(antiMusic) Klaxons have won the 2007 Mercury Prize. They beat out stiff competition from Amy Winehouse, Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal and more with their Geffen debut Myths of the Near Future. They also plan to give the cash prize to charity. When receiving the award bassist/vocalist Jamie Reynolds stated "The Mercury Prize is about pushing music forward and this is what we did." Reynolds also said the band was "stunned'' because of the competition from Winehouse and the Arctic Monkeys especially. "A year ago today we were in the studio recording our album and watching the Arctic Monkeys win the Mercury,'' Reynolds said, "...we did not imagine that we would ever follow them or at least not so soon.''
Gigwise caught up with Reynolds and he tells them of the band's plans for the prize money, "We want to donate the money to a very worthy cause - we havent considered who it is yet but we want to give money to something interesting, we want to inject a spark somewhere.
The Mercury Prize has been awarded annually since 1992. While it is worth 20,000 pounds ($40,250), the increase in sales can be worth so much more. Klaxons are due to return to the US for another round of tour dates along with a very special show with Bjork at Madison Square Garden on 9/24, not even a year from their very first gig in the USA... along with a sting of headlining shows across the nation. They will also make their US debut television appearance on Conan O'Brien on October 11th.
Other nominees for 2007 included: Amy Winehouse ``Back to Black'' - Arctic Monkeys ``Favourite Worst Nightmare'' - Basquiat Strings ``Basquiat Strings With Seb Rochford'' - Bat for Lashes ``Fur and Gold'' - Dizzee Rascal ``Maths + English'' - Fionn Regan ``The End of History'' - Jamie T ``Panic Prevention'' - Maps ``We Can Create'' - New Young Pony Club ``Fantastic Playroom'' - The View ``Hats Off to the Buskers'' - The Young Knives ``Voices of Animals and Men''
