Ocean Colour Scene (often
abbreviated to OCS) are an English Britpop band from
Birmingham
. They have had five top ten albums and six
top ten singles to date.
History
Early Days (1990-1991)
Ocean Colour Scene were formed after two other local bands called
The Boys and Fanatics disbanded. Fanatics released an
EP titled
Suburban Love Songs. OCS
signed to Phfftt Records in 1990.
Their first 7" single, "Sway", was released in the early 1990s UK
indie era. However, when their record
label was swallowed up by larger company
Phonogram their eponymous début album was
mixed, against the band's wishes, to fit in with the
Madchester musical trend of the time. The album
was largely deemed a failure, and the band fell into dispute with
their record company.
Wilderness Years (1992-1995)
Being in dispute with their record company, the band were forced
back onto the dole, with no real direction and being only able to
write new music, but with no outlet for it .
In 1993, the start of the turnaround occurred.
Paul Weller invited the band to support him on
some dates of his tour. On the back of these performances, Weller
invited Cradock to play on one of his singles, and Fowler to sing
on his forthcoming album,
Wild
Wood . Cradock was asked to play live with Weller on his
tour, and the money Cradock made kept the band afloat during this
time.
The band recorded a demo tape that was sent to various industry
figures. After hearing this tape,
Noel
Gallagher invited the band to play with
Oasis on their Autumn 1995 tour. This support
slot brought OCS to the attention of more record labels, and
eventually in late 1995, the band signed with
MCA Records .
Britpop fame (1996-2000)
With the explosion of the britpop scene, OCS's music became
nationally and internationally known. Their second album
Moseley Shoals was received
to critical acclaim, containing four hit singles and reaching the
heights of #2 in the
UK Albums
Chart.
They also
played at the largest free standing gig of all time at Knebworth
supporting Oasis on 10
and 11 August 1996.
Marchin' Already, the
follow up to
Moseley Shoals, went to #1 in the UK Albums
Chart, displacing Oasis'
Be Here
Now at the top of the charts in 1997.
In 1998
they headlined their own arena tour in support of Marchin'
Already and played three sold out nights at Stirling Castle
, Scotland. Their arena tour became the
biggest selling arena tour of any UK band in 1998.
One from the Modern was
released in 1999, and peaked in the UK album chart at #4. The
record spawned three top 40 singles, "
Profit in Peace", "
So Low" and "
July".
In the media
Their song "
The Riverboat Song"
was featured on Chris Evans'
TFI
Friday as the backing music when guests were introduced.
"Hundred Mile High City" was used in the film
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels and "July" (from their 1999 album
One From The
Modern) was used in the associated television series. More
recently, their first hit single "The Riverboat Song" has been
featured in the Vinnie Jones film
Strength and Honour.
Post-britpop (2000-2007)
Having undergone lineup changes, the band continue to record and
perform, though they have struggled to recapture the success they
enjoyed with their breakthrough album
Moseley
Shoals.Releases in 2001 (
Mechanical Wonder), 2003
(
North Atlantic
Drift), 2005 (
A Hyperactive Workout
For The Flying Squad) and 2007 (
On the Leyline) continued the trend of
releasing new material every two years.
2004 saw the band release their very first live album, entitled
Live: One For The Road. The album was a compilation of 19
live tracks taken from various summer shows that the band had
played that year. In 2006 the band released a live acoustic album,
Live At The Jam House, which consisted of 15 live tracks
and also contained four new songs in "Great Man In Waiting", "The
Word", "Still Trying" and "Matilda's England".
2007-present day
The band have finished recording and mixing their latest album,
Saturday, with a
release date sometime in early 2010 to mark the 21st anniversary of
the band.
The album had a working title of
Rockfield, named after the studios where it was
recorded
.
At a
recent gig in Birmingham to celebrate the opening of the new 02
Academy
, Simon Fowler commented that the new album will be
released on Feb 7th 2010. The band also played two new songs
from the forthcoming album called "My Name is Saturday" and "Magic
Carpet Days".
On November 2nd 2009 the band released a free downloadable version
of a new song called "Mrs Maylie", taken from the forthcoming
album.
Collaborative work
Most band members have supported/collaborated with other artists
during the group's existence. Simon Fowler was one of the musicians
involved in the official anthem for England's World Cup campaign,
for
France 98. England United as they were
named also included
Echo &
the Bunnymen,
Space and
The Spice Girls.
"(How Does It
Feel) To Be On Top Of The World" reached number 9 in the
official UK charts. Steve Cradock and former member Damon Minchella
played/play regularly with
Paul
Weller,
with Cradock also playing recently on Amy MacDonald's gigs.
Lead guitarist
Steve Cradock and
former bass guitarist
Damon
Minchella have been long-time members of ex-
The Jam frontman
Paul
Weller's backing group, performing live and contributing to his
solo albums before Ocean Colour Scene broke through to a wider
audience. Lead singer
Simon Fowler has
also contributed to Paul Weller's albums in the past. Cradock and
Minchella still regularly perform with Weller, despite Minchella no
longer being an active member of Ocean Colour Scene.
During their peak (around the time of the
Moseley Shoals
release) OCS also regularly performed on stage with
Noel and
Liam
Gallagher of Oasis with whom they were on tour at the time.
These connections came about mainly due to OCS's musical abilities,
which both Gallaghers and Weller praised greatly. One particular
performance of note with the Gallaghers was a storming rendition of
The Beatles' "
Day
Tripper", which was included as a live B-Side to the single
"
The Circle". The song was also
included on the B-side compilation album
B-sides, Seasides and
Freerides. Noel Gallagher previewed an advance copy of the
song during an interview on
Radio 1 with
DJ
Jo Whiley. The interview mainly focused
on Oasis's then-forthcoming gig in the grounds of Knebworth House,
of which Ocean Colour Scene were one of the supporting acts. Over
2.6 million
[64668] people applied for tickets for the
shows, making it the biggest demand for concert tickets in British
history. There was a combined audience of over 250,000 people. See
Concerts at Knebworth
House.
Discography
Studio albums
B-sides, compilations and live albums
| Released |
Title |
# |
Description |
| 3 Mar 1997 |
B-sides,
Seasides and Freerides |
4 |
B-sides compilation of material from the 'Moseley Shoals' era |
| 20 Nov 2001 |
Songs for the Front
Row |
16 |
Compilation of mainly singles up to 2001 with other tracks.
Limited edition also released with bonus live CD |
| 7 Dec 2002 |
Live on the
Riverboat |
N/A |
Live recording of an acoustic concert by Simon Fowler and Oscar
Harrison (limited edition 3000 copies via band website) |
| 1 Sep 2003 |
Anthology |
75 |
Complete collection of material from up to 2001, including
singles and b-sides |
| 20 Sep 2004 |
One
for the Road |
75 |
Live album taken from their 2004 summer festival tour |
| 8 May, 2006 |
Live Acoustic at
the Jam House |
73 |
Live album from a Birmingham acoustic gig in mid-February
2006 |
| 17 Dec 2006 |
Live At Birmingham
Academy |
N/A |
Live album from a Birmingham Carling Academy gig on 17 December
2006. |
| 26 Feb 2007 |
BBC
Sessions |
N/A |
Compilation of live performances taken from 1990-1997 on
BBC Radio 1.
Released as exclusive download from iTunes
and later on CD |
| 13 Aug 2007 |
The
Collection |
N/A |
An unofficial compilation released on the Spectrum label. |
UK singles
DVDs and videos
Notes
References
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