Music - Feeder

Feeder Photo 2 British pop-metal outfit Feeder was formed in London by Grant Nicholas and Jon Lee, who first teamed in the Welsh band Temper Temper. Originally dubbed Reel, the new group's line-up was complete with the addition of Tokyo-born bassist Taka Hirose. Grant's first school band was called Sweet Leaf (after the Black Sabbath song), which he joined at the age of 14. At around the same time, Jon Lee was playing in a school band that did Ziggy Stardust covers, and Taka Hirose's band covered bands like Rainbow.

Grant and Jon them moved to Cardiff, and started a band called Temper Temper. Nothing came of the band. Grant then moved to London followed by Jon, and both studied to become sound engineers. They recruited another Welsh man to play drums for a new band - Reel. He was later fired for "being too fat", and Grant and Jon became Rain Dancer, who sounded like The Waterboys: a style of music which Grant affectionately calls "pussy rock". Nothing came of Rain Dancer. Finally, they found Taka advertising in Loot, a London based listing paper. Taka had around 20 offers - and settled for Grant and Jon. They returned to a modified version of a previous name - Real - and toured extensively for a couple of years.

In 1995, they signed a record contract with Echo. Grant hated the name Real, and so they changed it to Feeder - after an old pet fish, which had belonged to Grant. After signing to Echo in 1995 Feeder issued its debut EP Two Colours, followed by the 6-track Swim, a series of well-received singles - Stereo World, Tangerine and Cement - expanded the trio's fan base further, and in mid-1997, they launched their full-length debut Polythene. However, with the success of their song High, which reached number 24 on the radio stations all over the UK, they have decided to re-release Polythene, including the hit single High, and replacing Waterfall with Change. Feeder had gone through 1999 with an amazing success. The hit Day In Day Out preceded the release of Feeder's sophomore effort, 1999's Yesterday Went Too Soon. Other hit singles include Insomnia and Yesterday Went Too Soon.