Hurts
Biography Hurts
Hurts
are a British synthpop duo formed in 2009, consisting of singer Theo Hutchcraft (born August 30, 1986 in Richmond, North Yorkshire) and synthesist Adam Anderson (born May 14, 1984 in Manchester). Their debut album, Happiness, which was released in September 2010, has reached the Top 10 in 12 European countries and has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. The band have also sold more than 1 million singles worldwide.
Theo Hutchcraft, Adam Anderson and Scott Foster met outside the 42nd Street nightclub in Manchester in November 2005, whilst their friends got involved in a fight. Too drunk to join in, the trio got talking about music instead, and realising they had similar tastes, decided to start a hi-NRG electropop band. Over the next few months they exchanged music and lyrics via e-mail, before forming Bureau in March 2006 with Jamie Alsop and Flick Ward. They performed their first gig as a quintet in May at The Music Box in Manchester, and were shortly afterwards signed to independent record label High Voltage Sounds. They released their first double A-side single "After Midnight" / "Dollhouse" in November, which was made Single of the Week on Xfm.
In 2007, Bureau changed their name to Daggers, following Flick Ward being replaced by Sarah Beecroft. They signed to Label Fandango and in October released another double A-side single "Money" / "Magazine", which despite failing to chart, was nominated for the Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize.
Throughout 2008, Daggers continued to build a following, and began working with successful producers Biff Stannard and Richard X, but after a disastrous A&R showcase in London in September, Theo and Adam returned to Manchester to reflect on the band's future. They recorded a mournful ballad called "Unspoken" together, and they immediately realised that this was the sound that they wanted to develop as a duo.
After informing the rest of the band that it was finished, they went on a short break to Verona in Italy, where they claim they discovered the genre Disco Lento. In an interview with CityLife, Theo said: "A DJ asked us 'What does your music sound like?', so I said that it sounds like Alphaville. Then he explained how in the wake of Italo-disco, all those artists started to make ballads and I was like, 'that's what we've just done'". Daggers announced on their Myspace page on January 30, 2009 that they had split up, with a simple blog saying "It's over. Thank you for everything. You will never know what it means. Sorry. Goodbye."
Now called Hurts, the duo recorded an amateur music video for a song called "Wonderful Life", with a female dancer who had responded to an advert in a shop window and was paid £20 for her time. After uploading the video to their YouTube channel on April 21, 2009, it quickly went viral, and in July, they were signed to RCA imprint Major Label, run by their old friend Biff Stannard. The video has since had over 21 million views on YouTube, putting it in the Top 200 Most Watched Videos in the history of the website.
Although Theo and Adam had decided to not to do any gigs until they had enough songs, they began to steadily build a fanbase throughout 2009 by uploading demos to their Myspace page, and on July 27, they were named Band of the Day by The Guardian. This helped to grow a buzz around the new band, and on December 7, it was announced that they had made the longlist of the Sound Of 2010, an annual poll of music critics and industry figures conducted by the BBC.
Following spot plays on BBC Radio 1 of "Wonderful Life", Hurts were invited to record at London's Maida Vale Studios on December 9 for Huw Stephens' radio show, where they performed "Illuminated" and "Silver Lining".
