The Thrills formed in 2001 in Dublin and consist of lead vocalist Conor Deasy, guitarist Daniel Ryan, guitarist and bass player Padraic McMahon, pianist Kevin Horan and drummer Ben Carrigan. Debut album ”So Much For The City”, whose songs are mainly inspired by a summer holiday the band members took in Santa Cruz, was released in 2003, making number 3 on the UK Album chart, and topping the Irish Album chart. The album produced the UK Top 20 singles “One Horse Town” (number 18) and “Big Sur” (number 17), and also “Santa Cruz” (number 33) and “Don’t Steal Our Sun” (number 45).

Second album ”Let’s Bottle Bohemia” also made the UK Top 10 on it’s release in 2004, peaking at number 9. Of the 3 singles release from the album, only “Whatever Happened To Corey Haim?” was successful, reaching 22 on the UK Singles chart (“Not For All The Love In The World” and “The Irish Keep Gate Crashing” charted at numbers 39 and 48 respectively).

The Thrills’ third album, 2007’s “Teenager”, was released in July 2007, but only just broke into the Top 50 on the UK Album chart, peaking at number 48, with lead single “Nothing Changes Around Here” barely making the UK Top 40. The band subsequently dropped by EMI after the poor performance of “Teenager”.