Newport, Wales · alternative rock · britpop

Feeder

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Welsh alt-rock lifers with an unreasonable number of songs you'd recognise from British radio in the early 2000s — 'Buck Rogers' just the start.

Feeder trace back to 1992, when Grant Nicholas, Jon Lee and Simon Blight formed the band Reel out of the group Raindancer. After lineup churn and a string of session bassists, Japanese expat Taka Hirose answered a classified ad in 1994 and the trio renamed themselves Feeder, after Nicholas's pet goldfish, signing to The Echo Label soon after.

Their sound paired loud, melodic guitar riffs with straightforward song structures, drawing on American post-grunge and power pop as much as British guitar music of the era; early critics likened them to Smashing Pumpkins, the Pixies and Talk Talk. Their 1997 debut Polythene was well received by the UK rock press.

The band's profile grew sharply with 2001's Echo Park and its single 'Buck Rogers', a UK top five, platinum-selling hit. Drummer Jon Lee died in January 2002, after which former Skunk Anansie drummer Mark Richardson joined for that year's Comfort in Sound and remained an official member until 2009.

Feeder have held two number one albums on the UK's Official Record Store Chart, headlined the 2005 Download Festival, and were inducted into the Kerrang! Hall of Fame in 2019. Since 2010 they have notched seven more top 20 albums, including 2022's Torpedo and 2024's Black/Red, their fifth consecutive top 10 release.

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