The Screenbeats

"A garage rock band stealing the singer of a Motown girl group" was how one reviewer described The Screenbeats after seeing them live in Kilburn, London in 2004. Based in Newbury, UK, The Screenbeats were together from 2004 before finally disbanding in 2011. Unashamedly inspired by the greats of yesteryear such as the Small Faces and the first wave of mod, Love & Arthur Lee and The Clash, singer Faye Hurst's vocals were both dusky and powerful, backed by melodic Jamerson-inspired basslines and urgent-sounding guitars and drums. The Screenbeats faced not one, but two legal challenges in their career and were forced to change their name on two separate occasions by major labels who had signed bands with similar names (they were initially known as The Immediate and then The Shake). They settled on The Screenbeats and played over 300 live shows during the band's lifetime including support slots with The Greenhornes (who went on to form The Raconteurs with Jack White), the Arctic Monkeys' best pals Milburn, GoodBooks and Tom Hingley, frontman of The Inspiral Carpets. Their live highlight was arguably headlining the sold-out 800-capacity Montpellier Rockstore in December 2010. They also released several singles and EPs, working with Ed Deegan at Gizzard Studios (The Cribs, Holly Golightly), Jordan Fish at Studio 91 (now a member of Bring Me The Horizon) and Woodie Taylor at Milou Studios (Comet Gain, Morrissey, The Meteors, Kirsty MacColl). Several of the bands' tracks received airplay on XFM, BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio.