Athlete

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Athlete

Athlete is a Pop band from the London, England founded in 2003 by childhood friends Carey Willets, Joel Pott, Steve Roberts, and Tim Wanstall. Friends since they were fourteen, they decided to make their passion for music a career.

About

They took their inspiration from such bands like Grandaddy and The Flaming Lips and started jamming in the basement of The Bear, a local pub in their area in 1999. The band made recordings in that very basement and started handing out demos. They then signed with Regal Recordings, and released their first single You Got The Style in February 2002. When their forst album Vehicles and Animals was released in 2003, Athlete became a prominence in the British local music scene. Soonafter, the band gained recognition even winning a Mercury Music Prize nomination for their debut effort.

But success did not come in an instant for Athlete. They toured relentlessly for almost two years to support their first album. They've had a handful of gigs from pubs and small events just to get the word out. With patience and determination, the band finally establised a following that grew and grew and their albums sold 250,000 copies.

With the triumph they've received from Vehicles and Animals, the band released their sophomore album Tourist in 2005. According to the band, this album happily matches their ambitions. Tourist is filled with subtle, sonic swerves. The lyrics depicts more openness and glow from themselves and their experiences on the road. With this in mind, Tourist reached Number 1 in the UK Album Charts in its first week, following the huge success of wires.

Currently the band is working on their third album, to be released sometime in 2007. According to them , it will be yet another exciting record.

BAND LINEUP:

Carey Willets - bass
Joel Pott - guitar
Steve Roberts - drums
Tim Wanstall - keyboards

Awards & Certifications

Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for Vehicles and Animals

Won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song for Wires

Tourist hit number 1 on the UK Hit Album Charts in it's first week of release in 2005.

Chart Toppers

Year	Song	UK Hit Chart	Album
2005	Twenty Four Hours / Stand In the Sun	42	Tourist
	Tourist	43	Tourist
	Half Light	16	Tourist
	Wires	4	Tourist
2003	Westside	42	Vehicles and Animals
	El Salvador	31	Vehicles and Animals
	Beautiful	41	Vehicles and Animals
2002	You Got the Style	37	Vehicles and Animals

News

Athlete in Concert

Tours & Concerts

UK Headline Tour

25 Oct Manchester Carling Apollo

26 Oct Manchester Carling Apollo

27 Oct Newcastle Carling Academy

28 Oct Glasgow Carling Academy

29 Oct Edinburgh Corn Exchange

31 Oct Brighton Centre, Brighton

1 Nov London Hammersmith Carling Apollo

2 Nov London Hammersmith Carling Apollo

4 Nov Derby Assembly Rooms

5 Nov Cambridge Corn Exchange

6 Nov Portsmouth Guildhall

7 Nov Plymouth Pavilion

9 Nov Bristol Colston Hall

11 Nov Birmingham Carling Academy

12 Nov Newport Centre

Announcements

The band are off to the US this weekend. They will spend a few days at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City before a promotional tour of radio stations and record stores. There is also talk of them supporting switchfoot on tour, but news are yet to be confirmed. (23:46 1/19/06)

Discography

Albums

Album	Information
	Vehicles and Animals Released: April 7, 2003
	Tourist Released: January 31, 2005

Singles

Year	Title	Labels
2002	You Got the Style	Parlophone
	Beautiful	Parlophone
2003	El Salvador	Parlophone
	Westside	Parlophone
2005	Wires	Parlophone
	Half Light	Parlophone
	Tourist	Parlophone
	Twenty Four Hours / Stand in the Sun	Parlophone

Compilations & Live Releases

Album	Information
	Twenty Four Hours Released: November 14, 2005
	Half Light Released: April 24, 2005
	Wires Released: January 17, 2005
	You Got The Style Released: September 22, 2003
	Westside Released: June 23, 2003
	El Salvador Part 1 Released: March 24, 2003
	El Salvador Part 2 Released: March 24, 2003
	Beautiful Released: November 4, 2002