Feeder: A guide to the anthemic indie-rockers
They're working on their 12th album
Feeder have been on the scene since the mid-90s, when indie rock really started to take off. After moving to London, Grant Nicholas met Taka Hirose after putting out an ad for a bass guitarist - and nearly 30 years later, they're still going strong.
With monolith hits like 'Just The Way I'm Feeling' and 'Buck Rogers' in their repertoire, it's no surprise that Feeder's 11th album 'Torpedo' made the Top 5 in the UK charts. Read on to find out more about the band's history...
Feeder the band: Members
Grant Nicholas is lead vocalist and lead guitarist in the band, and has been from the band's inception in 1994, and Taka Hirose has been on bass guitar and backing vocals since 1995. Original member Jon Lee played the drums in the band from its inception up until 2002, as he sadly passed away.
Skunk Anansie's drummer Mark Richardson stepped in to play drums from 2002 after Jon's passing until 2009, when Karl Brazil took over. Snow Patrol's Nathan Connolly played guitar as a touring member in 2016.
Where does Feeder the band name come from?
The band were originally called Reel up until 1994 when the line-up changed, and they renamed to Feeder after the name of Grant's pet goldfish, apparently.
Where are the band Feeder from?
Grant is from Newport in Wales, and moved to London so that the band - originally named Reel - could make it big. There, he met Taka, who is originally from Mizuho in Japan and moved to London in 1992 to be a graphic designer. He answered an advert in Loot - and the rest is history.
How did Feeder get famous?
Read through Feeder's career timeline.
Career beginnings
Feeder was created in 1994 when former band Reel went through a line-up change - resulting in Grant Nicholas, Jon Lee and Taka Hirose. That year, they sent a demo to The Echo label, who saw the band play after listening to it and offered them a contract. They released their EP 'Two Colours' 1995, selling it at their gigs, before releasing a promo tape called 'Two Tracker' and performing at Reading Festival. Their first single 'Stereo World' was released in October that year.
1997: Debut album 'Polythene'
Their debut album 'Polythene' was released in May 1997, featuring singles 'Crash' and 'Suffocate', and although it didn't chart highly, the record has since been certified Gold. The band toured the US in 1998 as support for Everclear, and in turn Everclear supported them on a UK tour that year.
1999: Second album 'Yesterday Went Too Soon'
After releasing singles 'Insomnia' and 'Yesterday Went Too Soon' in 1999, they once again performed at Reading and Leeds, releasing their second album 'Yesterday Went Too Soon' in August that year which peaked at Number 8 in the UK. They supported Red Hot Chili Peppers and Manic Street Preachers.
2001: 'Buck Rogers'
Spending 2000 writing songs for their new album and performing at UK festivals including Glastonbury, Feeder released 'Buck Rogers' in January 2001, which has gone on to be one of their signature songs. Although it was very nearly given away to a major US band whose identity has been kept quiet, Feeder decided to keep it. Good job they did!
Third album 'Echo Park' , released in 2001, debuted at Number 5 in the UK, and is thought to be the band's breakthrough album, featuring songs like 'Buck Rogers' and 'Seven Days in the Sun'. It's a good thing the album was successful, as Grant has since admitted the band may have split up if it hadn't worked.
2002: Jon Lee passed away
Sadly, drummer Jon Lee passed away in January 2002, leading the rest of the band to take the rest of the year out of the spotlight. Fourth album 'Comfort In Sound' was mainly about their reactions to his passing, featuring singles 'Come Back Around' and 'Just The Way I'm Feeling' and peaking at Number 6 in the UK. The band drafted in Skunk Anansie's Mark Richardson to play drums, and they went on their first arena tour in December 2003, playing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2004 and supporting Coldplay, as well as taking part in Band Aid 20.
2005: 'Pushing The Senses'
Fifth album 'Pushing the Senses' was released in 2005, which Grant considered to be an 'extension' to predecessor 'Comfort In Sound', and peaked at Number 2 in the UK. They supported U2 briefly and headlined Download Festival, before taking time out to work on their sixth album 'Silent Cry', which was released in June 2008. They played the Isle of Wight Festival, but in December that year, their tour bus caught fire whilst driving from Glasgow to Lincoln, destroying the bus and the crew's personal possessions.
2009: Mark Richardson's departure
In 2009, Mark left the band, and was replaced by Karl Brazil, a session drummer. Launching their own record label Big Teeth Music, Feeder played under the name Renegades to promote their seventh album of the same name, which was released in July 2010. They released single 'Side by Side' in March 2011 to raise money for victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and eighth album 'Generation Freakshow' was released in April 2012.
2012: Isle of Wight headline slot
Feeder performed on the Isle of Wight Festival's main stage in 2012, playing on the Friday ahead of headliners Elbow and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. They also played at Hyde Park in a series of gigs to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, before announcing that they would be taking a break in 2013.
2015: Hiatus ends
The break was extended until 2015, when Grant revealed that there would be a new album in 2016, and in January 2016 posted photos of themselves recording in Grant's home studio. Their ninth album, 'All Bright Electric', was released in October 2016 in the UK, peaking at Number 10 in the UK, and they put out compilation album 'The Best of Feeder' in July 2017, along with a mini-album of new material called 'Arrow'.
