The concept of the Supergroup is over one hundred years old. In jazz it was still called Allstar Band and made an institution that either big bands battle each other or the winners of the big polls are called Poll Winners Band. In rock Cream united to form the first supergroup, the Beatles mutated into the supergroup of their own members by 1968 at the latest, and countless examples followed, from Emerson, Lake & Palmer to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Traveling Wilburys to Them Crooked Vultures.
The latest version of a supergroup are the British Minor Victories with Rachel Goswell from Shoegaze pioneers Slowdive, Stuart Braithwaite from postrockers Mogwai and Justin Lockey from indie group Editors. It can't get any fatter. Fourth in the group is Justin's brother James Lockey, who is with a band called Hand Held Cinema Club. As the name suggests, the Minor Victories love understatement. They have little to do with the term supergroup. Rightly so, because they don't sound like the sum of their parts, but have a whole new story to tell.
"Slowdive and the editors have the same management," Rachel Goswell soberly recapitulates the story. "In 2014 Justin sent me some song ideas about the management and asked me if I wanted to sing on them. But both of us were too busy with our bands to really care about it. At the beginning of 2015 we picked up this thread again, sent some files back and forth and quickly decided to get a guitarist. I'd met Stuart a few times - I like his stuff - and brought him in."
