Hadouken! were a British band formed in London in 2006 by singer, songwriter and producer James Smith and synth player Alice Spooner along with guitarist Daniel "Pilau" Rice, bassist Christopher Purcell and drummer Nick Rice. The band took its name from the special attack of the same name from the Street Fightervideo game series. It was in Leeds that Hadouken! began their own record label, Surface Noise Records.[1]
History
Early years
After forming the label, Smith began writing and demoing the first Hadouken! tracks. In February 2007, Hadouken! self-released a two-song limited edition vinyl, a double-a side of "That Boy That Girl" and "Tuning In". The former gained popularity after the video made it to number one in MTV Two's NME Chart.[2]
Hadouken! played their first gig at the Dirty Hearts Club in Southend on 16 September 2006.[3] They played their debut London gig the following week at the notorious Another Music Another Kitchen night at Proud Gallery in Camden. They recorded demos and spent their first six months playing gigs predominantly in Leeds and London. In December 2006, Hadouken! recruited bass player Chris Purcell.
The band first began getting noticed more widely in 2006. It was 2007 though, when success properly came to the band. In January 2007 Mike Skinner of The Streets gave the band one of their first radio plays, he played future single 'That Boy That Girl' on BBC Radio 1 whilst guest presenting Zane Lowe's new music show, describing the band as 'a great new band.' In February 2007 the band released what is said to be an internet phenomenon,[4] described as "a savage, snarling work of genius", by NME.[5] single double a-side "That Boy That Girl/Tuning In" through the band's own label, Surface Noise Records. A video was also made for the track by friend of the band Bobby Harlow, which charted successfully in the MTV Two/NME chart. The latter, "Tuning In" appeared as a remix on Kitsuné Music's compilation album, Kitsuné Maison Compilation 4, titled "Tuning In [H! Re-rub]". The remix also was used as a b-side on the 10-inch single from Kitsuné Music, released on 7 May 2007.
Liquid Lives was released as the band's second single release on 25 June 2007.[6] The song received moderate airplay on MTV2, and charted successfully in the NME Chart Show. The band released a new video for the track, as well as an exclusive live video recorded as part of "MTV2 Live". "Liquid Lives" marked Hadouken!'s first move into the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 36 on 1 July.[7] In June 2007, the band completed a full UK tour supported by Electro/Punk band Does It Offend You, Yeah? and rapper Example.
Not Here to Please You and Music for an Accelerated Culture (2007–2008)
Hadouken!'s third single, "Leap of Faith", was a digital only release on 12 November 2007. The song was taken from their Not Here to Please You mixtape. The mixtape or EP includes the bands remixes of Bloc Party and Plan B and a new remix of a Bolt Action Five song, as well as some older songs that have been re-recorded. The mixtape was released on 12 November 2007 and was only available in USB format.
On 7 January 2008, Hadouken! were guest presenters on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. On the show Hadouken! referred to previous single 'Leap of Faith' as an experiment and suggested the album would draw more on their dance music influences, comparing it to The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers.
On 17 February 2008 the band released the first studio recording from their upcoming untitled album, the track titled "Get Smashed Gate Crash" was released on the band's MySpace.
On 3 March 2008, Hadouken! announced the album's title (Music for an Accelerated Culture), as well as details of the promo track for the album; "Get Smashed Gate Crash".
In mid-2009, the band recorded their second studio album, For the Masses, in the Netherlands with drum and bass producers Noisia. They described the new album as being different, both lyrically and musically, and posted frequent updates via their Twitter account.
In August, the band confirmed the release of the M.A.D. EP, which contained 3 brand new tracks and 3 remixes of the track "M.A.D.". The EP was released digitally in September. The band's second studio album, For the Masses, was released on 25 January 2010.
The band unveiled their new single, "Turn the Lights Out" on 10 November 2009 on their Myspace.
On 25 January 2010, Hadouken! released For the Masses, which reached No. 17 in the UK album chart on the week of its release. The album was followed up by a new mix of single "Mic Check" which included a sample from Tina Moore's "Never Gonna Let You Go".
In May 2010, Hadouken! wrote an anthem, "Things Could Only Get Worse", for the UK Labour Party as part of the lead up to the 2010 General Election.
Mecha Love and The Oxygen EP and other activity (2010–2011)
Hadouken! revealed on 30 May 2010, via Twitter,[8] that work has been started on their third album, and on 31 May, they revealed demos of new tracks had been written.[9] A new single, "Mecha Love", was released on 17 October.
Following the radio debut of "Mecha Love", James Smith confirmed that a second single had been recorded and was ready for release. "Oxygen" was released digitally on 7 November 2010; the "Oxygen" EP was later released on 18 January 2012.
In 2011, the band played at London's O2 Arena, for the Transformation Trust Rock Assembly.
Every Weekend (2011–present)
On 18 April 2011 Hadouken! signed to independent label Ministry of Sound with whom they released two singles 'Bad Signal' and 'Parasite'..
On 12 April 2012, Zane Lowe premiered the band's new single "Parasite" on his BBC Radio 1 show and it was made available as on their website as a free download soon after.[10][11] The remixes were revealed on their official Soundcloud page.[12]
On 12 June 2012, Zane Lowe gave "Bad Signal", their new single, released 5 August 2012, its first play, on his BBC Radio 1 show.
On 17 August 2012, the band supported Example alongside DJ Fresh at the iTunes Festival. They performed a new track "Daylight" for the second ever time live, produced by Drumsound and Bassline Smith alongside a mixture of new and old tracks.
On 27 December 2012, the band announced that their third studio album will be called 'Every Weekend' and will be released through their own label 'Surface Noise Recordings'. The group made an appearance in 2012 on Feed Me's "Trapdoor" and James provided vocals for KillSonik's song "Slaughterhouse" this year.
On 22 January 2013 Hadouken! released a follow-up video to 'People Are Awesome', titled 'People Are Awesome 2013'. The video featured the track 'Levitate' taken from the album 'Every Weekend'. 'People Are Awesome 2013' was the number one most watched video on YouTube around the world, gaining 20 million views in its first week.[13] The video currently has over 100 million views on YouTube, making it more successful than the first 'People Are Awesome' viral, which currently sits at 66 million views.
The track 'Levitate' went on to gain a top 2 position in 3 territories[which?] and a top position 40 in 28 countries.[citation needed] It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 97.
The album Every Weekend was released on 18 March 2013.
Hadouken! also featured on Loadstar's song "Boa" from the album Future Perfect and Tom Swoon & Paris Blohm's single "Synchronize".
On 10 November 2014, Hadouken! announced their hiatus through Facebook. James Smith has continued to feature on various songs by other artist under the name James Hadouken.
On 25 December 2019, the remix of "Oxygen" was played in the closing scene of Canadian sitcom, Letterkenny, Season 8, Episode 1, "Miss Fire".[14]
From February to April 2023, a series of previously unreleased singles appeared on streaming platforms. Those songs were "Bounce (Myspace Version)", "Girls" and "Superstar (Myspace Version)".
Members
James Smith – lead vocals, keyboards (2006–present)
Alice Spooner – keyboards, vocals (2006–present)
Daniel "Pilau" Rice – electric guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
Christopher Purcell – bass guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
Hadouken! have had some success at the BT Digital Music Awards, where they received two nominations in the Best Electronic Artist/DJ category in 2007 and 2008, winning the 2008 award.
^"Archived copy". www.tunefind.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2022.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
