The bare facts are these; two nice lads, growing up together in North London. Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker are both 30, both still live within a couple of miles of each other and have always lived in each other’s pockets. At the tail end of the 80s, they both opted to study sound engineering, one hooked on soul, jazz and classical, the other on hip hop. “When we met on the mid 80s I was a soul boy,” beams Henry, “Sam was more into hip hop.” Both left to serve their studio apprenticeship at Mickie Most’s RAK studios. They spent a couple of years watching rock stars like Robert Plant and the Pet Shop Boys and rubbing shoulders with hard-up Northern pub bands down for the weekend. “I don’t think either of us worked on anything we actually liked,” Sam makes a face. “Speak for yourself,” bounces Henry, “I had the Young Disciples.”

College mate Nigel Godrich was busy producing Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ and he gave them the chance to remix Radiohead’s ‘Climbing Up The Walls’àI had no idea what we had done until I turned on the radio and Gilles Peterson was playing it.” Radio One’s resident downtempo guru Peterson loved it, and commissioned the pair to give soul legend Terry Callier dome of the orchestral sheen his records had back in the day. Which takes us to where we came in.

This Summer Zero 7 played at some of the biggest festivals across Europe including a headline London gig which sold out 4 weeks upfront. Sia’s distinctively seductive vocals, Sophie’s sultry, sexy sound and Mozez’ deep, velvety tone come together to offer you a stunning combination of vocal talent which crosses over perfectly to the stage. For the live shows Sam and Henry got together with musicians who played on the album and friends to build a group of mostly 11 and sometimes up to 20 members on stage at one time to sell out audiences. For a live downtempo band they create an amazingly electric atmosphere and received standing ovations at every gig.