Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Thenewno2 (styled as thenewno2) are an alternative rock band from London, originally composed of Dhani Harrison and Oliver Hecks, with Harrison playing lead guitar and singing lead vocals, and Hecks playing drums and synthesizer. As of mid 2009, the band now consists of Harrison, Jonathan Sadoff, Jeremy Faccone, Nick Fyffe, and Frank Zummo. The name "Thenewno2" is a reference to the 1960s British television show, The Prisoner. Thenewno2 have been credited with the album design for George Harrison's Brainwashed, Concert for George, The Dark Horse Years Box Set, and the menu design for the Concert For Bangladesh DVD. Hecks was the still photographer for the Concert For George, and some of his photographs appear in the Genesis Publications limited edition book, Concert For George.
thenewno2 released its full-length debut, You Are Here in February 2009. The Late Show with Conan O'Brien handpicked thenewno2 to be one of their final musical guests, a coveted spot that also marked their national TV debut. Later that spring thenewno2 played Coachella where Spin Magazine dubbed their performance as one of the "best debut performance of the festival." After wrapping their national tour the band took a break and Harrison focused on his side project, Fistful of Mercy featuring Harrison, Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur. Their debut was released in October 2010 and was named "One of the Best Side Projects of 2010" by NPR. thenewno2 are in preparation to release their second album, The Fear of Missing Out.
History
Formation
Thenewno2 formed in London, England in 2006, but Harrison and Hecks had been collaborating since as far back as 2001. Harrison and Hecks chose the name Thenewno2 (pronounced "the new number two"), because they wanted a "faceless entity" that they could use to make music, which would give them a chance to legitimatize without the help of Dhani Harrison's famous last name (he is George Harrison's son). They took the name "Thenewno2" from the British cult classic television series The Prisoner, liking the idea of an anonymous person. As Dhani explains,
"I wanted it to be a faceless entity, because I didn’t want to be 'Dhani Harrison and the Uncles', or whatever. There was just too much flak around the name 'Harrison' at the time. I started the band so I could send anyone to a meeting, and when they were asked who they were, they could simply say 'The New No. 2.'"
In the media
The song "Yomp" was released as a downloadable track for the music video game Rock Band on 29 July 2008. and the song "Crazy Tuesday" was released as one of 20 free songs for Rock Band 2. In 2009, Dhani Harrison and Thenewno2 were featured in an issue of Guitar World magazine, discussing their concert experiences and debut album, You Are Here.
On February 16, 2009 Thenewno2 performed the song "Yomp" from the album You Are Here on the American television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien in New York City. On April 13, 2009 they played at the Casbah in San Diego, California. The band played a 30 minute set at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago, Illinois on August 8, 2009.
In 2009, Thenewno2 began their first U.S. tour, joined by The Heartless Bastards, and headlined by Wolfmother. The tour began in Dallas, Texas on October 29, running through to Los Angeles, California, on November 24.
