Claytown Troupe
Encyclopedia
Claytown Troupe are a gothic rock
band
from Bristol
, Bath and Weston-super-Mare
, England.
Christian Riou, who claimed in an NME
interview that a local clairvoyant
advised him to form a band called "the Clayton Troop". By 1986, Claytown Troupe had an accomplished live show, which earned them major record label
interest. In 1988, the band signed to Island Records
by Ron Fair
, who co-produced
(with Ralph Jezzard
) their debut album, Through the Veil. This album reached #72 on the UK Albums Chart
in October 1989.
Claytown Troupe played to sell-out audiences the London's Marquee Club
and Astoria
, before going on to play as support band for The Cult
's Sonic Temple tour, at venues such as Wembley Arena
and Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre
. Following this success, the band continued as support band for Pearl Jam
, The Wonder Stuff
, The Damned, Julian Cope
, Jesus Jones
, The Godfathers
, and The Mission
, as well as the Los Angeles Foundations Forum
, which also featured Ozzy Osbourne
and Soundgarden
.
Switching record label
s to EMI Records
, Claytown Troupe's next album, Out There (1991), was produced by David Bianco at New York's The Hit Factory
. In 1992 they toured the United Kingdom with Terrorvision
as their support act. At this stage, drummer Andy Holte, guitarist Ben Bennett and bassist Paul Waterson left and the band was dropped by EMI. Riou and Richard Williams continued for two more years before Riou decided to put the band on hold.
Riou and Williams reformed the band in 2004 and were invited to perform at that year's Whitby Gothic Weekend
. The band played a headline date at The Half Moon
music venue in Putney
in December 2004. In 2008, they were joined by Ben Christo from The Sisters Of Mercy
to play as support band for the Mission's last ever tour date at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Later that year, they played as support for Spear of Destiny
at the Islington Academy, London.
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Bath and Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
, England.
Career
The band was formed in 1984 by lead singerSinging
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
Christian Riou, who claimed in an NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
interview that a local clairvoyant
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
advised him to form a band called "the Clayton Troop". By 1986, Claytown Troupe had an accomplished live show, which earned them major record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
interest. In 1988, the band signed to Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
by Ron Fair
Ron Fair
Ron Fair is a veteran A&R executive, record producer arranger, recording engineer and songwriter. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several artists, but he is best known as a "guru/mentor", guiding the careers of unknown artists...
, who co-produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
(with Ralph Jezzard
Ralph Jezzard
Ralph Jezzard is a British music producer based in London, England.-History:Jezzard started playing in bands at the age of 14 including Case. At 16 he started working at Wickham Studios in South London as a tape operator, and the first record he engineered was a band called Blood and Roses' EP,...
) their debut album, Through the Veil. This album reached #72 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
in October 1989.
Claytown Troupe played to sell-out audiences the London's Marquee Club
Marquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
and Astoria
London Astoria
The London Astoria was a music venue, located at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. It had been leased and run by Festival Republic since 2000. It was closed on 15 January 2009 and has since been demolished...
, before going on to play as support band for The Cult
The Cult
The Cult are a British rock band that was formed in 1983. They gained a dedicated following in Britain in the mid 1980s as a post-punk band with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love...
's Sonic Temple tour, at venues such as Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...
and Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre
National Exhibition Centre
The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...
. Following this success, the band continued as support band for Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
, The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:...
, The Damned, Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
, Jesus Jones
Jesus Jones
Jesus Jones are a British rock band. The Wiltshire-based group, formed in late 1988, recorded and performed in the late 1980s, throughout the 1990s, and into the 2000s. They are best remembered for their track, "Right Here, Right Now", an international hit and subsequently globally appropriated for...
, The Godfathers
The Godfathers
The Godfathers are an alternative rock band from London, England.-Career:The Godfathers were formed by Peter and Chris Coyne from the ashes of The Sid Presley Experience in 1985. After independent single releases produced by Vic Maile, and collected on their debut album, Hit By Hit, they signed to...
, and The Mission
The Mission (band)
The Mission are a gothic rock band formed in 1986 from the splinters of the freshly dissolved rock band The Sisters of Mercy.The band was started by frontman Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams , soon adding...
, as well as the Los Angeles Foundations Forum
Foundations Forum
Foundations Forum was the first exclusively heavy metal music industry convention, held annually from 1988 - 1997 in Los Angeles. The convention was set up by Concrete Marketing who had in January 1988 created the first industry trade magazine for the heavy metal world - Foundations...
, which also featured Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
and Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
.
Switching record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s to EMI Records
EMI Records
EMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...
, Claytown Troupe's next album, Out There (1991), was produced by David Bianco at New York's The Hit Factory
The Hit Factory
The Hit Factory was a recording studio in New York City famous for its clientele. It was officially closed for business April 1, 2005 whereas other Hit Factory studio locations remained open, such as in Miami, Florida.-History:...
. In 1992 they toured the United Kingdom with Terrorvision
Terrorvision
Terrorvision are an English rock band. They were formed in 1987 in Keighley, and initially disbanded in 2001...
as their support act. At this stage, drummer Andy Holte, guitarist Ben Bennett and bassist Paul Waterson left and the band was dropped by EMI. Riou and Richard Williams continued for two more years before Riou decided to put the band on hold.
Riou and Williams reformed the band in 2004 and were invited to perform at that year's Whitby Gothic Weekend
Whitby Gothic Weekend
Whitby Gothic Weekend, often abbreviated to WGW or simply referred to by attendees as Whitby, is a twice-yearly festival for goths, in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, organised by Jo Hampshire who runs Top Mum Promotions.-Event history:...
. The band played a headline date at The Half Moon
The Half Moon (music venue)
The Half Moon, Putney is a London music venue in London. Providing a stage for different kinds of music, it became a major venue for many name performers and bands, offering both lunchtime and evening performances...
music venue in Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
in December 2004. In 2008, they were joined by Ben Christo from The Sisters Of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
to play as support band for the Mission's last ever tour date at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Later that year, they played as support for Spear of Destiny
Spear of Destiny (band)
Spear of Destiny is a British rock band, established in 1982 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. It has had an ever-changing line-up through the years.-Biography:...
at the Islington Academy, London.
Singles
- "Prayer"
- "Hey Lord"
- "Real Life"
- "Ways of Love" (1990) - UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#57 - "Wanted It All" (1992) - UK #74
- "Skybound"
Albums
- Through the Veil (1989) (Island) - UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
#72 - Out There (1991) (EMI)