The Owl Service (band)

Last updated

The Owl Service
Origin England
Genres Alternative folk, indie folk
Years active2006present
MembersSteven Collins
Diana Collier
Mark Offord
Kate Waterfield
Daniel Forbes
Bryan Styles
Past membersDom Cooper
Katie English
Jo Lepine
Jason Steel
Nancy Wallace

The Owl Service is an English alternative folk music collective that formed in 2006, by multi-instrumentalist Steven Paul Collins (who has led the band for its entire duration), named after the 1967 novel by Alan Garner.

Contents

History

The Owl Service originally began as a studio-based solo project for Steven Collins in June 2006. [1] While working on the first Owl Service release (the Wake the Vaulted Echo EP from 2006) he met Dom Cooper of The Straw Bear Band who was drafted in to provide lead vocals on the song The Two Magicians. Dom remained involved with The Owl Service until March 2012 singing, writing songs, and co-ordinating the band's graphic design. The Wake the Vaulted Echo EP was warmly received in psych-folk circles and this led to Collins being asked to record a track for the 2007 compilation album John Barleycorn Reborn on the Cold Spring label (for which he also contributed sleeve notes). For the JBR album Steven recorded the traditional song The North Country Maid with session singer Rachel Davies, a song he would revisit on the debut album in an alternative version. While recording the debut Owl Service album later that year two female singers (Jo Lepine and Diana Collier) joined the band on a permanent basis.

The debut album, A Garland of Song, was released on Collins' own Hobby-Horse micro-label in July 2007 as a handmade CD-r limited to 100 copies. [2] Collins arranged, recorded and mixed the album himself at home, also providing almost all of the instrumentation - this model was how the collective operated until its demise; Collins selecting and arranging the songs, recording everything at home, and then bringing in singers and, on rare occasions, extra instrumental players to complete the tracks. Often Collins would record vocals and other parts on location if the singers/players were unable to make it to his home studio in Essex. Soon after the release of the debut album Collins opted to expand the line-up to enable them to function as a live group. It was at this time that Nancy Wallace (formerly of The Memory Band) became a permanent member of the band. By the end of 2007 Collins had signed to UK independent label Southern Records. Not an obvious label choice for a folk band, but Collins felt a certain kinship with Tony Sylvester (who handled Southern Records' A&R at the time) as, like Collins himself, Tony was passionate about both heavy metal and the 1960s English folk revival. The other deciding factor was that two of Collins' favourite records of all time are by the Chicago band 90 Day Men who were also signed to Southern Records.

Southern reissued A Garland of Song in June 2008 on CD and LP and this was followed a month later by an EP on the Static Caravan label recorded with ex-Mellow Candle singer Alison O'Donnell entitled The Fabric of Folk. [3] By this time the band had a core line-up of 7 with the addition of Jason Steel (guitar, banjo, vocals), and experimental musician Katie English (aka Isnaj Dui) providing flute and melodica. Keen to return to his DIY roots Collins parted company with Southern Records at the end of 2009 and immediately began a series of new Owl Service releases collectively titled The Pattern Beneath the Plough. The second full-length Owls album, The View From a Hill, was released on 1 May 2010 and was the centrepiece of the Pattern series. The album featured guest appearances from Joolie Wood (of Current 93) and Alison O'Donnell among others.

December 2011 saw the release of a 2 track 7" vinyl single comprising The Standing Stones and The Red Barn, a traditional ballad based on the Red Barn Murder [4] and this was followed by another 7" release entitled There Used to be a Crown which included cover versions of 4 songs originally by Tom Rapp/Pearls Before Swine.

At the start of 2012 Steven Collins put The Owl Service on an indefinite hiatus and immediately began working on two new projects; the first was Greanvine, a duo with fellow Owl Service member Diana Collier who played a mix of traditional songs and cover versions in stark, electric arrangements; the second was Country Parish Music, a project closer to the sound of The Owl Service. Collins also formed a new label, Stone Tape Recordings, named after the Nigel Kneale television play from 1972. The first 2 releases on Stone Tape Recordings were by The Owl Service; a data DVD entitled She Wants to be Flowers, But You Make Her Owls which collected mp3 files of every track the band had released at that point plus a wealth of unreleased material, artwork files, and video recordings; and the album Garland Sessions which included all 13 songs from the debut album re-mixed and partially re-recorded along with 6 additional tracks.

In October 2013 Collins publicly hinted via Facebook that a new Owl Service record was in production and that the band would be making a return to the live stage in December of the same year. The December concert in Leigh-on-sea, their first live performance in over 18 months, saw Collins reunited with Jo Lepine, Diana Collier and Nancy Wallace. The band regrouped again 6 months later for 2 more shows; the first was again in Leigh-on-sea where they were joined by frequent collaborator Alison O'Donnell, and the second was in London at a fund-raising event for the feature-length Shirley Collins documentary film.

