James are an indie rock band from Manchester, England, formed in 1981. After an uphill struggle throughout the 1980s, they went on to become one of the most consistently successful acts of the 1990s, scoring a string of hit singles during the decade including "Sit Down" and "Laid". Following the departure of lead singer Tim Booth in 2001, the band became inactive, although no split was ever officially confirmed. In January 2007, the group announced that they were reforming to play some live shows and that they had been writing new material. A new website [1] was launched, confirming an initial 5 dates in the UK in April. Tim Booth's own site also confirmed the reformation. [2] [3] On 16th March, James played a secret comeback gig at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, in front of an audience of just 250. On 30th April 2007, James played a further secret gig in front of 300 fans at the Club Academy in the Manchester University Student Union, aka The Cellar Bar, poignant because this is where Tim Booth first met Jim Glennie back in 1981. A third secret gig was held again at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on 25th June 2007. And a fourth secret gig was performed on 6th July 2007 at The Venue, in the basement of the Oran Mor bar on Byres Road in Glasgow, in front of 450 fans. The show was a warm-up gig for James' appearance at T in the Park the following day, 7th July 2007. On Saturday the 17th (Weston Park, Staffordshire) and Sunday the 18th (Hylands Park, Chelmsford) of August they played to a crowd of tens of thousands at the 2007 V Festival before Kasabian and The Killers. They were the only band to invite members of the crowd onto the stage and during one of their songs, Tim Booth jumped off the stage and crowd surffed.

History
James was formed in 1981 in Whalley Range, Manchester, when music enthusiast Paul Gilbertson, inspired by the post-punk bands of the era, convinced his best friend Jim Glennie to buy a bass guitar and form a band with him. Rehearsing regularly in Glennie's bedroom with whatever other musicians were available, their line-up solidified with the acquisition of Gavan Whelan on drums, whose erratic, frenetic and almost tribal drum sound gave their music a distinctive edge against Gilbertson and Glennie's raw, untutored guitar and bass styles. They played a string of gigs under the names Venereal and The Diseases and, later, Volume Distortion (note the initials), before settling on the name of Model Team International, then shortened to Model Team.
They performed mostly spontaneous, purely improvised material derived from jam sessions, supporting The Fall at an early gig. Vocalists and other musicians drifted rapidly in and out of their line-up, until the band encountered Tim Booth at a student disco they had sneaked into. Intrigued by Booth's wild, Whirling Dervish-like dancing style, Gilbertson invited him to the band's Scout hut in Withington to join the band as a dancer. After accepting the invitation, Booth was quickly promoted to lead vocals as well as lyricist.
The contrast of well-spoken drama student and ruffians from Withington may have seemed a strange one, but it worked, imbuing the band's raw, primitive sound with an artistic sensibility. After a brief period under the name Tribal Outlook, the band renamed themselves James in August 1982, following Gilbertson's idea to name themselves after one of the band members. The name came from Jim Glennie. The other members' names were rejected - Gavan was "too heavy metal", while Paul was "too modest" to put his own name forward and Tim was concerned about accusations of egomania that might be associated with a band being named for the lead singer. James was, however, declared "amorphous enough" to summarize what the band was about. The band instantly knew that people would make the mistake of thinking their name represented one person, and played upon this by having Tim walk on stage alone at the beginning of one gig and reading a poem to trick the audience into thinking they had been conned into watching a poet. (Maconie, 2000).
The band became more and more prolific, operating on Gilbertson's principles of concentrating on their own individual sound, rejecting anything that sounded like any other band, and never being afraid to take risks. A gig at The Haçienda caught the attention of Tony Wilson of Factory Records. He offered James an album deal with Factory, but the band, by now excelling as a live act, were worried about tarnishing their material in the studio and settled instead for a three-track EP. Their debut release, the Jimone EP, was recorded at Strawberry Studios, Manchester, in August 1983 and released on Factory Records in November. It was named single of the week by major music papers in the UK, and led to a tour supporting The Smiths.
Although they were now being touted as the 'next big thing', several complex issues slowed their progress. As well as their suspicion of Factory, Paul Gilbertson's drug problems were causing his playing style to slacken and, despite having been their driving force, the band had no choice but to ask him to leave. Also, Booth and Glennie's search for spiritual meaning had led them to join a sect named Lifewave, which, despite increasing their general awareness and wellbeing, also imposed many restrictions which threatened the band's stability. The band's second EP, James II, was released over a year after the first and accompanied by a feature on the cover of the NME, Gilbertson having been replaced by the band's guitar tutor Larry Gott. (The first two EPs would later be collected as Village Fire.) Reviews were once again positive, and Factory was eager for James to record an album with them, but the band mistakenly believed Factory were purely image-based and left the label, striking a deal with Sire Records that would cost them dearly.
Their third release, the Sit Down EP (no relation to the song of that name) came out in March 1986, and was followed by their debut album, Stutter in June of that year. Although a powerful debut, reviews were generally lacklustre, the press having lost interest in James due to their slow progress, and the record company quickly lost faith in the band, the album making only number 68 in the UK chart. Low on money and lacking coverage and promotion, the band recorded their second album, Strip-mine under awkward circumstances, attempting a more conventional song structure in a desperate attempt to please Sire. The album almost went unreleased, but after undergoing a slight remix to sound more radio-friendly, Sire finally relented and released the album in September 1988, over a year after it had been initially completed. However, Sire were unwilling to invest in any kind of promotion, and the album reached only number 90. After finding a clause for escape in their contract, the band left Sire. Lacking both a deal and press coverage, they faced financial hardship. Desperate for money, the band members were driven to the extreme of participating as human guinea pigs in medical experiments at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, earning them a place on a TV documentary about the desperation of fallen rock stars.
However, all was not lost. James had by this point earned themselves a reputation as a solid live act due to the powerful and ritual-like feel of their live performances. They had built a solid fanbase, which was expanding via word of mouth, earning them the tag of 'Manchester's best kept secret'. Sales of James t-shirts skyrocketed, and James t-shirts were a common sight in Manchester even before they reached the top 40 (it was even joked that they sold more t-shirts than records). With a loan from a kindly bank manager, James financed the production of a live album, One Man Clapping, with the help of Rough Trade Records. The album went to #1 in the indie charts, reinvigorating media interest in the band.
In November 1988, drummer Whelan became involved in an on-stage fight with Tim Booth and was asked to leave the band. He was replaced by David Baynton-Power a few months later. With the loss of Whelan's distinctive drum sound, the band realized they would have to recruit new musicians to rejuvenate their sound, and during the following year they hired three new members in the forms of Saul Davies (guitar, violin, percussion), Mark Hunter (keyboards) and Andy Diagram (trumpet, percussion). The new seven-piece line-up went into the studio to record their third studio album, and new singles "Sit Down" and "Come Home" became strong hits in the independent charts. The album, Gold Mother, was intended to be released on Rough Trade but the owner of the label, Geoff Travis, believed James could only reach an audience of 20,000 to 30,000. The band believed they had more potential than this and bought the rights to the album from Rough Trade. A successful winter tour in 1989 attracted a deal with Fontana Records, and the band ended a difficult decade on an optimistic note.

