22-20s

Trimble and Bartup first began playing across Lincolnshire and the north of England together as teenagers in Crossfire, who later changed their name to Outside Help»http://www.fridhammar.se/xmartintr.html, where their sets comprised mostly of blues covers»http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/fizgig-tom/gig-reviews-2000-2003.htm#martin%20trimble. They toured the country and performed at blues festivals in Maryport, Colne and Holland»http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/oct/24/shopping.popandrock before splitting in November 2001»http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/fizgig-tom/bluesprofiles-99-03.htm. Trimble then formed The Infidels with session musician Gary Rudd and Natasha Allan»http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/onyourstreet/msgary.shtml»http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/fizgig-tom/bluesnews.htm and continued to perform as The Martin Trimble band with Outside Help drummer Mark Barrett and Bartup on bass, who had previously played guitar.

Aged 19, Trimble and Bartup recorded a four song demo in Mansfield including Such A Fool, 22 Days and Devil In Me, as the 22-20s, named after the Skip James song "22-20 Blues", and began playing gigs mixing original material with Muddy Waters covers. The lineup consisted of Martin Trimble on guitar/vocals, Glen Bartup on bass and Mark Barrett on drums. The band toured Europe in May 2002, for which they placed an online ad for a blues drummer»http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/fizgig-tom/bluesnews.htm. Former Thunder Monkey member James Irving joined the band in August 2002»http://www.lincolnbands.co.uk/bands/thundermonkey.htm»http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/8200-“the-best-thing-about-being-in-a-band-is-being-able-to-afford-better-cigarettes-” before the band were signed. After signing to Heavenly Records, a subsidiary of EMI, following a bidding war between numerous record companies where at one gig the bosses of every major American record label turned up and was described as "the A&R scramble of the century"»http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/oct/24/shopping.popandrock, the band moved to Oxford»http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/2220s-blues-thunder-543747.html. Originally a 3 piece, they would later be augmented live by Charly Coombes (Oxford resident and brother of Supergrass' Gaz and Rob Coombes) on keyboards, who subsequently joined full time during recording sessions for the first studio album.

Their first studio-recorded album, a self-titled, 10-track effort, was released in September 2004, following a six-track live EP released the previous year. Both releases were critically acclaimed »http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-2220s-546522.html»http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/xzxm»http://www.rockfeedback.com/review/1/2220s-0503-heavenly/. They toured the U.K., U.S., Australia, Japan and Europe and supported the likes of Oasis, Supergrass»http://www.r13.co.uk/news/221/2220s_Support_Supergrass.html and Graham Coxon»http://www.alloverme.co.uk/grahamcoxon/new2005.htm.

After cancelling appearances at V Festival, Pukkelpop, Cambridge and London due to illness on 16 August 2005»http://www.gigwise.com/news/7936/22-20s-Pull-Out-Of-V-Festival-Due-To-Illness, it was announced on 25 January 2006 that the band had split whilst in the process of working on their second album in New York. It was believed that Trimble was set to pursue a solo career»http://www.gigwise.com/news/12841/Exclusive-The-22-20s-Split.

Trimble posted on the band's official MySpace that he was working on new material with Bartup and suggested that he would be touring later in the year. He also confirmed that what he was working on would not be a solo album and that a new website would launch soon. The MySpace page was then deleted and a website never appeared»http://members3.jcom.home.ne.jp/rock4ever/22-20s_news.html.

The band reformed for a one off gig at the Heavenly Festival in September 2008 at the Royal Festival Hall in London at the request of Heavenly Records»http://www.nme.com/news/22-20s/38474. The band were joined by second guitarist Dan Hare, formerly of Sleaford band The Jubilees»http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/content/articles/2006/01/23/the_jubilees_feature.shtml. Charly Coombes, who is now a touring member of Supergrass, was not present and is no longer involved with the band»NME.com. At the time, a spokesman for the band stated that there were no plans for the band to continue beyond the gig»http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/education/Oasis-backing-group-comeback-quashed/article-329184-detail/article.html.

The band then secretly toured England under the pseudonym Bitter Pills (the title of one of the band's new songs) in September 2009, including Oxford Jericho Tavern, Hull Adelphi and Northampton Picturedrome previewing new material.

A new album entitled "Shake/Shiver/Moan" is set for release in May 2010 in Japan»http://the22-20s.com/»http://www.randc.jp/22-20s/top.html. Release details for the UK and Europe are currently unknown.