DESCRIPTION:
The four band members met in 1997, whilst they all attended Furze Platt School in Maidenhead.[4] The band honed their skills in live performances and homemade recordings. One of their early demos was given to long-time friend and DJ, James Lavelle, who championed the band to, amongst others, the independent, Ignition record label, whom the band signed to in 2000.[5] Their recordings for the label were produced by Jim Abbiss (who had previously worked with The Music, DJ Shadow and UNKLE amongst others), and the band's first studio release was the Stealin' Beats EP in May 2001. As well as Abbiss' work on the title track, this EP also contained two live tracks and an original demo recorded in lead singer Ash's back garden. This EP was critically acclaimed and was made "single of the week" by NME magazine and BBC Radio 1.[2]

Kid Galahad's second release was the Where's my Gold? EP in July 2001. Like it's predecessor, this EP showed off the band's eclectic style and mixed studio and live recordings, and was also given a single of the week stamp of approval, this time by MTV.[2] Finally, a trio of limited edition EP releases was completed in November 2001, with the release of the Runaway Train EP. These releases also coincided with the band touring with bands such as Vex Red, Tetra Splendour and The Electric Soft Parade.

Kid Galahad's debut album Gold Dust Noise was released on 20 May 2002. The album was critically well received, though some journalists regarded the album with a little disappointment given the strength of the EPs previously released.[1][6] A further single "Swimming to Shore" was released on 10 June 2002 to promote the album, however the album failed to make the Top 100 on the UK album chart.

Spitting from Ignition records, the band took some time off to work on some new songs and the soundtrack to the film Happily Even After. These two albums were both released in 2006 on the Three-Sixty record label. The first album, The Bedroom Tapes, was released on 20th Feb 2006, and was described as "experiments in stereo recording".[7] The film soundtrack was released later in June the same year.[8]

These albums were released without any publicity from the members of the band, only a tongue-in-cheek statement on the record label website stating that the band had gone missing in Cornwall, "All that was found in the car was a pair of Wallace and Gromit Boxer shorts and a tape in the player of their Triumph Herald."[9] This story facilitated the transformation and relaunch of the band as The Furze.