The 1990s
After the disappointing performance of Millionaires the band chose to start anew in their approach to their next album. Working with Brian Eno once again, they spent most of 2000 recording the album, starting afresh as if this were their first album by writing the songs, then performing them live before actually recording them. They embarked on a small-scale tour in the autumn of that year on which their setlists consisted almost entirely of new material, feeling their songs had always reached their strongest levels and been honed into shape following their live reception. The album, Pleased To Meet You, was released in July 2001. The album's artwork featured a composite image of the faces of all the band members to create a new person - he was given the name 'James'. Stylistically the album was eclectic, combining elements of all the band's previous albums to create a compound representation of James' sound. With the media having lost interest once again, the album sadly received little promotion and was largely overlooked, reaching only #11, the lowest position for a James studio album since their signing to Fontana.
Shortly after its release, James reached the end of their contract, and Tim Booth announced he was leaving the band to concentrate on other projects of his own. They played a farewell tour of the UK at the end of the year, on which the loyalty of the band's fanbase was once again re-affirmed, with exuberant responses prevalent throughout the whole tour. Their final hometown gig, at the Manchester Evening News arena on December 7th, was recorded for a live CD and DVD, Getting Away With It... Live. Past members Larry Gott and Andy Diagram rejoined them for the tour, and Brian Eno himself joined them onstage at their final gig at London's Wembley Arena. The albums Gold Mother, Laid and Whiplash (each containing bonus tracks) were re-released by Mercury Records the following year, as well as a b-sides compilation entitled B-Sides Ultra.
Jim Glennie stated that James would continue despite the departure of Tim, having already had their fair share of setbacks. But Michael Kulas confirmed that he was told he wouldn't be needed in any future incarnation of James where Tim Booth wasn't the singer, and Saul Davies also confirmed his departure in 2 separate articles during 2002. Nothing new was heard from the band for the next five years.
A planned compilation of material from the band's Factory and Sire years was announced in 2001, but its release date was slowly pushed further and further back. Some mail-order companies listed it in 2002, but the album (named Strange Dancing) was never released. It had been suggested this compilation would include previously vinyl-only b-sides and maybe some unreleased songs from the eighties.
Tim Booth established himself as a solo artist in 2004 with the release of his solo album Bone, co-written and produced by Lee Muddy Baker.
A new compilation album, The Collection was released in late 2004, and Seven - The Live Concert (a DVD version of a previously released video) in 2005. Both were released with a non-existent marketing campaign and without input from any band members.
An article in Q Magazine in March 2006 entitled "Where are they now?" seemingly confirmed the band's demise (Dave Baynton-Power referred to the band as having split in the article).
In January 2007, music magazine Filter cited an announcement on singer Tim Booth's personal website, saying that "Tim will be rejoining James in early 2007 for a series of live shows to be announced very soon." [4] At the same time, James' old website was replaced by a new domain holder at www.wearejames.com. The site confirmed that the line-up for the reformed band will be that which recorded the album Laid: Booth, Gott, Glennie, Davies, Hunter and Baynton-Power. Booth confirmed in interviews that he became convinced to rejoin the band after meeting up with Glennie and Gott the previous November for a jamming session, out of which new songs were born.
The initial 5 dates of the tour were expanded to 7 on the day tickets went on sale (26th January) due to high demand; the whole tour had sold out by close of business. The tour will take place during late April 2007, to be followed later in the year by more live shows, including confirmed festival appearances at T in the Park and V Festival and a possible arena tour in December 2007. They also appeared at Summercase Barcelona's top music concert in Spain during July 2007. The band is also releasing a new compilation album, Fresh As A Daisy - The Singles, and an album of new material.
Jim Glennie has stated that James will be working on a new album throughout the remainder of 2007 with James playing a number of festivals in the summer. The album is expected to be released in early 2008. He said this in the blog on their official website; "The rest of the year will involve lots of songwriting and work for the next album, with an early 2008 release. We're playing a whole heap of festivals throughout the summer so I might see some of you there."
James play Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness-shire in August 2007

