King Adora / Vinnie & The Curse
When King Adora exploded into peoples faces in early 2000 they provided a much needed antithesis to a tired and safe music scene. Formed a year or so earliar by Maxi Browne and Martyn Nelson and soon joined by Robbie G and Dan Dabrowski, the band (named after a giant vibrator) began making instant waves and soon secured a major record deal with Mercury records.
Upon the release of the first couple of limited edition singles, interest quickly blossomed. Radio 1′s Steve Lamacq began to take notice. Big Is Beautiful followed in July and with Smoulder in September. The debut album Vibrate You (a reference to the lyric found in Smoulder) scored a top 40 hit in the official UK album chart – with a first week placing of 31. The singles Suffocate and reissue of Bionic gave the band a further two chart-bothering entries. Bionic remains the band’s biggest single to date.
King Adora toured incessantly and built up the kind of partizan die hard fan base only seen before with the manic street preachers, indeed gigs were often more like parties full of the young and the glamorous where dressing up was always a necessity. Unforgettable performances followed at both Reading and Leeds festivals and 2002 saw the boys perform successful shows in Japan as well as tour supports to Mansun and Queens of the Stone Age in Britain.
What seemed like a long absence from the stages, King Adora returned in late 2003 with a double A-side single. Born 2 Lose/Kamikaze reinforced the fact King Adora has returned and were eager to make a noise. Now signed to the fledging Discovery label, they released the first proper single from followup album Who Do You Love – Drag, a rompy T-Rex infused swagger.
Who Do You Love was unleashed in March 2004 and backed by an extensive tour.
Just a year later amidst rumours of a fantastic 3rd album and a DVD chronicling their explosive live shows, King Adora split.
and now after more than 5 years since their sudden demise the mascara smattered lizard kings are back and reform for two special announcement shows. These shows will sell out and mark the return of one of the UK’s most suggestive and exciting bands of the last 10 years.
BIRMINGHAM – HARE & HOUNDS – APRIL 7TH
LONDON – GARAGE – APRIL 9TH
Support comes from Vinnie & The Curse,
The spark for V & the C came via a chance encounter becoming a conversation about the Mary Chain.
Next came a mixtape featuring Suicide’s ‘Speed Queen’, The Groupies ‘Primitive’ & The Moontrekkers ‘Night of the Vampire’. The aim was to keep it simple, hence the use of only 2 drums, and one guitar, albeit through a stack of homemade/mistreated amps. The line up is not a gimmick, an attempt to ‘slot into’ a genre. Neither do we dislike or disrespect the standard band setup, it’s just what works for us sonically and socially.
