Klaxons are an English band, currently based in London, with a large underground following. The word 'klaxon' derives from the Greek verb krazō, meaning "to shriek", and most commonly refers to air-raid sirens or other warning devices. The core band members hail from the provincial UK towns of Stratford-Upon-Avon (James Righton and Simon Taylor) and Bournemouth (Jamie Reynolds).
The band's debut album Myths of the Near Future was released on January 29, 2007 following the release of single "Golden Skans" on January 22 of the same year.
Klaxons headlined the NME indie rave tour starting in February 2007. The London date at Hammersmith Palais sold out in two days. They have also had promising early success in Europe, Japan and Australia, selling out tours in November 2006, and upcoming sell-out headline UK dates in May 2007
Simon Taylor attended school in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was taught guitar by James Righton, who was in the year below him at school. He studied Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University and was approached by Jamie Reynolds, the boyfriend of one of his housemates, to form a band.
Jamie Reynolds grew up in Bournemouth and Southampton and was active in several bands from his early teens, most notably the band Thermal. The bands quickly dissolved, however, and he dropped out of school to work in record shops over the next few years, studying philosophy at the same time. He moved to London after he was made redundant, spending his redundancy money on a studio kit in order to record with Simon and James under their early guise of Klaxons (Not Centaurs).
James Righton, like Simon, grew up in Stratford-Upon-Avon, working every summer on the canal boats in Stratford-upon-Avon. His interest in music was fueled by his musician father. After studying history and politics at Cardiff University, he spent some time in Madrid teaching English, and arrived back in the UK on the invitation of Simon to join the band as they needed another vocalist/instrumentalist.
The lineup was recently bolstered with the addition of drummer Steffan Halperin, originally recruited for live gigs after appearing on the track "Atlantis To Interzone" (the rest of the percussion on Myths of the Near Future was provided by the album's producer James Ford). As of early 2007 Halperin had become a quasi-official fourth member of the band, being listed on the Klaxons myspace page [1] and present in several interviews. However, he remains mostly absent from the band's music videos, appearing only in the early video "Atlantis to Interzone" and the 2007 re-release of "Gravity's Rainbow".
