The Bees

The Bees were formed by Isle of Wight natives Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher in 2001, who took a love of Beatles-psychedelia, groove-laden funk and Brit-pop bravado and created a sound that captured the hazy, eclectic spirit of their island's legendary 1970s festivals. Recorded in the shed at the bottom of Butler's garden, debut album Sunshine Hit Me (2002) came crammed with sunbaked melodies and breezy, upbeat indie pop, earning a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize and producing the surprise summer hit with the single A Minha Menina. Their success led to an expansion of the band as the lads headed into Abbey Road Studios to record follow-up Free The Bees (2004), which produced the infectious funk joy of Top 30 single Chicken Payback (used on numerous television trailers and in adverts for Sure deodorant). The band toured with Oasis, Madness and Paul Weller before returning with the albums Octopus (2007) and Every Step's A Yes (2010).