Could You Be Next?

With the amount of student bands constantly increasing, it can be easy to hold a mindset that success beyond uni isn’t possible. This is where you’d be wrong! Here we focus on 8 bands that met/formed at uni, just to give some inspiration for our own up and coming acts.

1. Blur

We all know Blur, from the infamous rivalries with a certain pair of Manchester brothers, to Damon Albarn’s solo successes, they can be heard on a regular 42s night out. But what some may not know is that they were once like you: starting out as a student band! While Albarn and guitarist Graham Coxon met at school, they encountered Alex James at Goldsmiths, Uni of London, soon coming together as ‘Seymour’. Performing a series of notoriously raucous gigs, they eventually changed their name to become the Blur we know and love.

2. Spots Team

The indie rockers came to fruition after performing gigs filled with chaos and brilliance before releasing any actual music. Though currently on a break after the madness that was the promotion for album two ‘Gulp!’ (involving them turning up at Big Hands to sell some merch, followed by DJ set at YES), it is their origins as a student band that is often a topic of conversation. Meeting while studying atHomerton College, University of Cambridge, they began gigging in pubs around Cambridge, before moving these to London, where we find Alex Rice’s infamous performance style.

3. Pink Floyd

Being one of the most successful rock bands of the 20th Century, with many voting ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ the greatest album of all time, the roots of Pink Floyd may feel all too familiar. Forming at the London Polytechnic in Regent Street (now the Uni of Westminster) in the mid-60s, it was Waters and Mason that began jamming together in between their studies in architecture. Meeting Wright along the way, Barrett later joined the band after moving to London from Cambridge where he had been a childhood friend of Waters. The rest is history!

4. Radiohead

While the iconic alternative band technically all met at school in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, known as ‘On A Friday’, their early experiments with music took place while Thom Yorke was studying English and Fine Art at the Uni of Exeter. He DJ’d at venues on campus, played guitar in ‘Flicker noise’ and released music with the ‘Headless Chickens’ who gigged at their SU. Once his studies were over, he returned to his childhood band, to become Radiohead, using skills learnt as a student to progress the group sonically and eventually get scouted.

5. Coldplay

The successes of Coldplay are undeniable, and though many consider them ‘uncool’, it’s their origins at the University College London that should be used as inspiration for up-and-coming bands. With all four members attending the London uni in 1996, they started out as ‘Pectoralz’ (though only consisted of Martin and Buckland) after meeting during freshers week at their SU bar playing pool. Renaming to ‘Starfish’ a year later, Berryman joined, followed by Champion as a percussionist, though he soon learnt the drums. Now the line-up was complete, joined by Phil Harvey for some managing, they changed the name and became Coldplay.

6. Queen

Although the backstory of the iconic band may be considered public knowledge following the release of the 2018 film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, it bears repeating. Though they didn’t all attend the same uni, it was their student connections that brought them together. Freddie Mercury had been attending the Ealing College of Art when he met Tim Staffel, the bassist for ‘Smile’. Founded by Brian May (attending Imperial College London) and Roger Taylor (a London Hospital Medical College student), it was this that drew Mercury to them. He started to attend the gigs of ‘Smile’, eventually taking over as lead singer to become Queen.

7. The Sundays

The shoegaze-esque 90s band (though more on the dreampop side), seemed to disappear at the turn of the millennium, leaving many wanting more. But going back a few years some may be surprised to hear they first formed at the Uni of Bristol! It was here that frontwoman Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin developed their jangly sound, with Wheeler having previously performed in the band ‘Cruel Shoes’. Brindley and Hannan soon joined before relocating in London, where they eventually secured a recording contract with Rough Trade.

8. Chase and Status

The electronic duo must be included in this list as their origins lie here in Manchester! While they technically met in London 1997/8, becoming raving friends, they eventually lost touch. With Saul Milton studying English and Humanities at Manchester Met, and Will Kennard studying History of Art at our very own Uni of Manchester, they bumped into each other again and began to take their music more seriously. They promoted club nights, got chatting to people in record shops and started DJ’ing. Soon the pair began making their own music to stand out at these DJ nights and it progressed from there.