- Dragonette
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Dragonette 
Dragonette performing at the MSN.ca Launch Party, 1 October 2009Background information Origin Toronto, Ontario, Canada Genres Electropop, Synthpop, New Wave Years active 2005–present Labels Mercury, Universal, I Surrender Associated acts The New Deal, Kaskade, Martin Solveig Website www.dragonette.com Members Martina Sorbara
Dan Kurtz
Joel StoufferPast members Simon Craig (2005)
Will Stapleton (2006–2008)
Chris Hugget (2009)Dragonette is a Canadian electropop group active since 2005.[1] Dragonette consists of singer-songwriter Martina Sorbara, bassist and producer Dan Kurtz (also in The New Deal) and drummer Joel Stouffer.
Dragonette released a self-titled EP before being signed to Mercury Records and relocating to London, where they recorded and released their debut album Galore to moderate critical appreciation.[2][3] A second studio album, Fixin to Thrill, was released in 2009.
Contents
Career
Sorbara and Kurtz met at a music festival[4] and formed a duo named The Fuzz,[5] making music together in their basement recording studio for fun. The duo formed Dragonette after these initial recordings, and supported New Order on only their second live performance. In 2005, the band released the Dragonette EP, prior to signing a record deal with Mercury Records of Universal Music UK.
Dragonette relocated to London to record debut album Galore, and toured the UK supporting local acts, including Basement Jaxx (with whom Sorbara also recorded the track Take Me Back To Your House) and Sugababes and played headline gigs in small venues across the UK and Canada. British musician Will Stapleton replaced Simon Craig on guitar following the relocation. Dragonette filmed two music videos, one Jesus Doesn't Love Me and another for I Get Around. The former video leaked onto the internet, while the other served as promotion for their first single release. Despite the promotion from the band, I Get Around entered the UK Singles Chart at number ninety-two, disappointing the band members. A further single release, Take It Like a Man fared no better, not even reaching the top 100 on the UK Singles Chart. Dragonette did however receive some airplay with a cover of Calvin Harris' hit single The Girls, which was retitled The Boys. I Get Around was released in the band's home country of Canada where it outperformed the UK release, peaking at number fifty-seven on Billboard's Canadian Hot 100.
In 2008, Dragonette received a Juno Award nomination for Best New Group, while Kurtz and Sorbara wrote and produced the song Grab a Hold with Cyndi Lauper for her 2008 album Bring Ya to the Brink. Will James Stapleton left the band, to be replaced by Chris Hugget. Dragonette recorded a second studio album Fixin to Thrill, which was released in late 2009.
Dragonette have collaborated with several house DJs for releases, to varying degrees of success. Although Take Me Back To Your House with Basement Jaxx only featured Martina Sorbara as vocalist, it has since been promoted by the band as a Dragonette collaborative. The band have since recorded several tracks with French DJ Martin Solveig, including; Boys & Girls in 2009, Hello in 2010 and Can't Stop & Big In Japan in 2011. All of these tracks feature on Solveig's 2011 album "Smash". 2010 also saw Fire In Your New Shoes with Kaskade and Animale with Don Diablo.
On 27 July 2010, Dragonette released Our Summer, a single made available digitally together with Volcano. Dragonette released the Mixin to Thrill EP digitally and a limited edition CD will be sold via the band's online store on 3 August 2010. The New EP also contains three new songs, including Volcano, Our Summer and several remixes from the past year. On 14 July 2011, The Dragonettes along with Martin Solveig, released a single called Hello. A music video came out later that month.
The band have toured the world in promotion of their albums and also performed at Lollapalooza in 2010.[6]
In 2010 South Africa's Land line operator Telkom launched its Mobile arm 8ta(Heita), which uses Hello as the theme song for its adverts.
In 2011, Dragonette worked with Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts, co-writing and producing the single Lucky Day for her debut solo album Cinderella's Eyes.[7]
The band have also informed fans via their official mailing list that they are currently recording their third studio album. Kurtz reported on the band's official forum that Dragonette's third studio album will be released in 2011.
