Elbowing their way to success

Manchester band Elbow followed in the footsteps of Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys, and Dizzee Rascal when they scooped the highly-coveted Nationwide Mercury Prize for their fourth album 'The Seldom Seen Kid' on Tuesday (09.09.08). In true Mercury Prize fashion, the judges' decision to pay tribute to Elbow surprised some members of the music community - not because they were the rank outsider but because they were the second favourite to scoop the gong.Although Elbow were one of the bookmakers' tips to walk away with the award - which honours the best British album of the last 12 months and includes a £20,000 cheque - many expected Radiohead, who have been nominated four times but have never received the gong, or secretive dub-step star Burial to scoop the prize. In previous years it has gone to alternative or little-known acts; virtually nobody had predicted that Antony and The Johnsons would have been victorious when their were pitted against such musical colossuses as Coldplay and Kaiser Chiefs in 2005. In fact, the award is well known for shunning successful musicians in favour of lesser-known hopefuls.News Elbow had managed to fight off fierce competition from 11 other acts certainly seemed to surprise frontman Guy Garvey, who took to the stage to receive the award from host Jools Holland looking like he could not quite believe what he was hearing."I know I'm supposed to be cool and say something coy," he said. "But this is quite literally the best thing that has ever happened to us."The band went on to announce they were dedicating their win to their musician friend Bryan Glancy who died in 2006 and inspired many of the tracks on 'The Seldom Seen Kid'."Nobody involved in music in Manchester over the last 20 years is a stranger to Brian. He died a couple of years ago and was a very close friend of ours," Guy said. "He was a great man and he should be stood here in many ways so it's great to be able to tell people about how great he was."Some of his music will be coming out soon and so everyone else will know how great he was as well. We dedicated the record to him and dedicated the prize to him as well and that trophy there, that very heavy trophy, will be sat on Mandy Glancy's mantelpiece, his mum. She is a particularly amazing lady."

The annual Nationwide Mercury Prize, now in its 15th year, is solely judged on talent, innovation and the music on the LP, rather than commercial sales or media exposure. It was initially established in 1992 as an alternative to the increasingly industry and sales-dominated BRIT Awards, and is often given to outsiders as a 'leg up' in the industry.

A panel of music executives from the UK and Republic of Ireland choose the nominees, and this year decided to shortlist Adele, British Sea Power, Burial, Elbow, Estelle, Laura Marling, Neon Neon, Portico Quartet, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, Radiohead, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and The Last Shadow Puppets.

'The Seldom Seen Kid' has been Elbow's most successful album to date, reaching number five in the UK album chart when it was released in March. The group - which formed in 1990 and took 10 years to release their debut, 'Asleep At The Back' - were previously nominated for the accolade in 2001 but beaten to the prize by PJ Harvey's 'Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea'.

Speaking before this year's ceremony, Guy admitted the group have mixed memories about the last time they were nominated - the ceremony took place on September 11, the day of the terrorist attacks in America.

"The day was overshadowed by the events in New York," he said. "But nevertheless, being nominated was great for us because it led a lot of people to our music. And it's usually a fantastic night."

He added the band were delighted to make the shortlist a second time, especially as they have so much respect for many of the artists they are up against.

"It's just an incredibly strong list, I've got most of the records on there which is not always the case with the Mercury," he said. "You never know with the Mercury Prize. I was a judge for the Ivor Novellos this year and it's such a complicated process to get to a winner because you end up getting really passionate about it."

Despite Guy's obvious amazement his band had managed to scoop the prize, this year's judges had nothing but praise for 'The Seldom Seen Kid'.

NME magazine editor Conor McNicholas called the album "something that you fall in love with, and it feels like falling in love".

"It's incredibly emotional, but it's not self indulgent at all," he added. "The album's that good that you will go back to it in years to come and there're some albums on the list that you couldn't say that about. And Guy Garvey's a hero. He's the drunken poet at the end of the bar, who just has this aura of cool, and they've had it for years."

Rock critic and fellow judge Jude Rogers, paid tribute by saying: "It's such a passionate record, it's from the heart, it's from the gut. It's beautiful, it's romantic, it's dark, it's gorgeous, it's just a really, really wonderful record."

This year's Nationwide Mercury Prize was one of the most fiercely fought yet, with judges receiving 240 entries. The ceremony, held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, featured performances from many of the nominees, with the Last Shadow Puppets - Arctic Monkey's frontman Alex Turner's side project - opening the show with the help of an orchestra. British Sea Power were the next to take to the stage, but their surprising decision to use an air raid siren did not go down well with all members of the audience.

One nominee who was noticeable by his absence was Burial, who was tipped to win the award. The dub-step star's real identity is a hotly debated topic. Although he recently ousted himself as South Londoner William Bevan on social networking site MySpace, speculation was soon rife he had given himself a "fake" identity in order to secure his anonymity. The music website NME.com claimed online searches reveal that website Williambevan.co.uk belongs to a Herefordshire-based undertakers - arguing that the name has been chosen as a clever twist on Burial.

The air of mystery which surrounds him caused many pundits to predict he would walk away with the accolade. Bookmaker William Hill are particularly pleased his rumoured success did not come to fruition: had he won the firm would have had to pay out a five-figure sum to one punter. The enormous bet worried the company so much that, after it was placed, the bookmaker slashed its odds on the musician winning from 6/1 to 4/7.

Despite releasing his first album, the eponymously titled 'Burial' in 2006 to vast critical acclaim - named as The Wire magazine's album of the year and coming fifth in Mixmag's Album of the Year list - and in 'Untrue' having one of the most hotly-anticipated releases of last year, Burial has always managed to keep his real identity under wraps.

He recalled: "I was buzzing, totally buzzing when the first record did so well. But I had to hide that feeling, I didn't really have anyone to tell, apart from my brothers and my family - but that was all that mattered to me.

"I like it that way. I've had times when I've had mates sitting next to me and they've put my tunes on without knowing. I would just sit there whispering to myself, 'Please don't put that on - or at least, don't say anything bad about it.' I've had someone say to me, 'Yeah, Burial's a girl. I know someone who met her.' "

Some have dubbed the judges' decision to award Elbow the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize farcical, arguing the band have already achieved commercial success having been together for 18 years. There is also the point that, unlike newcomers Adele and Laura Marling, who only burst onto the music scene last year, Elbow's music does not sound particularly fresh or relevant.

And what of the suggestion Elbow have done little to push the boundaries of music during their career? Certainly they are not a band who would even contemplate allowing their fans to choose how much they paid for their latest album, as Radiohead did with their nominated effort 'In Rainbows'.

However, perhaps in bestowing the mild-mannered Manchester band with the prestigious award, the judges have simply followed the trend of bucking what is expected of them? Elbow may not have enjoyed the longest, or shortest, career of all the nominees; they might not have shunned publicity; they might not have pushed music forward with all kinds of wizard-like production; they may not have risked losing millions by releasing an album for free; and they may not be the most, or least, well-known band to make the Nationwide Mercury Prize shortlist. But isn't it precisely this which makes their triumph all the most surprising? And, just like in years past, who really expected them to win?

By Hannah Ferrett