The Hoosiers
England | Indie Pop / Pop Rock | 2003 - present
The Hoosiers (formerly known as The Hoosier Complex) are an English pop-rock/indie pop/odd pop band from the UK and Sweden. The band members are Irwin Sparkes (lead vocals, guitar), Martin Skarendahl (bass and guitar for acoustic performances) and Alphonso Sharland (drums). Their first single "Worried About Ray" reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart in July 2007. They released their debut album, The Trick to Life, in October 2007.
Hailing from Exeter, Reading and Stockholm, the band claim to create a sound that they call "Odd pop", combining a number of musical genres. The band members cite their influences as The Cure, Jeff Buckley, The Flaming Lips and XTC.
According to their band biography, Alphonso Sharland and Irwin Sparkes the lead singer spent some time in the United States, encouraged by their chemistry teacher (Grant Serpell who was part of the band Sailor during their fame in the 1970s), in an attempt to broaden their horizons. The pair won themselves a football scholarship at the University of Indianapolis despite a reputed claim to be "allergic to running". Having gathered enough material to compile an album, Alphonso and Irwin returned to London where they met Swiss keyboard player and sound engineer Duri Darms, and Martin Skarendahl, a Swedish ex-fireman who was then working with Darms as a recording studio engineer and studying at The London Music School.