The Crimea

Based in the famed London haunt of Camden Town, The Crimea are stalwarts of the British indie scene having persevered through failed bands, commercially unsuccessful albums and being dropped by labels - not that it's been all gloom and doom for the persistent quintet.Championed by the late John Peel, the great DJ famously played all 11 of the band's initial album demos on his Radio 1 show. He also ranked them higher than bands as The White Stripes in his Festive Fifty.The band first began life as V2 signings The Crocketts in 1996, supporting Stereophonics on a number of tours and releasing two albums, 1998s 'We May be Skinny and Wirey' and 2000s 'The Great Brain Robbery'. Though both made minor splashes, V2 were unimpressed and the band were dropped by 2001 leading to the birth of The Crimea.Not letting the bad news from V2 set them back, Crocketts' Davey MacManus and Owen Hopkin formed the new band and began working on ideas for their debut.By 2004 Warner Brothers had snapped them up following a showcase at the SXSW festival in Texas and the band's debut album, 'Tragedy Rocks', followed in 2005.Despite much airplay on BBC Radio 1 and a host of plaudits, Warner Bros dropped the band in late 2006. Again, displaying tenacity, The Crimea continued to write new material and in April 2007 pre-empted Radiohead by releasing their second album 'Secrets of the Witching Hour' as a free download. The album is still freely available.Continuing to tour the record, The Crimea have supported such luminaries as Kings of Leon, Travis, Primal Scream, Modest Mouse and Stereophonics. This is their first appearance on 'Other Voices'.