Side projects come about for many reasons. Some musicians are frustrated by rigidly defined roles within their groups and seek an outlet. Others are musically curious to try new things that wouldn’t work within their established genre.
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In rare instances, the side project becomes more famous than the already-famous band.
“Side project” probably isn’t a fair description. It implies a kind of throwaway approach to the music. Most of the bands below formed while the musicians’ day gigs were still active (apart from The Beatles). But they each stand well outside the shadow of their legendary bands.
Gorillaz
Record labels market side projects using the fame of its band members. But Damon Albarn of Blur and artist Jamie Hewlett, instead, created a virtual band called Gorillaz. Early in the group’s career, they’d perform live behind a screen of animated characters.
Gorillaz sounds very different from Blur, showcasing Albarn’s creative range. They blend hip-hop, electronic, and world music, selling enough records to give Albarn yet another stadium band. When Albarn returned to Blur, some elements of his experimentations with Gorillaz found their way to his iconic Britpop band. Gorillaz’s defining song is “Feel Good Inc.,” which is nearing 1.5 billion streams on Spotify.
The Smile
The members of Radiohead have released solo projects for years, beginning with Thom Yorke’s glitchy and beautifully despairing solo debut The Eraser. Meanwhile, guitarist Jonny Greenwood has become one of the world’s most prominent modern classical composers, responsible for acclaimed film scores like There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread, Spencer, and The Power of the Dog.
While Yorke and Greenwood receive the most attention, drummer Philip Selway has quietly released three impressive albums of his own. But Yorke and Greenwood formed The Smile to assuage Greenwood’s frustration with the snail’s pace with which Radiohead works. Jazz drummer Tom Skinner completes the trio and The Smile’s two albums, A Light for Attracting Attention (2022) and Wall of Eyes (2024), would each stand as great Radiohead albums had they been released under their more famous band name.
Sebadoh
Lou Barlow co-founded Sebadoh with Eric Gaffney in 1986 as a creative vehicle for his songwriting. In his better-known and legendary band Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis is the primary songwriter, and for Barlow, just being the bass player wasn’t enough.
Barlow’s lo-fi home recordings first appeared as a cassette titled Weed Forestin’ in 1987 under the name Sentridoh. Sebadoh’s debut The Freed Man was issued by Homestead in 1989. Sub Pop released the group’s fourth album Bubble & Scrape in 1993—it’s heartbreaking, darkly romantic, and the first record they’d complete in a professional studio. It’s considered to be their finest and includes the indie breakup classic “Soul and Fire.”
The Raconteurs
The Raconteurs are an indie rock supergroup consisting of Jack White, Brendan Benson, and members of The Greenhornes—bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler. The band provided White with an outlet from his blues revivalist duo The White Stripes. But it also gave White an equally strong songwriting partner in Benson.
They debuted with Broken Boy Soldiers in 2006, featuring “Steady, As She Goes.” The single is now a standard in White’s solo concerts. Consolers of the Lonely followed in 2008 and continued the Nashville group’s blend of power pop and garage rock. They released a third album, Help Us Stranger, in 2019. The Raconteurs remain White’s most compelling post-White Stripes work.
Traveling Wilburys
The Traveling Wilburys is the kind of group you’d dream up hypothetically. “What if Bob Dylan and one of The Beatles, with Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne formed a band?” Well, they did. George Harrison suggested the idea to Lynne who asked who the other members might be. Harrison replied, Bob Dylan. As one does. Lynne suggested Orbison.
Petty arrived as Harrison was retrieving a guitar from his house and the first song the-soon-to-be-group completed together was “Handle with Care,” recorded in Dylan’s garage in Malibu, California. It was supposed to be a Harrison B-side to “This Is Love.” But the record label thought the song was too good for a B-side. According to Petty, it was then that Harrison and Lynne decided to form the “perfect little band.” They released two self-titled albums, Vol. 1 and Vol. 3—misnumbered by Harrison to “confuse the buggers.”
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Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella
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