribeiro record and tour with their side project Hoje’s: Amalia Hoje. Amalia Hoje garners triple platinum status selling over 85,000 units and is the Portuguese runaway Album of the Year.

2010 The Gift returns to record Their 5th Album explode and invite Ken Nelson [Coldplay, Gomez, Kings of Convenience, Badly Drawn Boy to produce the Album. The Gift spends three months in Madrid recording

2011 is the year of Explode. Explode is released in Portugal on 1 April and immediately goes to number one in the charts where it holds top ten for over 10 weeks.

Explode is scheduled to be released in North America on 27 September 2011.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Digital Atmosphere (1997) – demo tape without commercial release
• Vinyl (1998)
• Film (2001)
• AM-FM (2004)
• Fácil de Entender (2006)
• Explode (2011)
• Primavera (2012)

Singles[link]

From Vinyl

• "Ok! Do You Want Something Simple?" (1999) – the first video from a Portuguese act to be on MTV
• "Real (Get Me For...)" (1999)
• "Truth" (2000)

From Film

• "Water Skin" (2001)
• "Question of Love" (2001)

From AM-FM

• "Driving You Slow" (2004)
• "11:33" (2005)
• "Music" (2005)

From Fácil de Entender

• "Fácil de Entender" (2006)

From Explode

• "RGB" (2011)

Awards[link]

• 2005 - MTV Europe Award for Best Portuguese Act

External links[link]

• The Gift - Official Website
• The Gift - Official Store
• The Gift - Official Facebook Page
• The Gift - Official Youtube Channel
• The Gift - Official MySpace Site