Spoon

Despite being overlooked in the 1990s and early 2000s, Texas alternative outfit Spoon have gradually established themselves as chart-conquering indie rock favourites, beloved by critics for their mix of bubblegum melodies and angular, outsider guitar pop.

Front man Britt Daniel grew up in the city of Temple, north of Austin in Texas where he played in covers bands at university and - later in Austin - rockabilly act The Alien Beats with Jim Eno, before the pair formed Spoon in 1993 and released their first EP 'Nefarious' the following year. Discovered by Matador Records while playing a drag bar in Austin during the South By South West festival, they set out as spiky, post-punk antagonists on debut 'Telephono', and briefly signed an ill-fated major label deal with Elektra for 'A Series of Snakes' in 1998, before really defining their sharp-tongued songs, big, classic melodies and bobbing, wonky, alternative rock on 'Girls Can Tell' and 'Kill the Moonlight'.

The use of their single 'The Way We Get By' on the hit TV show 'The O.C' and fantasy movie 'Stranger Than Fiction' helped boost their profile, and the band broke into the US top ten for the first time in 2007 when their sixth album 'Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga' produced the indie anthem 'The Underdog' which received great critical praise. Following albums 'Transference' in 2010 and 'They Want My Soul' in 2014 both reached number four on the US Charts and built on their trademark mix of jangly 1960s guitars, new wave bite and increasingly cutting songwriting. The band returned again in 2017 with the more electronic and Krautrock influenced 'Hot Thoughts'.