Aftershock

Aftershock
300px
{{{Caption}}}
Background information
Formed	February 6th, 2006
Origin	Cambridge, UK
Genre	Electronica/Dance-Pop
Years active	2007-present
Label	Independent
Associated acts
The Infinite, Kirby L. Avalon, Kaylee Walker, Crystal Barker, Becca Hayworth

Aftershock are a UK based group that were formed in Cambridge, UK. The band consists of 2 member Becca Hayworth and Darren Clarke. The group was consisted of 6 members until July 2009.

Current Members

1. Darren Clarke (28 from Cambridge, UK) (2006-Present)
2. India Reeves (29 from Ipswich) (2010-Present)
3. Becca Hayworth (27 from Bristol) (2006-2010)(2011-) Also a successful solo artist.

Former Members

1. Naomi Wells(25 from West London) (2006 - 2009)
2. Curtis Evans (29 from Sweden) (2009)
3. John Hall (25 from Hull) (2006 - 2009)
4. Dan Ward (26 from Cambridge) (2006 - 2009)
5. Alex Hayes (26 from Bristol) (2006 - 2009)

Formation

Becca and Alex went to school together in Bristol. When Becca went to Cambridge univeristy she met Dan and Darren, who had both been to the same school in Cambridge. Whilst their the three of them along with Alex regularly hung out together. Over a two year period Dan came out as Gay and started dating John Hall. Whilst the relationship blossomed, Dan, Alex, Becca and Darren decided to create a group. They invited John to joing the group as he was known to be a good keyboard player. After 8 months they began to focus seriosuly on getting somewhere musically. For this reason they decided to hire a backing vocalist. They held open auditions and recruited Naomi who has since become very close wtith the rest of the band.
In April 2009 Alex was forceable removed from the band due to irratic beahviour which saw no signs of changing. The following day Dan decided he no longer wanted to be a seen entity of Aftershock instead opting to become part of the behind the scenes Aftershock production team. Dan was replaced in the band by 29 year old Curtis Evans an Irish-Swede.

Debut Album : ...Go Now! (2009)

During 2007 & 2008 the band began demoing songs for possibile release. In March 2008 they realised that the sesisons were not going brilliantly and they breifly split. In May 2008 they reformed and decided that they would aim to get some of the previously recorded stuff released along with some new stuff.It was quickly decided that they would release a double a-side single in November of 2008. The chosen single was to be Why Bother? (a soft pop-rock style song) / Like Someone In Love (a mid tempo pop song) both from their very first sessions together. They introduced themselves to the URAPS scene very quietly and the band were not surprised when Why Bother? / Like Someone In Love entered the charts at 32. It rose up the charts the next week to 23.
For the bands second release they decided to release a more dance driven track in the form of Schizophrenic Love Affair. This single was recived slightly better and managed to become Aftershock's first top 20 single when it peaked at #17 in January 2009. During the promotion for Schizophrenic Love Affair, Aftershock were accused of being racists after they said they did not like Tika Yuki's behaviour on her Live Lounge appearance. The band vermontly denies being racist.
After the release of Schizophrenic Love Affair, Aftershock released their debut album, If You Gotta Go...Go Now! which comprised of 16 songs including the 2 singles so far. The album entered the charts at #17.
Shortly before the release of the second single, Aftershock contacted lengendary artist Rita Repulsa about appearing on one of the bands songs from the debut album. Aftershock were shocked and delighted when she agreed and Rita recorded additional parts for She's Bjork]. It was announced that the new version of She's Bjork featuring Rita Repulsa would be the bands third single along with PopJustice favourite Crying.
February 2009 saw Aftershock take part in the 2009 Tango Challenge. They were paired up with the talented Kaylee Walker. The pair worked together on the double a-side single Battle Of The Sexes / When All Is Said And Done. The single debuted at a disappoint #24 before climbing and peaking at #20 the following week.
On it's release Crying [Radio Edit]/She's Bjork (feat Rita Repulsa) recieved positive reviews with some even saying it had the potential to go top 10. On release the single peaked and debuted at #16. Crying/She's Bjork was the final single to be taken from the original release of If You Gotta Go...Go Now! The album was re-released in May 2009 and included a bonus dual disc which included several new songs including eventual singles This Used To Be The Future and Twisted Light. After the release of Twisted Light/Remember Me Tomorrow (Thrill Me Jill Radio Edit) the band officially announced that the ...Go Now! era was over and that they would take a rest before their first live tour in September 2009 entitled Switch Me On '09 Live and the release of their second album.

