Last Updated : Sunday 10th May 2009
Grant Nicholas - guitar, vocals - Welsh (12/11/1967)
Taka Hirose - bass, backing vocals live - Japanese (28/07/1967)
After Jon's tragic death, Mark played on Comfort In Sound and joined the band for the Portsmouth warm-up gig and the Carling Festival gigs, after being a longtime friend of the band (he was in b.l.o.w and Skunk Anansie both of whom Feeder supported). He became an official member of the band soon after.
In April 2009 Mark and Feeder parted ways. Mark has returned to play with Skunk Anansie.
During the tour promoting Yesterday Went Too Soon, Feeder were joined by Dean Tidey (28/11/1970), a (left-handed) guitarist from the band Sandstone Veterans and, formerly Velvet Jones. Dean also reappeared for the Carling Festival shows in 2002 and has been their touring guitarist ever since! Many fans consider him as a member of the band, although it's never been made "official".
During the tour promoting Echo Park, Feeder were joined by Matt Sime (02/12/??) - who has engineered a number of their albums - to play keyboards/synth. Matt also appeared for the Carling Festival shows in 2002. He is the voice at the beginning of Echo Park.
For the tour of Australia in 2000, Jon was temporarily replaced by Mark Bullock (ex Cay drummer) whilst he was getting married. Mark also returned for the TOTP performance of Just A Day in late 2001.
An additional guitarist (currently unknown!) joined Feeder for their performance of Insomnia on Top Of The Pops.
In May 2008 Feeder were joined by Dean Deavall (nicknamed CC) - of Casino, who share the same manager as Feeder - on keyboards and backing vocals.
Since Mark Richardson left the band in 2009, at least three different drummers have lent their talents. Karl Brazil - who has drummed for many artists including Robbie Williams, James Blunt and Ben's Brother - has been the band's primary live drummer. His name was listed in the Renegades project, alongside Grant's and Taka's. Tim Trotter - of Mexicolas - and Damon Wilson have also played drums at various points in the last two years.
As far as I'm concerned, the bands private lives should be kept private so I won't go into many details here .....
On Monday 7th January 2002, Jon Lee took his own life at his home in Miami. He was married with a stepson and son at the time. His third child was born not long after his death. A public funeral was held on the 18th, with around 700 turning up. Tributes from his wife, Grant and Matt Page can be seen here.
Feederweb released the following statement:
"Feeder have decided to end their partnership with Mark Richardson after seven years. We wish Mark every success in the future. Mark would like to express his gratitude to the band and especially to all the fans who made the experience so enjoyable."
Mark posted the following on a message board:
There are not many certainties in life. Death, taxes... and change. Grant has made a decision that he thinks is in the best interest of Feeder. That is his perogative. Accept it and let's all get on with our lives. If you want to email me, feel free. Thank you to all of you that made the gigs so amazing, the hardcore Feeder posse, it was a pleasure to perform for you all. See you down the front! All of the bands that you love and support need you there, going nuts!! Here's to the next chapter...
Feeder use:
Tour information is available on Feederweb or the official Feeder MySpace.
There are many fansites on the Internet. A list of the best ones can be found on The Feeder Anorak here. Most fansites have links, where you might find other sites. The Feeder Wikipedia article is also worth checking out.
Visiting one of the message boards is also a good way of getting questions answered.
Feeder have had record deals in the past in America (with Elektra), but their last deal, with Universal, expired after Comfort In Sound so at the moment they don't have a deal. This probably explains why Pushing The Senses and Silent Cry have yet to be released there, and why there are no current plans for a US tour.
Yes, before they settled on Feeder, they went through "Hum", "Real" and "Reel".
Grant has been in many bands, such as Multi-Story, Raindancer, Temper Temper, Shrinking Violets and Velveteen. Only Multi-Story actually released anything - an album called Through Your Eyes. Grant said he needed the money! Heh.
Mark has been in Little Angels, b.l.o.w, Skunk Anansie and Sunna. He's done session drumming for various artists and bands including Alistair Cowan, ManOrMouse? (also featuring Dean Tidey), The Crave and iMMA. He's also played drums for Globus.
Two videos released by Feederweb in 2007 contained music by Funkybottom - an alias of Taka's.
Taka and Dean (Tidey) have both contributed to Matt Sime's Moozak.
