Area 11 is an English rock band from Nottingham, England. The band consists of four members: Thomas "Sparkles*" Clarke, Alex Parvis, Jonathan Kogan and Leo Taylor. To date, they have released a number of singles and EPs, and three studio albums.[1]
Area 11 | |
|---|---|
 Members from left to right: Leo Taylor, Alex Parvis, Sparkles*, & Jonathan Kogan. | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Nottingham, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock, progressive metal, glam rock, pop-punk, electronicore |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Labels | Cooking Vinyl, Smihilism Records, Breaking the Boredom |
| Members | Tom Clarke (Sparkles*) Alex Parvis (Parv) Jonathan Kogan (Kogie) Leo Taylor |
| Past members | Luke Owens Tim Yearsley |
| Website | http://www.area11.band/ |
The band's sound is heavy with minimal synthesizers and electronic effects that they call modern rock,[1][2] however in their earlier records, Area 11's sound commonly blended heavy metal guitar riffs with a wider more prominent range of synthesizers and electronic effects,[1] which they sometimes referred to as gaijin rock.[3] Meaning "foreigner rock" in Japanese, this is a title that also relates to the band's musical origins when their style was notably influenced by anime and J-rock.
Biography
editArea 11 consists of Tom Clarke, Alex Parvis, Jonathan Kogan, and Leo Taylor. They formed on 8 October 2010 in Nottingham during what was described by band frontman Sparkles as a "disastrous jam session".[3] Founding members Sparkles, Luke, and Alex then discovered their shared love of anime whilst watching Code Geass episode 22 "Blood Stained Euphy", from which they wrote their first song, "Euphemia."
The name "Area 11" is a reference to the anime Code Geass, as Japan is referred to as Area 11 in the series, with its citizens referred to as Elevens, a name which has come to collectively describe Area 11 fans. In fact, some of Area 11's songs are based on various anime, including Code Geass, Death Note, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Naruto, Elfen Lied, Bakuman, Fullmetal Alchemist due to the band's strong fondness of the genre at the time of recording their earlier records. Towards the end of recording their debut album, All the Lights in the Sky, the band decided that they had done all they wanted in terms of writing songs about anime, and stopped writing songs about the animation genre, wanting to explore original new ideas and concepts.[2]
The band has been commissioned to produce music for companies such as YouTube broadcasting group The Yogscast and Namco Bandai Games. Significantly for Namco Bandai Games they produced "GO!! Fighting Action Power" as the credits theme for their Bravoman web-series on ShiftyLook, and later "Wonder Wars" as the theme song for the Wonder Momo anime series.[4]
Musical style
editThe band's sound consists mostly of heavy guitars (including 7-stringed guitars) but also makes subtle use of synthesizers, orchestral sections and electronic effects. In contrast to this many songs contain acoustic instruments such as acoustic guitars and emotional piano melodies.[1][2]
In their earlier records, Area 11's sound commonly blended rock and metal styles of guitar with aspects of Japanese music including J-pop,[1] this sound they referred to by the tongue-in-cheek name, gaijin rock as "gaijin" in Japanese means "foreigner",[3] "a fusion of pop-punk, metal, prog, and glam fortified by a major obsession with anime, video games, and Japanese comics."[5]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6][7] |
UK Rock |
UK Indie |
UK Break [8] |
US Heat |
US Indie | ||||||
| All the Lights in the Sky |
|
75 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 42 | ||||
| Modern Synthesis |
|
27 | 2 | 9 | — | — | — | ||||
| Singlarity |
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||
Live albums
edit| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Everybody Gets a Piece Tour |
|
Extended plays
edit| Title | EP details |
|---|---|
| Blackline |
|
| Underline |
|
| Let It Resonate |
|
| Cassandra Rising |
|
| Cover Girls |
|
| Not That Christmassy UK Christmas Number Ones |
|
| Fan Subs |
|
| Flannel EP |
|
Singles
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [8][9] |
UK Indie |
UK Break [10] | |||||||||
| "Dota 2 Beta Key"[11] | 2011 | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||
| "Knightmare/Frame" | 2012 | — | — | — | All the Lights in the Sky | ||||||
| "Minecraft Christmas (feat. Yogscast)" | 69 | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "Shi No Barado" (featuring Beckii Cruel) |
2013 | 115 | 12 | 1 | All the Lights in the Sky | ||||||
| "GO!! Fighting Action Power" | — | — | 12 | Non-album single | |||||||
| "Heaven-Piercing Giga Drill" | — | — | — | All the Lights in the Sky | |||||||
| "Homunculus" | 2014 | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||
| "Override [B]" | 2015 | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Versus" | — | — | — | Modern Synthesis | |||||||
| "Watchmaker" | 2016 | — | — | — | |||||||
| "The Contract" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Processor" | 2017 | — | — | — | |||||||
| "All Your Friends / New Magiks" | 2018 | — | — | — | Singlarity | ||||||
| "Everybody Gets a Piece" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Curtain Fall" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Tear Up" | 2019 | — | — | — | |||||||
| "ØCULIST" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Kaleidoscope" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Fortune Faded" | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "Desaturate" | — | — | — | Singlarity | |||||||
| "4 Become 3"[a] | 2020 | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||
| "(Break) In Case Of..." | — | — | — | Singlarity | |||||||
| "Dancing on the Head of a Pin" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Singularity" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Plug in Baby" | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "Every You Every Me" | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Floating World" | — | — | — | ||||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
| |||||||||||
Members
editCurrent members
edit- Tom 'Sparkles*' Clarke – lead vocals, keys (2010–present)
- Alex 'Parv' Parvis – guitar, backing vocals (2010–present)
- Jonathan 'Kogie' Kogan – bass, saxophone, backing vocals (2011–present)
- Leo Taylor – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2010–present)
Past members
edit- Luke Owens – guitar, backing vocals (2010–2012)
- Tim Yearsley – bass (2010–2011)
Timeline
edit
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Bio – Area 11". area11.band. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^ a b c "Area 11 – Exclusive Interview – New Album, New Tour, New Direction". The LauraKBuzz Network. 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ a b c "Interview with Area 11 Lead Singer Sparkles*". Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ^ "Wonder Momo Game Spawns Web Anime by Graphinica & New Game". Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ "AllMusic – Area 11". AllMusic.
- ^ "Area 11 – Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Blink-182 score first UK Number 1 album: "We're so thankful"". Official Charts. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ a b "2013 Top 40 Independent Albums Breakers Archive – 9th February 2013". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ "UK Chart Log" (TXT). Zobbel.de. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- ^ "2013 Top 40 Independent Singles Breakers Archive – 11th May 2013". Official Charts. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
- ^ "Dota 2 Beta Key – Single". Spotify. Retrieved 18 August 2022.