What happened to your favourite indie bands of the 00s?
27 September 2024, 19:01
Find out what happened to the The Ting Tings, The Rakes, Hard Fi and more.
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It's nearly 25 years since Millennium Eve took place on 31st December 1999 and the Noughties began. Doesn't time fly?
It was an excellent decade for new bands and raucous new tracks, as the recent "Indie Sleaze" fashion trend has proved.
While some artists have gone the distance, others have slipped out of the spotlight somewhat. What are the people who created your favourite indie floorfillers doing now?
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Hard-Fi
The Staines indie rockers led by Richard Archer were popular in 2005 with their debut album Stars Of CCTV, which spawned the floor-fillers Cash Machine and Living For The Weekend. They followed it up with Once Upon A Time In The West (2007) and Killer Sounds (2011), before issuing a "Best Of" in 2014. Since then, the group were in their own words, "hiatusing", with Archer working with another band SOAP, and in April 2020, with the collective OffWorld, who released the track Burnt Out Star.
In 2022, the band announced their return and played a sold-out show at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town. May 2024 saw the release of the band's first new material in over a decade - a Radio X Record Of The Week, no less - called Don't Got Making Plans, which is the title track of an EP due in November.
Hard-Fi - Don't Go Making Plans (Official Lyric Video)
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The Ting Tings
The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
The duo of Katie White and Jules De Martino were the hottest thing in the indie clubs in 2007 when their debut single That's Not My Name was issued in the Spring of 2007. While the accompanying album We Started Nothing topped the charts, the follow-up, Sounds From Nowheresville wasn't released until 2012 after the pair went to Berlin, got into techno then scrapped all the songs they'd written.
After the lead single Hang It Up didn't even scrape the Top 100, the band left their label Columbia and issued two singles on the indie Finca: Super Critical (2014) and The Black Light (2018). In March 2024, the band released a country-inspired track called Danced On The Wire and have teased a brand new album.
The Ting Tings - 'Danced On The Wire' Official Lyric Video
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The Pigeon Detectives
The Pigeon Detectives - This Is An Emergency
The Leeds band scored Top 20 hits with This Is An Emergency and I'm Not Sorry, back in 2007/2008. While their first two albums had success (debut Wait for Me was certified Platinum and the follow-up Emergency was given Gold status) 2011's Up Guards And At 'Em! and 2013's We Met At Sea didn't spawn any hits. This didn't deter the band, as they issued their last album, Broken Glances, in 2017 and were playing the festivals in the summer of 2024.
The Pigeon Detectives - Enemy Lines (Official Video)
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The Rumble Strips
Girls And Boys In Love
Best known for their gorgeous 2007 track Girls & Boys In Love, the Devon band's second album, Welcome To The Walk Alone, was produced by Mark Ronson after the band had remixed his single for Amy Winehouse, Back In Black. After touring the album in 2010, the group went on hiatus, with each member living in a different part of the world. They came together for five days in 2015 and recorded some new material, which was issued as an album, The Lightship Recordings, the following year.
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Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat - Bandages (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Hailing form Victoria, in BC, Canada, Hot Hot Heat were best known for their indie club classic Bandages, and the accompanying album Make Up The Breakdown was not to be sniffed at either. The band - fronted by the energetic Steve Bays - released four more albums, with a self-titled 2016 outing being presented as Hot Hot Heat's final recording. The band announced a reunion at the end of 2023 with a new song (Shock Me), but in January of this year, it was revealed that Bays felt he "could not participate" in any further activity.
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The Thrills
The Thrills - Big Sur
Dublin's Thrills had a spell in the sun with their glorious 2003 debut album So Much For The City, which gave us hits like One Horse Town and Big Sur. The follow-up, Let's Bottle Bohemia had a hit in Whatever Happened To Corey Haim, but when their third album Teenager didn't make the Top 40, The Thrills were dropped by their label, toured Australia in 2008 and then went on indefinite hiatus. Guitarist Daniel Ryan was last spotted managing the band Little Green Cars (featuring Thrills pianist Kevin Horan) drummer Ben Carrigan writes soundtracks and singer Conor Deasy has been reportedly working in solo material for a while now.
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The Rakes
The Rakes - 22 Grand Job
Best known for their ironic hit 22 Grand Job, London's Rakes had a respectable hit with their debut album Capture/Release and toured with Franz Ferdinand in that heady year of 2005. But the band called time on their career in October 2009, shortly after the release of their third album Klang. Frontman Alan Donohoe set up a new project called The Champagne Campaign, but now works as a software developer, while drummer Lasse Petersen went on to play for Wolf Gang and is now a chef.
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The Paddingtons
The Paddingtons - Panic Attack
Kingston-upon-Hull's Paddingtons had a minor UK hit with their single Panic Attack in 2005, but after two albums - First Comes First (2005) and No Mundane Options (2008) - the group released one EP in 2010 titled The Lady Boy Tapes and then went on hiatus for nearly five years, only re-emerging to play Hull's Humber Street Sesh Festival in 2014. In September 2017, the band supported The Libertines for a hometown show at Hull's Ice Arena, but their appearances are more sporadic, with bassist Lloyd Dobbs making a living as a youth worker.
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Milburn
Send in the Boys
Sheffield's Milburn released their debut album Well Well Well in October 2006 and enjoyed some of the buzz generated by fellow Yorkshiremen Arctic Monkeys. Their single Send In The Boys made Number 22 in the Spring of that year, and the group released a follow-up album, These Are The Facts in 2007. Milburn split in 2008, bidding farewell to their fans at the O2 Academy Sheffield that May, but they returned to the venue in 2016 for some reunion shows. This led to a third album, Time, in 2017, produced by ex-Coral man Bill Ryder-Jones. Meanwhile, frontman Joe Carnall released his debut solo album under the name Good Cop Bad Cop, which was a collaboration with Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders.
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The Dead 60s
The Dead 60s - Riot Radio
Liverpool ska-punkers whose single Riot Radio was released on the label Deltasonic, home of The Coral and The Zutons. The band had an impressive CV, supporting Garbage and The Bravery, as well as bagging a spot on the Vans Warped Tour in 2005. However, their second album, 2007's Time To Take Sides, was not released in the UK. Despite this, bassist Charlie Turner and drummer Bryan Johnson met Paul McCartney during the recording of the LP and ended up working with Sir Macca's son James. Since The Dead 60s announced their split in February 2008, frontman Matt McManamon has since played guitar with The Specials.
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Noisettes
Noisettes - Don't Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go)
The London formed indie pop rockers started out in 2003 while singer and bassist Shingai Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith were at the BRITs School. Most known for their 2009 Don't Upset the Rhythm (Go Baby Go) single, which reached No.2 on the UK singles chart, the band released three albums in total; What's The Time Mr Wolf (2007), Wild Young Hearts (2009) and Contact (2012). Despite not releasing an album in almost a decade, Shingai and co have been staples on the festival circuit. Drummer Jamie Morrison can be seen as part of Stereophonics, while Shingai released her debut album Too Bold in October 2020. She's not just stuck to the music, however, becoming an Amnesty International ambassador, modelling and providing the voice for CBeebies' The Adventures of Abney & Teal.
SHINGAI - TOO BOLD
