page_title: I Am Kloot
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: I Am Kloot / History
caption_attribution_description: English: I Am Kloot's John Bramwell performing with the band at Chester Rocks on the 3rd of July 2011.
context_page_description: I Am Kloot were an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1999. The band was composed of vocalist/guitarist John Bramwell, bassist Peter Jobson and drummer Andy Hargreaves.
  The band released six studio albums, and was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2010 for the album Sky at Night. The band split up in 2016, with Bramwell concentrating on a solo career.
  The origin of the band name was shrouded in secrecy for the majority of the band's existence, with Bramwell stating in 2013 that the band "never said and we never will" confirm the origin of the name and joked that "If I told you, I'd have to kill you". Jobson later claimed that the name I Am Kloot was inspired by the Alan J. Pakula film Klute, and also that "I Am Kloot is a left handed card game made famous in the diaries of Jerome K. Jerome" – the rules of which are expounded in Jerome’s Three Men on the Bummel.
context_section_description: I Am Kloot were formed from the ashes of The Mouth, a band co-fronted by John Bramwell and Bryan Glancy. Bramwell, who was born and brought up in Hyde, Cheshire, had previously played with bands including The Face Brothers (a band he was kicked out at the age of 18), The Ignition, Five Go Off To Play Guitar and The Debuchias, and performed solo as Johnny Dangerously. Peter Jobson moved from Morpeth, Northumberland to Manchester to study at Salford College (where he graduated with a BA Hons in Popular Music and Recording) and befriended Bramwell at The Night and Day Café, where they both ended up working for several years booking bands. Bramwell also ran an acoustic night at the venue called "Acoustica Mancunia" (and would continue hosting acoustic nights Gecko and Palookaville whilst the band got established). Jobson first saw Bramwell play at Castlefield Arena in central Manchester on 15 June 1996, the day of the IRA Bomb and ended up joining The Mouth who had released one single "Bang" the previous year, replacing the band's original bassist Simon Burns. The band split with Glancy after he went on holiday a week before a tour and didn't return for three weeks, began working on Bramwell's songs and changed their name to I Am Kloot.
  The band released their debut double A-Side single "Titanic/To You" in November 1999 on local label Ugly Man Records, which was advertised around Manchester city centre with posters bearing just the lyric "there's blood on your legs, I love you" daubed in red ink, leading to complaints in the local press. Guy Lovelady, the owner of Ugly Man Records had rung Bramwell about getting one of his acts to play Night and Day, but he refused to discuss it after having fallen out with the venues owner and instead sought to get the band's debut single released on the label. Lovelady agreed without hearing any material, and didn't actually hear the single until after it had been released and first saw the band play live two months later at The Kashmir Klub in London with The Libertines supporting. The band borrowed £1,000 to release the single and packaged the records in brown paper bags instead of proper sleeves to save money.
  The band released their second double A-Side single "Twist/86 TV's" in March 2000 on Ugly Man before signing to Wall of Sound imprint "We Love You" to release their debut album Natural History in March 2001. Having decided against recording the album in the band's rehearsal space in Jobson's basement, it was recorded with Elbow frontman Guy Garvey in a church on the Isle of Mull. Despite being heralded by the NME as figureheads of the so-called New Acoustic Movement (although Bramwell didn't want to admit to there being an acoustic scene at the time "because of the labels that immediately get attached to ‘acoustic music’"), the band returned home from touring to find the label had gone bust, owing the band money. The album went out of print in the UK, which Bramwell later described as a stalling moment for the band, but was still available in Europe due to it being distributed by a different label, so the band toured Holland, Germany and France instead of focusing on the UK.
  Following two years of contractual problems, the band signed to The Echo Label and released their self-titled second album I Am Kloot in September 2003 with Bramwell stating that the band didn't "fit into the current Strokes/White Stripes rock thing, so we're out on a limb again." The album was produced by Chris Potter, with Ian Broudie producing one song, "Life in a Day". Despite originally planning to release "Proof" as a single to promote the album, going as far as approving artwork and track listing, as well as commissioning a promo video starring Christopher Eccleston, it ended up not receiving a commercial release in the UK. Instead, the promo video was made available through the band's website and only received a physical release in the Benelux countries on the PIAS record label. At the time, Bramwell claimed that the single wasn't released properly as they "didn’t want to do any singles any more", but 
caption: John Bramwell
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