"Pssst. Do you want to know a secret? There's this band, right, and they're quite possibly the best teenage punk band in the world" NME, July'98
"in short Llama Farmers are the future of rock'n'roll. Brilliant" Melody Maker
Llama Farmers came into being in a classroom sometime in 1996. Friends William Briggs and Brooke Rogers, bored of algebra, asked the 14 year old Jennie Simpson to join them on bass in their then nameless band. On her first rehearsal Jennie brought along her older brother, Bernie, for moral support but by the end of the rehearsal he too had been recruited on guitar and vocals. A Chilean friend at school, who the band had nicknamed 'Llama Farmer', gave them their somewhat unusual moniker.
After only a handful of gigs in the pubs of their hometown Greenwich things soon escalated to a far more serious level. Before they knew it the band were on stage at the Shepherd's Bush Empire supporting Foo Fighters, and had their first tour lined up as guests of Green Day.
Fierce Panda Records were soon on the case, releasing two 7" singles - 'Always Echoes' and 'Paper Eyes' - both were given hearty support from XFM and gathered a flurry of great reviews.
The summer of 1998 saw them very prevalent on the festival scene with appearances at Glastonbury, T in the Park and Reading festivals. Shortly afterwards a deal with Beggars Banquet was signed and sealed.
The first single for Beggars 'Big Wheels' was released in January '99 and coincided with the NME Bratbus tour with Unkle, Idlewild and Delakota.
The debut album Dead Letter Chorus was released on June 7th to great media praise. Recorded at Sawmills Studio in the Devonshire wilderness, and produced by Clive Warren it featured singles 'Always Echoes' , 'Big Wheels', 'Get the Keys and Go' and the recent 'Yellow'.
Having spent the summer playing at various festivals across Europe as well as the Reading and Leeds festivals, Llama Farmers hit the road on their second headline tour throughout September.