Discography
Albums
Year Title Peak chart position CAN 2007 Galore - Released: September 25, 2007
- Label: Mercury
80 2009 Fixin to Thrill - Released: September 29, 2009
- Label: Mercury
63 EPs
- Dragonette EP (2005)
- Mixin to Thrill (2010)
Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album CAN
[8]UK 2007 "I Get Around" 57 92 45 Galore "Take It Like a Man" – 112 – 2008 "Competition" 87 56 – 2009 "Fixin to Thrill" – – – Fixin to Thrill "Pick Up the Phone" 28 – – As featured artist
Year Single Peak chart positions Album CAN
[9]FRA
[10]RSA
[11]NL
[12]IRE UK US 2009 "Boys & Girls" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) – 17 - - - - - C'est La Vie Remixes 2010 "Fire in Your New Shoes" (Kaskade featuring Dragonette) 69 – 19* - - - - Dynasty "Hello" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) 8 5 1 1 6 13 46 Smash "Animale" (Don Diablo featuring Dragonette) – – – 33 - - - TBC 2011 "Can't Stop" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) – – – – – – – Smash "Big In Japan" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette & Idoling) – – – – – – – Music videos
Year Song Album 2007 "I Get Around" Galore "Jesus Doesn't Love Me" 2008 "Take It Like a Man" "Competition" 2009 "Fixin to Thrill" Fixin to Thrill "Boys & Girls" with Martin Solveig C'est La Vie Remixes & Fixin to Thrill & Smash "Pick Up the Phone" Fixin to Thrill 2010 "Easy" "Fire in Your New Shoes" with Kaskade Dynasty "Hello" with Martin Solveig* Smash "Animale" with Don Diablo* TBC * = NOTE: Neither Martina Sorbara or any other members of the band appear in this video.
References
- ^ Dragonnette Allmusic bio
- ^ Kraines, Talia (September 21, 2007). "Dragonette Galore Review". BBC Music Reviews. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/44p2. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ Sullivan, Caroline (August 3, 2007). "Dragonette, Galore". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/aug/03/popandrock.shopping2. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ "Hey, Dragonette: (no) thanks for oversharing!". CBC News. September 9, 2008. http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/things-that-go-pop-blog/2008/09/hey-dragonette-no-thanks-for-oversharing.html. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ "Hype Monitor: Tempo No Tempo, Dragonette, Sleigh Bells". Rolling Stone Staff Blog. November 19, ????. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/staff-blog/hype-monitor-tempo-no-tempo-dragonette-sleigh-bells-20091119. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ Venus Zine: Dragonette at Lollapalooza 2010
- ^ http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/music/interviews/Nicola+Roberts+interview-99080.html
- ^ "Dragonette Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/charts/canadian-hot-100#/artist/dragonette/chart-history/813740. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ "Kaskade Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/charts/canadian-hot-100#/artist/kaskade/chart-history/477686. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ "Discographie Dragonette (France)". lescharts.com. http://lescharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Dragonette. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
- ^ "The 5FM top 40". http://www.5fm.co.za/charts/the-5fm-top-40. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
- ^ "The Dutch Single top 100". http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Martin+Solveig+%26+Dragonette&titel=Hello&cat=s. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
External links
Albums Galore · Fixin to ThrillCompilations Singles "I Get Around" · "Take It Like a Man" · "Competition" · "Fixin to Thrill" · "Gone Too Far" · "Pick Up the Phone" · "Easy" · "Our Summer Volcano"Featured singles "Boys & Girls" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) · "Fire In Your New Shoes" (Kaskade featuring Dragonette) · "Hello" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) · "Animale" (Don Diablo featuring Dragonette)Related articles Categories:- Canadian New Wave musical groups
- Musical groups established in 2005
- Musical groups from Toronto
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