Formed in Bristol in 2001 by friends Aaron Dewey (vocals and cornet, though he is also an accomplished drummer) and Benjamin Shillabeer (guitar and songwriting), the Playwrights played a brand of angular post-punk inspired by Gang of Four and popularized by bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. The duo recorded a handful of demos before filling out the group with guitarist Nathan Edmunds, drummer Maff Rigby, and bassist Andrew Smith and released their debut album, Good Beneath the Radar, in 2003 on Shillabeer's Sink & Stove label, which gained the group some press (John Peel declared the album one of his favorites of May 2003) both in the U.K. and U.S.
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© 2008