No Little Thing

No Little Thing is a British rock band formed in London in 2011. Brought together by frontwoman Smoke Faulkner (lead vocals, guitar), the band's original and current lineup also includes Kip Dale (vocals, bass guitar, lead guitar) and Theo Parrish (lead guitar, piano).
Following the release of platinum-selling debut album "Shut The Door And Rock On" in 2011, the band have been credited with helping to bring rock music back to the mainstream charts.
==History==
===Formation===
Following the breakup of girl duo Whispers in 2009 amidst bitter arguing, Smoke Faulkner resolved to establish herself as a chart act with or without Angel Svensson. After several false starts, the brunette took out a full-page advertisement in the December 2010 edition of NME, advertising the formation of a band that "knew how to rock". After a surprisingly successful response to the ad, Faulkner welcomed two fortysomethings, Kip Dale and Theo Parrish, as her new bandmates. The trio began recording at the start of 2011, with promotion for their first single, "Toronto", beginning in March 2011.
===Name===
The band takes its name from a quote from Smoke Faulkner's favourite film, "Cool Runnings". In a hotel scene, one of the team members, Sanka Coffie, appears at the door of another, Yul Brenner, wearing a maid's uniform and carrying a feather duster. In response to the wackiness, Brenner states "Whatever's wrong with you... is no little thing."
==Career==
===May - October 2011: Shut The Door And Rock On===
In March 2011, a guerilla marketing campaign to introduce No Little Thing to the world began, with stickers bearing the band's logo appearing throughout London without explanation. The stickers were particularly prevalent at concerts performed by other artists, and were described as "nuisance vandalism" by the Metropolitan Police.
This developed into a larger campaign to promote the band's debut single, "Toronto", with the group remaining anonymous but making threatening statements towards the Canadian embassy, warning Canadians to stay away from Trafalgar Square on April 29th, the date of the Royal Wedding. The band were condemned for using "terrorist" tactics to promote their single, while Smoke's former Whispers partner, Angel Svensson, accused the band's frontwoman of writing the angry breakup track about her. The group refuted the allegations. Midway through their campaign for "Toronto", NLT agreed an album deal with Esmeralda Dimuzio's Alias Records, who released the track on May 30th to a positive reception, entering the charts at #9.
"Barbie Doll" was chosen by Faulkner as the follow-up single, a condemnation of the music industry's fascination with pretty, dumb bimbos, and the overlooking of actual talent. The track took shots at several artists, including Candi, Blonde Ambition and Angel Svensson. However, it was Flaming SteffY who took most exception to the track's content, leading to an extended feud between the rock trio and the blonde. SteffY released a demo track entitled "Obsessed", styled as an "answer track" to "Barbie Doll", which prompted NLT to respond with a parody of SteffY's own single, "Shake Yer Tits!", entitled "Fake Yer Tits".
As this was going on, Alias Records was bought out by Syd Wolfe's Fusion Records, with NLT suffering a less-than-smooth transition from one set of offices to another. As well as leaks relating to the track, which the group accused their new label of being behind, footage filmed for the "Barbie Doll" video was "lost" shortly before it was due to be edited. The label rejected every one of No Little Thing's accusations as baseless, and was responsible for the organisation at very short notice of a concert in Trafalgar Square to replace the missing video footage. Thanks to their clout in the industry, Fusion arranged for star-studded cameos from all kinds of artists, including Ace Rejects, Romo, Monaco and Moodring's L'mondrea. The single was released through Fusion on July 18th, scoring the group their second top-ten hit with a #9 peak. It remains No Little Thing's biggest-selling single to date.
Despite the success of the single, Theo Parrish continued to voice his discontent with the group being signed to Fusion, explaining that he felt they were "the best at what they do, but not right for a rock band like NLT". Syd Wolfe took exception to the comments, unceremoniously firing the band from the label over Twitter, much to the chagrin of Smoke Faulkner and Kip Dale. Rumours that the group were to split in the wake of the firing were quickly quashed.
