Late of the Pier

Bedroom demos to Parlophone

Late of the Pier formed in Castle Donington in 2004, though some songs date to 2001. Sam Eastgate sang and played guitar and synthesizer, Andrew Faley bass, Sam Potter sampler and synthesizer, and Ross Dawson drums. Press called them new rave, which the band rejected; Eastgate told LeftLion in 2008 that there was an electro-clash scene at the time, but it is nowadays called nu rave. Faley told The Skinny that none of them had formal training. They made demos in 2005 and 2007 under the Zarcorp name, and "Space and the Woods" came out in March 2007 on WayOutWest. In 2007 they played the NME and Radio 1 stage at Reading and Leeds, and Erol Alkan produced "Bathroom Gurgle", released by Moshi Moshi in September 2007. They signed to Parlophone over Atlantic largely for creative control, and Parlophone, they told LeftLion, put a huge blank canvas in front of them and said paint.

Fantasy Black Channel was released on August 11, 2008 in the UK, produced by Alkan and Eastgate and recorded between 2006 and 2008 in Eastgate's bedroom and several London studios. "Space and the Woods" and "Focker" were released as a double A-side on May 19, 2008, and "Heartbeat" followed in August; the album reached 28 in the UK and won the Neptune Music Prize, voted on Drowned in Sound, on September 7, 2009. Metacritic scores it 81. They toured with Kaiser Chiefs and played the Festival Republic stage at Reading and Leeds in 2008. "Blueberry" came in December 2009 and "Best in the Class" in 2010, after which the band turned to side projects: Eastgate as LA Priest and with Connan Mockasin in Soft Hair, and Potter on Franz Ferdinand's Always Ascending (2018). Eastgate told DMY in 2015 that touring left little room to write.

Ross Dawson died on May 15, 2015, aged 27, and Erol Alkan wrote that his music lives on. Phantasy Sound, Alkan's label, reissued the album on vinyl on January 18, 2019 for its tenth anniversary, with the secret track "No Time" on vinyl for the first time; Alkan told Mixmag the original copies once sold for over 150 pounds. Parlophone's chairman Miles Leonard called them one of the most original, innovative and exciting artists he had worked with.