On this day, 1 February 2005, indie rock band Rooster played Cardiff University.
After his previous band 50.Grind broke up, singer Nick Atkinson formed Rooster with childhood friend Luke Potashnick, who had attended Eastbourne College with him on guitar. The pair began writing songs together, before enlisting drummer Dave Neale (who had previously toured with Potashnick) and then bassist Ben Smyth (after advertising the role in the music press) to complete the lineup of the band in late 2003.
The name Rooster was chosen based on that of a horse on which Atkinson won £250 in a bet.
Rooster signed with Hugh Goldsmith's Sony BMG sub-label Brightside Recordings and recorded their debut album with producers including Steve Robson, Pete Woodroffe and Charlie Grant. The band released their first single "Come Get Some" on 11 October 2004, which reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
Also in 2004, the group became the first to broadcast a live performance over the 3G mobile phone network. "Staring at the Sun" followed on 10 January 2005,[6] which peaked at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart.
Two weeks after "Staring at the Sun", Rooster's self-titled debut album was released on 24 January 2005. The album reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, behind Push the Button by The Chemical Brothers and Hot Fuss by The Killers, and as of July 2006 had sold over 500,000 copies, approximately half of which were in the UK.
