The Cribs are an English 4-piece indie band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England which formed in 2001 and consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross . In August 2008 Johnny Marr, former guitarist for The Smiths and current guitarist for Modest Mouse, became the official fourth member of the band.
The band has gone on to release 4 albums: self-titled debut "The Cribs" in 2004, follow up "The New Fellas" in 2005, and "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever" in 2007 and "Ignore the Ignorant" in 2009. Their singles have included "You Were Always The One" (#66 on the UK Singles Chart), "What About Me" (#75), "Another Number", "Hey Scenesters!" (#27), and "Mirror Kissers" (#27). "Martell", the third single from The New Fellas, was released on August 22nd 2005, reaching #39. The band recorded their third album, "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever'"at The Warehouse in Vancouver, BC, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The album was released on May 21st, preceded by a single, "Men's Needs", on May 7th, which reached #17. "Moving Pictures", the second single from their third album was released on July 30th, charting at #38 on the UK Singles Chart. The third single, a Double A-side featuring "Our Bovine Public" and a new song, "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?", was released on October 22nd and "im a realist" was released on 25th February.
The band are good friends with Leeds indie band the Kaiser Chiefs, and they have regularly toured together and covered each other?s songs. Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson even invited Ryan as a panellist when he guest-hosted Never Mind the Buzzcocks. The Cribs joined the Kaiser Chiefs and Maxïmo Park for the 05 Rock 'n' Roll Riot Tour tour in October 2005. At the 2006 Reading Festival Ryan joined the Kaiser Chiefs onstage when they performed "Modern Way".
They also toured extensively throughout North America with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand, who toured in 2006.
Their song Martell from The New Fellas release was featured in the Canadian Telus Commercial, a series of commercials known for consistently featuring less mainstream yet iconic music ranging from Daft Punk to Supergrass.
In early 2007 the band held some gigs in very small, intimate venues, including a show in their hometown at the Wakefield Escobar and another at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds (a venue they used to play at when they first started out). In June, they returned to Leeds to finish their tour with two consecutive nights at the University Refectory (the first band to do this since Ian Dury and the Blockheads 30 years ago). Also on this tour a date in Glasgow at the King Tuts Wah Wah Hut the venue flooded so the band played in the admiral bar, which is a pub nearby the venue, this was attened by members of Franz Ferdinand
The Cribs are seen by many as deserving of more acknowledgement, with Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs describing them as "one of the most under-rated bands around" on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
They appeared on Later with Jools Holland in May 2007, prior to the release of Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever, where they played the songs Men's Needs, Our Bovine Public and I'm a Realist.
Their song "Hey Scenesters!" was listed in NME's "50 Greatest Indie Anthems Of All Time", they were one of only a few contemporary bands included in the list.
From Wikipedia:The Cribs are an English four-piece indie rock band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths and Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr who has been made a formal member of the group since 2008. The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US indie rock bands of the time. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".