Dave de Sylvia
03-30-2006, 08:28 PM
Picture the scene- you’re a young band with a massive countrywide following. You’re noted for your explosive live shows which people would literally sell their mothers to attend. You’ve been signed on a six-album deal by PolyGram, who’ve arranged for your band to fly out to the south of France to record your first record with Manic Street Preachers producer Mike Hedges- on them, of course. Now supposing just days before you’re due to set off, your lead singer quits, citing label pressure as his only reason and goes off to live on a hill in Italy. It’s a nightmare situation but not the end of the world, right?
Now imagine that singer was Damien Rice.
Oh ****!
This is exactly the quandary Kildare-born, Dublin-based alt. rockers Juniper found themselves in at the beginning of 1999. Their lead singer, the man we now know as the fragile soul behind 2002’s surprise worldwide hit O, decided he couldn’t produce an album without total creative freedom. PolyGram wanted radio hits and the band agreed, so Damo packed his favourite sheep and walked off beneath a Tuscan sun. With two huge hits (‘Weatherman’ and ‘The World Is Dead’) already under their belt, the band was in no mood to call it quits. The four remaining regrouped as Bell X1, named after the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, with guitarist Paul Noonan taking over vocal duties.
Though the Bell X1 story only really picks up as Damien departs, but their roots stretch much further back. Originally formed in 1991 by ex-schoolmates Damien Rice, Paul Noonan, Brian Crosby and Dominic Philips, Juniper started off as a wedding band, playing classic rock covers and similar festive fare. With the introduction of guitarist Dave Gerathy, the band u-turned and began to produce original music, inspired by British and Irish indie rock acts like the Frames and Radiohead, still very much contemporaries at the time.
Bell X1 released their first album, the commercially disappointing Neither Am I in 2000, having regrouped for recording within six months of the singer’s departure. Many of the songs from the record were either from Rice’s pen or, in the case of ‘Little Sister,’ still bore his acoustic guitar work. Damien, for his part, was at this time splitting his time between rural Tuscany and Dublin. As he built a solid base of material, he put together a band and, through a contact at a label, secured a deal which afforded him complete creative freedom. He produced O in late 2002, already an Irish classic, proving it’s very difficult to keep a great talent away from the spotlight.
The band, buoyed in part by their ex-comrade’s growing success, released Music In My Mind in 2003 to a great deal more success. Not only was their timing perfect, but the record was much more rounded, more coherent, the band clearly having become accustomed to their new roles within the band. Breakthrough singles ‘Tongue’ (also from the Rice-era) and ‘Eve, The Apple of my Eye’ (the latter famous for its use during the infamous lesbian kiss in ‘The O.C.’) bought the band instant acclaim in both Ireland and Britain and resulted in a hugely successful UK tour with the Frames.
In late 2005/early 2006, Bell X1 took another giant step with the release of Flock, their third and most accomplished effort to date. In the vein of early Radiohead/Coldplay, the album is packed with potential singles; not cheap radio fare but genuinely appealing rock songs for a mainstream audience. Highlights include the singles ‘Flame’ and ‘Bigger Than Me’ and the surprising radio hit ‘Rocky Took a Lover,’ not yet touted as a single but playlisted due to demand alone. The band is currently considering its options, having just released Flock in the UK.
Damien Rice has, for the majority of ’04 and ’05, been rumoured to be working on his second solo album, though this has never been officially confirmed. No further information is known, though he did release as a single the old Juniper track ‘Cross-eyed Bear’ as a charity single in aid of exiled Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Discography:
Neither Am I (2000)
Music In My Mouth (2003)
Flock ( http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=6532) (2005)
Damien Rice:
O ( http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=244) (2002)
Downloads:
Flocks will be available for download through the Alt/Indie mailing list from tomorrow (31st). You can sign up here (http://musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=436274)
Now imagine that singer was Damien Rice.
Oh ****!
This is exactly the quandary Kildare-born, Dublin-based alt. rockers Juniper found themselves in at the beginning of 1999. Their lead singer, the man we now know as the fragile soul behind 2002’s surprise worldwide hit O, decided he couldn’t produce an album without total creative freedom. PolyGram wanted radio hits and the band agreed, so Damo packed his favourite sheep and walked off beneath a Tuscan sun. With two huge hits (‘Weatherman’ and ‘The World Is Dead’) already under their belt, the band was in no mood to call it quits. The four remaining regrouped as Bell X1, named after the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, with guitarist Paul Noonan taking over vocal duties.
Though the Bell X1 story only really picks up as Damien departs, but their roots stretch much further back. Originally formed in 1991 by ex-schoolmates Damien Rice, Paul Noonan, Brian Crosby and Dominic Philips, Juniper started off as a wedding band, playing classic rock covers and similar festive fare. With the introduction of guitarist Dave Gerathy, the band u-turned and began to produce original music, inspired by British and Irish indie rock acts like the Frames and Radiohead, still very much contemporaries at the time.
Bell X1 released their first album, the commercially disappointing Neither Am I in 2000, having regrouped for recording within six months of the singer’s departure. Many of the songs from the record were either from Rice’s pen or, in the case of ‘Little Sister,’ still bore his acoustic guitar work. Damien, for his part, was at this time splitting his time between rural Tuscany and Dublin. As he built a solid base of material, he put together a band and, through a contact at a label, secured a deal which afforded him complete creative freedom. He produced O in late 2002, already an Irish classic, proving it’s very difficult to keep a great talent away from the spotlight.
The band, buoyed in part by their ex-comrade’s growing success, released Music In My Mind in 2003 to a great deal more success. Not only was their timing perfect, but the record was much more rounded, more coherent, the band clearly having become accustomed to their new roles within the band. Breakthrough singles ‘Tongue’ (also from the Rice-era) and ‘Eve, The Apple of my Eye’ (the latter famous for its use during the infamous lesbian kiss in ‘The O.C.’) bought the band instant acclaim in both Ireland and Britain and resulted in a hugely successful UK tour with the Frames.
In late 2005/early 2006, Bell X1 took another giant step with the release of Flock, their third and most accomplished effort to date. In the vein of early Radiohead/Coldplay, the album is packed with potential singles; not cheap radio fare but genuinely appealing rock songs for a mainstream audience. Highlights include the singles ‘Flame’ and ‘Bigger Than Me’ and the surprising radio hit ‘Rocky Took a Lover,’ not yet touted as a single but playlisted due to demand alone. The band is currently considering its options, having just released Flock in the UK.
Damien Rice has, for the majority of ’04 and ’05, been rumoured to be working on his second solo album, though this has never been officially confirmed. No further information is known, though he did release as a single the old Juniper track ‘Cross-eyed Bear’ as a charity single in aid of exiled Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Discography:
Neither Am I (2000)
Music In My Mouth (2003)
Flock ( http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=6532) (2005)
Damien Rice:
O ( http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=244) (2002)
Downloads:
Flocks will be available for download through the Alt/Indie mailing list from tomorrow (31st). You can sign up here (http://musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=436274)