Keeping Some Dark Secrets

Johnny Foreigner are a guitar pop trio from Digbeth in Birmingham, England, consisting of guitarist Alexei Berrow, drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley and bassist Kelly Southern. Alexei, 28, comes from Hall Green, and met Kelly, 26, from Selly Park at college, whilst Junior comes from Quinton.

Before the band formed in December 2005, Alexei and Kelly both played in different outfits, most notoriously Panda Love Unit and Twist respectively.
Panda Love Unit formed in Winter 2001 and split in Summer 2004 and was Alexei alongside Alan Wilson, Susan Ennis & Liz Hamblin. They released a 4 track EP, “fireworks to stick us…together” on Awkward Records.
Kelly replaced Twist’s bassist Lisa Lavery in 2001 after the release of Twist’s debut album, Magneta, joining vocalist Emma Fox, Vanessa and Leanne, with Emma saying [of Kelly] “She looks like, smells like, plays like and swears like us…she’s well in!” They then released EP “14″ before signing a six song deal with Bug/Library Publishing. Before this Kelly played drums in Baxxter.

The “prototype” Johnny Foreigner formed as “a country band with pretensions” (according to Alexei) with Daniel Boyle (now of Gentle Friendly) rather than Kelly in December 2005 however he left to go to university. With their previous lineup they released We Left You Sleeping And Gone Now, an 11 track self-produced album recorded in 2005 which sold 40 copies. The majority of these have now been lost. Liz [Hamblin], Rob [surname unknown] and Seb [Lenton] (of Distophia) are also credited on the album.

The band’s first single, “Sometimes In The Bullring/Camp Kelly Calm”, was recorded on Laundrette Recording Company and issued in October 2006; 300 copies were made and sold out in the first 2 months of release. The second single, released May 21, 2007, was a split with fellow Birmingham act Sunset Cinema Club and featured the track “Yes! You Talk Too Fast”, as well as a cover of Sunset Cinema Club’s “Ninki vs Dingle”, whilst Sunset Cinema Club covered Johnny Foreigner’s “Candles”, again on Laundrette Recording Company. This release was packaged with 3D-artwork and 3D-glasses.

They entered Channel 4′s battle of the bands competition “Road to V” in early 2007 to win the chance to open V Festival 2007 but lost in the final 14 to The Brightlights and Rosalita.

In addition to the commercially available releases, Johnny Foreigner packaged up 15 demos in July 2007 and made them available for free download under the title I Like You Mostly Late At Never.

After signing to Best Before Records in Autumn 2007, the band issued the EP Arcs Across The City on November 26 of that year. The EP was rated 10/10 by popular online music magazine Drowned In Sound. They released their third single, “Our Bipolar Friends/The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You” on March 10 2008, which nearly sold out of its initial issue of 1,000 copies before it was even released.

The fourth single by the band, “Eyes Wide Terrified”, was released on the 18th May 2008, in the run up to the album release. This was followed by “Salt, Peppa and Spinderella”, for which the video composed from nearly 70,000 still images, was banned from a host of TV channels due to fears that it may trigger seizures. Their 6th single, and final from Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light was the double A-side of “DJ’s Get Doubts/Lea Room”, released on January 12, 2009.

On June 2, 2008, Johnny Foreigner released their debut album, Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light on Best Before Records (distributed in America through Nettwork). It was recorded in Hoboken, New Jersey with Grammy award nominee producer Machine, whose previous credits include work with notable contemporary hard rock acts such as Lamb of God as well as King Crimson. The artwork, as with Arcs Across The City, was designed by Lewes Herriot. The British release comes with 7 interchangable covers, each depicting a Birmingham landmark. The song “Cranes and Cranes and Cranes and Cranes” samples the theme-tune to the 70′s American sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie.

They are currently releasing music on Best Before Records, which is part of the artist management and nightclub concern Mama Group/ChannelFly Group.
In March 2009 they recorded their 2nd album, Grace and the Bigger Picture, in New York with Alex Newport, best known for producing for Death Cab For Cutie, Rival Schools & At The Drive-In, at his Fudge Tunnel Studio in Brooklyn. This was done in the 3 weeks between their European tour supporting Sky Larkin and their UK tour supporting Hundred Reasons.