They have won the following :
The Feeder Scrapbook has an extensive collection of interviews and articles related to Feeder, dating back to 1995.
Check out the Releases section on The Feeder Anorak.
Again, check out The Feeder Anorak ... estimated values are given for every single release (apart from Compilations).
Yes again, see The Feeder Anorak ... just check out the Releases section for the Europe, USA, Japan, Australia and the Rest Of The World.
Supposedly yes ... but I've yet to find them on some releases.
Swim
The sleeve concept was designed by Grant Nicholas with Design & Realisation by Jeremy Plumb &
Jacqui Edwards @ Sonicon. Front & Back cover photographs were by Andrew Cameron and the colour band
photo was by Robert Wyatt. All of the black & white photos were by Grant Nicholas.
Polythene
The sleeve concept was by Jeremy Plumb and Grant Nicholas. Designed by Jeremy Plumb @ sonicon.
Photography by Alan David. Studio shots by Scarlet Page and street shots by Dan McLewin.
When this album was re-issued, it had extra still life photography by Andrew Cameron and Grant Nicholas, with the skydiver image coming from Getty images.
Yesterday Went Too Soon
Photography was done by Rick Guest and the concept and art direction was by Intro, London. Intro
later worked on the video for Just The Way I'm Feeling.
Echo Park
Art direction was by Blue Source and the illustrations were by Roy Wilkinson.
Comfort In Sound
All artwork was supplied by Aya Takano.
Picture of Perfect Youth
Designed by Social.
Pushing The Senses
Paintings by Ryan Wallace. Art direction and design by Blue Source. Band photo Lawrence Watson.
The Singles
The photographs in The Singles were taken by Candida Bhoopongsa, Lawrence Watson, Ross Halfin, Rick
Guest, Tom Sheehan, Kevin Bell and Pat Pope.
Only in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates with "Seven Days In The Sun", but unfortunately not much is known about these.
For an excellent run down of Feeder's chart history to date, check out this page.
No definite plans for this at the moment but it's been heavily rumoured for years!
The Singles CD+DVD was released in May 2006. The DVD contains all the (UK) Feeder videos recorded up to that date.
Here's what Grant and Taka had to say about it in a webchat around the time of Buck Rogers :
Taka: She was a friend of someone working for the art company.
Grant: The art company did Yesterday Went Too Soon campaign. She was the cousin of the secretary and she had a very unusual personality which is why she was picked.
Grant: Because that photo shoot was like making a film. Very intense.
When The Singles was released there was a special edition which included a DVD of twenty six of Feeder's videos. This DVD is probably the best way to see most of Feeder's videos easily! However, in alphabetical order, here are all the various official Feeder videos that have appeared on releases...
Bitter Glass (The Depot Sessions)
Pushing The Senses (CD+DVD Edition)
Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers CD2
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Buck Rogers (Live @ Reading 2001)
Comfort In Sound (CD+DVD Edition)
Cement
High CD1
Swim Resurfaced
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Come Back Around
Come Back Around CD2
Come Back Around DVD
Comfort In Sound (CD+DVD Edition)
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Comfort In Sound
Comfort In Sound Tour Edition Single
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Crash
High CD2
Swim Re-Surfaced
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Day In Day Out
Yesterday Went Too Soon Double Album (UK)
Yesterday Went Too Soon Album (Australia)
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Descend (Live @ Reading 1997)
Suffocate CD2
Dove Grey Sands (The Depot Session)
Pushing The Senses (CD+DVD Edition)
Feeling A Moment
Feeling A Moment CD2
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Find The Colour
Find The Colour CD
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Forget About Tomorrow
Comfort In Sound (CD+DVD Edition)
Forget About Tomorrow CD1
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Forget About Tomorrow (Alternate Version)
Forget About Tomorrow CD2
High
Polythene CD Version 2
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
High (Live @ Reading 1997)
Suffocate CD1
Insomnia
Yesterday Went Too Soon Double Album (UK)
Yesterday Went Too Soon Album (Australia)
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Just A Day
Just A Day CD2
Comfort In Sound (CD+DVD Edition)
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Just The Way I'm Feeling
Just The Way I'm Feeling CD2
Comfort In Sound (CD+DVD Edition)
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Just The Way I'm Feeling (Live @ Reading 2002)
Just The Way I'm Feeling DVD
Lost And Found
Lost And Found CD Single
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Paperfaces
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Piece By Piece (European Video)
