The Bees

Biography

There have been several bands with the name The Bees. 1. The Bees (known as A Band of Bees in America, owing to a rights conflict over their name) are a UK band from the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. Formed in 2000, the band members are Aaron 'Fletch' Fletcher (bass), Paul Butler (vocals, keyboards, guitars), Kris Birkin (guitar), Tim Parkin (trumpet), Michael Clevett (drums) and Warren Hampshire (keyboards). Known for harking back to the 60s and 70s, with cheery pop and trips...

There have been several bands with the name The Bees.

1. The Bees (known as A Band of Bees in America, owing to a rights conflict over their name) are a UK band from the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. Formed in 2000, the band members are Aaron 'Fletch' Fletcher (bass), Paul Butler (vocals, keyboards, guitars), Kris Birkin (guitar), Tim Parkin (trumpet), Michael Clevett (drums) and Warren Hampshire (keyboards). Known for harking back to the 60s and 70s, with cheery pop and trips into the psychedelic, The Bees record their albums in analog, notably recording their debut album in a garden shed.

To quote an Amazon review: "The best word to describe the music is bouncy -- the Bees call on snappy drums and cheery basslines and guitar riffs for their sound, as well as some deeply moving Hammond organ. To finish off the sound, they inject some harmonies that would make the Zombies wipe away a tear of pride."

Their influences cover soul, reggae, funk and Motown, with artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Burt Bacharach, Up the Junction era Manfred Mann, The Kinks and Small Faces.

In the USA The Bees are known as "A Band of Bees" to avoid confusion with two local bands of the same name (see below):

2. The Silver Seas, formerly the Bees, are a pop-rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed by producer-musician Jason Lehning and singer-songwriter Daniel Tashian. They played their first show as the Bees in 1999 and toured as an opening act for Guster in 2004 after the independent release of their debut album, Starry Gazey Pie. Their second indie release, High Society followed in May 2006.

On May 2, 2007, the Los Angeles-based label Cheap Lullaby announced that it had signed the Bees and intended to reissue High Society. Copyright issues involving the British band the Bees had already forced the Nashville group to add "U.S.," in parentheses, to the end of their name (even though the Bees of the UK are marketed as A Band of Bees stateside), so Cheap Lullaby encouraged Tashian and his bandmates to come up with a new moniker, hence the Silver Seas. The label reissued High Society under the band's new name on October 9, 2007.

Metromix gave the reissue of High Society a "Pick" rating and mentioned that the Silver Seas had a reputation as "one of the best unsigned bands in their hometown of Nashville," while Performing Songwriter magazine raved that the band had "made the catchiest album of the year." High Society was nominated at the seventh annual Independent Music Awards in 2008 for best pop-rock album of the year.

In July 2010, shortly after reissuing Starry Gazey Pie under their new name, the Silver Seas independently released their third album, Château Revenge! (in Europe it was released by the Lights Label via EMI, which also distributed the band's subsequent two releases. It was followed six months later by a "blue edition" featuring acoustic versions of Château's 12 songs. BBC Radio presenter Danny Baker called the Silver Seas "the best group in the world" in 2011.


3. The Bees was a San Gabriel Valley garage band that released one single in October of 1966, "Voices Green And Purple" backed with "Trip to New Orleans" as the B-side, on the Covina, California-based Liverpool Label. No other singles by this band were issued.

4. Quirky New Wave/Punk band from New York with three 7" releases on their own label Obey My Brain - 4 song EP (1978), "TV Mentality" (1979), "Already In Love" (1979).

5. The Bees were an R&B act that released a version of "My Ding-a-ling" in 1954 on the Imperial label, entitled "Toy Bell." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.