Checkmate Savage (2008-2010)
After signing with Chemikal Underground the band began recording their debut album early in 2008. Despite planning on recording the album in a few weeks in the labels Chem19 studios in Blantyre, the whole session ended up spanning many months and was mixed at Franz Ferdinand's studios in Govan. Checkmate Savage was eventually released in January 2009 to critical acclaim and it peaked on the UK Albums Chart at number 181 in February of that year.
The release of Checkmate Savage led to several UK and European tours for the band including sell-out shows in Glasgow King Tuts, London Macbeth, Inverness Hootananny and Manchester Deaf Institute. They also played in venues across Germany, France, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Festival appearances during this period include: T in the Park, Belladrum, Stag and Dagger (which took place in Leeds, London and Glasgow), London Calling in Amsterdam, the Storasfestivalen near Trondheim, The Great Escape in Brighton, Sound City in Liverpool and, towards the end of 2009, the prestigious Transmusicales festival in Rennes.
Early in 2010 the band once again returned to Chem19 to begin work on their second album.
Read more about this topic: The Phantom Band
Famous quotes containing the word savage:
“How far men go for the material of their houses! The inhabitants of the most civilized cities, in all ages, send into far, primitive forests, beyond the bounds of their civilization, where the moose and bear and savage dwell, for their pine boards for ordinary use. And, on the other hand, the savage soon receives from cities iron arrow-points, hatchets, and guns, to point his savageness with.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)