The Willkommen Collective is a Brighton, England-based community of musicians, promoters and artists. The collective includes the bands Sons of Noel and Adrian, the Leisure Society, the Climbers, the Miserable Rich, and Shoreline. [1] [2] [3] They also run a record label, [2] Willkommen Records, and put on monthly gigs in Brighton, England. The bands share many members and often work collectively. [1] [2]
In June, July and August 2009 the collective ran a series of shows dubbed the "Willkommen takeover..." series including an event at the Union Chapel, Islington, [2] [4] Stanmer House [4] [5] (an annual festival known as Foxtrot) [6] and De La Warr Pavilion. [4] [5]
In February 2010 the Collective performed en masse as "The Willkommen Orchestra" at King's Place, London and Brighton Unitarian Church. The set included selections from the repertoire of the Miserable Rich, Shoreline, Sons of Noel and Adrian and the new 'studio supergroup' the Climbers. In the past they have performed showcases at End Of The Road Festival, The Big Chill, Brighton Festival [3] and The Great Escape Festival. In 2010 the Collective took five bands to Positivus festival in Latvia and seven bands to The Big Chill in the UK.
The collective's associated record label has released music by The Leisure Society and Brian Eno, Damo Suzuki backed by members of The Comet Is Coming and Sons of Noel and Adrian, James Holden collaborating with Led Bib drummer Mark Holub and Marcus Hamblett, and David Thomas Broughton accompanied by Alabaster DePlume.
The Collective is a sprawling group of individuals with no fixed membership, but these are some key members and some of the Willkommen Collective bands they have performed with, live and on record:
Foxtrot is the fourth studio album by the English progressive rock band Genesis, released on 15 September 1972 on Charisma Records. It features their longest recorded song, the 23-minute track "Supper's Ready".
Stanmer House is a Grade I listed mansion set in Stanmer Park west of the village of Falmer and north-east of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England.
Mumm-Ra are an English indie rock band, formed in Bexhill on Sea in the early 2000s. The band's name is borrowed from the 1980s cartoon, ThunderCats, whose main villain is named Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living. The group consists of vocalist, keyboard player, and occasional guitarist James New, guitarists James Arguile and Oli Frost, bassist Niall Buckler, and drummer Gareth Jennings. Keyboard player Tommy Bowen joined in 2006 as a touring member, before being made a fully fledged member in their 2012 reunion.
Adrian Oxaal is an American-born English musician and music educator, best known for being the lead guitarist in James 1997–2002 and 2015–present. He has also played with the bands Sharkboy, Oysterband and Goat.
Metronomy are an English electronic music group formed in Totnes in 1999. Their line-up consists of Joseph Mount, Oscar Cash, Anna Prior, Olugbenga Adelekan, and Michael Lovett. Their music consists of vocal and instrumental electronic pop music.
Nicholas Hemming is an English musician and guitarist. He was formerly of the early 1990s indie band She Talks to Angels, is a key musician in the Willkommen Collective, and is currently the lead singer for The Leisure Society. Hemming also plays banjo and mandolin with Sons of Noel and Adrian and with Shoreline.
The Leisure Society are an English rock band formed by Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy of Burton upon Trent.
Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band consists of Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane, and Ben Lovett.
Christian Hardy is a British singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He performs in The Leisure Society and Pop Crisis and is a member of Brighton's Willkommen Collective.
The Miserable Rich are a string-led band, formed in 2007 and based in Brighton, England. The band has a chamber orchestra sound, created using cello and violin as the primary lead instruments, augmented by double bass, acoustic guitar and occasionally piano. They have released four studio albums: Twelve Ways to Count (2008), Of Flight & Fury (2010), Miss You in the Days (2011) and Overcome (2024); and a live album, Live in Frankfurt (2014) with a bonus disc of covers.
Sons of Noel and Adrian is an experimental band based in Brighton, England. They are known for their live performances with up to thirteen musicians on stage, all of whom play with many other bands. They are one of the founding groups of the Willkommen Collective.
Twelve Ways to Count is the debut album by British chamber pop band The Miserable Rich. It was released on 24 November 2008. Some of the songs contained were previously performed by James DeMalpaquet under the pseudonym 'James Grape' while in the band 'The Grape Authority' with fellow Miserable Rich member, Will Calderbank.
The Climbers is a British band, formed by Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy of The Leisure Society with their childhood friend, Tim West. West introduced Hemming and Hardy to one another and for a period the three lived together in South London.
Rachael Dadd is an English folk and lo-fi musician based in Bristol, England. She is currently signed to French independent label Talitres.
Time Travel is the second album by British singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke and her first album for independent label Bella Union. It was recorded in Brighton's Electric Studios with Willkommen Collective’s Marcus Hamblett and at Bryn Derwen in Wales with David Wrench.
Moulettes are an English art rock band that combines elements of rock, progressive, folk and pop music. The band was formed in 2002 in Glastonbury, England by Hannah Miller, Ruth Skipper, Robert Skipper, Oliver Austin and Ted Dwane.
Woodpecker Wooliams was the musical moniker of Brighton, UK-based musician Gemma Williams. She produced music as Woodpecker Wooliams from 2009 to 2013, releasing the studio albums Diving Down (2009) and The Bird School of Being Human (2012). Williams has since worked on Becky Becky with Peter J D Mason.
Laish is a British folk rock band led by songwriter, guitarist and singer Danny Green.
Marcus Hamblett is an English musician and record producer. Music from his solo album, Concrete, has been played on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction shows by Mara Carlyle, Nick Luscombe and Max Reinhardt and on BBC 6 Music by Tom Robinson. The Quietus said his album, "could be called post-rock if it didn't also sound pre-rock, or maybe as if rock had never happened and folk, modern jazz and the classical avant-garde had merged into a stream of hip, innovative music to soundtrack the changes and discontents of the second half of the twentieth century instead, and Joe Meek had dug John Cage."
Emma Gatrill is a multi-instrumentalist based in Brighton, UK. She is primarily a harpist, clarinetist and singer.