2003–2007: Origins in July 2011 When the band was formed in Indianapolis in 2003, Alan "Alphonso" Raymond Sharland (drummer) and Irwin Nathaniel Sparkes (lead singer and guitarist) spent some time in the
United States, encouraged by their chemistry teacher
Grant Serpell, (who was part of the band
Sailor during their fame in the 1970s), in an attempt to broaden their horizons. The pair won themselves a football scholarship at the
University of Indianapolis, despite a reputed claim to be "allergic to running" (a claim which is backed up by lead singer Sparkes' asthma). Their time spent in
Indiana inspired the band's name, as a citizen of Indiana is colloquially called a
Hoosier. Having gathered enough material to compile an album, Sharland and Sparkes returned to London, where they met Swiss keyboard player and sound engineer Duri Darms and Martin Skarendahl, a Swedish ex-fireman who was then working with Darms as a recording studio engineer and studying at The London Music School. The original group included two band members (Tony Byrne and Tom Easey) who had left by this point, leaving Sparkes and Sharland to replace them with Skarendahl.
2007–2011: The Trick to Life and The Illusion of Safety This newly revamped trio of Sparkes, Skarendahl, and Sharland subsequently signed to
RCA and released their first album
The Trick to Life on 22 October 2007. The band have spoken of their desire to write songs that are about more than just "boy and girl... finding love on a Friday night on the lash with your mates". In February 2008, they were named as Worst Band at the annual
NME awards. They were produced by ex-member of
Jamiroquai,
Toby Smith, until his death in 2017, and managed by Steve Morton. The band's second single, "
Goodbye Mr A", appeared in the
football video game FIFA 08, and the game can also be seen in the "Goodbye Mr A"
music video. Following the release of "
Worst Case Scenario", the next release from
The Trick to Life was "
Cops and Robbers". For their second album,
The Illusion of Safety, several changes were made, including a more synthesised sound and the drummer 'Alphonso' returning to his given name Alan.
The Illusion of Safety gave the first single "Choices" and includes the song "Unlikely Hero", for which a video was filmed in a quarry in Derbyshire. The latter was due to be a single until it was announced that this was not the case on 14 October 2010.
2011–2013: Bumpy Ride It was announced on 1 April 2011, that the band had departed from their record labels
RCA and
Sony Music after a dispute over the promotion of their latest album
The Illusion of Safety. Sparkes told the
Daily Record, "I don't think many people knew that the second album had been released, so we're having to reissue it to bring it to people's awareness." The band announced that they were repackaging and re-releasing the album with a new title,
Bumpy Ride, on 11 April 2011. The rerelease comes with 4 new album tracks, and a deluxe version comes with a DVD of live performances. On 24 May 2013, they appeared at Bradford University's Party on the Amp to perform a few songs, including "Goodbye Mr A". On 25 May 2013, they appeared at
Roehampton University's summerball to perform a few songs. On 18 July 2013, they performed at
Bishop Grosseteste University,
Lincoln, England. On 19 July 2013, they appeared at Bugjam,
Santa Pod Raceway, as one of the headline acts. It was announced by the band on Twitter that long-term keyboard player Sam Swallow would be joining the band as a full member in 2013.
2013–2022: The News From Nowhere and The Secret Service On 17 September 2013, the Hoosiers sent an email out to their fans announcing the planned release of their new album
The News from Nowhere. The news was accompanied by the release of the first single from this album, "Somewhere in the Distance", a few weeks later. The band asked fans to pre-order the album. They also gave fans the chance to appear in their "Somewhere in the Distance" video and visit the recording studio. The album was released on 14 April 2014 under the record label 'Crab Race' and was made available on
iTunes,
Google Play, as well as streaming services such as
Spotify. Shortly after the release of the album the band embarked on a UK-wide tour in the summer of 2014. This tour would be their last with founding bassist Martin Skarendahl who left the band in July 2015, in what was described by the remaining members as "one of the most amicable decisions in music history". After the departure of Skarendahl, the band began work on their fourth studio album titled
The Secret Service. Like
The News from Nowhere, the band asked fans to pre-order the album and offered a similar incentive system to help with the production of new music. On 9 October 2015, the album was released, preceded by the EPs
The Wheels Fell Off and
Up to No Good. The band followed up the album with two live albums; one with recordings taken from a performance at the London Islington Academy from the 'Tour from Nowhere' in May 2014, and the other was titled
Acoustic Songs in a Church which included 12 tracks from across the band's four albums to date, each song recorded in one take on a single day in February 2014. As both albums were recorded in 2014 before Martin's departure, they are the last albums to feature the full line-up of the Hoosiers to date. After finishing their tour in 2016, it was announced that Swallow would be leaving the band.
2023–Present: Confidence and Compassion On 15 September 2023 they released their fifth studio album
Confidence. During the summer of 2024 The Hoosiers supported bands
McFly and
Madness at select UK dates. On 15 May 2026, the duo will release their sixth album
Compassion. ==Side Projects==