Six by Seven

British indie rock outfit Six by Seven was formed in Nottingham, England in the early '90s by singer/guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:5AYL4h8fBmw7ksPxh1isy1">Chris Olley</a>, guitarist Sam Hempton, organist James Flower, bassist Paul Douglas, and drummer Chris Davis. Hailed as "one of the all-time great debut singles" by the NME, their self-released autumn 1997 single "European Me" sold out in a week and resulted in a contract with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Beggars+Banquet%22">Beggars Banquet</a>, which issued the band's full-length The Things We Make in the spring of 1998. A mix of post-rock, psychedelia, and shoegaze, Six by Seven created ample buzz, making their first appearance on John Peel's BBC show later that year and hitting the road with bands like <a href="spotify:artist:2uH0RyPcX7fnCcT90HFDQX">Manic Street Preachers</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4YZrO9ypsHSJ1ilLA2WblA">Ash</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7siPLyFwRFYQkKgWKJ5Sod">the Dandy Warhols</a>. Their John Leckie-produced follow-up, The Closer You Get, arrived in 2000 to strong critical reception, though Hempton would depart not long after its release. Taking a more concise pop-oriented approach on 2002's The Way I Feel Today, Six by Seven soon parted ways with both bassist Douglas and the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Beggars+Banquet%22">Beggars Banquet</a> label. Over the next two years, the trio of <a href="spotify:artist:5AYL4h8fBmw7ksPxh1isy1">Olley</a>, Flower, and Davis recorded a pair of studio albums (2004's 04 and 2005's Artists Cannibals Poets Thieves) for their own label, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Saturday+Night+Sunday+Morning+Records%22">Saturday Night Sunday Morning Records</a>. An unofficial sixth album called Club Sandwich at the Peveril Hotel received a limited release in early 2006, though the group disbanded not long after.

The break didn't last long, however, and in 2007 <a href="spotify:artist:5AYL4h8fBmw7ksPxh1isy1">Olley</a> and Flower recorded a new album under the Six by Seven banner titled If Symptoms Persist, Kill Your Doctor. Shows were played with a variation of the band's early lineup, and they issued a CD/DVD anthology called Any Colour So Long as It's Black (All the Way from Forest Fields and Back...) in 2008 before <a href="spotify:artist:5AYL4h8fBmw7ksPxh1isy1">Olley</a> finally left the band to work on other projects. A new lineup featuring <a href="spotify:artist:5AYL4h8fBmw7ksPxh1isy1">Olley</a>, Flower, and <a href="spotify:artist:6RZUqkomCmb8zCRqc9eznB">Placebo</a> drummer Steve Hewitt resurfaced in 2013 to release Love and Peace and Sympathy. Four years later they again re-formed to commemorate the oddly timed milestone of their second album's 17th anniversary. Reissued in March 2017 by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Beggars+Banquet%22">Beggars Banquet</a>, The Closer You Get got a deluxe treatment complete with bonus tracks from the group's Peel Sessions. <a href="spotify:artist:5AYL4h8fBmw7ksPxh1isy1">Olley</a> reunited Six by Seven's original lineup that same month to perform the album in its entirety in the U.K. ~ Timothy Monger & Jason Ankeny, Rovi