White Lies life and biography

White Lies is an English indie rock band . Formerly known as Fear of Flying, the band consists primarily of Harry McVeigh (lead vocals, guitar), Charles Cave (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Jack Lawrence-Brown (drums). The band perform live as a five-piece, complemented by sidemen Tommy Bowen and Rob Lee.

Charles Cave and Jack Lawrence-Brown were both from Pitshanger Village in North Ealing, and first played together in a school show at North Ealing Primary School. Harry McVeigh (from Shepherd's Bush) joined them two years later,and they began playing under the name Fear of Flying at the age of fifteen.Cave described the band as a "weekend project", and one of many groups which they were involved in while at school. Fear of Flying completed one UK tour as a support act, as well as further slots with The Maccabees, Jamie T and Laura Marling. They released two double A-side vinyl singles on independent record label Young and Lost Club, "Routemaster/Round Three" on 7 August 2006 and "Three's a Crowd/Forget-Me-Nots" on 6 December 2006. Both vinyls were produced by former Blur and The Smiths collaborator, Stephen Street, whom they met through a friend at school. They went on to play the inaugural Underage Festival in Victoria Park, England on 10 August 2007.

Playing under the new name, White Lies played their first gig at Hoxton Square's Bar & Kitchen on 28 February 2008, supporting Team Waterpolo and Semifinalists. The band admitted rehearsing for two months for the gig, as well as putting off their debut for five months to gather media hype. Following this, the band received numerous record label offers, eventually signing to Fiction Records a matter of days after their first performance. The band also signed publishing rights to Chrysalis Music Publishing.

The band released their debut single one month later, a 7-inch vinyl of "Unfinished Business" on 28 April 2008. The limited pressing was released by Chess Club Records, an independent record label co-founded by drummer Jack Brown. To mark the release, the band supported dEUS in London's Scala on 16 April 2008, as well as a performance at the 2008 Camden Crawl.

They made their television debut on Later... with Jools Holland on 30 May 2008, playing "Unfinished Business" and "Death". This marked their final public performance prior to recording their debut album, scheduling sessions in ICP Studios in Belgium and Kore Studios in West London. The album was provisionally titled To Lose My Life or Lose My Love, with a scheduled release date was set for January 2009.The title came from a line in the album's title track, "To Lose My Life". During the summer of 2008, the band played numerous UK and overseas music festivals, including major festivals Oxegen, T in the Park, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

Upon the release of To Lose My Life, White Lies became the first British act in 2009 to achieve a number one album, and the first album to debut at number one. After charting high in the midweek sales, the album beat off competition from Lady Gaga, The Script and Kings of Leon. In support of the release, the band played on Channel 4's Shockwaves Album Chart Show, Last Call with Carson Daly and the Late Show with David Letterman, the latter being the band's first performance on US television. Following supporting Snow Patrol on their tour of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, the band embarked on their own headline world tour, playing sold out dates across Europe, North America, Japan and the United Kingdom.

While in North America, the band co-headlined the NME Presents tour with Friendly Fires. The bands were supported by The Soft Pack, with White Lies headlining seven of the fifteen dates, including their first appearance at the South by Southwest festival. During the tour, the band were forced to play a shortened, six song set at New York's Bowery Ballroom, due to McVeigh having throat problems.

In September 2009, the band released "Taxidermy" as a digital download through iTunes for the first time. A live favourite amongst fans, the track had previously only been released on the (now deleted) vinyl release of "To Lose My Life". During the same month, the band supported Kings of Leon's tour of the United States, and Coldplay's tour of the United Kingdom.

On 13 February 2010, White Lies became the first high-profile artist to perform at the FAC251 music venue in Manchester. The band played at the venue again on 14 February, with tickets for the second show made available exclusively through the band's website. The performances were the band's only scheduled headline performances of 2010. Both concerts sold out in a matter of minutes, with 38,000 people applying for the 400 tickets available. As well as this, the band supported Muse at a number of European stadium shows between June and September 2010, and played the 2010 V Festival in the United Kingdom.

During November 2010, White Lies confirmed that their second album, Ritual, had been completed and would be released on 17 January 2011. Produced by Alan Moulder, the album's first single "Bigger than Us" was released on 3 January 2011. An eleven date tour of the United Kingdom was also announced for February 2011.

Discography:
-To Lose My Life... (2009)
- Ritual (2011)

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