The Ramona Flowers

Bristol-based quintet the Ramona Flowers came together out of the ashes of several other projects. The core of the group consisted of guitarist Sam James, bassist Wayne Jones, and keyboardist/guitarist Dave Bets, who met up with drummer Ed Gallmore and vocalist Steve Bird to begin crafting moody, electronically peppered alternative rock sounds in the vein of textural but still traditional acts like U2. They gigged often locally before catching the attention of indie Distiller Records. The label issued their 2012 EP, Dismantle; a 2013 follow-up EP, Lust and Lies; and eventually their full-length debut, Dismantle and Rebuild, in 2014. ~ Fred Thomas