Band Research

The Hoosiers claimed to create a sound that they called "Odd pop", combining a number of musical genres with the first album The Trick to Life. In my opinion i would say its more Indie Pop. They reinvented themselves for the release of The Illusion of Safety as a more conventional pop band with electro influences.



According to their band biography, Alphonso Raymond Sharland and Irwin Nathanael Sparkes, spent some time in the United States, encouraged by their chemistry teacher (Grant Serpell who was part of the band Sailor during their fame in the 1970s), in an attempt to broaden their horizons. The pair won themselves a football scholarship at the University of Indianapolis.Their time spent in Indiana inspired the band's name: a citizen of Indiana is colloquially called a Hoosier. Having gathered enough material to compile an album, Alphonso and Irwin returned to London where they met Swiss keyboard player and sound engineer Duri Darms, and Martin Skarendahl, a Swedish ex-fireman who was then working with Darms as a recording studio engineer and studying at The London Music School. But this was not the original group as two band members had left, replacing them with Skarendahl.

Irwin went to school at Waingels College, formally known as Waingels Corpse School.

The trio of Sparkes, Skarendahl and Sharland subsequently signed to RCA and released their first album The Trick to Life on 22 October 2007. The band have spoken of their desire to write songs that are about more than just "boy and girl.. finding love on a Friday night on the lash with your mates",

In February 2008 they were named as Worst Band at the annual NME awards.
They are produced by ex-member of Jamiroquai, Toby Smith, and managed by Steve Morton.

The band's second single, "Goodbye Mr A", appeared in the football video game FIFA 08, and the game can also be seen in the "Goodbye Mr A" music video. Lead singer Irwin Sparkes, who is from Reading, is playing on the game as Reading against Manchester United. The song also appears in a trailer for the 2007 film, 'Juno'. Following the release of "Worst Case Scenario", the next release from The Trick to Life was "Cops and Robbers", as confirmed in a live web chat with The Hoosiers on GMTV.

The title track "The Trick to Life" is featured as the end credits music on the thriller From Within released in 2009 which is ironically about a series of unexplained deaths in a small town.



Their second album, The Illusion of Safety, includes song 'Unlikely Hero' for which they filmed the video in a quarry in Derbyshire, and was due to be a single, until it was announced via a message posted on Twitter on 14 October 2010. However, in February 2011, the band announced via their official website that 'Bumpy Ride' was to be their new single and will be released at the end of March. Their new deluxe album, also title Bumpy Ride, is due out in April. The music video for 'Bumpy Ride' tells the story of how the Hoosiers travelled around the United States of America by various means of transport; this can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQUeIBQ7-6M