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Famous bands that met at university

Some of the UK’s finest bands started jamming together at university. Here are 5 bands that met and formed while at university to inspire you.

With the charts now being dominated with pop and dance music, could it be time for you to form a band and shake things up a bit. Read the stories of some of the most famous bands in the UK and how they got started for some inspiration.

Pink Floyd

In 1963, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright all met at Regent St Polytechnic, London (now the University of Westminster), where they studied architecture. They formed a band that changed name many times before it became Pink Floyd in 1965. They used the tearoom in the basement of the college as a rehearsal space. Their album The Wall remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Coldplay

Worldwide sensations and everybody’s guilty pleasure Coldplay probably take the trophy for the fastest intertwining. Lead singer Chris Martin and guitarist Jonny Buckland met during their induction week at UCL (University College London) during September 1996 and immediately struck a chord.

Originally, they played in a band called Pectoralz, before Guy Berryman, a classmate of Martin’s, later joined the group. They eventually changed their name, to a slightly less terrible name, Starfish, before deciding upon Coldplay and going on to become one of the most successful bands of a generation. 

Blur

The 1990’s was a time of bucket hats, bowl haircuts, and funny looking jumpers. Britpop was created and with it came a fierce musical rivalry. While Manchester had a mouthy pair of brothers in Oasis, London had its own sons in the making; Blur.  But the four-piece did not appear out of thin air, in fact childhood friends Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon met Alex James whilst studying at Goldsmiths, University of London in London during 1988. 

Everything Everything

Manchester art pop group Everything Everything have evolved into somewhat of a household name since their forming in 2006. But it wasn’t always festival sell outs and country tours, the bands embryonic period was housed at the University of Salford, where vocalist Alex Niven met bass player Jeremy Pritchard whilst Niven studied popular music and recording.

Radiohead

Although the band were friends in their local town in Oxfordshire preceding university, the formation of future Radiohead classics came into being at the University of Exeter, where vocalist Thom Yorke was the frontman of Headless Chickens, before concentrating solely on rehearsals with future Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood. The band, known then as On A Friday (because this was the day they practiced), were later scouted by Chris Hufford, Slowdive’s producer and co-owner of Oxford's Courtyard Studios, who produced a demo tape and became On a Friday's manager. They remain Radiohead's managers today

Top 5 tips for starting a band at uni

Joining a band can be a great way to meet people and learning an instrument is a rewarding, creative pastime. Read our top five tips below to get you started on a path to fame and fortune or just a great time with your mates.

Find passionate bandmates

Ask around your halls or put up a flyer on a notice board and see if there are any musicians looking to start a band. Try joining a music society or club, go to gigs, and ask the bands playing if they have any friends looking to jam.

Find a style

Once you have found a few musicians you are comfortable with you can start sharing musical influences and listening to bands that you all like and decide what kind of music you’d like to make.

Make a practice schedule

Having a regular practice is good for bonding with your newfound band mates and a nice social occasion, work out when everyone needs to study and book in a weekly practice. Sunday evening could be a good time to decompress from the week and chat and play music with friends.

Find a band name

This can be a painful process but also a creative one. You and your bandmates can brainstorm ideas and come out with nonsense until you land on something that you think works. Write down as many names as possible and think of something that’s simple to say and that people can easily Google.

Start writing songs

Now the creativity really starts. You can jam together until you have a riff or lyric that feels right, or you can work separately, and all bring in ideas to put together to form whole songs. Start with a few covers to get in harmony and used to playing together and get the idea of song structures.

Good luck, remember, being in a band should be creative and fun. We hope to see your band in a future list of Famous bands that met at university. Rock on!

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