Blackpool Lights Biography & Awards

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Artist Info

Formed

2004 Kansas City, MO

Members

Thom Hoskins, Brian Everard, Jim Suptic, J.D. Warnock, Billy Brimblecom Jr.

Biography

When the pioneering emo band the Get Up Kids called it quits in 2005, guitarist Jim Suptic pressed on with his next project, Blackpool Lights. The indie rock foursome started in 2004 with Suptic (vocals/guitar), Brian Everard (bass), Billy Brimblecom (drums), and J.D. Warnock (guitar/vocals). Like Suptic, each member had previously played with other alternative rock bands, most notably Brimblecom, who released one album on Arista with Stick in 1993. He also played stints with the Creature Comforts and the Los Angeles dance-punk act theSTART in the early 2000s. After self-releasing an EP, Blackpool Lights started Curb Appeal Records to put out their first full length. In the midst of recording their first album in early 2005, Brimblecom was tragically struck with a cancerous disease called Ewing's sarcoma. This rare kind of cancer caused Brimblecom's left leg to be amputated from the knee down; however, he beat the disease and continued to play with a prosthetic leg. Warnock left the group in November 2005 and Thom Hoskins (guitar/vocals), formerly of the Belles and the Buffalo Saints, was named as his replacement in the new year. This Town's Disaster marked their proper debut in June 2006. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide