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100 Bullets Back are an electro dance pop duo from Oxford, England consisting of David Clayton (keyboards, synthesizers, bass guitar, backing vocals) and Noel Pearson (vocals, guitars, synthesizers). They are due to release their second album at the end of October 2009.

[edit] Early History

David and Noel first met at The Henry Box School in Witney, Oxfordshire when David joined the Sixth Form after moving to the area. Realising a shared interest in music and especially the popular Brit Pop movement, the two formed their first band, The Hairy Palmers with friend James Wood. The band never performed live and although primarily played covers, saw the two write their first songs together.

After school, both David and Noel attended Staffordshire University. With the demise of The Hairy Palmers, the two started writing original material in earnest under the guise of Cider and Black. A cassette entitled "Cider and Black: The demos" was recorded live and showcased an acoustic britpop sound. A few live acoustic performances took place before the band changed their name to Atticus and began to introduce electric guitars into their material, although this was relatively short lived as the band soon disbanded when the two went back packing around the world, only reuniting for a couple of open mic events when the two met up in Sydney, Australia.

On returning from their travels, the pair decided to form a fully amplified live band which saw Noel taking up guitar and vocal duties while David took up the bass and vocals. Needing a drummer, David's brother, Martyn was drafted in as the obvious candidate. Martyn had learnt the drums while the others had been away and had spent the year playing in local metal bands. Martyn's main input however was that of choosing the band name, 100 Bullets Back. The trio played their first gigs together later that year which saw a set consisting of new original material and some favourite covers.

[edit] First Recordings

After only a handful of gigs and one live recording "Clipped", the band ventured into the studio to record their first demo proper, "Significant Silence EP". Needing piano on a couple of songs, the band brought in school friend Andrea Johnston for the recordings, but were so happy with her input, asked her to join permanently. The new line up started gigging regularly whilst developing their bank of songs and ventured into the studio once again to record another demo, "The Violence EP" shortly after. This recording caught the ear of Reading promoter and record label owner Sid Siddle, who put the band on numerous times at his Club Velocity night before deciding to release the band's debut 7" single on his Velocity Recordings label the following year. However, with the musical direction of the band moving away from Martyn's own taste, he left the band and was replaced with Helen Stevenson-Miller.

[edit] Singles and Initial Interest

With their new line up, the band decided on recording a new track for their first full single. Taking a more electronic direction but coupled with their live energy, the band released "The Lost Souls Club" to good reviews. Radio airplay was achieved both locally on BBC stations and nationally on the Claire Sturgess XFM show. During this period however, Andrea grew tired of gigging and decided to leave the band before the follow up single "I KnOw" was recorded later that year. Again well received, this second single showcased a much more electronic sound utilising sequencers and synthesizers over dance beats. This period also saw the band play their biggest gigs to date supporting Bloc Party, TV On The Radio and The Zutons. At this point however, Helen also decided to leave the band and was replaced by Scott McFaden for a number of gigs before ex-The Candyskins John Halliday took over on drums. Some gigs also saw Brett Gordon (also ex-The Candyskins) fill in on bass guitar, as David began to take over full time keyboard duties.

[edit] Refute Fake Icons

The band's debut album was recorded over a month and quickly took a electro pop direction with songs based around keyboards and sequencers and often utilising programmed beats. The album was recorded by John Halliday who also played the live drum parts, at Shonk Studio in Oxford and was produced by the band and Hallday. The album was released to generally very positive reviews in September 2005 and was toured by David and Noel as a duo throughout England. A short tour of Italy also saw interest in the band spread through Europe with airplay in countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Serbia. In the USA, legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer also championed the record playing tracks such as "West End", "The Lost Souls Club" and "I KnOw" on his KROQ radio show, Rodney on the Roq.

[edit] Abort, Retry, Fail?

By the summer of 2006, David and Noel had struck up a friendship with Oxford music scensters Michael Barry and Jason Philip. A shared desire to set up their own club night dedicated to electro club music incorporating bands and DJs, saw the foursome set up and run the successful ARF? night for two years including shows by Foals, Friendly Fires and Youth Movies. Although primarily DJs, Jason and Michael joined the 100 Bullets Back live line up on guitar and keyboards respectively and played the inaugural club night. Although Jason soon left the band, Michael played live at numerous gigs including support slots with Friendly Fires, Shy Child and Metronomy and a slot at 2007's Truck Festival before leaving the band in late 2008.

[edit] 2nd album

The recording of songs for the second album has been an ongoing process since the release of "Refute Fake Icons". With only a ltd. edition free giveaway CD at Truck Festival in 2007 between albums, a wealth of material has been recorded. Taking a more DIY approach, recordings have taken place in different locations such as bedrooms, studios and frontrooms and a number of people have been involved in the process. The album's sound is influenced by the previous two years running ARF? and has a heavier electro/dance feel although still retains a lot of song based structures. It has been mixed and produced by Jimmy Heatherington who was also the sound engineer at ARF? The album is planned to be released in early 2010 with live shows at the same time.

[edit] Discography

Year	Type	Release	Tracks
2003	Live CD	Clipped	Flashboy (live) Mrs. Jones (live) Rock 'n' Roll (Suicide) (live)
2003	EP	Significant Silence EP	Flashboy Mrs. Jones I Am Al Thesame Fighting in the Street
2003	EP	The Violence EP	Disco Beat Falling Down Violence
2004	7" single	The Lost Souls Club	The Lost Souls Club Violence
2004	7" single	I KnOw	I KnOw Bangkok (Everybody Needs Somebody To Love)
2005	CD album	Refute Fake Icons	DBM I KnOw Wichita Junk Food Violence February A Transmission Of Joy West End Don't Follow Fashion (Buy Something That's Out Of Date) Bangkok (4,2,1) Heart The Lost Souls Club
2006	Downloadable single	West End	West End Antibiotic
2007	Ltd. Ed. CD single	Under 21 Girls	U21 Girls Fitness & Physique Simon U21 Girls (TJ Hertz Remix)
2010	TBA	TBA	TBA