Stornoway (band)
Stornoway |
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Stornoway is a British alternative indie folk band from the Cowley area of Oxford. It consists of singer and guitarist Brian Briggs; multi-instrumentalists Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman, and the latter's brother Rob on drums. The band is usually joined by trumpeter Adam Briggs and violinist Rahul Satija. Named after the Scottish town of Stornoway on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, which appears on all UK televised weather reports and shipping forecasts, the group incorporates string instruments and keyboards, supported by a typical pop backline of guitar, drums, and bass guitar. The band is signed to the British independent record label, 4AD.
Beachcomber's Windowsill
Stornoway's first radio play came in March 2006 with a demo version of "I Saw You Blink" on BBC Oxford Introducing.[1] Radio presenter Tim Bearder was an early champion of the band and was suspended from work for two days after playing an hour of Stornoway songs on his breakfast show.[2][3]
The band released their first single, "Zorbing", in July 2009. Stornoway played sets at a number of UK summer festivals in 2009, including Glastonbury festival 2009, and wrote a series of articles about their experiences for the Daily Telegraph newspaper.[4]
On 1 September 2009, they played a secret free concert at Tate Modern, London, being introduced by Sara Cox and supported by Reverend and The Makers.[5] The event was to celebrate the launch of the new climate change campaign 10:10.
Their second single, "Unfaithful", was released on 28 September 2009 on CD, 7" vinyl and iTunes digital download. The launch concert for this single was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on 21 September.[6] Their debut tour took place from 16 to 30 October 2009, culminating in a concert at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, accompanied by the Oxford Millennium Orchestra.[7]
Stornoway appeared on Later... with Jools Holland in November 2009, along with Sting, Norah Jones, Jay-Z, and Foo Fighters.[8]
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".[9] In March 2010, the band signed to the independent record label, 4AD and announced their debut album, Beachcomber's Windowsill due to be released on 24 May 2010. On 22 March they released their third single, "I Saw You Blink" and played in their namesake town, Stornoway on their Highlands, Islands and Ireland tour in April and May 2010.[10] 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.[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. 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 Laneways travelling 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.[12]
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IRE | UK IND | ||
| 2010 | Beachcomber's Windowsill
|
14 | 43 | 3 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | UK IND |
BEL | |||
| 2009 | "Zorbing" | — | — | — | Beachcomber's Windowsill |
| "Unfaithful" | — | — | — | ||
| 2010 | "I Saw You Blink" | 119[13] | 12 | — | |
| "Zorbing" (re-release) | 74[14] | 4 | 11 | ||
Music videos
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | "Zorbing" | Hilary O'Hare |
| "Unfaithful" | Gina Hood | |
| 2010 | "I Saw You Blink" | Hilary O'Hare |
| "Watching Birds" | James Caddick |
References
- ^ Stornoway on BBC Music http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/04073f0b-a1e5-4cef-9b36-c1978e5d7d23
- ^ Stornoway interview in Nightshift http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2008/sep.pdf
- ^ BBC Oxford Introducing interview in Nightshift http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2010/mar.pdf
- ^ Stornoway's Festival Diary http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-festivals/5933626/Stornoways-festival-diary-part-4-Truck-Festival-Oxfordshire.html
- ^ 10:10 campaign Twitter feed http://twitter.com/tentenuk
- ^ Stornoway at the ICA http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article6846147.ece
- ^ Stornoway at the Sheldonian Theatre http://rhcblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/stornoway-sheldonian-theatre-oxford.html
- ^ bbc.co.uk http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/artists/stornoway/
- ^ BBC Sound of 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8395789.stm
- ^ 4AD.com http://www.4ad.com/news/reveal-signing-t/
- ^ 4AD session filmed at the Rotunda http://4ad.com/sessions/004/
- ^ Stornoway are in for the long run http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/review-23899036-stornoway-are-in-for-the-long-run.do
- ^ "Official Singles Chart for the week ending 3 April 2010". ChartsPlus (449). Liverpool: UKChartsPlus: 1–4.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Official Singles Chart for the week ending 12 June 2010". ChartsPlus (458). Liverpool: UKChartsPlus: 1–4.
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