The Zutons are an indie rock band and were formed in 2001. When the band was formed, it took its name from guitarist Bill Harkleroad aka Zoot Horn or Zuton, who was part of a band called The Magic Band, who were a US rock band.
The Zutons is made up of members Dave McCabe, who had previously been in Tramp Attack, Russell Pritchard, Sean Payne and Howie Payne. Originally they were a four piece band with Sean Payne’s girlfriend Abi Harding joining The Zutons on stage for a couple of songs now and again and playing simple saxophone lines. She was a big hit with the crowd and she later became a full member of the band, now contributing vocals and saxophone.
They released their first album in 2004 called Who Killed The Zutons and their biggest hits so far have been tracks titled Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love and Valerie. Both hits broke into the top 10 of the UK singles chart and Valerie was covered by Amy Winehouse in 2007.
The Zutons released another album called Tired of Hanging Around in April 2006 and it reached number 2 spot in the UK album charts. Later in the year The Zutons recorded a live session for Live from Abbey Road in August 2006. 3 songs from their second album were featured, the songs were titled Hello Conscience, I Know I’ll Never Leave and of course Valerie. The performance was shown on Channel 4.
In the year 2007 the band announced that guitarist Boyan Chowdhury had left due to musical differences and member Russell Pritchard said it hit them hard and set them back quite a bit. One year later the band was dropped from Sony as a result of them not meeting the labels’ sales expectations. The Zutons also played at midnight at the fantastic Wickerman festival in 2009.