The Crookes are four young hopefuls who found each other, bleary eyed and dancing alone, at Sheffield’s legendary Fuzz Club. United initially by a mutual love of The Violent Femmes song ‚Blister in the Sun‘, they formed the band there and then. They hoped their songs (not yet written) would one day inspire the giddy abandon they felt when listening to The Cure, Monochrome Set, The Shirelles, Elvis Presley and Aztec Camera that Thursday night in the Sheffield Student’s Union.

The next year or so saw George, Alex, Daniel and Russell become thick as thieves (note: The Crookes are not pickpockets or pilferers, they were named after the suburb of Sheffield in which they all lived as students) as they spent hours upon hours each week holed up in Alex’s attic bedroom trying to figure out how to be a band. Lectures gave way to rehearsals until the gang became a band. Later that year, their efforts would be rewarded when Steve Lamacq first introduced himself to them at the now defunct Stockroom venue.

‚Backstreet Lovers‘ had its first play on BBC Radio One just a few short weeks later. At 9pm sharp, in the car park of The Nottingham House, the band huddled around Russell’s car stereo listening to every word. It was at this moment that The Crookes realized they were no longer dancing alone.

Though all originally hailing from other cities, George Waite, Alex Saunders, Daniel Hopewell and Russell Bates have found a spiritual home in Sheffield. Whilst their musical roots lie in Spector’s Wall of Sound, their tales are drawn from the stone walls of Yorkshire. The Crookes‘ mutual love of D.H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh and Alan Sillitoe inform their kitchen-sink tales of broken hearts and bloodied knees, which are set against a backdrop of 50s rock ’n roll and 80s indie classicism.

2010 saw The Crookes record sessions for Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq on Radio 1, and as well as performing live with Sheffield’s musical Godfather Richard Hawley on 6music, they became the first unsigned band to play a session on Radio 4’s Loose Ends. They have also performed acoustic sessions on BBC Radio 2 and Absolute Radio.

Throughout 2010 the band played over 150 live shows covering every pocket of the UK and several trips to Holland and Germany. March 2010 saw the band travel to Austin, Texas to play 5 memorable shows in just 4 days at SXSW. This commitment to hard work and playing live whenever possible has helped build a solid fanbase ? united under the banner ‘The Bright Young Things’ and culminated in being voted number 24 in the song of the year poll on 6Music on Dec 31st. The perfect last word on a brilliant year.

The Crookes have released two sold out singles to date, ‚A Collier’s Wife‘ (Too Pure Singles Club) and ‚Bloodshot Days (Heist or Hit)‘, Their ‚Dreams of Another Day‘ E.P. was released on the legendary Fierce Panda label in October 2010 and it was recently announced that ‚Chasing After Ghosts‘, the debut album by The Crookes, will be released on March 21st 2011 in the UK and Europe through the same imprint.