Hurts (duo)
Hurts (duo)
Main page
1003729

Hurts (duo)

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Hurts (duo)

Hurts are an English musical duo formed in Manchester in 2009, consisting of singer Theo Hutchcraft and multi-instrumentalist Adam Anderson. They have released five studio albums: Happiness (2010), Exile (2013), Surrender (2015), Desire (2017) and Faith (2020). Their first two albums reached the top 10 in several countries.

Theo Hutchcraft (born 30 August 1986 in Richmond, North Yorkshire) and Adam Anderson (born 14 May 1984 in Manchester) met outside Manchester's 42nd Street nightclub in November 2005, standing by while their friends got involved in a fight. Too drunk to join in, they began discussing music instead; realising they had similar tastes, they decided to start a band. Over the next few months, they exchanged music and lyrics via e-mail, before forming Bureau in March 2006. They performed their first gig as a quintet in May at The Music Box in Manchester, and were shortly afterwards signed to independent record label High Voltage Sounds. They released their first double A-side single "After Midnight"/"Dollhouse" in November, which was made Single of the Week on Xfm. In 2007, Bureau disbanded and Hutchcraft and Anderson formed the band Daggers soon after. They signed to Label Fandango and in October released another double A-side single, "Money"/"Magazine", which, despite failing to chart, was nominated for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize.

Throughout 2008, Daggers continued to build a following and began working with producers Biff Stannard and Richard X, but after a disastrous A&R showcase in London in September, Theo and Adam returned to Manchester to reflect on the band's future. They recorded a mournful ballad called "Unspoken" together and they immediately realised that this was the sound that they wanted to develop as a duo. After informing the rest of the band that it was finished, they went on a short break to Verona in Italy, where they claim they discovered a musical genre called "Disco Lento". Daggers split on 30 January 2009.

Now called Hurts, the duo recorded an amateur music video for a song called "Wonderful Life", with a female dancer who had responded to an advert they placed in a post office in Manchester. After they uploaded the video to their YouTube channel on 21 April 2009, it quickly went viral and has since had over 103 million views.

In his book 'Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England's Pop Rebels and Outsiders' Guy Mankowski wrote a chapter on Hurts, claiming they 'deftly created a European mythology of their own with their debut video for the single 'Wonderful Life'. In July, the band was signed to Sony subsidiary RCA Records as well as RCA imprint Major Label Records, run by their old friend Biff Stannard.

Although Hutchcraft and Anderson had decided to not do any gigs until they had enough songs, they began uploading demos to their Myspace page, and on 27 July 2009, they were named Band of the Day by The Guardian. On 7 December, they made the longlist of the Sound of 2010, an annual poll of music critics and industry figures conducted by the BBC. Following spot plays on BBC Radio 1 of "Wonderful Life", Hurts were invited to record at London's Maida Vale Studios on 9 December for Huw Stephens' radio show, where they performed "Illuminated" and "Silver Lining".

2010 began with Hurts finishing fourth on the Sound of 2010 poll, behind Ellie Goulding, Marina and the Diamonds, and Delphic. On 7 January, Zane Lowe premiered the song "Blood, Tears & Gold" as his "Hottest Record in the World", and another self-made music video debuted online three days later. Having released a limited edition 12" vinyl picture disc of the Arthur Baker remix of "Wonderful Life" on 18 January, Hurts performed their first ever gig as Hurts on 22 January at the Michalsky Stylenite in Berlin, followed by St Phillips Church in Salford on 22 February. This was quickly followed by gigs at Wiltons Music Hall, London, and in Berlin and Cologne in Germany.

In March, "Wonderful Life" was released to radio in various European territories; as manager Matt Vines explained to Music Week, the aim was to launch the band simultaneously across Europe and Asia. "It's an internationally focused campaign. We're looking at tours across Europe to back up the work we are doing in the UK." The single became a radio hit in countries such as Denmark, Cyprus and Russia throughout the spring. On 10 March, their first UK single "Better Than Love" was premiered on Huw Stephens' show on BBC Radio 1. After a nationwide tour with the NME Radar tour, the song was released on digital download, CD and vinyl formats on 24 May, and debuted at number 50 on the UK Singles Chart.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.