History
A Beta Band formed around 1996 around Edinburgh musicians Steve Mason (vocals, guitar) and Gordon Anderson. Them got plans to call for their class action A Pigeons however late changed their minds. When it collect songs for their debut EP, Champion Versions, they added Robin Jones (drums) and John Maclean (DJ, sampler, keyboards). Shortly when it were signed to Regal/Parlophone, Anderson became ill & decided to quit a band. He would late develop recordings under a title Lone Pigeon. A left members added Englishman Richard Greentree (bass) and solidified their lineup.

Champion Versions was freed within July 1997 to critical acclaim non simply for the music however as well for the record's innovative cut-&-paste sleeve project (a function of John Maclean). Both farther EPs followed inside 1998: The Patty Patty Healthy within March & Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos around July. A EPs were 100% cases of far flung critical praise, & tons tercet appeared on the fitly coroneted ''A 3 E.P.'s'' collection inside September 1998.

A band shortly commenced functiin on their challenging 1st good-length recording, pulling inspiration from either sources when diverse when Jamaican reggae, Disney's motion-picture show The Black Hole and Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." A record, just titled The Beta Band, was discharged in 21 June 1999. A number one track, "The Beta Band Rap," managed to tell a band's back story over alternating bubblegum pop, rap and rockabilly backing tracks. Its eclectic method was representative of a rest of the album, which was widely perceived to become additional stylistically diverse than the initial EPs. A mixed click turned unquestionably negative whenever a band announced their have disdain for the record. It claimed that Majestic's undue deadline & pinching budgets saved the two from either filtration their improvisations into consistent songs. Despite this, many of a songs arguably rank amongst the class action's greatest works, viz. "Brokenupadingdong" (late utilized in the film Igby Goes Down), "The Cow's Wrong" & a epic poem "The Hard One."

Still, a album experienced non usually been also-received when a retiring EPs, & a band returned to the studio by having something to prove. The effect of that session was a double A-side only "To You Alone"/"Sequinsizer", freed in 24 January 2000. When early when August a last month, Mason got discussed a possibility of releasing a tracks as a only & got urged fans to lobby Regal for the release. A individual was received favorably & was widely look on a go to to form for the band. A NME made it their "Single of the Week", & would late choose it when one of a Fifty greatest singles of 2000 in their prevent-of-month awards. "To You Alone" was besides involved on the soundtrack of the 2000 remaking of the television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), released around March.

Potentially higher profile soundtrack exposure was to watch, by owning a band's music featuring conspicuously within the scene in the film High Fidelity (based on a Nick Hornby novel of the same title), freed inside late March 2000 in the U.S. and July in the UK. In the film, the record store creator played by John Cusack mentions the band by title ("I will now sell five copies of ''The Three E.P.'s'' by The Beta Band") & plays the microscopic or even and then of the song "Dry the Rain." This involved the band to a wide range of freshly auditor, particularly in the U.S., in which a band's profile got antecedently been marginal wanting.

The hiatus followed, when you took which Mason freed his 2nd King Biscuit Time EP. A band step by step gravitated back into a studio, this period recruiting noted UK producer Colin Emmanuel, aka C-Swing, to oversee the run. A album, Hot Shots II, appeared inside summertime 2001, & was warmly received by critics and fans similar. It sacrificed great deal of the number 1 album's experimentation for additional boiled-down popular structure & hooks. A band got originally designed to release "Squares" (b/w "Won") while a leadoff individual—a cd got been filmed & promo discs issued—but when it transpired that an additional single ("Daydream In Blue" by I Monster) featuring a sample from either a equivalent obscure Gunter Kallmann Choir song was to exist as freed at as much as a equivalent period, a band opted to release "Broke" instead. 2 more singles were freed from either a album: "Human Being" in October 2001 & "Squares" within February 2002 (with a We Monster track yearn away from a stock and index charts). A band start up an extended tour to trend lines a album. Inside August 2002, it manufactured Q magazine's list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die".

A band began demonstration sessions for their third album around September 2002. It entered a studio by using producer Tom Rothrock in 2003 and managed to complete a total of tracks. All a same, a b& were non supprised by owning the final result, and nor were Majestic executives. Thus it was that a band themselves produced a album. Notable producer Nigel Godrich was called around to mix a album, which was eventually completed around early 2004. Lead lone, "Assessment," was freed in 12 April 2004, followed by the album Heroes to Zeros in 26 April. Another lone, "Out-Side", followed inside July. To a surprise of virtually all fans, the band announced their breakup in their official site in 2 August 2004. Within November, it performed at a Summer Sundae festival and commenced the farewell tour. Their final indicate was at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms venue on 5 December 2004.

In 3 October 2005, the band freed the Two-disc DVD set, The Best of The Beta Band - Film, featuring most of the band's video cds & a choice of short films, television footage, docudrama also when quaternion songs recorded survive at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 November 2004, one of the band's final performances. Likewise discharged on the equivalent day was the Two CD set, The Best of The Beta Band - Music, comprising a compilation disc of studio recordings & a disc containing the Shepherds Bush gig.

Discography
EPs
Champion Versions (1997) A Patty Patty Healthy (1998) Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos (1998)

Studio albums
The Beta Band (1999) - #18 UK Hot Shots II (2001) - #13 UK Heroes to Zeros (2004) - #15 UK

Compilations
''The Three E.P.'s (1998) - #35 UK The Best of The Beta Band - Music (2005)

Singles
"To You Alone"/"Sequinsizer" (January 2000) "Broke"/"Won" (July 2001) - #30 UK "Human Being" (October 2001) - #41 UK "Squares" (February 2002) - #42 UK "Assessment" (April 2004) - #22 UK "Out-Side" (July 2004) - #32 UK

Video
The Best of The Beta Band - Film'' (DVD) (2005)