History
The band's first line-up consisted of Blaine Harrison on drums, William Rees on guitar and Henry Harrison (Blaine's father) on bass. Henry became a second guitarist in the band and they were joined by Kai Fish on bass and Tamara Pearce-Higgins on the organ. Kai joined the band after suggestions that they needed a bassist (he played the cello originally).
Their original name was The Misery Jets, which was taken from an Evening Standard headline (Eel Pie Island is under the Heathrow flight path, where planes can be frequently spotted). It got changed to Mystery Jets when Blaine accidentally mis-spelled the name while painting it on a drum skin.
The band at this time recorded an eponymous EP with Aswad producer Nick Sykes. They would practice in the boat shed built by Henry on land he bought after a hippie commune on Eel Pie Island burnt down. Blaine (whose voice had yet to break) took lead vocals. Tamara left the band, and Blaine switched from Drums to Keyboards. The band had a brief stint with a friend of Williams' (known only as Max) on drums, but he was unreliable and for a time a drum machine was used. The band advertised on internet message boards for a drummer and found Kapil Trivedi. Kapil is not from Eel Pie Island like the rest of the members, but rather Wembley, North London. He found out about the band through his drum teacher. Mystery Jets draws influences from Hall and Oates, Syd Barrett, and Pink Floyd. William Rees has named Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Jimi Hendrix, and David Bowie as his guitar inspirations. Much attention has been drawn to their hosting of a series of parties, dubbed "The White Cross Revival", on Eel Pie Island.
The Eel Pie Island EP was recorded soon after by a young producer called Bishop Dante at Rooster studios, from which it became obvious that a period of touring would be required to develop tightness and material, and so a white van with a trailer was bought, and Mystery Jets set off. The band issued its first proper single, a limited edition 7" of "Zoo Time", on Transgressive Records. Mystery Jets ran a series of illegal parties on Eel Pie Island, attracting large crowds, before being shut down by the police. They went on to sign to 679 Recordings. After 2005 saw a number of singles and their TV debut on MTV Two's Spanking New Music Week (alongside Editors, The Kooks, Clor and The Longcut), the start of 2006 saw the band gain their highest charting single with "The Boy Who Ran Away", play the ShockWaves NME Awards Tour and make their first appearance on Top of the Pops.
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—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)