History
"They should be made a National institution! ...or instutionalised!" (Losing Today)
Beatnik Filmstars began life in 1991. They have over the years released many
Albums, EP’s, and Singles, which each in turn has been different from the previous
one, but always sounding somehow like the same band, which is in itself a pretty
cool thing to be able to achieve.
They have played live all over the place, with bands you will have never heard of,
and others like The Flaming Lips, Archers Of Loaf, Boyracer, Superchunk, Blur, Hood,
Guided By Voices, The Wedding Present, Heavenly, The Broken Family Band, Lush,
The Fall …etc, etc, etc that you will have.
They have been lucky enough to tour in America a few times. Germany, France,
Holland several times, and not so lucky to have played Belgium on a few
occasions (Joke!).
They have also
played
in
The band were honored to have recorded five sessions for John Peel, and even more so
to have met him, on more than one occasion, and to have been even invited onto his
radio show for a chat.
For too long they became known as ‘The British Guided By Voices’ or ‘The English
Pavement’ due to their love (not to mention need – ie: financially) for Lo-Fidelity
recordings, and releasing lots of songs.
Never
popular enough to cause any real interest from the
got to be a good sign surely?) But popular enough to make and sell over ten full
length albums. With over 5000 copies being their biggest seller to date (Phase 3).
Not bad for a small band with no press agents, managers, publicists,
music
biz pony-tailed-cocaine snorting- brain-dead w***ers, or money, paving the
way…
In fact recent calculations suggest that the song 'Now I'm A Millionaire' is owned by
more than twenty thousand people, which if they all bought by downloading in the same
week would be enough to secure a number one UK chart placing! - But they didn't.
In 1998 the band stopped due to getting fed up with everything, and then in 2005
re started up again.
A number of smaller and medium sized record labels have had the pleasure to have
released Beatniks music over the years, and some of them have even paid royalties!
(Only some of them, mind!!!)
The band's last CD (The Purple Fez 72 Club Social) saw a slight move towards a
mellower sound, and was well reviewed in Americana circles. This was followed by
the download only mini album 'Broken Bones' which continued in the same manner
with a slightly more lo-fidelity sound creeping back in.
In June 2010, Andrew decided to put an end to the band for one final time.
Andrew is working on a new project...more details soon.