With three hit singles under their belt and fourth single ‘Still Figuring Out’ set for release Jan 28th, York quintet Elliot Minor have quietly infiltrated the charts and are poised to crash into the mainstream in a major fashion. Recently praised by Kerrang!, the band have already charted with their debut ‘Parallel Worlds’ and the Top 20 follow-up ‘Jessica’ and the latest hit “The White One is Evil’ and played to a 10,000 capacity festival crowd at Download’s Dimebag Darrell Stage. ‘Still Figuring Out’ can currently be heard on Radio 1, Kerrang and Virgin Extreme and can be seen on Kerrang, MTV, The Box and The Hits. It’s evident that Elliot Minor are Britain’s biggest best kept secret.

"It was a real honour to play on the same bill as bands like Iron Maiden, Slayer and Machine Head as they're all renowned for being amazing live,” enthuses Elliot Minor frontman Alex Davies. “I relished the challenge and we received an awesome reaction, so it was a great experience for us."

Musically, Elliot Minor mix influences ranging from the piano-infused hard rock of ‘Time After Time’ to the sonically charged ‘Parallel Worlds’, which is embellished with grandiose orchestration. They deliver pitch perfect three-way vocal harmonies on the infectious ‘The White One is Evil’ and add an undertone of ultra-melodic punk to ‘Still Figuring It Out’. In the live arena, Elliot Minor perform with an accomplishment that belies their youth.

“Songwriting occurs naturally to me”, he says with decision. “When I go to write a song, I don’t think about what it’s going to be about,” he adds, pointing to lyrics that transverse themes as diverse as gangsters (‘Jackie Jules’), ghostly events (‘Parallel Worlds’), the repetition of his gap year (‘Time After Time’) and lusting after movie stars (‘Jessica’).

Davies provides the central thrust of the band’s creativity. A classically trained musician gifted with an innate gift for melody and an ability to turn his skills to whatever instrument he picks up, Alex is the sort of the person for whom music is a life-affirming necessity rather than a mere interest. A highly prolific writer, he has a unique take on life that makes him a fascinating personality and a thoroughly engaging frontman. Always eager to express his musicianship in new and creative ways, Alex has the talent to ensure that there’s so much more to come in the future.

“A lot of the harmonies are classically based, so that whole side of my background is represented, “ he explains. “Then there’s the whole band performances backed by an orchestra that really emphasizes those instruments and the chord progressions.”

Like Alex, the other four members of Elliot Minor are also from classically trained backgrounds. The band’s roots were cemented when Ed Minton, then the only NOFX and Drive Thru Records fan at his music school, introduced his friend Alex, then obsessed with classical music and playing the organ, to the world of rock and riffs. Green Day, Blink 182, Goldfinger and The Ataris all became particular favourites as the duo started writing songs together. But it wasn’t until 2005 that Elliot Minor became a concrete proposition when a chance meeting united them with drummer Dan Hetherton (who has since pushed the band’s huge online following). The line-up was soon solidified with the addition of Dan’s brother Teddy on bass and Alex’s childhood friend Ali Paul on keyboards. The band’s influences have since expanded to include the likes of The Used, Ash, Lostprophets and Audioslave.