Just A Day CD1 (this is a re-hash of the video for Suffocate)
Piece By Piece (Original Video)
Piece By Piece European Maxi CD
Comfort In Sound Tour Edition Single
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Pushing The Senses (The Depot Sessions)
Pushing The Senses (CD+DVD Edition)
Pushing The Senses
PTS CD Single
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Seven Days In The Sun
Seven Days In The Sun European Maxi CD
Seven Days In The Sun CD2
Seven Days In The Sun Israeli Promo CD
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Shatter
Shatter / Tender DVD Single
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Stereo World
Crash CD1
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Suffocate
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Tangerine
Crash CD2
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Tender
Shatter / Tender CD Single
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Tender (The Depot Sessions)
Pushing The Senses (CD+DVD Edition)
Turn
Turn CD1
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Tumble And Fall
Tumble And Fall CD1
Pushing The Senses (CD+DVD Edition)
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
Yesterday Went Too Soon
Yesterday Went Too Soon Double Album (UK)
Yesterday Went Too Soon Album (Australia)
The Singles (CD+DVD Edition)
High (US Version) hasn't featured on any CD yet, but is available on promo videos (if you can find them) and possibly online streams! Videos from PTS can also be found on promo DVDs as well as VHS.
We Are The People, Tracing Lines and Into The Blue all have not featured on any CD yet. They are however available for download.
The video was the first following Jon's death and so was a sort of tribute to him. He often complained that there were no girls in their videos, so they included four. The drumming was shot in slow motion in order to make it almost perfect with each of the four drummers. However the underlying message in the video was that no matter how many drummers they had, no matter how perfectly they hit each note, they would never be the same as Jon.
They're fans. Feederweb ran a competition for fans to send in their videos of them performing to Just A Day. The favourites were then made into the video for the single. A couple of the people in the video used to post on the message boards. The toddler in the video is said to be the son of someone who works for Feeder.
They're playing Godzilla. The reason given for this was because Godzilla created a more dynamic performance from the band. It's widely rumoured that the band did not want to release Find The Colour as a single, and would rather have released Comfort In Sound instead.
Yes, loads ... check out the Songs page on The Feeder Anorak.
These so far ...
Grant also featured with Ian Dury's backing band The Blockheads" as a vocalist on the song "Blockheads" on the Ian Dury tribute album called Brand New Boots And Panties.
In a webchat, Grant answered a question about covering Monkey Wrench... "No, it's a song called 'Everlong'. We do occasionally soundcheck cover versions. But I think you're talking about 'Everlong', it's always a good song to play in soundchecks. Apparantly Dave Grohl soundchecks 'My Perfect Day' now! I'll probably leave playing it live to the Foo Fighters, although you never know, one day we might."
On the mini tour in May 2008 Grant often started singing All My Life by the Foo Fighters during Lost And Found.
Yes, quite a few ... they've done versions of Buck Rogers, Piece By Piece, Child In Your, Feeling A Moment, The Power Of Love, Come Back Around (to name but a few!) acoustically on radio. They have also done a few radio sessions as a live band.
Yes, instrumental versions of Chicken On A Bone, Tangerine and Shade appeared on the computer game Gran Turismo, although these have yet to see a proper release on CD.
A completely instrumental version of the Comfort In Sound album, with an instrumental version of Bullet as a bonus track was issued to TV & Radio.
A completely instrumental version of the Pushing The Senses album has also been released. It contains instrumental versions of Shatter, I For You, Victoria, Bruised and Murmur too.
Grant writes all the songs.
Contrary to popular belief / misunderstanding ... Gordon Matthew Sumner didn't write track 5 on Comfort In Sound ... he is otherwise known as Sting and did indeed write Can't Stand Losing You, which features on the bonus DVD with this album!
Have a look at individual credits - they're too numerous to mention! But generally...Swim and Polythene were produced by Chris Sheldon, Yesterday Went Too Soon by Feeder, Echo Park by Gil Norton and Feeder, Comfort In Sound and Pushing The Senses by Grant Nicholas and Gil Norton. Two of the new songs on The Singles (Burn The Bridges and Save Us) were produced by Stephen Street and Grant. Lost And Found was produced by Grant and Matt Sime. Silent Cry was produced by Grant.
