The Young Knives in session tonight – recorded April 4th at Radio X for John Kennedy’s X-Posure program.
Formed in the north Leicestershire market town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch under the name ‘Simple Pastoral Existence’, the Young Knives began their career “playing bad funk and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin covers”, but it was their subsequent move to Oxford that saw their career begin to take off. After changing their name from ‘Ponyclub’, their big break came in 2002 with a successful set at the Truck Festival, which was followed by the release of … Are Dead on local label Shifty Disco. The band also won “Road to V”, a competition for bands to open the second stage at Virgin Music Festival, beating a large number of bands to win.
After some years playing successful support slots to bands such as The Futureheads and Hot Hot Heat in Oxford and surrounding areas, the band were signed to Transgressive Records, and an EP, Junky Music Make My Heart Beat Faster, was a sell-out success. Their debut single “The Decision”, produced by Andy Gill of Gang of Four (a noted influence on the band), was released in December 2005, and was followed in February 2006 by “Here Comes The Rumour Mill”. The latter was their first chart success, reaching No. 36 in the UK charts and receiving significant airplay on MTV2 and other video channels.
The band completed a lengthy UK tour in early 2006, and supported Dirty Pretty Things and The Rakes later in the same year, fitting in an appearance at SXSW in Texas and a terrestrial television debut on Later with Jools Holland in June. In July that year, the band made their second appearance at Truck, and released two more top 40 singles, “She’s Attracted To” and “Weekends and Bleak Days (Hot Summer)”, before the release of Voices of Animals and Men in August. A re-issue of “The Decision” was released on 30 October, the same day the band played what Henry described onstage as their “biggest gig ever”, at the London Astoria.
After a hiatus of around 4 years, Young Knives returned as a duo consisting of the Dartnall brothers, released a new single “Red Cherries” in 2019, and released their fifth album Barbarians in September 2020.
On 7 October 2024, the band released the single “Dissolution”, and announced the album Landfill to be released on 24 January 2025 with an accompanying UK tour.
Okay – now press Play and put Monday behind you.