In August 2009 whilst finalising their own debut tour, Darren and Becca held talks with Indigo Peak to be the support act on some of the show for the Stage Invaders: World Tour. It was announced at the end of August that Aftershock would open Indigo Peak's Uk & Ireland shows.

Album 2 : Retrolexual Satisfaction

On September 1st it was officially announced that the first single from their 2nd album, Retrolexual Satisfaction, would be released on October 26th. Although the name of the album was not revealed at the same time as the lead single. The first singles from the album were revealed as Kiss Me Like You Like Me and Revolution Is The Solution (feat.Syd Wolfe). It was announced that the single was not a double a-side release but in fact two seperate releases ala Manic Street Preachers Found That Soul and Why So Sad? that launched the Know Your Enemy campaign. The first single in Europe will be Kiss Me Like You Like Me whilst Australia and Japan would recieve Revolution Is The Solution (feat.Syd Wolfe) as the first single.

In late September it was announced that the second album was called Retrolexual Satisfaction and not Kaliedescopic as stated on Play.com. It was also announced that the album was not just a regualr 1 CD release but infact a 2 CD double album with the second CD including a number of collaborations with artists including Kaylee Walker, China, Ryan Dawson, Crystal Barker & Kelly Brown. The European version of the second CD was also revealed to include bonus tracks which were the singles from the first album and If You Gotta Go...Go Now album tracks. This was due to the fact that If You Gotta Go...Go Now was never released outside of the UK and Japan.

During the dying days of October, it was announced that the second single to be taken from the album and Aftershock's last of 2009 would be entitled Just You & Me Dancing. The release date given for the single was December 14th which was the lucrative Christmas #1 week which saw releases from high profile acts such as Indigo Peak, China, Logan Cross and Amy Marshall to name but a few. Originally the album was scheduled for release on December 14th but it was delayed for unknown reasons.

On November 6th 2009, it was revealed that Aftershock would be recording the 2010 Sport Relief single for the BBC.

The third single from the album was announced in December 2009 as being You Make Me Invisible, however after only two nights into their support slot on the Indigo Peak Stage Invaders tour, the band decided that they did not want to release You Make Me Invisible. The single was hastily re arranged and Tiptoe On Glass became the third international single from the album. It debuted and peaked at #9 on the charts.

On 29th March 2010 the band released the official Sport Relief single teaming up album favourite You Don't Win Silver, You Lose Gold (with Crystal Barker) from Retrolexual Satisfaction with a new track from the same sessions entitled Genetic Electric. It became the bands highest charting single to date reaching #3.

In May 2010 it was announced that the final worldwide single would be an E.P containing album tracks Stranger and Underwater coupled with two new tracks The Safest Place (a cover of the 2010 Sade track) and Let Down My Guard (with China). The E.P was entitled Strange Water EP.

It was announced in Mid May that Strange Water EP and Dark Knights would be th final single and album from the band as they intended to go on an indefinate hiatus following the final date of the Retrolexual Lovers Live Tour in June.

Album 4 - Painted Whores [2011]

In September 2010, work began on the fourth studio album from Aftershock. Originally the album was set to be a greatest hits collection but plans were soon abandoned due to the strong positive reaction Berlin gained from the public. Work continued in haste to get tracks written, recorded and collected for the fourth Aftershock album.

The first single to be lifted from Painted Whores was the Seiji produced Berlin. Released on the highly competitive christmas week in 2010, the single returned to the top 10 when it debuted at #7. The following week it climbed to it's peak position of #6.

