The Cribs life and biography

The Cribs is a band formed by twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths and Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr who was made a formal member of the group in 2008. Marr would remain as part of the band until 2011; his departure was officially announced on 11 April through the band's website. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".

The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers, who had set up their own Springtime Studios, a lo-fi, all analogue affair in an ancient mill. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002.

After several high profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" - Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.

After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" - Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.

The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like…They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them - they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it….they were tremendous" - Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.

At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, The Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. 
The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, BC, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately.The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the bands music.

After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR The Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, The Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together - "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johhny had joined as a full-time member of the group.

Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident.

After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a May 2012 release. They played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in Sao Paolo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong.

The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 January 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London’s Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. The expected release date of the album is 7 May 2012. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, "Chi-Town", on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter.

On 29 February 2012, In the Belly of the Brazen Bull was made available for pre-order via the Wichita Recordings web store. Pre-order options include various bundles containing items such as an exclusive t-shirt, a 'making of the album' DVD and a signed poster, as well as the chance to win a ‘Golden Laminate’ which will gain free entry to any Cribs headline show in the world, for life.

Current members:
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2000–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2000–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2000–present)

Former members:
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)

Touring members:
David Jones – guitar (2011–present)

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