The 2000s
A somewhat dubious honour that can be attributed to James is that many of their support acts went on to find great success of their own, eclipsing that of James themselves. In 1988 they were supported by The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays (James went on to support the Happy Mondays only two years later). Nirvana were the support act for a show in 1991 - only a month later, Nevermind reached number one in the Billboard Album Charts. For their 1993 tour, Radiohead were the support.
After James' hiatus, the trend continued. Third Eye Blind supported in 1997; The Corrs and Stereophonics in 1998; Supergrass and Doves in 1999. In 2000 they were supported by Coldplay - a month later their breakthrough single "Yellow" was released, a month after that their debut album Parachutes went to #1 in the UK album chart.
The support for their 2007 UK tour were The Twang, already the subject of considerable media coverage.

James support acts

Discography

1986 Stutter (UK #68)
1988 Strip-mine (UK #90)
1990 Gold Mother (UK #2)
1992 Seven (UK #2)
1993 Laid (UK #3, US #72)
1994 Wah Wah(UK #11)
1997 Whiplash (UK #9, US #158)
1999 Millionaires (UK #2)
2001 Pleased to Meet You (UK #11)
2008 Untitled
1989 One Man Clapping
2002 Getting Away With It... Live (UK #102)
1991 James
1998 The Best Of (UK #1)
2001 B-Sides Ultra
2004 The Collection (UK #43)
2006 20th Century Masters: James
2007 Fresh as a Daisy - The Singles (UK#12) Albums

1983 Jimone
1985 James II
1985 Village Fire
1986 Chain Mail (UK #93)
1986 "So Many Ways"
1988 "What For" (UK #90)
1988 "Ya Ho"
1989 "Sit Down" (UK #77)
1989 "Come Home" (UK #84)
1990 "How Was It for You?" (UK #32)
1990 "Come Home" (Flood mix) (UK #32)
1990 "Lose Control" (UK #38)
1991 "Sit Down" (re-release) (UK #2)
1991 "Sound" (UK #9)
1992 "Born of Frustration" (UK #13)
1992 "Ring the Bells" (UK #37)
1992 "Seven" (UK #46)
1993 "Sometimes (Lester Piggott)" (UK #18)
1993 "Laid" (UK #25, US #61)
1994 "Jam J"/"Say Something" (UK #24)
1997 "She's a Star" (UK #9)
1997 "Tomorrow" (UK #12)
1997 "Waltzing Along" (UK #23)
1998 "Destiny Calling" (UK #17)
1998 "Runaground" (UK #29)
1998 "Sit Down" (Apollo 440 mix) (UK #7)
1999 "I Know What I'm Here For" (UK #22)
1999 "Just Like Fred Astaire" (UK #17)
1999 "We're Going to Miss You" (UK #48)
2001 "Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)" (UK #22)
2007 "Who Are You" Video & DVD

The Big White (2005) "Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)".
The X-Files Season 3 Episode 3 D.P.O. (1995) "Ring the Bells" played during the opening scene.
Up n Under "Tomorrow ".
Shopping "Jam J".