Manchester Scenewipe

The Phantom Band

THE PHANTOM BAND are sometimes a sextet from Scotland, who began life as an ad-hoc collective of lost souls who had gathered in Glasgow in around 2004.  With a core membership of Desi, Geb, Sinkdog, Redbeard and Wako,  they began playing live under various monikers in Nineteen Canteen, but didn’t become The Phantom Band until some time in Nineteen Oatcake. Those who knew the band had begun calling them that, and it was the first name they didn’t fall out over. Splat.

After some small scale releases as Robert Redford and Robert Louis Stevenson, The Phantom Band signed with London label Trial & Error to release a 7″, Throwing Bones, in 2007. The acclaim this garnered resulted in the band signing with renowned Scottish independent, Chemikal Underground.

Shortly after releasing Folk Song Oblivion as its lead single, The Phantom Band released their first studio album Checkmate Savage, in January 2009, to huge critical acclaim.   In March 2009, The Phantom Band released a very limited collector’s press 7″ of Checkmate’s opener The Howling, with a cover designed specially by freshly acquired fan Frank Quitely, graphic artist of DC Comics and international renown and all-round awesome dude.

After a year of touring their debut album around UK and Europe, the band marked the release of its sequel The Wants with their first US tour, and an extensive European tour in its wake. Like its predecessor, The Wants has been received with great applause and critical whoops and hollers, so fuck you.