News

Wednesday 5 September 2007

Nottingham Fine Art Graduate Scoops Mercury Music Prize

Rock band the Klaxons, which includes Nottingham Trent University graduate Simon Taylor, won the Nationwide Mercury Prize for the best album of the past year last night. Simon, who graduated with a degree in Fine Art in 2004, plays guitar in the three-piece group which beat the likes of Amy Winehouse, the Arctic Monkeys and Jamie T with their debut album Myths of the Near Future.

The group, which has only been together for two years, ran onto the stage at the ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel to collect their award from Jools Holland. The £20,000 prize adds to the Best New Band gong they won at the Shockwaves NME Awards earlier this year. Myths of the Near Future entered the charts at number 2 when it was released in January, and single Golden Skans made the top ten.

Simon and his fellow band members Jamie Reynolds (lead singer and bassist) and James Righton (vocals, guitars and keyboard) all met after university. Dubbed the leaders of the ‘new rave’ scene in London, the Klaxons’ music focuses on the pulsating tempo, pounding rhythms, and hypnotic vocals of old rave. It also brings together dance, punk, and electro-pop.

ENDS

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