Matt Sime has recorded/engineered/mixed a lot lot of the material, which along with his live input makes him a key member of Feeder. Andy Wallace, Adrian Bushby and Steve Power amongst others have all been involved too. Grant and Jon were also studio engineers, so have had a large input. It's said that Grant always asks for distortion on his voice as he doesn't like it, but I think Matt Sime has more sense, because it's very rarely left in!
Lyrics are available from here.
Guitar tabs are available from here or here.
There are also official Comfort In Sound and Pushing The Senses tab books, available from most music shops or Music Room.
Feeder's entire back catalogue is slowly but surely being made available for LEGAL download on various sites. Check out the download song list on The Feeder Anorak.
Please don't download illegal bootleg versions of studio tracks from P2P sites ... you're basically stealing from the band!
Gran Turismo (1997/1998)
Sweet 16 - Full Version
Chicken on a Bone - Instrumental
Shade - Instrumental
Tangerine - Instrumental
Gran Turismo 3 (2001)
Just A Day - GT3 version, Title Track
Buck Rogers - Full Version
Seven Days In The Sun - Full Version
Gran Turismo Concept (2002)
Buck Rogers - Full Version
Just A Day - GT3 Version
Seven Days In The Sun - Full Version
Gran Turismo 4 (2004)
Shatter
Omega Boost (1999)
Shade
World Rally Championship (2001)
Hole In My Head - Full Version
Super Trucks (2002)
Bug - Edit
Freestyle Street Soccer (Urban Freestyle Soccer in the UK) (2004)
Come Back Around - Full Version
Feeder's music has been used extensively on TV soundtracks, in particular Channel 4's Teachers.
Yes. There are two songs named Come Back Around - the first coming from a Turn b-side, the second being the first single from Comfort In Sound. Although they have the same name, they are completely different songs!
The song Under The Weather was originally entitled Nurofen, but the name had to be changed for copyright reasons.
The song on this set list, called Circles is not the same as the Find The Colour b-side ... it is in fact the original title for the song Can't Dance To Disco.
I can only guess that these (seen on this set list) are early songs which either had their names changed or have so far, not made it onto a Feeder record!
Teddy Bear was the provisional and perhaps a little jokey title for Spill.
This is basically down to daft eBay sellers! On the Feeling A Moment picture disc it says (Over) Feeling A Moment on Side A, meaning of course that Feeling A Moment is on the other side.
Ahh, the long-fabled Blemish! The simple answer is that at the moment, it's un-released. There are apparently two versions, with different takes on the chorus.
There are rumours about quite a few. Apart from Vanilla, Why and Blemish, the following songs names have all been mentioned:
Yes. Polythene was originally called Here In The Bubble. Yesterday Went Too Soon (the album) was originally called Life In Headphones. Silent Cry confusingly had working titles of both Feeder Six and Seven.
Piece By Piece was a single in Europe (excluding the UK) only. London Guildhall students made an animated video for the release. The video contained an animated Feeder performing in a New York skyscraper. However, as the video contained images of aeroplanes flying amongst the buildings, and Feeder jumping out of the skyscraper and, following the events of 9/11, it was deemed inappropriate. This video was featured on the single, but an amended version (containing clips from the promo video for Suffocate) appeared on the Just A Day single.
Simple answer is yes! They were in the studio next door when Feeder were recording Pushing The Senses.
This isn't actually Feeder, but a band called Scream performing a song called Feeder.
Again, this isn't actually Feeder, but a band called Toenut performing a song called Feeder.
Again, this isn't actually Feeder, but another band called "Feeder", from America I think.
It's Matt Sime.
The Rush we all know and love is in fact a studio version made to sound live!
Courtesy of Ian and all the folks at FFS and FFS Board, here's a list of currently available Radio Sessions either for download or online streaming :
Interviews:
Radio 1 - Glastonbury 2003 interview and footage
Radio 1 - Grant interview at Wembley, 2001
Face Culture - Grant video interview
Radio 1 - Jo Whiley's Live Lounge
Radio 1 - Steve Lamacq interview
Radio 1 - Reading 2002 interview
Radio 1 - Remembering Jon Lee - Piece By Piece
Pushing The Senses era interview
Comfort In Sound era interview
Other:
Cardiff Tsunami Gig - Buck Rogers, Just The Way I'm Feeling, Tumble And Fall, Just A Day
BBC 6 Music Session - Tumble And Fall, High
Pushing The Senses Depot Sessions
It's also worth keeping an eye on the message boards as radio rips of interviews are often made available through them.
