IN: Joseph Arthur (born September 28, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio, United States. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy and RNDM. Combining poetic lyrics with a layered sonic palette, Arthur has built his reputation over the years through critically acclaimed releases and constant touring; his unique solo live performances often incorporate the use of a number of distortion and loop pedals, and his shows are recorded live at the soundboard and made available to concertgoers immediately following the show on recordable media. Arthur was discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-1990s, and signed to Gabriel's Real World label as the first North American artist on the label's roster.

Arthur signed a new recording contract with Vector Recordings and began recording his fourth studio album, Our Shadows Will Remain across New Orleans, New York City, London, and Prague. The album was released in September 2004, and was Arthur's first album to feature string arrangements, provided by the City of Prague Philharmonic. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim; Allmusic's Thom Jurek awarded the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, praising that, "Arthur is in a class of his own and Our Shadows Will Remain is a monstrous, memorable outing, his finest moment in a career that is thus far full of them." Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A rating, hailing the album as "especially forceful and cohesive"; The Guardian hailed that Joseph "might just be a genuine mad genius"; Stylus Magazine gave the album an A- rating; and Chris Rubin of Rolling Stone named Our Shadows Will Remain as the number 1 album of the year 2004 in the year-end critics' pick list. Arthur toured the US alone and with Joan Wasser to promote the album, and a new EP called And the Thieves Are Gone, which collected unreleased tracks from the Shadows recording sessions, came out in December. Shortly afterward, Arthur went on a brief tour of Europe with R.E.M.. Our Shadows Will Remain was picked up by 14th Floor Records for distribution in the United Kingdom in 2005, which yielded the release of four singles: "Can't Exist" in July, "Even Tho" in September, "Devil's Broom" in February 2006 to coincide with his first headlining appearance at London's Shepherds Bush Empire, and a reissue of "Can't Exist" in May 2006, although none of the singles charted on the UK Singles Chart. In August 2006, Joseph was invited to help launch the project A River Blue, where a group of young people in northern Uganda were brought together to participate in a music, drama, and art festival. Joseph also recorded the song "A River Blue" for the foundation.

How successful was that EP?

OUT:

input: Kelly Jones and Stuart Cable lived on the same street in the Welsh village of Cwmaman. Jones heard Cable played drums so asked if he wanted to jam together. After some time practising in Jones' dad's garage, Nicholas Geek joined in on guitar. Later, Jones invited Paul Rosser and Chris Davies to play on bass guitar and keyboards, respectively. Cable recalls he was the one who suggested that Jones be the singer, as his dad was a singer back in the sixties who supported Roy Orbison. In 1986 the band recorded a demo under the name "Zephyr". When Jones went on holiday the band played a gig without him, which resulted in Jones leaving the band and Jones and Cable going their separate ways. Jones, Rosser and Davies formed their own R&B band called "Silent Runner" while Cable joined a glam-rock band named "King Catwalk" on drums. A few years later, Cable got sacked from the band and a few weeks after that when on a bus, he waved to Jones who was standing at a bus stop and waved back. It was the first contact they had since Zephyr had broken up. Two weeks later, Jones and Cable started speaking again in the Ivy Bush. They agreed to give the band another go but Cable only wanted to play their own songs, to which Jones agreed. The duo invited Mark Everett to play for them on bass guitar and Jones then started writing his own songs. Everett went on holiday for two weeks but Jones and Cable wanted to continue rehearsing, so Jones invited long-time friend Richard Jones to fill in for Everett. Stunned by Richard's appearance and bass playing, Cable convinced Kelly to keep him instead of Everett. The band decided they needed another member to play lead guitar. Simon Collier was the first guitarist brought in, but didn't stay in the band; he did, however, become Kelly's guitar technician. The band tried hiring two other guitarists, another Richard Jones and Glenn Hyde. Neither stayed for long. Hyde did however play harmonica on "Rooftop" for the band's 2001 album Just Enough Education to Perform. After Hyde left, the band stuck as a three-piece act.

Answer this question "Anything else interesting?"
output:
After Hyde left, the band stuck as a three-piece act.