Elliot Minor

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By sezza

Elliot Minor Info

Band Members

Alex Davies -- Guitar + Vocals

Ed Minton -- Guitar + Vocals

Dan Hetherton -- Drums + Backing Vocals

Ali Paul -- Piano + Keyboard

Ed 'Teddy' Hetherton -- Bass

Band History

Alex Davies is the creative force behind the band. He was born into the world of classical music, and was expected to become a concert violinist...but when he met Ed Minton at Uppingham School in 2000 his eyes were opened wide to the world of rock. Overnight he went from listening to ‘Adagio for Strings’ to Green Day, The Starting Line, Something Corporate, Blink-182 and The Ataris. Alex and Ed quickly became great friends.

Elliot Minor started as an acoustic duo (Alex Davies and Ed Minton) in 2004 under the name The Academy. In their last year at school, Alex and Ed got serious about the band and built a simple recording studio in their attic flat, where they spent every spare minute writing songs, recording demos and performing. At the end of their time at Uppingham, they both decided to take a gap year to develop the band and Alex built a more sophisticated home studio in his garage. They made great progress, but something was lacking...they needed a drummer.

In October 2005, Alex Davies and Dan Hetherton found themselves at the Minster School in York, both picking up younger brothers. They arranged to have a jam back in Alex’s garage and shortly after, the original duo became a trio. The three began recording new songs, improving old songs and sending out demos.

For their live performances, a keyboard player and a bass player were needed, so Ali Paul, a childhood friend of Alex, and Teddy Hetherton, Dan’s brother and also a childhood friend of Alex, were invited to join the band.

Elliot Minor is classically trained in the violin, piano, clarinet, cello, double bass, saxophone and singing. Alex, Dan and Ali were choristers at York Minster Choir School, while Ed Minton, born in Japan, began his education in England as a chorister and ultimately head chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge.

In a few short months the band was signed to Repossession Records, a new label founded by former MCA Vice President and Head of A&R Gary Ashley, who is credited with signing and developing legendary acts including Kylie Minogue, Blink-182, Shaggy, New Found Glory, Something Corporate, Aqua and Sublime among others.

In November 2006, they flew out to Los Angeles to record the first single with producer Jim Wirt (Hoobastank, Incubus, Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin) in Los Angeles, California. After hearing the track, Neal Avron (Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy) offered to mix the record . . . and, of course, the boys accepted.

Their first single, Parallel Worlds, was released on April 9th, 2007. Parallel Worlds is energetic rock track, driven by guitars, but woven together with violin and piano. The song is about the spooky/paranormal events that occurred in Alex and Ed’s attic flat at school. Alex swears the room was haunted. Drawers would fly open, lights would swing and posters would mysteriously peel off the wall. In the video for the single the boys rehearse the song in a spooky old room, and as they play the energy from the music is transferred to the objects around them. The single entered at number 31 on the UK Singles Charts. Prior to this it had already been playlisted on major channels such as Kerrang! TV, MTV2, The Box and The Hits.

Elliot Minor currently have 26+ songs recorded and are still writing and recording. All material to date are original songs written and recorded by Elliot Minor. Their debut album is underway with release scheduled sometime in 2007.

Their second single, 'Jessica', will be released August 6th. It is currently playlisted on Kerrang! TV, The Box and The Hits and MTV Hits. Every Monday, the band posts a new Webisode.

Elliot Minor have played numerous small gigs in their local area, including The Mount School, York where there was no entry fee. Since March 2007, they have been touring around the country including Scotland. Locations include Southampton, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, London, Glasgow and Birmingham. The majority of the venues booked are smaller halls within various Carling Academies. They were the second band to play on the Dimebag Darrell Stage on Saturday 9th June at the Download Festival 2007.