2019: 10th album 'Tallulah'
They closed down their Big Teeth Music label, and signed a new deal with Believe Music. Their 10th album 'Tallulah' was released in August 2019, peaking at Number 4 in the UK - their highest charting record since 'Pushing The Senses' in 2005. The band will be touring the album in October 2020, having been forced to reschedule the tour from April due to the global pandemic.
2020: The updated video for 'Just A Day'
Feeder's music video for 'Just A Day' back in 2001 was way ahead of its time. The band asked fans to send in videos of themselves singing and dancing along to the track, and so created one of the most iconic music videos of indie rock in the 2000s. In 2020, they decided to put out a call to fans for new videos, and thus a second version was released in April 2020 to raise funds towards PPE equipment for NHS and key workers amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
You can watch the updated version of the 'Just A Day' music video on YouTube here.
2022: 11th album 'Torpedo'
The band put out their 11th studio album 'Torpedo' on 18th March 2022. Having written an album's worth of music before the pandemic, this was then stalled due to lockdown and they got busy writing new songs that reflected their feelings - and the result was 'Torpedo'.
How many albums have Feeder released?
So far, Feeder have released 11 albums: 'Polythene' (1997), 'Yesterday Went Too Soon' (1999), 'Echo Park' (2001), 'Comfort in Sound' (2002), 'Pushing the Senses' (2005), 'Silent Cry' (2008), 'Renegades' (2010), 'Generation Freakshow' (2012), 'All Bright Electric' (2016), 'Tallulah' (2019) and 'Torpedo' (2022).
'Torpedo' was written as a result of the band being plunged into lockdown with the rest of the world in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As they'd already written an album's worth of material, this was shelved in favour of the 'Torpedo' songs - and is supposedly ready to be released at some point in 2023.
Which are Feeder's most famous songs?
Feeder have had plenty of big hits over the last 27 years, but their most famous songs are probably 'Just The Way I'm Feeling', 'Buck Rogers', 'Feeling A Moment', 'Come Back Around', 'Pushing The Senses' and 'Just A Day'.
Feeder: 'Just A Day'
The song 'Just A Day' was released in 2001, their last single with Jon on the drums. A remix of the song by Alan Moulder was the theme song of video game Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. The song gained notoriety among followers of the band for its music video, which featured fans singing along in their bedrooms.
In 2020, amid the Coronavirus pandemic, Feeder put out a call for fans to once again film themselves dancing and singing along in their bedrooms for an updated version which is raising money for PPE equipment for NHS and key workers.
The new music video for 'Just A Day' was released in April 2020, and has already raised over £16k for the equipment. Grant Nicholas explained, "The original video has become a classic, especially being in an era pre-YouTube and TikTok.
"We have always been against remaking it but after messages from fans in Italy we decided to revisit it again and highlight the plight of our own NHS and keyworkers."
Grant spoke out about why now was the time to remake the video in an interview with Kerrang! Radio, saying, "Basically, we’ve been asked for many years to do a new version of 'Just A Day' with possibly some of the same people in.
"We always felt it would be sacrilege and not the right thing to try and recreate such a well-known and iconic video. It was of a certain time, it was a very simple idea that came out really well. We felt like it wouldn't be right until now, and the reason why it felt right now is partly because of this whole lockdown situation," he explained.
"I think people at home are finding it very difficult, it can really have a huge effect on your mental state. I was sent a huge number of messages from fans, especially some fans in Italy who were in total lockdown at the time and they were very frustrated.
"They asked me if we’d be interested in possibly making a new video for 'Just A Day' so they could get involved and be something fun for people to think about, so that's really what fuelled the idea and made me think, 'Hey, if we’re ever going to do it, this is the perfect time to do it.'"
Watch the 2020 video here:
And the original here:
What genre is Feeder?
Feeder is most often described as being alternative or indie rock.
Are Feeder on tour?
Not at the moment. In August 2021, Feeder announced their 11th studio album 'Torpedo' and a new single of the same name. The album landed on 18th March 2022 and the band headed out on a UK tour the following month.
In a statement, frontman Grant Nicholas said of ‘Torpedo’: “After the frustration of not being able to perform live I really wanted to come back with a bang and a classic heavier but melodic Feeder song.
“All the emotion and frustration just caused a creative wave. Dynamically and musically Torpedo felt like the obvious choice for us to drop first. The chorus has a thread of positivity that brings light to the darker verses.”
Of the tour, he added: “We are really looking forward to going out on the road again and playing the new album material. This will be the heaviest Feeder set we’ve played in a while so can’t wait. We may revisit some heavier old school Feeder classics also and touch on some Renegades and All Bright electric stuff.”
However, they will be performing with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds on 19th August 2023 at Caldicot Castle - there may be tickets still available at Absolute Radio Tickets.
WATCH: Feeder - 'Just The Way I'm Feeling' (Absolute Radio Live At Isle Of Wight Festival)
You can hear Feeder's biggest hits on the Absolute Radio playlist.
Now read:
Feeder release new 'Just A Day' video to raise money for PPE
Feeder's Grant Nicholas explains why now was the time to recreate the 'Just A Day' video
Feeder's career through the years