Stornoway are a Britishindie folk band from the Cowley area of Oxford. As of 2023[update] the band is led by ornithologist[2] Brian Briggs as singer, guitarist, and main songwriter, with multi-instrumentalists Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman.
Their sound incorporates an ever-changing selection of stringed instruments and keyboards, supported by a typical pop backline of guitar, drums and bass guitar, embellished with avant-garde percussion including DIY hardware (saw & axe),[3] cutlery, and Welsh gravel.[4] The trio typically performs live with additional musicians including Thomas E Hodgson on trumpet and percussion;[5]Susie Attwood on violin and percussion; Charlotte Glasson on violin, percussion, saxophone and flute;[6] Felix Higginbottom on drums,[7] percussion and backing vocals; and Adam Briggs on trumpet and percussion.[8]
The band is named after the Scottish town of Stornoway on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, having never been to Stornoway when they decided to name themselves after the town. They have since visited multiple times, the first expedition comprising a performance on 9 April 2010 and the signing of their recording contract with label 4AD.[9][10] They have explained "We were looking in books about knots and [...] guides to natural history of the seashore [...] this [Stornoway] was the only one that stuck, and it was reinforced by the fact that if you see the BBC weather forecast, Stornoway is up there... so we get this wonderful free promotion every time there's a weather report".[11]
Briggs and Ouin met during Freshers' week at Oxford; Briggs thought Ouin looked like a member of Teenage Fanclub, a band both of them liked that became a topic of their first conversation. Soon after, the two began playing music together. They advertised for a bass player, and Oli Steadman was the only person to respond. Oli's younger brother Rob Steadman later auditioned for the role of drummer.[11]
2005–2010: Early Adventures & other EPs
Stornoway's first radio play came in March 2006 with a demo version of "I Saw You Blink" on BBC Oxford Introducing.[16] Radio presenter Tim Bearder was an early champion of the band and was suspended from work after barricading himself in the studio and playing an hour of Stornoway songs from their demo EP The Early Adventures of Stornoway, which had been positively reviewed by local scene mag Nightshift.[17][18] That collection of 5 demos[19] was followed by a further 2 self-released EPs: Letters From Lewis (2007),[20] and On The Rocks (2008).[21] They played the inaugural Wood Festival the same year.[22]
One of the band's first high-profile live appearances was at Radio 1's Big Weekend in 2009, held in Lydiard Park, Swindon,[23] for which they'd been booked on the strength of self-released debut single "Zorbing"; this led to their playing at a number of UK summer festivals later that year (including six sets at Glastonbury festival 2009) and writing a series of articles about their experiences for the Daily Telegraph newspaper.[24] On 1 September 2009, they played a free concert at Tate Modern, London, supported by Reverend and the Makers, to celebrate the launch of the new climate change campaign 10:10.[25]
Their second single, "Unfaithful", was released on 28 September 2009 on CD, 7-inch vinyl and download, and the launch concert was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on 21 September.[26] Their first UK tour took place from 16 to 30 October 2009, culminating in a concert at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, accompanied by the Oxford Millennium Orchestra.[27] They were the first non-classical group ever to play in the centuries-old building.[28]
In November 2009 Stornoway became the first-ever unsigned band to appear on Later... with Jools Holland, and performed alongside Sting, Norah Jones, Jay-Z, and Foo Fighters.[29] The attention gained by this appearance led to tens of thousands of views of their homemade YouTube videos, and the band were playlisted on the BBC's national radio stations. In December 2009, Stornoway were announced as entrants onto the longlist of the BBC's Sound of 2010 competition, having been selected by a panel of some 165 UK-based tastemakers.[30] They toured Scotland and Ireland in March 2010 (dubbed the Highlands, Islands and Ireland tour), and signed their record deal in the castle grounds at Lews in Stornoway, after playing in their namesake town for the first time.
