Live From SXSW: We Were Promised Jetpacks - "Boy in the Backseat"

When childhood friends Adam Thompson, Michael Palmer, Sean Smith and Darren Lackie first played music together, they were fifteen years old and had fairly modest expectations. But the band quickly realized they had something more to offer than a few hazy nights spent bashing out their raggedy tunes. We Were Promised Jetpacks relocated from Edinburg to Glasgow, where they begin to garner some serious attention for their brand of emotive, soaring guitar-pop; soon, the folks at FatCat Records had taken notice while listening to MySpace friends of fellow Scotsmen (and FatCat signees) Frightened Rabbit. Jetpacks were offered the opening spot on Frightened Rabbits’ 2008 U.K. Tour, and the next year released their stunning first record, These Four Walls, an anthemic expression of personal angst delivered with heart-pounding urgent tempos and over-the-top choruses. It struck a chord with crowds on both sides of the pond.

Watch We Were Promised Jetpacks perform “Boy in the Backseat” at the Sennheiser & Paste Present the Stages on Sixth.