The band debuted the album's second single You Will Burn At Midnight on New Years Eve 2010 during an appearance on Jools Holland's Hootenanny. The single was released on January 31st 2011. It entered the charts at #5.

A third single in the form of Homewrecker was released from the album on March 21st. Upon it's release the single charted at #8 which frustrated Becca Hayworth who had rejoined the band after a plane crash in Australia had left Darren with Amnesia unable to remember anything about his former life as a member of Aftershock.

With Darren still not acknowledging his life within Aftershock, a further single from Painted Whores was released in the shape of Fire Below. It was teamed up with non album track Warm Heart Beast Cold in an attempt to boost sales of the single. With the announcement of the single, Becca Hayworth also announced she would be returning to the band permenantly but would still persue the release of her second solo album.

A fith & final single was taken from the album in the form of two EP's Head First EP//Pocket EP. The EP's each contained three songs from the Painted Whores/Venomous Whores releases alongside a cover of the 2009 song by Germany artist Lena, Taken By A Stranger and a previusly unreleased song from the Painted Whores sessions entitled Another Castle Crumbles. The Double EP release peaked at a respectable #9 on the charts. During the release it was confirmed that the band would be taken time away to concentrate their efforts on preparing for the release of their first retrospective collection, Audio Therapy.

Unreleased Album - Ghost Theory//Youth Dimension [2010]

In September 2010 after coming back from a brief hiatus, the band set about recording a new album which was to be more mature indie dance. During the period of September, October and November Darren and India wrote over 100 songs (icluding songs intially started before the hiatus.) By the end of the sessions it was decided to release another double album. They released one single from the album in the shape of Eye Of The Storm. However when it garnered only a lukewarm reception from fans and critics along with stalling at #15, the band abandoned plans to release Ghost Theory//Youth Dimension. It is currently unknown what will happen to the completed albums.

Discography

Main Article: Aftershock Discography

Albums

26.01.09 ...Go Now! #17
11.05.09 ...Go Now! (Deluxe Edition) #11
08.02.10 Retrolexual Satisfaction #03
14.06.10 Dark Knights #07
31.01.11 Painted Whores #03
16.05.11 Venomous Whores #09
31.10.11 Audio Therapy #02
2013 Zodiac Warrior

Singles

17.11.08 Why Bother? / Like Someone In Love #23
12.01.09 Schizophrenic Love Affair #17
23.02.09 Battle Of The Sexes / When All Is Said And Done (with Kaylee Walker) #20
09.03.09 Crying (Radio Edit) / She's Bjork (feat Rita Repulsa) #16
04.05.09 This Used To Be The Future #15
06.07.09 Twisted Light / Remember Me Tomorrow (Thrill Me Jill Radio Edit) #09
26.10.09 Kiss Me Like You Like Me #07
26.10.09 Revolution Is The Solution (feat.Syd Wolfe) #07
14.12.09 Just You & Me Dancing #11 (#6 on Downloads Alone)
01.02.10 Tiptoe On Glass #09
22.03.10 You Don't Win Silver, You Lose Gold (with Crystal Barker)/Genetic Electric #03
07.06.10 Strange Water #07
18.10.10 Eye Of The Storm (with Kirby L. Avalon)//Antidote (single) (Royksopp Radio Edit) (with Kaylee Walker) #15
13.12.10 Berlin #06
31.01.11 You Will Burn At Midnight #05
21.03.11 Homewrecker #8
16.04.11 Underground Love//Bingo Massacre (Recordstore Day Exclusive)
02.05.11 Fire Below//Warm Heart Beats Cold #10
13.06.11 Head First EP//Pocket EP #09
19.09.11 Fake Love To Me//Lose Control #10
30.10.11 Sleep With Your Sins//Nearly But Not Quite #02
12.12.11 Musical Sombrero EP (with Candi) #09

Collaborations

10.05.10 Shout It Out (Mister Whisper) :: Kirby L. Avalon & Aftershock #07
02.08.10 Midnight Therapy EP :: Kirby L. Avalon & Aftershock #04
24.10.11 Intravenous//Broken House Dresden & Bareilles Vs. Aftershock TBR