Rather ambitiously today sees the launch of a mammoth new series for Jemtunes – an A-Z of the world of popular music expected to run for the duration of 2015. Most days you’ll get at least a blog, discog and vid covering a currently unknown number of artists and bands working through each letter of the alphabet at a rate of roughly two letters a month.
January – A/B ♦ February – C/D ♦ March – E/F
April – G/H ♦ May – I/J/K ♦ June – L/M
July – N/O ♦ August – P/Q/R ♦ September – S/T
October – U/V ♦ November – W/X ♦ December – Y/Z
To kick things off, and because you can’t get any closer to the start of an A-Z than with a band called “A”, this is in fact where we begin.
Formed in Suffolk in 1994 by twins Jason and Adam Perry and brother Giles, the band were originally called ‘Grand Design’ but changed to ‘A’ so that they would be the first entry in any printed material about music.
In 1996 ‘A’ signed to London Records releasing their first album – “How Ace are Buildings” a year later in 1997. After some limited success, a couple of singles and a UK tour, the second album – “A vs Monkey Kong” – released in 1999 saw the band beginning to tour internationally for the first time. This led to a world tour supporting The Bloodhound Gang in 2000.
However, it wasn’t until the release of their third album – “Hi-Fi Serious” – in March 2002 that they started to achieve chart success and mainstream acceptability. This led to several stadium bookings and the major world rock festival circuit.
Early in 2005, ‘A’ were ready to release their fourth studio album just as London Records was brought out by Warner Music. This meant that the release of “Teen Dance Ordinance” was postponed until that July and, despite giving the band their first top 40 single with “Better off with him”, sales were disappointing. So much so that the commercially prudent Warner Music dropped the band later that year.
Although the band still tour sporadically, Jason Perry now runs a collective song-writing and production team. Since 2005 they’ve worked with McFly, The Riverclub, The Blackout, Kids in Glass Houses and Octane OK