October 2014 brought forth the first new Owl Service record since the Garland Sessions album in 2012; a low-key EP to mark Halloween entitled Three Inverted Nines which featured cover versions of 4 songs written by legendary musician Glenn Danzig. At the end of 2014 after 18 releases Stone Tape Recordings closed down. The reason Collins cited for the closure was the huge workload which was keeping him from recording new Owl Service material. In September 2014 another concert was announced, this time in London at an event organised by Collins to celebrate the 100th birthday of US folk song collector Alan Lomax. The concert, held the following January at Asylum in Peckham, would prove to be their last.

Free from the constraints of running a label, in January 2015 Collins confirmed that the new Owl Service album, entitled His Pride. No Spear. No Friend., would be released before the end of the year. The album eventually saw the light of day on 31 October 2015 and was something of a departure from previous Owl Service releases. According to Collins; "The album is mostly traditional songs, but the sound is far from traditional. It's a folk album in lyrical content only, not in sound". Ultimately, Collins' fierce anti-industry/pro-DIY stance would prove to be his downfall as the band flew below the radar of most people and the album was both a critical and commercial failure, being met either with total indifference or worse; completely ignored. Collins himself likened the task of promoting His Pride. No Spear. No Friend. to "flogging a dead horse whilst banging my head against a brick wall". His exasperation was compounded by the fact that he believed the album was his finest work to date, and the pinnacle of what he'd set out to achieve with The Owl Service 10 years earlier. The album was almost entirely a one-man project, with Collins arranging, recording, mixing and mastering the audio, performing everything except the vocals, and also creating the artwork. To see the album fail proved to be the final straw and soon after its release Steven Collins announced that The Owl Service would cease to exist on the band's 10th anniversary on 6 June 2016.

After 5 years in exile, Collins returned to revive the band in June 2021. A new EP, Rise Up Rise Up, was released via the band's Bandcamp page on June 6, 2021, with a new album project announced at the same time.

Personnel

Other occasional members of the collective on record and/or as part of the live band include Alison O'Donnell, Joolie Wood, Martyn Kember-Smith, Rebsie Fairholm, Pamela Wyn Shannon, Mark Patterson, Simon Green, Simon Sparrow, Adam Leonard, Laura Hulse, Michelle Bappoo, Roshi Nasehi, Matthew Boulter, Emma Reed, and Magnus Dearness.[ citation needed ]

Discography

EPs

Albums

Compilations


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Leonard (singer-songwriter)</span> British singer-songwriter

Adam Leonard is an English singer-songwriter working mainly in the folk, psychedelic and electronic music fields. His style is often described as lo-fi and the subject matter of his songs somewhat unconventional. Since his debut album How Music Sounds in 2003, he has released many EPs, albums and mini-albums on various small labels. Live performances, which have so far been limited to the UK are as intriguing as they are rare. In 2008 he opened for British folk musician Steve Ashley. He regularly collaborates with other musicians, most notably Pat Gubler, Ashley Cooke (Pulco), Gareth Davies, and Steven Collins of The Owl Service, a band for which Leonard provided vocals for their 2010 album The View From A Hill. At the close of 2010, a limited edition album entitled Nature Recordings was released on vinyl only by the London label The Great Pop Supplement. In 2011, Leonard provided the soundtrack to Claudia Heindel's award-winning independent film, Lucky Seven. In 2012, Nature Recordings was issued on CD by Manchester-based label The Northwestern Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pram (band)</span>

Pram are a British post-rock band formed in Birmingham, England in 1988 by Rosie Cuckston, Matt Eaton (guitar), Andy Weir (drums), and Samantha Owen (bass). Subsequent lineups have changed frequently, most notably with Cuckston's departure in 2008. Their electronic pop sound, described by AllMusic as "equally quaint and unsettling," employs unconventional instruments and draws on stylistic influences such as krautrock, exotica, and dub.

Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for Shirley's plain, austere singing style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hem (band)</span> American musical group

Hem is a musical group from Brooklyn, New York. Band members include Sally Ellyson (vocals), Dan Messé, Gary Maurer, Steve Curtis, George Rush, Mark Brotter (drums), Bob Hoffnar, and Heather Zimmerman (violin). The group sometimes expands to include other musicians and orchestral accompaniments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Matthews</span> English musician

Iain Matthews is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock". In 1979 his recording of Terence Boylan's "Shake It" reached No. 13 on the US charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16 Horsepower</span> American country rock band

16 Horsepower was an American country rock band based in Denver, Colorado, United States. Their music often invoked religious imagery dealing with conflict, redemption, punishment, and guilt through David Eugene Edwards's lyrics and the heavy use of traditional bluegrass, gospel, and Appalachian instrumentation cross-bred with rock. For the bulk of its career, the band consisted of Edwards, Jean-Yves Tola, and Pascal Humbert, the latter two formerly of the French band Passion Fodder. After releasing four studio albums and touring extensively, the group broke up in 2005, citing "mostly political and spiritual" differences. The members remain active in the groups Wovenhand and Lilium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaudete</span> 16th-century sacred Christmas carol

Gaudete is a sacred Christmas carol, thought to have been composed in the 16th century. It was published in Piae Cantiones, a collection of Finnish/Swedish sacred songs published in 1582. No music is given for the verses, but the standard tune comes from older liturgical books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No-Man</span> English art pop duo

No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island (Except the Isle of Man) by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes collections (most notably, 2006's career retrospective, All the Blue Changes). The band was once lauded as "conceivably the most important English group since The Smiths" by Melody Maker music newspaper, and a 2017 article of Drowned in Sound described them as "probably the most underrated band of the last 25 years".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Albion Band</span> British folk rock band

The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, is a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. An important grouping in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of major English folk performers in its long and fluid history.

