The View

by Tammy La Gorce

The View -- a Scottish quartet comprised of bassist Kieran Webster, lead guitarist Pete Reilly, lead singer Kyle Falconer, and drummer Steve Morrison -- came together in the band's native Dundee (near Scotland's east coast) in 2005, before any of the bandmates had entered their early twenties. Prior to storming the U.K. with their energetic, scruffy ska-punk and throwback rock, the young bandmates cut their teeth as a cover band. But as of 2007, when they made their heralded U.S. debut at a concert in New York City, those days were far behind them.

One year before the View's American debut, the band had signed with 1965 Records, a label distributed by Columbia and run by James Endeacott (who had worked with similar red-hot acts, from the Strokes to the Libertines). Buzz began to build around the band's promise and peaked with the international release of 2007's Hats Off to the Buskers, a confident debut album that topped the U.K. charts and spawned the hit singles "Superstar Tradesman" and "Wasted Little DJ's." The band's influences were easy to note -- the Clash, Oasis, and the Libertines, among others -- but the View's lyrics remained slightly more mysterious, a product of Falconer's brogue and affinity for Scottishisms. The View's sophomore release, Which Bitch?, arrived nearly two years later, featuring an ambitious sound that found critical approval but failed to generate the sales of its predecessor, as it dropped quickly from the U.K. album charts after its February 2009 release.