Artist description Raised on great radio pop from 60's-80's, in love with hooks and melody. Simple songs of love and life...and like life, expect change like an autumn day...

Music Style Power pop, pop, rock

Musical Influences The Beatles, David Bowie, The Raspberries, Badfinger, One Hundred Days

Similar Artists Cheap Trick, The Outfield, Enuff Z'Nuff

Artist History The nucleus of the band started as The Hunger in 1982 with Mick Hoyle on lead guitar, Robert Van Buren on bass, Kenny Staggs on guitar, Jeff Elmore on drums, and Jeff Hufaker on vocals. Robert invited singer Roger Eaker to attend one of The Hunger's live performances at a local pub and while Roger was impressed with the band, he felt the band needed a different image for its front man. When asked to join the band, the boys decided on the name London (long before the heavy metal band of the same name) because of the visual imagery the name embodied, as well as their kinship to great 60's Brit pop like The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks. After securing a solid live set, the band took to their home studio to record some demos, including a silly pair of TV tunes, "Gilligan's Island" and "Green Eakers", as well as a raucous version of The Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night." Soon they had enough original material for their first album and went to a small cabin studio in the North Carolina mountains to record their debut release, "Pictures Of London." While still gigging in the Charlotte area, the holiday season was upon the lads and they penned the pensive ballad, "This Christmas", taking the track to the studio for a December 1983 release. Robert and Mick dropped a mixdown copy of the song off at a local (breaking) radio station on the way home, with a note for the program director to listen to the track the next day. After leaving the station, the song was on the air within minutes, much to the band's shock! The holiday tune garnered tremendous local response and spent two weeks at #1 on the daily High Noon Countdown! Not resting on their wreaths, London were back at work writing songs for their second album, a rock opera entitled "Science Fiction." Many of the demos were already in production when conflicts arose over whether to accept a tour proposal, which split the band in two directions. With no resolve, London dissolved. In August of 2000, Roger, Mick, Robert and Jeff reunited to pick up where they left off, and you can hear the new London Christmas EP online here (recorded November 2000) and a new full length LP is due in early 2001.

Group Members ORIGINAL LINEUP: Roger Eaker - lead & harmony vocals, keyboards, guitar, harmonica; Mick Hoyle - lead & rhythm guitars, keyboards, vocals; Robert Van Buren - bass, acoustic & electric guitars, vocals; Kenny Staggs - rhythm & harmony guitars, vocals; Jeff Elmore - drums, percussion, vocals. CURRENT LINEUP: Roger Eaker, Mick Hoyle, Robert Van Buren, Jeff Elmore.

Instruments Vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, piano, percussion

Press Reviews "[No I Do] sounds so happy and boppy, I know I am supposed to hate it, but it's just my favorite record of the year. Hands down!" - Bela Jovai, Monochrome Passages; "The tune ["Come On (It's Christmas)"] sounds good..." - Paul Gilbert; "["Come On (It's Christmas)"]...catchy...all of the necessary elements of a hit song...the recording and production were superb, and the vocals and guitar blended perfectly." - Howie Sennet, From The Icy Coast; "["Come On (It's Christmas)"] is awesome...totally touches on those heartstrings for me...very sunny, happy music...great solo, nice bass sound, great vocal sound and harmonies." - Ian Tanner, One Hundred Days; "Wooow! Amazing song ["Come On (It's Christmas)"], from a perfect tracker! The melody is really great!! The beats (sic) fits very well...nice effects here." The Chintuft Project, Trax In Space. "Only my 2nd 5* rating! Wow what can I say? This is a FANTASTIC song! I mean everything is GREAT! The songwriting is SUPERB (hey.. if you don't make it big, and I see no reason why you shouldn't,... you could sell this song RIGHT NOW!). The guitar work was great, and these are the absolute BEST harmonies I've ever heard on GB! I RARELY give 5*'s, but you guys deserve it! If I were an A&R guy, I'd sign you right now! See you in the CD stores!" MGB, Garageband,com. "Positive, catchy pop...Eddie Money meet the Kinks meet the Beatles. Nice. " musickook. "Deck the halls...I'm a sucker for a good Christmas tune..." Xuzzy, Canada. "Very poppy..thats not a bad thing. It reminds of a cross between Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Beatles." Stiltwalker. "At long last.....Power Pop with potential. Now this is the stuff.....Power pop rocks!!!! The vocalist has his stuff together. Whoever wrote the lyrics managing to traverse that thin line successfuly between banal and heady; a great quality when writing songs. The musicians did not overplay nor underplay their parts....translation they supported the vocalist beautifully." Quack. "Way above average...perfect signer for your band. Guitar solo a nice surprise. Awesome radio friendly song. Beatles influence?" beautifulchild. "******* (7 out of 10 stars) Really good to listen to. The harmonies are nice and I believe you can have the melody in your head after listening a couple of times." eson (AudioSurge.com)."It's a very radio-friendly type of song." The Gremlins. "A seasonal treat. Probably one of the best Christmas tunes I've reviewed so far...probably the best with regards to the production...quite a nice tune." ShowPonies, UK. "This is a great little Christmas ditty! The upbeat sound is sure to put even grandma in a good mood. This one can be compared to Ringo's Xmas song... and I think I like this one more! The background vocals add to the mood of the song." bethunit. "Cool intro, fitting to your Christmas theme. Melody is good. Rocks in that retro kind of way...Lead part on the guitar is good, well thought out and well played. Good composition!" eenmachine. "The hooks are in the right place and the vocals are great. I love a guitar to just put the right lick in there without overloading the song." Xinnix. "The male vocalist grabs my attention and makes me head back to chistmas, even though it be summer. Good work." Carpe Diem, Ontario, Canada. " "Snappy! This is a pop Christmas song with harmonies that click, music that is stylish and production that excels. Definitely worth a listen, I'm telling you right now. London has a special sound as though they've been working together for a long time. The musical sound is a genre busting mix from the sixties through today, melding many different influences into one well written holiday song. The production on this is supurb! It's rare to find music like this that is given the mixing time it deserves, but this is definitely radio ready. Besides, it beats out most of that pap we have to hear during the season on radio stations . . . dare I mention Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time"? Ugh . . . better not. The Final Word - It's got a beat and you can dance to it. Better yet, it's something that is candy for your ears, yet London gives their song a taste of creativity as well. Check out "Come On (It's Christmas)" while you've still got some Egg Nog left." Jonathan Sanders, godsofmusic.com

Location Charlotte, N.C. - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).