Rapids!

Rapids! is a United Kingdom indie rock group based in Bournemouth. The band forms in August 2009, with Rob, Steve, James and Tim already having worked together on other projects before Matt joins to complete the line-up. The group remains active and is signed to Heist Or Hit Records.

Early releases and live work

Rapids! plays its first gig in a small Bournemouth bar in October 2009, before it has any recorded material and on the basis of a promise to the promoter that it will be good. In November 2009 it releases a self-titled three-track EP in a limited run of 200 copies. That release includes the early songs Maps, Void and The Elitist.

After more studio time, the band releases a six-track EP in March 2010. This expands on the first three songs with Fuses, Economics and Inland Empire. Between October 2009 and spring 2010, Rapids! plays extensively across the south coast and attracts positive coverage from music blogs and magazines including Artrocker and Rocksound. It also receives airplay on John Kennedy’s XFM show.

Radio, label and touring

During this period, Steve Lamacq conducts the first of two on-air interviews with the band on 6Music. Rapids! signs to Heist Or Hit Records in July 2010. The label is based in London and Manchester and also works with The Answering Machine, Pomegranates, The Crookes and Love Like Fire. The band’s first 7-inch for the label, Fuses, is released in October 2010.

Later in October 2010, Rapids! tours the United Kingdom as main support to The Answering Machine. By late 2010, the track Fuses is played by Tom Robinson, and the band also appears in a BBC Introducing/6Music live session with him at the 6Music studio in London. Steve Lamacq later invites the band onto his 6Music show for a live interview and further radio play.

Later writing and recordings

In early 2011, Rapids! begins writing and arranging new material. The songs are recorded in Southampton and London in April and May 2011, and Dave Eringa, who has worked with the Manics and Idlewild, mixes the tracks. The double A-side single Comets / House Of Sand And Fog and the EP Fragments are then scheduled for release.