The Fratellis

The Fratellis are an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli (born John Lawler), bass guitarist Barry Fratelli (born Barry Wallace), and drummer and backing vocalist Mince Fratelli (born Gordon McRory).

The band have released 2 albums, Costello Music in 2006 and Here We Stand in 2008. Known for their energetic live shows, the band played with a 3-piece horn section during 2007 and in 2008/2009 were assisted by Will Foster on keyboards and guitar. After finishing the touring schedule for Here We Stand the band entered indefinite hiatus. On June 4th 2012, it was announced via the band's website that they are to reunite.

2005–2006: Beginnings and The Fratellis EP

The band's name came from the surname of the criminal family in the 1985 film The Goonies. They played their first show on 4 March 2005 in the O'Henry's bar in Glasgow across the road from the famous Horseshoe bar, and received their first radio playing in 2005, on central Scotland's Beat 106 (later XFM Scotland, now Galaxy Scotland) Beatscene show hosted by Jim Gellatly. They were signed by Fallout Records.

The Fratellis EP was released on 3 April 2006, featuring the tracks "Creepin' Up the Backstairs", "Stacie Anne" and "The Gutterati?". The NME ran a two page feature on The Fratellis in 10 August 2006 issue, proclaiming them "the best new band in Britain". "Creepin' Up the Backstairs" was never a single released by the band, even though a video was made for it. It was not eligible for the charts. The first single released by the band was "Henrietta", which was released on 12 June 2006 and charted at number 19 on the UK Charts.

2006–2007: Costello Music

Costello Music was the debut album for The Fratellis and was released on 11 September 2006. It charted at number two in the UK album charts for three weeks. The success of the album led to The Fratellis winning the BRIT award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 2007, an award that was voted for by BBC Radio One listeners.

The Fratellis supported Kasabian in December 2006 on their UK tour before playing 10 dates by themselves in February and March 2007. The locations included Nottingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London.Following the release of the album, The Fratellis embarked on a tour of the UK festival circuit, playing at Glastonbury and headlining at festivals such as NME's Rock 'n' Riot tour, OXEGEN 2007 and T in the Park 2007, amongst others. They also opened for The Police Reunion Tour in the summer of 2007 in some of the North America dates. The Fratellis also recorded some cover songs during the year including "All Along the Watchtower" for Radio 1's 40th Anniversary Double Album, Radio 1: Established 1967, and "Solid Gold Easy Action" for the soundtrack of the film Hot Fuzz, which also included the single "Baby Fratelli".

The band released their first live DVD, Edgy In Brixton, in the UK on October 1, 2007, which was recorded at the Brixton Academy in London. The DVD contains a full live performance of the debut album Costello Music, B-sides from various singles and a new song called "Pretty Like a Girl". Extras on the DVD include the band being asked questions by members of The Fratellis' website, and on the deluxe edition, highlights from the T in the Park 2007 festival. It was released in the United States on 30 October 2007.

On 10 February 2009, three songs from the album Costello Music- "Creepin' Up the Backstairs", "Flathead" and "Henrietta"- were made available as downloadable content (DLC) for the video game Rock Band 2.

2007–2009: Here We Stand

The band's second album, Here We Stand, was first mentioned in November 2007 on the Fratellis' official website, which stated that work had begun on the album in a rehearsal space in Glasgow. The band said that they were self-producing the album and had their own studio to record in. Recording finished on 13 January 2008.

On 22 February 2008, they played a small show for fans at Queen Margaret Union to debut new songs from the upcoming album. About eight new songs from their new album were played, including "Mistress Mabel", "Acid Jazz Singer", and "Look Out Sunshine!".This performance introduced two new touring members, a guitarist, Robin Peringer and a keyboard player, Will Foster. However, after the Teenage Cancer Trust show in 2008, Robin departed the tour for unknown reasons. Will Foster subsequently played both keyboard and guitar during live performances.

The album, was released on 9 June 2008 in the UK and 10 June 2008 in the United States. The band marked the US release of the album with sold-out shows in New York City, Boston, and Los Angeles. The first single from the album,"Mistress Mabel", was released on 26 May 2008. The next single, "Look Out Sunshine!", released on 18 August 2008 and with money going towards the Teenage Cancer Trust. The third single was "A Heady Tale", released on 22 December. The Fratellis released a deluxe edition of Here We Stand internationally on 8 December. The CD included a new song titled "Moriarty's Last Stand" and the accompanying DVD which features "The Year of the Thief" (a documentary of the band on the road in the US), a live show filmed on 18 June 2008 at the Fillmore, San Francisco; performances of "Milk and Money", "Flathead" and "Mistress Mabel" from Abbey Road Studios and the videos for the singles "Mistress Mabel" and "Look Out Sunshine!".

During 2009, the band did a mini-tour of Australia and Japan during February and March.  The Fratellis headlined the Island Records 50th anniversary show on 27 May 2009 where they debuted their new track to be included on the Island 50: 50 Years of Island Records which was Bob Marley's "Stir It Up". The band also headlined the Hop Farm Festival 2009 on 4 July, with a gig at the Middlesbrough Empire on 3 July to prepare for the upcoming headline slot.

2009–2012: Hiatus

After the Hop Farm Festival appearance in July 2009, the Fratellis entered indefinite hiatus and each moved on to new bands/projects. Jon formed a new band with singer/songwriter Lou Hickey called Codeine Velvet Club. He released an album with the band in December 2009 and toured during late 2009 and early 2010, before declaring that he will be leaving the band to pursue a solo career, taking the backing band with him. He has since released his debut solo album entitled Psycho Jukebox and has embarked on tours in Scotland and the UK.

Barry initially stated that he is starting his own musical project in the coming months and will let Fratellis fans know about it via The Fratellis website. He didn't let fans know his musical ventures until November 2011, where he revealed he had joined Birmingham band The Twang.

Mince initially joined a heavy metal band called Throne o' Diablo,before leaving the band to join Jon's solo band as a second drummer, backing vocalist and occasional guitarist. He is currently recording new material with Jon.

2012–present: Reformation

On June 4th 2012, the Fratellis announced they had reformed to raise money for The Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund on June 15, 2012, marking nearly 3 years since they last shared a stage together. Later in June the band announced that they will perform at O2 ABC Glasgow on 26 September, 2012. They then went onto announce further dates in Oxford, Leicester and Sheffield with another date at Loopallu festival announced to form a small September tour.

Since the reformation, Jon stated in an interview for the Daily Record that he hopes to record new music with the Fratellis and will also be releasing his second solo album, which he had nearly finish prior to the band reforming. He said that they had put aside their differences as "life is too short". Barry has now given up playing bass in The Twang and will devote his time to the Fratellis and DJ'ing.