The Filthy Youth.

Ed Westwick first rose to prominence as a television actor, portraying the seedy socialite Chuck Bass in Josh Schwartz's Gossip Girl. While filming the show in New York City, Westwick also devoted time to the Filthy Youth, an indie rock quintet whose mix of punky energy and cheeky British attitude recalled such bands as the Rakes, Razorlight, and the Libertines. A native of Stevenage, England, frontman Westwick had formed the band several years prior with fellow countrymen Benjamin Lewis Allingham (guitar), Jimmy Wright (guitar), Tom Bastiani (bass), and John Vooght (drummer). Shows on both sides of the Atlantic (not to mention Westwick's rising profile) contributed to the band's buzz in 2008.