<i>3×3</i> 1982 EP by Genesis

3×3 is the second extended play by the English rock band Genesis, released on 10 May 1982 on Charisma Records. Its three songs were originally written and recorded for their eleventh studio album Abacab (1981), but they were not included on the album's final track selection. 3×3 reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, its tracks were included on the international edition of the band's live album Three Sides Live (1982). The lead track, "Paperlate", peaked at No. 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

John Richard Wicks was an English singer-songwriter and record producer, who worked with numerous artists in the United States and the United Kingdom. Wicks was best known as the lead singer-songwriter for the UK rock and power pop band The Records, formed in London by former members of The Kursaal Flyers, during the 1977 punk rock movement. After The Records went their separate ways in 1982, Wicks remained musically active, writing, recording and performing new material, including with several musicians such as Debbi Peterson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Andersen</span> American musician

Eric Andersen is an American folk music singer-songwriter, who has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, the Grateful Dead and many others. Early in his career, in the 1960s, he was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene. After two decades and sixteen albums of solo performance he became a member of the group Danko/Fjeld/Andersen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everything Is (song)</span> 1993 single by Neutral Milk Hotel

"Everything Is" was the first recording mass-released by Neutral Milk Hotel, at that point still largely an outlet for the songwriting of Jeff Mangum instead of a fully formed band. The recording was originally the second release on the fledgling Seattle label Cher Doll Records in 1993, in the form of a 7", with "Everything Is" as the A side, and "Snow Song Pt. 1" as the B side. The first 50 7"s pressed also featured different artwork, with each sleeve being personally xeroxed by Mangum.

<i>A Day Late and a Dollar Short</i> 1996 compilation album by The Queers

A Day Late and a Dollar Short is a compilation album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in January 1996 by Lookout! Records. It collects material recorded between 1982 and 1994, most of it with original member Wimpy Rutherford. It includes the band's first two EPs, 1982's Love Me and 1984's Kicked Out of the Webelos, several demo tracks recorded in 1991, 16 tracks recorded during a January 1993 reunion with Rutherford, and a complete set of early songs recorded live on radio station WFMU in 1994 with Rutherford on lead vocals.

<i>Later Days and Better Lays</i> 1999 compilation album by The Queers

Later Days and Better Lays is a compilation album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in March 1999 by Lookout! Records. It combines a 14-song demo tape from 1991 with some demos recorded in the lead-up to their 1996 album Don't Back Down, as well as some outtakes from that album's recording sessions. The compilation fulfilled the band's contractual obligations to Lookout!, following seven years and four studio albums on the label. They moved on to Hopeless Records, but would return to Lookout! for the Today EP (2001) and album Pleasant Screams (2002) before parting ways with the label again.

The Etchingham Steam Band were a folk group formed by Ashley Hutchings and Shirley Collins in England in 1974 after the Albion Country Band had disbanded in late 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erland and the Carnival</span> British progressive folk rock band

Erland & The Carnival were a British progressive folk rock band, formed in London, by Orcadian folk guitarist and singer Gawain Erland Cooper, multi-instrumentalist Simon Tong, and drummer/engineer David Nock. In 2010 they released their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album, and a year later released Nightingale to further widespread acclaim. Their third album Closing Time was released in autumn 2014 and featured collaborations with Paul Weller. The album was recorded in 7 days at Damon Albarn's Studio 13 and was mixed by Tim Bran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast (folk rock band)</span> Scottish rock group

Coast is a Scottish rock group, based in Oban, UK. Coast's members are Paul Eastham, Chris Barnes (percussion) and Finlay Wells (guitars).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison O'Donnell (musician)</span> Musical artist

Alison O'Donnell is an Irish musician, solo and band singer-songwriter. Born Alison Bools in Dublin to an English mother and Irish father, raised in Dalkey and educated at Holy Child Killiney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera Multi Steel</span>

Opera Multi Steel, often abbreviated as OMS, is a French minimal synth and coldwave band, originally founded in Bourges in 1983 by Franck Lopez, Patrick L. Robin and Catherine Marie.

References

  1. "Owl Service - Interview" . Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  2. "The Owl Service - Garnering Garlands Wherever They Land - Goldmine Magazine". 13 February 2014.
  3. Administrator, birminghampost (18 August 2008). "Owl Service team up with Alison O'Donnell" . Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  4. "The Owl Service: All Things Being Silent". normanrecords.com. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  5. "The Owl Service announce new album: His Pride. No Spear. No Friend. - Folk Radio UK". 17 October 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2017.