- The House Band
The House Band is a musical group formed in 1984 by musicians Ged Foley, Jimmy Young, Iain Macleod and
Chris Parkinson . They played original compositions and traditional music in a Celtic/British folk style, with influences fromreggae , country, pop,jazz andworld music .The band released nine
album s during its 17-year run, and toured in Britain,Europe ,Africa ,Australia ,New Zealand and theUnited States . The final album, "The Very Best of The House Band", was released in2001 shortly before the group disbanded. Their album "Stonetown" won "The Music Retailers Association Annual Awards for Excellence" (in the "Folk and Country Music" category) in1992 .History of the Band
The House Band is a musical group which was formed in
Edinburgh in1984 by Ged Foley (vocals ,guitar ), Jimmy Young (smallpipes,flute , whistle), Iain Macleod (guitar ,mandolin ) and Chris Parkinson (melodeon, keyboards, piano accordion andharmonica ). The band's first performance took place inOctober 1984 , at a school inDalkeith .Their first
contract was withTopic Records inLondon , and their firstalbum ("The House Band") was recorded inLondon inJanuary 1985 .In
1985 "The House Band" performed inItaly in the Spring, andGermany andSwitzerland inOctober andNovember . However, by the end of1985 the band had decided to split up owing to (in Chris Parkinson's words) 'one or two disagreements'. The planned breakup could not take place immediately, however, since the band was committed to a tour ofNew Zealand which had entailed the purchase of several 'around the world' air tickets — the tour would have to go ahead to pay for these tickets! The tour ofNew Zealand took place fromDecember 1985 until mid-February 1986 .On returning to the UK, Chris Parkinson and Ged Foley got together with John Skelton and Brian Brooks, both of whom had previously been members of
London -based bandShegui . During their subsequent tour ofHolland , these four were billed asShegui , after which they decided to call themselves "The New House Band". In1987 , this new lineup recorded a secondalbum , "Pacific", forTopic Records .Brian Brooks had lived in
New York for a while, so had some contacts which led to several gigs there in1987 . Ged Foley's prior association withBattlefield Band led to tours of the US after this — bothBattlefield Band and "The House Band" worked with the same agency. These very successful tours continued until the end of the1990s . Brian, however, left the band in1988 , after which the three remaining members recorded "Word of Mouth" atTopic Records ' studios.During this period, the band also toured in
Uganda ,Tanzania andKenya , with a stay inZanzibar for a few days. The name for the band's next album ("Stonetown") was inspired by the name of the old part of Zanzibar City, the capital of the island ofZanzibar . Immediately after a tour ofHolland andBelgium , the whole album was recorded in eight days in1991 , forHarbourtown Records . The photo for the sleeve of "Stonetown" was taken inWhitby (where Chris Parkinson was living at the time) and is, coincidentally, the same street whereSimply Red had filmed part of the video for their songHolding Back the Years .Following this, the band signed with
Green Linnet Records , and in1993 released a compilation of previous works entitled "Groundwork". Roger Wilson joined the band onfiddle ,guitar andvocals , and thealbum "Another Setting" followed in1994 . Bernie Nau (piano ) and Mark Hellenberg (percussion ) worked with the band assession musician s during the recording of thisalbum . In Chris Parkinson's words:It was recorded in the wilds of Vermont around January where temperatures sometimes went down as low as -16F possibly colder than that. The studio was in a barn and the heating was by hot air blown through ducts. Very noisy too. When it stopped, the whole thing would creak as it cooled down. After that we would have to record until it got too cold to play, then the heating would go back on again.
The next
album was "Rockall" in1996 , which was also recorded inVermont , and used the talents of Ged, John, Roger, Chris and Mark.After that, "October Song" was recorded at Studio du Chemin 4, Joliette,
Quebec , inDecember 1997 . The studio was owned by Denis Frechette,pianist withLa Bottine Souriante , and the recording engineer was André Marchand (ex-member ofLa Bottine Souriante ) who added some 'foot percussion' on one of the tracks. "October Song" was released in time for a tour ofAustralia andNew Zealand in Spring of1998 , followed by tours of the UK,Europe and the US. Roger Wilson left the band after these tours, at the end of1998 .In
April 2000 , "The New House Band" was relaunched with a recording of a four-track demo inOhio . Ged, John and Chris were joined by Bernie Nau onkeyboards andoboe , and Sandy Jones onfiddle . Although the demo was never released, a short tour of the US was arranged forDecember 2000 , and a tour of the UK fromMay untilJune 2001 . The UK tour also included gigs inBelgium andDenmark . A final album, "The Very Best of The House Band", was released in2001 , after which the group disbanded.ubsequent Careers of The House Band members
Jimmy Young left
Scotland and moved toNew Zealand , where he still plays and composes music.Iain Macleod was a member of Scottish band
Shoogelnifty , and still lives in theEdinburgh area.Ged Foley, after living in the US for many years, moved to
Ireland c.2006 after a year inGermany . He plays with Irish bandPatrick Street .John Skelton has lived for many years in
Kentucky and plays, tours occasionally, and teachesflute .Roger Wilson is still playing music, mostly in the UK and
Europe . He played an accordion festival with Chris Parkinson inQuebec inSeptember 2005 .Bernie Nau has a studio in Athens
Ohio . He teachespiano , and also plays in local rock outfit Wingnuts with drummer Mark Hellenberg (Mark was on "Another Setting" and "Rockall" albums).Sandy Jones is still in Columbus
Ohio , playsfiddle but also has ‘a real job’.Chris Parkinson is still playing and has a website at [http://www.chrisparkinsonmusic.co.uk/ www.chrisparkinsonmusic.co.uk] .
Brian Brooks moved to
Rio de Janeiro after leaving the band, then moved toParis and later back to theLondon area in the UK. He is a painter as well as a musician.Discography
# "The House Band" (1985)
# "Pacific" (1987)
# "Word of Mouth" (1988)
# "Stonetown" (1991)
# "Groundwork" (compilation) (1993)
# "Another Setting" (1994)
# "Rockall" (1996)
# "October Song" (1997)
# "The Very Best of The House Band" (compilation) (2001)
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