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On This Day, 11/04/2008, rock band Elliot Minor played Cardiff University.
Elliot Minor started as 'The Academy' with Alex Davies and Ed Minton as an acoustic duo when they met at Uppingham School, both aged thirteen years old. Alex Davies, Dan and Ed Hetherton, and Ali Paul originally attended The Minster School, York, and had music scholarships to sing in the cathedral choir at York Minster. Davies invited childhood friend Dan Hetherton as a drummer to a band practice to see if he was interested in joining. Dan Hetherton recruited his brother Ed (nicknamed 'Teddy') to join the band on bass. Ali Paul was eventually invited to join the band on keyboard, completing the band's lineup. The band name was changed to 'Elliot Minor' to avoid copyright issues with 'The Academy'.
Elliot Minor signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records and recorded their debut album in Santa Monica, California, with Jim Wirt, producer for Hoobastank, Jack's Mannequin, Something Corporate, Incubus and others, and it debuted on 14 April 2008. Many of the songs from the album were written during their school days. Upon release, the album managed to debut at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and at No. 30 on the Irish Albums Chart.
That same year (2008), Elliot Minor played at several large music festivals, including T in the Park, Reading and Leeds, and Download Festival. Davies and Minton performed an acoustic cover of Propane Nightmares by Pendulum at T in the Park for Radio 1. Elliot Minor also made an appearance on Jo Whiley's Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 3, recording a cover of Take That's "Rule the World". Their song "Running Away" was featured on the BBC's coverage of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.