There are four main message boards.
Not really, but if you're new, here are a few pieces of advice:
Check out the Links page on The Feeder Anorak.
Yes, you can sign up for it here.
There is a Feeder shop on Feederweb.
Try eBay, Push Posters or One Poster.
I don't have a Feeder ringtone so I'm no expert , but try these :
Feederweb sometimes offer ringtones and wallpapers around the release date of the latest single too.
Matt Page - from Riot Management - is Feeder's manager.
Ben Johncock is a writer and long-time friend of the band. He used to work for Echo and Riot and wrote the sleevenotes for The Singles DVD. He also helped to write the Comfort In Sound tab book.
Feeder have long supported War Child. In 2002 they recorded a cover of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood song The Power Of Love for a War Child compilation entitled 1 Love.
In January 2006 War Child auctioned a series of US Army helmets painted/adorned by various artists. One of these was painted by Grant.
In June 2006, Feeder accompanied War Child on a trip to visit the charity's programmes of work in Democratic Republic of Congo. The band travelled to Gbadolite to spend some time with a group of ex-child soldiers War Child is helping set up small businesses and hopefully aid their reintegration back into Gbado society. They also visited one of the charity's centres for street children in the country's capital Kinshasa.
Following their trip to the DRC, the band donated two exclusive versions of Save Us for download from War Child Music. Fans who downloaded the tracks also received a download of a mini-documentary of the band's visit for free. A photo gallery of the trip can be seen here - the soundtrack is Save Us (Landscapes Mix), one of the exclusive versions of Save Us given to War Child.
In November 2006 Feeder played three London gigs in association with War Child. All profits from ticket sales, plus those from the sales of War Child / Feeder t-shirts and dog tags went to the charity.
Feeder's only gig of 2004 at the Hammersmith Apollo, London was part of Carling Live 24. Profits from exclusive t-shirts available only at the gig went to WarChild and Cystic Fibrosis Trust. There were also WarChild representatives with donation buckets on the doors. Two nights before the gig Feeder opened the Cystic Fibrosis Trust Breathing Life Awards with Just The Way I'm Feeling.
In 2005 Feeder also recorded a cover of REM's Everybody Hurts for Your War Is Not With Me - a War Child film about the long term effects of war on children in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia. The track was available for download from War Child Music.
Feeder also have an ongoing involvement with Oxfam and in particular their Make Poverty History campaign. In July 2005 Feeder played at Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push, which was part of a series of Live 8 concerts held around the world in support of the Make Poverty History campaign. Grant sang on Band Aid 20, released at the end of 2004.
Towards the end of 2005 Oxfam were invited to accompany Feeder on their winter tour (continued in spring 2006 after Grant lost his voice), with information stands and videos played in the intervals at each gig. The main focus was the Make Trade Fair campaign - they were collecting signatures for trade justice, leading up to a WTO meeting in Hong Kong. They also celebrated World Aids Day at the Cardiff gig, with a three metre square ribbon signed by the band (and later any fans who wished to).
At several gigs in 2003 there were Shelter information stands and a picture was released of Grant holding a sign saying he supported Shelter.
In November 2006, Mark rode his bike in Enduro Africa for Riders For Health. He also rode in Enduro India in February 2007. The money raised from this trip went to The Rainbow Trust, The World Wildlife Fund, The World Conservation Society, The Mother Theresa Children's Foundation and The Adventure Ashram Foundation. In August 2007, Mark rode for Riders For Health in the Dawn To Dusk enduro. He came finished 22nd (out of 150 racers). He is also hoping to take part in the Dakar Rally in 2010.
In an effort to make the release of Comfort In Sound carbon neutral the Feeder Forest was established with the help of Future Forests (now The Carbon Neutral Company).
After Jon's death, those wishing to make a donation to charity in his memory were asked to donate to Noah's Ark Trust.
© Feeder FAQ 2009