Kid British came into existence when Sean Mbaya from
Prestwich (who worked as a producer under the name Kid British) worked with a band called Action Manky - made up of schoolmates Adio Marchant from
Chorlton and Simeon McLean and James Mayer from
Withington - who all joined forces in 2007 to form the band, initially known as Kid British & the Action Manky, but soon shortened to simply Kid British. The band signed to
Mercury Records in May 2008, signed a long-term publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing in June, and released their first single "Elizabeth" (7" vinyl only) on the Another Music Another Kitchen label in October of that same year. Their first Mercury release followed in the form of the
Leave London (10" vinyl & digital download)
EP featuring the tracks "She Will Leave", "Lost in London" and "Elizabeth", which was promoted by ten "guerilla gigs" in one day at various London tube stations, which led to the band playing an impromptu version of one of the tracks from the EP in front of Mayor
Boris Johnson when they found themselves in the same train carriage. The four core members of the band were joined by musicians Tom Peek (bass guitar), Dominick Allen (rhythm guitar), and Mikey Wilson (drums). The band received regular airplay from
BBC Radio One's
Chris Moyles and also played support slots for
the Enemy (2007),
the Specials (2009) and
UB40 (2010). The band released the single "Our House Is Dadless" on 7 July 2009, which samples the
Madness song "
Our House", The band's
It Was This or Football First Half EP reached number 67 in the UK in its first week of release, dropping out of the top 75 entirely the following week. In February 2010, the band announced that they were recording new tracks for the album and that it was now planned to be released in summer 2010. The band released the single "Winner" on 28 June, less than 12 hours after the
England football team's
4–1 defeat to
Germany at the
2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which resulted in their elimination from the first round of the bracket phase. It was their first release since being dropped by Mercury Records. It failed to reach the top 100 of the singles chart, but was featured in
Electronic Arts'
tie-in World Cup video game. In 2011, they released an EP called
Northern Stories as a free download; they also did the Northern Stories tour around
Manchester,
Stoke-upon-Trent,
Birmingham,
London,
Wakefield,
Leicester,
Carlisle and
Oswestry. Back with a new line-up, on 24 June 2012 they released an EP called ''You Can't Please Them All'' on
LAB Records with a headline tour that followed. On 27 March 2012, it was confirmed that Kid British would support
the Stone Roses at their
Heaton Park concert in Manchester on 29 June 2012. It was confirmed on 29 June 2012 that Kid British would be doing an intimate UK tour called You Can't Please Them All with six dates taking place, in
Glasgow,
York,
London,
Southampton,
Birmingham and the last date being in their hometown of Manchester. A statement was released along with their final ever Kid British video for the single "You Against the World" on 17 September 2012 that they were going their separate ways, to which they canceled three of their dates on the You Can't Please Them All tour; in Glasgow, York and Southampton for personal reasons. Kid British played their final gig in Manchester in December 2012. During the early part of their career, they worked with famed sound engineer and producer John Pennington, who has worked for many artists including
Moby since leaving
Strawberry Studios. During the last three years of their career, they took on Pete Poweron Smith as their sound engineer, who has written and produced as Big Arm, and done sound with
A Certain Ratio,
Lewis Watson,
Bipolar Sunshine, and James Mayer. ==Musical style==