With the announcement of their third single, "Rise" (featuring L'mondrea), scheduled for release on September 12th 2011, No Little Thing also revealed that their debut album, "Shut The Door And Rock On", would share the release date. A special "Countdown To Rock" website was set up, with new content provided every day as the site counted down to the release date. A wide range of content, including exclusive interviews, track snippets and special offers were available through the website. Visitors to the site were also the first to know about the group being signed to their third label in as many singles, Saturdays Records, as well as the group mending bridges with Syd Wolfe, sitting down and talking their issues through.
"Rise" was well-received by critics as No Little Thing's first upbeat release following two rather negative, angsty singles. Some attributed this to the "fresh" sound provided by L'mondrea, whose smart verse helped turn the song's tone from one of angry defiance to one of self-celebration and pride. The track went on to become NLT's first ever top five hit, entering the charts at #5. "Shut The Door And Rock On", the album featuring all three of No Little Thing's singles released to date, was a surprise hit in the albums chart, entering at #1 and showing a surprising longevity. The album turned platinum in November 2011, and continued to sell well into 2012.
At this point, the band undertook their first UK tour with the support of their label. The "Band In A Van Tour" was scheduled to run for twelve dates throughout October, to support the release of a fourth single from the album, "Time Bomb". However, shortly after the tour was announced, Saturdays Records closed, leading to the cancellation of the single. The group pressed on with the tour regardless, given that it was designed to be as inexpensive as possible- literally the artists driving around in a van. They were joined by L'mondrea, Tiffany Amber and Ellie Dale, daughter of Kip, as supporting acts. However, disaster was to strike, with the disappearance of Ellie Dale, whose own single "Serious" was due for release at the end of the month, in Loughborough. The tour was suspended and then finally cancelled as the group aided with the search for the missing teen. Police confirmed they had found the teen's body on October 26th.
Following the untimely passing of Kip Dale's daughter, No Little Thing asked to be allowed a period to mourn the aging rocker's loss, disappearing from the public eye for several weeks.
===November 2011 - April 2012: Christmas & Tango Challenge===
No Little Thing's next two releases were tracks not featured on their album. The band returned to Trafalgar Square in mid-November to announce their attempt at snagging a Christmas #1 with "This Christmas", teasing a high-profile special guest. After a lot of speculation that the group were to be joined by the likes of Bella-May, L'mondrea, Ashley! or Flaming SteffY, their featured artist was revealed in "Bloke" magazine as Kleo on November 29th. Kleo had been one of the biggest breakthrough artists of 2011, and her appearance on the track led some to suggest that "This Christmas" was a real contender in a week of several releases. In conjunction with the release, NLT and Kleo unveiled an 18-day-long advent calendar entitled "Open The Door And Rock On", with "Christmas treats" hiding behind each door.
"This Christmas" entered the charts at #4 as the second-highest new release that week, with Chase Elite taking the Christmas #1. This represented a new highest-ever chart position for an NLT single. When the track finally dropped out of the Top 40 in the first week of February 2012, the release had gone silver, selling 169,602 copies. The group were also announced as the 44th Best Selling Overall Artist for 2011, with a combined total of just over one million sales between their singles and album releases.
At the turn of the year, NLT were in a self-confessed rut, with Smoke Faulkner declaring that after their tour difficulties and the Christmas single, "Shut The Door And Rock On" felt like "a long time ago", and that she was unsure whether she wanted the band to release further from it. There was a petition launched within the group's fanbase for the popular Syd Wolfe-penned track "Death Wish" to be released as a single, but instead it was announced that the band had decided to participate for the first time in the Tango Challenge.
The draw for the competition saw No Little Thing paired with Polish Tango veteran Kazimiera in what was described as a "highly unlikely" duo. There seemed to be very little common ground between the dance diva's style and that of the rock trio, which made it all the more surprising that the two acts hit it off. Kip Dale was elected to sing vocals alongside Kazimiera, the first time Smoke Faulkner had not taken the lead on an NLT release, and whilst the age disparity made the duet a little on the creepy side, the response to "Not My Scene" was overwhelmingly positive. Rather than fight the fact that their styles were so different, the two acts embraced their differences, delivering a song described by Smoke as "not just a Tango song, but the Tango song", telling the story of the performers being in unfamiliar territory.