Belle And Sebastian consists of Bob Kildea (bassist, guitarist), Chris Geddes (keyboardist, pianist), Isobel Campbell (cellist. backing vocalist), Mick Cooke (trumpeter, backing vocalist), Richard Colburn (percussionist, drummer), Sarah Martin (violinist. backing vocalist), Stevie Jackson (guitarist, backing vocalist), Stuart Murdoch (guitarist, vocalist).
This article is about a band named Belle & Sebastian. For for the TV and anime series, see Belle et Sébastien.
Belle & Sebastian are a band formed in Glasgow, Scotland in January 1996. After releasing a number of albums and EPs on Jeepster Records, they are now signed to Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom and Matador Records in the United States.
While commonly filed under " twee pop", a description the band have rejected, Belle & Sebastian have much in common with influential indie bands such as The Smiths and Felt, and also take in other influences, such as northern soul and funk, that are not usually associated with twee.
The current members of the band are: Stuart Murdoch: 1996–present (vocals, guitar and keyboards) Stevie Jackson: 1996–present (vocals and guitar) Chris Geddes: 1996–present (keyboards) Richard Colburn: 1996–present (drums) Sarah Martin: 1996–present (violin and vocals) Mick Cooke: 1998–present (trumpet and bass) Bobby Kildea: 2001–present (guitar and bass)
Past members include: Isobel Campbell: 1996–2002 (vocals and cello) Stuart David: 1996–2000 (bass)
The band formed under the aegis of a training scheme and music business course. Built mostly around the creative mind of Stuart Murdoch, their first album, Tigermilk, was recorded as part of the course and released on the independent Electric Honey label.
Signing to the slightly larger Jeepster, they released the album If You're Feeling Sinister in 1996 and a sequence of EPs through 1997. The group's third album, The Boy with the Arab Strap ( 1998), was a top-20 hit in the UK. The band was then proclaimed Best Newcomer at the 1999 Brit Awards. 1999 was also the year of the Bowlie Weekender, a music festival curated by the band.
In July 2002 they announced the switch to Rough Trade Records (in the United States, the band were on Matador Records until the jump to Rough Trade, then returned to the Matador roster in late 2005). The 2003 album Dear Catastrophe Waitress was shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. Although a staple on many college radio stations, the band has yet to break beyond this niche to achieve notable mainstream success in America. Their British chart history has been more steady and respectable. Mention of the band in High Fidelity and use of the band's songs in Todd Solondz's 2001 film Storytelling indicated that Belle & Sebastian's influence in the United States had started to spread beyond the indie rock ghetto, as did a second season episode of Gilmore Girls in which Lane Kim went to great lengths to acquire a new Belle & Sebastian EP while grounded by her ultrastrict mother. A 2005 episode of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother that prominently referred to the band offered evidence that Belle & Sebastian had finally become a mainstream reference point in U.S. pop culture.
