The Boy Least Likely To

All Music Guide:

U.K. duo the Boy Least Likely To was one of the freshest and most exciting indie pop groups to surface in the mid-decade. The group is made up of singer/lyricist Jof Owen and Pete Hobbs. Owen writes the words and sings them; Hobbs writes the music and plays it. Formed in the English countryside (specifically Wendover), the Boy Least Likely To is influenced by country storytellers like Marty Robbins, C-86 indie pop groups like the Pastels and Television Personalities, and turn-of-the-century pop groups like Belle & Sebastian and Kenickie. They began releasing records on their own Too Young to Die label in 2003. The Papercuts 7" was first; then came the incredibly good Be Gentle with Me/Hugging My Grudge later in the year. The Fur Soft as Fur single followed in 2004 and the Best Party Ever album (which contained many of the songs released as singles) was unleashed in February of 2005. The record garnered some good reviews and lots of attention from blogs, all of it well deserved. Live shows in the U.K. and Europe were undertaken to support the album, and the rest of 2005 saw re-releases of Papercuts and Hugging My Grudge on 7" and an iTunes U.K.-only release of Monsters. The Best Party Ever was issued in America in early 2006 and the band toured the U.S., both as an opening act for James Blunt and as a headliner. After a long delay, the duo's second album, The Law of the Playground surfaced in spring of 2009.

Wikipedia:

The Boy Least Likely To is an English indie pop duo, composed of composer/multi-instrumentalist Pete Hobbs and lyricist/singer Jof Owen.

History [edit]

Owen and Hobbs both grew up in the village of Wendover in Buckinghamshire. After meeting at school, Owen and Hobbs began writing and recording songs as The Boy Least Likely To in the summer of 2002. Creating their own independent record label, Too Young to Die, the band's first release was the 7" single "Paper Cuts" in 2003. They released three singles and completed the recording of their debut album before playing any live shows. The debut album, The Best Party Ever, which compiled the band's first three singles and added five new tracks, was released in the UK in February 2005, and in the United States in late Spring 2006.

The Best Party Ever was included in the Pitchfork top 50 albums of 2005 and was number 8 in the Rough Trade Shop top 100 albums of the same year.

The band describe their own sound as 'Country Disco' in their song "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star". They were included in the top ten bands of 2006 in Rolling Stone magazine, and described as sounding like what would happen "if all your childhood stuffed animals got together and started a band."

Their second album, Law of the Playground, was delayed by label troubles and released in April 2009. It includes the singles "Every Goliath Has Its David", "A Balloon On A Broken String", "When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade" and "A Fairytale Ending".

In December 2010 they released a seasonal album called The Boy Least Likely To Christmas Special, which included eight original compositions and three traditional festive songs. It includes the single "George and Andrew".

A fourth album is scheduled for release in 2013.

In popular culture [edit]

Rashida Jones starred in the video for their single "Be Gentle With Me" in 2004. Their songs have been used in a number of different commercials in the USA for Coca Cola and General Electric Cars and films and television shows including Easy A and Grey's Anatomy. "Be Gentle With Me" has been featured in a commercial in the UK for ING Direct and "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star" was used in a UK commercial for Cadburys Chocolate Digestive Biscuits in 2008. In February 2010, Apple, Inc. featured The Boy Least Likely To's song "Stringing Up Conkers" in an advertisement for the iPhone 3GS. In April 2010, the same song was also featured in an iPad demonstration video for iTunes.

Touring personnel [edit]

Musicians known to have toured with The Boy Least Likely To include: