We Have Band, also known as "WHB", is a three-piece electronic music group from Manchester and London consisting of Darren Bancroft and the husband-and-wife duo Thomas Wegg-Prosser and Dede Wegg-Prosser.[1] They have released three albums through the French-based Naïve Records. Their first album, WHB, was released on 5 April 2010[2] and a ten-track second album, Ternion, was released on 29 January 2012.[3] We Have Band have remixed many artists including Gorillaz, Bloc Party, Micachu, Peter Bjorn and John and M83.
The band writes with guitars, bass guitars, synthesizers, soft synthesizers, percussion, drum machines and drum samples. Within a few months of working together they had the collection of songs that formed the backbone of their first album. Many of these songs have appeared as single releases and on various compilations including the Kitsuné Maison compilations. Their style has been variously described as disco revival [4] and depressive disco.[5] They have been lauded as punk funk standard bearers[5] and in their early days were described by Paul Lester of The Guardian as being "unsigned and undeniable".[6]
We Have Band - WHB
The band started playing in London in April 2008 at venues such as Club Mother Fucker,[7] Dollop,[8] YoYo,[9] White Heat [10] and Durr.[11] In their early days they also made a number of festival appearances at events like Secret Garden Party, Glastonbury festival, SXSW, La Route du Rock, Rencontres Trans Musicales, Montreux Jazz Festival, CMJ, Berlin Festival and Art Basel Miami. This laid the foundations for the live following which saw the band tour solidly during 2009 and 2010. A highlight of their early live work was victory in the Glastonbury Festival emerging band competition in March 2009.[12]
The band released its first single, "Oh!", in November 2008 on the 50bones records label,[13] notable for releasing early singles by Little Boots, and The Virgins. The single received much critical acclaim. This Is Faked DIY[14] described it as "the most chilled disco-funk ever" and as "Kraftwerk running for the bus".[6] Oh! was remixed by Yo Majesty and Micachu & The Shapes. The video for this release was directed by Tom Ellis. "Oh!" was followed by "You Came Out" which was released on the Kill 'em All label in June 2009. Its video[15] was directed by David Wilson who has also directed videos for Metronomy and Little Boots. There were a number of remixes for "You Came Out", including ones by Stereogamus[16] and Blamma Blamma!.[17] The Kitsuné label were early fans of the band and two tracks were included on the Kitsuné Maison compilations. "Hear It In The Cans" appeared on Maison 6 and "Time After Time" on Maison 7. The band has since played two Kitsuné events in La Maroquonaire, Paris, and Scala, London.
Work on the band's first album was finished in Autumn 2009. It was mixed and co-produced by Gareth Jones who has also worked with Depeche Mode, These New Puritans and Emmy The Great. The recording and mix was finished in Strongrooms and the record was mastered by Nils at The Exchange. It was signed to Naïve Records, a French independent label[18] at the end of 2009 and the album was released on 5 April 2010 on CD, vinyl and download formats. The album received much critical acclaim. The Times described it as "Brooding disco meets slick, new-wave indie". The Fly magazine said the album shows "just what a force they really are",[19] whilst The Music Fix[20] said, "These young shoulders have sired a mature yet minimal electro pop masterpiece." The album artwork was created by Sam Ashby, an East London art director and designer, who is also responsible for the queer film magazine Little Joe.
"Divisive" was the first single proper from the album. It was iTunes single of the week on its release week of 22 March.[21] It received significant support from Radio 1 DJs Fearne Cotton and Jo Whiley. The video for "Divisive"[22] was made by jul&mat[23] for Solab who have also made videos for Metronomy. "Divisive" was remixed by Tom Starr[24] and the Chicago house legend Carl Craig[25] amongst others. "Divisive" was followed by a re-release of "Oh!".[26] The re-release video was made by Blake Claridge. The final single from WHB was "Love What You Doing?".[27] Released on 6 December 2010,the single was accompanied by remixes by Anoraak, Teenagers and Tokyo, and James Yuill.
From the 2008 London performances and early international festival performances the band has toured fairly constantly. At the Rencontres Trans Musicales in late 2008 in Rennes the band was described as "The Revelation of the Festival". In 2009 and 2010, the band played 287 shows in 26 countries. They have played major festivals all over the UK including Glastonbury festival, The Big Chill, V Festival, Lovebox Festival, Secret Garden Party, Latitude, Isle of Wight Festival, Parklife, and The Great Escape.Worldwide, they have played at SXSW, Melt! Festival, Berlin Festival, Emmaboda (Sweden), Paleo Festival (Switzerland), Pohoda (Slovakia), La Route du Rock, Exit (Serbia), Montreux Jazz Festival, Printemps de Bourges, Pukkelpop and Calvi On The Rocks among many others. Playing live has given the band their real identity and allowed them to reach tens of thousands of concert goers and their energetic live shows have earned them numerous plaudits,[4][28][29]
Several of the band's songs have been used in television advertisements. In 2010, the track "Honey Trap" was chosen for the global Diesel 'Be Stupid' campaign.[30] In 2015, "Honey Trap" was also used by Coca-Cola in its 'Choose Coca-Cola' campaign.[31] "Divisive" was used in the TV series Mercy[32] and the Tom Starr remix was used on EA Games Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.[33] The band's third single, "Love What You Doing", was chosen for Stella McCartney's Print Collection Fragrances adverts.[34] and twice in the TV show Made in Chelsea.[35] The band also appeared on the Channel 4 Top Shop ctrl event broadcast in April 2010[36] and was featured on the MTV live sessions.[37]
The band had several European dates and festivals, but mainly worked on its follow up to the first album, WHB, with producer Luke Smith who had recently produced Foals, and the producer mixer Ben Hillier who has worked with Blur, Villagers and Elbow.
The tour to accompany this album started on 15 February 2012 in Cargo London and was followed by an extensive tour of Europe, then on to South America for 16º Festival Cultura Inglesa with Franz Ferdinand and The Horrors. European and UK festivals followed, including Lovebox, Latitude, Montreux Jazz Festival, Berlin Festival and Dockville. A European autumn tour followed in September 2012, including Berlin Festival.[63] In 2013, the band went to Mexico for some dates with Bandtastic[64] and returned to do a German tour. The band are currently[when?] working on their third album.
Can you judge a band by its name? As fair-minded listeners, we try to resist the temptation, but we're all human. Take We Have Band, a group with a name so generic it verges on parody. Sadly, one listen to the Londoners' debut album, WHB (yes, the name was so good they took the abbreviated form as their album title), reveals that this is no joke, or at least not an intentional one.
In fact, We Have Band may well have crafted the most serious, fun-defying dance-punk record since the genre's mid-2000s rebirth. This is the sort of album that begins with a piano ballad called "Piano" and only gets progressively more stone-faced from there. Even tracks presumably intended to be carefree floor-fillers, like the bassline-flaunting lead single "Divisive", sound curiously and persistently uptight. "Honeytrap" is almost painfully strained, its incessant chant of "It's time/ Rejoice/ Line up/ Clap hands/ Let's go" more a joyless command than an invitation to hedonism.
TW: Oh, Darren wrote it about a relationship that was and died during his time in the band. But I always share everything with Dede; there is nothing that I would keep from her at this point.
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