Little Man Tate (band)

Little Man Tate were a four-piece indie rock band from Sheffield, England who formed in 2005. They broke up in 2009. The band quickly began attracting interest from several record labels and in March 2006 signed to V2 Records, later parting ways in November 2007. Their fifth single, "Sexy in Latin" was released on 22 January and became their highest charting single.

The band made extensive use of the Internet to gather a fanbase. Like many other up and coming bands they made extensive use of MySpace as well as their own forum to communicate with and co-ordinate fans.

History

Formation

Jon Windle and Edward 'Maz' Marriott were in several bands together from the age of 15 in Sheffield, and their first gig together was at St Timothy's Church Hall in Crookes. This was followed up by several other low key gigs in friends bedrooms and garages.

Little Man Tate were originally formed as a 4 piece band by singer/guitarist Jon Windle, guitarist Edward 'Maz' Marriott, drummer Mike Balkow and former lead singer Simon Barnes in 1998 under the name Carousel Moon. The band changed their name to The Moon on 15 October 2001^[1] which remained in place until 2005.

Then came a transitional period for the band as they briefly changed their name to Lazy Eye before finally becoming Little Man Tate in September 2005. The band line up had also changed over the early years, following the departures of original lead singer Simon Barnes, and drummer Mike Balkow, who was replaced by Dan Fields.

In an interview, Jon Windle revealed the name Little Man Tate came when he was on the telephone to bass player Ben Surtees, and was trying to think of a band name. He saw the film Little Man Tate advertised in the television listing, and they settled on that.

Touring, V2 and debut album (2005-2007)

The band began touring together in September 2005.

Their first single, "The Agent", was released 6 March 2006 on 7" vinyl with "Just Can't Take It" as the B-side. All 1,800 copies sold out as pre-orders. The back of the record sleeve featured 273 usernames of members of the band's forum. The song was rated 9/10 by Teletext's Planet Sound. "The Agent" was Number 6 in Planet Sound's top 50 singles of 2006. The band played acoustic sets at several HMV stores around the UK to promote the single. It reached number 117 in the official UK Singles Chart on sales of the 7" vinyl alone.^[2]

In April 2006, the band toured the UK. The band's second single, "What? What You Got?" was released on 22 May 2006, and reached number 40 in the UK Singles Chart,^[3] and was first played by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music. Both "The Agent" and "What? What You Got?" were released under the band's own label, Yellow Van Records, a tribute to their old yellow van which was stolen along with all their equipment at an early gig at Fibbers (Barfly) in York.

In June 2006, Little Man Tate played their first festival at the Middlesbrough Music Live in Middlesbrough, UK. In August 2006, they played the Reading and Leeds Festivals on the Carling Stage. On 26 August 2006, the band released their third single "House Party at Boothy's". The track reached number 29 in the official UK Singles Chart ^[4] The band's fourth single, "Man I Hate Your Band", was released on 13 November 2006. It charted at number 26 in the UK Singles Chart.^[5]

On 22 January 2007, the band released their fifth single "Sexy In Latin" one week prior to the release of their debut album. The track became the band's first top 20 single when it charted at number 20 in the UK Singles Chart.^[6] The band's debut album, About What You Know was released on 29 January 2007 and reached number 27 in the UK Albums Chart.^[7] The next single to be released was "This Must Be Love" on 26 March 2007. The single reached number 33 in the UK Singles Chart.^[8] The music video for the track starred veteran British actress Liz Smith.

On 18 July 2007, the band released two new tracks "Suicide Tuesday" and "Trouble With Detox" free on NME.com. The band played the Main Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals on 24 & 25 August 2007. The band released their seventh single, "European Lover" on 27 August 2007, a re-recorded version of the same track that featured on their debut album, About What You Know. The single was not chart eligible as the single included a sticker advertising a competition to win tickets for the band's forthcoming Christmas gig in Blackpool at the Empress Ballroom.

It was reported on 11 August 2007 that the band's record label V2 Records had been bought out by Universal.^[9] The band were subsequently dropped by V2 in November 2007, along with a large number of the rest of V2's roster of acts. It was during this time that the band announced they would release their eighth single 'Boy In The Anorak' prior to being released by V2. Promotional copies of the single were sent out and the track was made available to purchase temporarily on iTunes, however at the last minute the single was cancelled. The band gave away free copies of the single at a Blackpool Empress Ballroom gig and it was made available to download from their website on Christmas Day.

Second album (2008-2009)

On 2 June 2008, the band released their eighth single, "What Your Boyfriend Said", which was the first to be taken from their second album Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy. The track reached number 60 in the UK Singles Chart.^[10] The band released their ninth single "Hey Little Sweetie" on 8 September 2008. The track reached number 142 in the UK Singles Chart.^[11]

On 15 September 2008, the band released their second album, Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy, which reached number 80 in the UK Albums Chart.^[12]

In November 2008, a list of BNP members was leaked on the internet which caused a case of mistaken identity when on the list appeared a Jon Windle of Sheffield. The NME verified that it was not Windle of Little Man Tate. The band then released a statement saying "We would like to assure our fans that the Jon Windle that has appeared on the leaked list of BNP members is not the band's vocalist. Jon has never associated himself with the BNP in any form."^[13]

Little Man Tate released their tenth single, "I Am Alive", on 23 March 2009 on 7" vinyl and digital download only, and it was the band's final release.

Break up

On 13 July 2009, Little Man Tate announced their decision to split up after four years. They performed two final sell-out shows at the O2 Academy in Sheffield on 2 and 3 October 2009 to over three thousand people.

After Little Man Tate

Marriott was a session musician in London, following the band's split. ^[14] As of March 2010, he toured with singer Jay Brown and Dusso & The Holy Smokes. He is now working as a Music Teacher in North London.^[15]

Surtees was DJing and working on Hospital radio^{[16] [17]}

Windle is a solo musician. He released his debut album Step Out The Man in October 2010 and toured the UK with a full band, but also undertakes gigs on a solo acoustic basis and sometimes a partial band acoustic basis.^[18][18][19] Windle released his second album "Sober Minds" on 28 May 2012 preceded by its first single "The boy with the ginger hair".

Discography

• About What You Know (2007)
• Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy (2008)

References

External links

• Little Man Tate Official Website
• Official Myspace page
• Jon Windle's Official Myspace page
• Interview with Little Man Tate at Leeds Festival 2007
• Review of Little Man Tate at Islington Carling Academy, London (24/9/08)
• Interview in the Leicester Mercury