Stornoway visiting the Harris Tweed factory on Lewis during their Highlands Islands & Ireland Tour
The band signed to the independent record label, 4AD, and on 22 March 2010, they released their third single, "I Saw You Blink". They released their debut album Beachcomber's Windowsill on 24 May 2010.[31] Brian Briggs said in December 2010 that any initial apprehension to signing to a label has since faded: "we were used to doing it our own way. We'd put out EPs ourselves in Oxford and we were used to being the decision makers on everything. Having never worked with a label before, we were nervous that it would mean we would lose some say or having people twisting our arms doing certain things. And 4AD convinced us that wouldn't be the case and that we would have creative control over everything and they were supportive of that and it's worked really well so far, and they've stayed true to that."[11]
The band organised three small shows to 300 hometown fans at the A1 Pool Hall in Oxford in Summer 2010, just prior to the launch of their album. On 30 May 2010, Beachcomber's Windowsill entered the UK Albums Chart at number 14, spending five weeks in the UK Top 100.[32] An "unplugged" session of four songs was recorded for 4AD at the Rotunda, an abandoned doll's house museum in Iffley Village, Oxford in August 2010.[33] They played at Glastonbury Festival 2010 and Womad Charlton Park in July 2010, along with main-stage slots at a great number of UK and European festivals. The rest of the year saw the band tour England, North America and, in February 2011, Australia as part of the St Jerome's Laneway Festival. Their last performance in their home country for 2010 was in London at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, to a sold-out crowd of 2,000, their biggest headline audience to date. The band performed the music from Beachcomber's Windowsill with extensions and additions to the instrumentation for many songs; in addition one older song and two new ones were performed, including two unplugged performances with acoustic instruments.[34]Beachcomber's Windowsill won Album Of The Year at the 2010 XFM New Music Awards.[35][36][37][38]
Capitalising on a brief visit made during mid-2010,[39] in December the band undertook their first formal tour of the USA[40][41] touring with Head and the Heart (which would later lead to a return in May 2011 with Sea Of Bees,[42] and again in May 2013 with Horse Thief).[43][44][45][46]
Following a second successful German tour and their first performances in Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland, Stornoway spent several weeks in early 2011 at home in Oxford writing towards their second album. In April it was announced that the band would be returning to Glastonbury for the third year in a row to open the Pyramid Stage on Saturday 25 June, one of their many festival billings for the summer. Returning to America in May 2011, they would then spend the rest of the year performing at home in the UK and recording in Oxford. Their English homecoming concert for summer 2011 was at London's Somerset House on Saturday 9 July,[47] with support from Cloud Control and orchestral backing from North Sea Radio Orchestra.[48] A secret Somerset House warm-up show, with support from Dry The River, was announced exclusively to fans in April.[49] The band's first concert in Oxford since November 2010 was held at the Regal, Cowley Road, on Saturday 3 September 2011 alongside fellow Oxford bands The Epstein and Dreaming Spires. Proceeds from the evening, as well those for an auctioned-off Epiphone S-210 signed by all members of the band, went to the Sumatran Orangutan Society, the Earth Trust, and the RSPB.[50]
On 19 November 2012 Stornoway announced the release of their second studio album, Tales from Terra Firma,[51] which was released on 11 March 2013, after spending most of 2012 recording the album. The album's first and lead single, "Knock Me on the Head", premiered on 1 January 2013 and was released alongside the album on 11 March 2013. The music video for the single premiered in late February 2013.
The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 26,[52] receiving generally positive reviews from critics, with the Guardian giving the album a 5-star rating.[53]
2013: You Don't Know Anything
In September 2013, Stornoway announced a surprise mini-album, You Don't Know Anything, containing outtakes from the Terra Firma album, to be made available exclusively to fans in time for their UK tour to close a successful year. The album was streamed exclusively by AllMusic,[54] following free downloads of lead single "Tumbling Bay" by Rolling Stone and BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne in November. The band received some of their first reviews from music specialist magazines Uncut and Q.
The EP was released 11 November, followed by a UK tour finishing at the Barbican Centre on 8 December, the band's final show before returning to the studio to prepare their third full album.
