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What ever happened to: The Cooper Temple Clause
Indie | Friday 4th October 2013 | Conor
Emerging from Reading, The Cooper Temple Clause were touted by NME as the saviours of Rock and Roll which may sound impressive at first but lets be honest, what band with a guitar wasn’t labelled with this accolade between 2001 and 2007?
But it is pretty safe to say that The Cooper Temple Clause weren’t just a straight up copy of The Strokes like a startlingly large number of their contemporaries.
Over their career they released three albums, with their second album Kick Up the Fire and Let the Flames Break Loose peaking at number 5 in the UK albums chart, the highest position the band achieved.
In April 2007 the guys decided to call it quits and amiably go their separate ways. So here we are 7 years on in 2013, and we’re asking what ever happened to The Cooper Temple Clause?
Ben Gautrey
Ben was the lead vocalist and guitarist for TCTC as well as occasional bassist. After the band’s split Ben went on to manage and play for Ashridge Park FC, and is also chairman of Wokingham Chestnuts Cricket Club. He is currently a member of a new band, Type Two Error along with fellow former TCTC member Kieran Mahon.
Kieran Mahon
In between the split of TCTC and the formation of Type Two Error, Mahon completed an undergraduate degree in History at Queen Mary University, London, before studying for an MA in architectural history at UCL, where he graduated in 2010. Mahon then went on to procure a position teaching at the American InterContinental University in Marylebone and has recently started another part time teaching job at Brighton University in Interior Architecture.
Didz Hammond
Didz Hammond left TCTC in 2005 to join Dirty Pretty Things which featured ex-Libertines members Carl Barat and Gary Powell. After this venture ended in 2008, Hammond played bass in Brett Anderson’s solo band, and then went on to manage Suede.
Tom Bellamy
Bellamy is currently a member of White Belt Yellow Tag along with former Yourcodenameis:milo guitarist Justin Lockey. He also DJs under the alias of Rhysmix. In 2010 Bellamy wrote and produced the Pure Reason Revolution album Hammer and Anvil along with fellow Reading lad Jon Courtney.
Jon Harper
Harper was TCTC’s drummer, who went on to fill the drumming vacancy for CSS after Iracema Trevisan left the Brazilian group. In 2009 Jon joined ex-Sneaker Pimp’s Chris Corner’s IAMX project as a member of the live band. Harper is also a lecturer and tutor at the Bristol Institute of Modern Music.
Dan Fisher
Dan Fisher formed another band, Red Kite, in 2011. Red Kite’s sound is reminiscent to that of TCTC. Red Kite are set to embark on a five date tour of the UK in November, as well as releasing the video for their latest song ‘Dance with Crow’ yesterday.
By Conor Giles