2014–2015: Bonxie
In June 2014, Stornoway announced a forthcoming 3rd LP, to be made available for pre-order through PledgeMusic – a campaign which saw the band smash 222% of their target funding just 4 days after the announcement, finally raising 513% by the end of the campaign. Fans were invited to purchase their copies of the album alongside day-trips with the band to go zorbing and/or birdwatching. The campaign came in the middle of an intensely busy summer of touring and festival appearances, including headlining their first festival in the UK, and returning to Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre for two sold-out shows celebrating five years since their previous appearance there, again accompanied by the Oxford Millennium Orchestra.[55] The album was released on 13 April 2015, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 20. On 21 April, the band embarked on a tour of the UK, including two sold-out shows at Islington Assembly Hall.
2016–2017: Farewell tour and split
A steady stream of live performances continued into 2016 including four dates with Forestry Live,[56] supporting Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott.[57][58] However, in October the band announced that they would be splitting up.[59][60] In a statement the band announced: "Today we bring you some sad news. After a whole decade of wonderful adventures together, we have decided to call it a day. Stornoway will become 'Stor-no-more'. Our friendship and love of music remains as strong as ever, but over the last couple of years the winds of change seem to have blown us all in different directions".[61]
They conducted a farewell tour of the UK during spring 2017, and played their final public show on 12 March 2017.[62]
2022–2023: Reunion and Dig the Mountain!
The band reformed for sets at Truck Festival in Oxfordshire[63] and WOMAD Charlton Park in July 2022.[64][65] At this event, Oli brought Brian and Jon to view the performance of Chinese musician Yijia Tu with whom he'd performed in 2017 and attended WOMAD 2019, and who was billed in 2022 to perform as part of orchestra "Cheng Yu & Silk Breeze".[66] Impressed and moved to tears by Yijia's individual vocal performance, they invited her to collaborate on their forthcoming album,[67] and eventually tour together during the band's Autumn 2023 comeback tour,[68] alongside other guests including Fyfe Dangerfield and Sam Lee.[69] On 13 April 2023, the band announced on their Facebook page and on BBC Radio 6 that their fourth studio album Dig the Mountain! would be released on 8 September 2023 followed by a tour of the UK and Ireland.[70] This was ultimately pushed back by a month for unknown reasons, but the album entered the official UK Sales Chart in the top ten, their highest chart position on any release to date.[71] Yijia starred in the band's music video for "It's Not Up To You" which was premiered on 28 July in a live interview with author Robert Macfarlane.[72] They toured and also played several major UK festivals including Moseley Folk & Arts Festival,[73] the 2023 schedule culminating in a performance at O2 Forum Kentish Town with Cor Meibion Gwalia,[74] to launch Christmas single "Excelsior", whose video featured Stornoway fan video contributions: singers stood in front of ash trees at various locations across the UK, singing along to the words of the song which is explicitly about Ash Dieback.[75][76] The single saw Stornoway return to George Shilling as mixing engineer, with whom they'd mixed the majority of all tracks since 2011.[77]
A follow-up tour was announced via social media, for February 2024 incorporating regional UK towns and cities, for April 2024 incorporating mainland European touring, and for summer 2024 including Greenbelt festival,[78]Wychwood, Wood,[79][80]Beautiful Days, Glastonbury Festival 2024 (their 7th appearance there since 2009),[81] as well as Deer Shed and a headline set at Love Trails Festival.[82]
2024–2025: Best of Unplucked
Continuing to expand their ties to choral & classical influences, the band were joined on stage by the Vocal Spokes choir in May,[83] before sharing news of a forthcoming rework of "Excelsior" in collaboration with composer Edward Nesbitt.[84] Having shortly thereafter announced a run of concerts for 2025 including at the Manchester Folk Festival for English Folk Expo,[85][86][87] they ended 2024 with a tour of churches[88] culminating at the Union Chapel, Islington, to release "Best of Unplucked" as a collection of acoustic arrangements spanning their whole career to date.
Timeline of regular on-stage collaborators
Discography
Studio albums
List of studio albums, with selected details, chart positions and certifications
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