Home Service
Encyclopedia
Home Service are a British folk rock
group, formed in late 1980 from a nucleus of musicians who had been playing in Ashley Hutchings
' Albion Band. Their career is generally agreed to have peaked with the album Alright Jack, which is usually considered one of the finest products of the electric folk genre and has been highly influential on later work. Several members of the band, including most obviously John Tams
, have gone on to very successful solo careers and to take part in other significant projects.
(1978). Their establishment was partly out of the confusion caused by line-up changes when the Albion Band were playing as, in effect, a house band in Bill Bryden
's National Theatre
productions in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Lark Rise to Candleford
. Members of the group took part in an adaptation of Michael Herr
's Dispatches
without band leader Ashley Hutchings. In late 1980 eight members began to rehearse together in Southwark, London and had soon splintered off from the parent band. The original line-up was: John Tams
(vocals, melodeon), Bill Caddick
(vocals, guitar, dobro), Graeme Taylor
(vocals, guitar), Michael Gregory (drums), Roger Williams (trombone, tuba), Howard Evans
(trumpet), Colin Rae (trumpet) and Malcolm Bennet (bass). The large group was somewhat unwieldy and complicated by other projects, including the fact that both Evans and Williams were also members of Brass Monkey. Rae soon left and the remaining members initially chose the name 'The First Eleven' and then switched to Home Service, which had both associations of Britishness/Englishness and of a bygone world in the defunct BBC Home Service
radio station.
Theatre productions continued to dominate the group's existence, particularly Brydon’s trilogy based on the Wakefield cycle of mystery plays known as The Mysteries
. Augmented by other musicians, including Linda Thompson
on vocals and Andy Findon on saxophone, clarinet and flutes, they released a selection of the music as The Mysteries in 1985. Findon joined the band as a full member, but Bill Caddick, unhappy with the lack of live work, left the group soon after the end of the play's London run.
. There were also three other traditional tunes, but the most striking element of the album were Tams' compositions, which bracketed the traditional material on both sides, including the title track, the apocalyptic and uplifting "Sorrow/Babylon" and the haunting "Scarecrow".
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
group, formed in late 1980 from a nucleus of musicians who had been playing in Ashley Hutchings
Ashley Hutchings
Ashley Stephen Hutchings is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founder member of three of the most noteworthy English folk-rock bands in the history of the genre; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band...
' Albion Band. Their career is generally agreed to have peaked with the album Alright Jack, which is usually considered one of the finest products of the electric folk genre and has been highly influential on later work. Several members of the band, including most obviously John Tams
John Tams
John Tams is an English actor, singer, songwriter, composer and musician.- Folk musician :John Tams was a member of Derbyshire folk group Muckram Wakes in the 1970s, then worked with Ashley Hutchings as singer and melodeon-player on albums including Son of Morris On, and as a member of the...
, have gone on to very successful solo careers and to take part in other significant projects.
Origins
Home Service was formed out of members of the Albion Band who had participated in what is often said to be the group's most successful album in its long history, Rise Up Like the SunRise Up Like the Sun
Rise Up Like The Sun is an electric folk album released in 1978 by the Albion Band. The album is in part a collaboration between John Tams on vocals and melodeon and Ashley Hutchings on electric bass. This is not the first album on which the two worked together but it remains the most fulfilling...
(1978). Their establishment was partly out of the confusion caused by line-up changes when the Albion Band were playing as, in effect, a house band in Bill Bryden
Bill Bryden
William Campbell Rough Bryden CBE is a British stage- and film director and screenwriter.-Biography:...
's National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
productions in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. They were written by Flora Thompson and first published together in 1945...
. Members of the group took part in an adaptation of Michael Herr
Michael Herr
Michael Herr is a writer and former war correspondent, best known as the author of Dispatches , a memoir of his time as a correspondent for Esquire magazine during the Vietnam War...
's Dispatches
Dispatches (book)
Dispatches is a New Journalism book by Michael Herr that describes the author's experiences in Vietnam as a war correspondent for Esquire magazine. First published in 1977, Dispatches was one of the first pieces of American literature that allowed Americans to understand the experiences of soldiers...
without band leader Ashley Hutchings. In late 1980 eight members began to rehearse together in Southwark, London and had soon splintered off from the parent band. The original line-up was: John Tams
John Tams
John Tams is an English actor, singer, songwriter, composer and musician.- Folk musician :John Tams was a member of Derbyshire folk group Muckram Wakes in the 1970s, then worked with Ashley Hutchings as singer and melodeon-player on albums including Son of Morris On, and as a member of the...
(vocals, melodeon), Bill Caddick
Bill Caddick
Bill Caddick is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist, particularly noted for his songwriting and as a member of the innovative and influential group Home Service.-Career outline:...
(vocals, guitar, dobro), Graeme Taylor
Graeme Taylor
Graeme Taylor is a British electric guitarist.Taylor played lead guitar with 1970s medieval/rock band Gryphon, and leading folk rock bands including the Albion Band and Home Service...
(vocals, guitar), Michael Gregory (drums), Roger Williams (trombone, tuba), Howard Evans
Howard Evans
Howard Evans, , was a British trumpeter.Having played in the band of the Welsh Guards and the London Symphony Orchestra, Evans moved into theatre work. He was a member of the line-up of the Albion Band which played for 'Larkrise' at the National Theatre...
(trumpet), Colin Rae (trumpet) and Malcolm Bennet (bass). The large group was somewhat unwieldy and complicated by other projects, including the fact that both Evans and Williams were also members of Brass Monkey. Rae soon left and the remaining members initially chose the name 'The First Eleven' and then switched to Home Service, which had both associations of Britishness/Englishness and of a bygone world in the defunct BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
The BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of The Second World War, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
radio station.
Early recordings
In 1982 two tracks from what was initially intended as a demo session were released as a single, "Doing The Inglish", with the B-side "Bramsley", designed to accompany the group's appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival and their transmission on the BBC TV programme A Little Night Music. Further recording was delayed by their return to the National Theatre as a supporting band. With Bennet replaced by Jon Davie on bass and having been joined by keyboard player Steve King while recording, among considerable expectations, they released their eponymous first album in 1984. The album made good use of their two experienced songwriters, Tams and Caddick, and the arranging talents in the group for a mixture of original songs and traditional tunes. The result was favourably reviewed, but suffered in retrospect from the fragmented nature of the recording process among their busy schedules, leading to a lack of spontaneity.Theatre productions continued to dominate the group's existence, particularly Brydon’s trilogy based on the Wakefield cycle of mystery plays known as The Mysteries
The Mysteries (play)
The Mysteries is a version of the medieval English mystery plays presented at London's National Theatre in 1977. The cycle of three plays tells the story of the Bible from the creation to the last judgement....
. Augmented by other musicians, including Linda Thompson
Linda Thompson (singer)
Linda Thompson is a British singer. Born Linda Pettifer in Hackney, Thompson became one of the most recognised names—and voices—in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her former husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard...
on vocals and Andy Findon on saxophone, clarinet and flutes, they released a selection of the music as The Mysteries in 1985. Findon joined the band as a full member, but Bill Caddick, unhappy with the lack of live work, left the group soon after the end of the play's London run.
Alright Jack
With this line up the band began working on their third album, attempting to use their considerable talents to the full and overcome the problems that had limited their previous work. The result, Alright Jack (1985), was built around an arrangement of six folk songs by Percy GraingerPercy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
. There were also three other traditional tunes, but the most striking element of the album were Tams' compositions, which bracketed the traditional material on both sides, including the title track, the apocalyptic and uplifting "Sorrow/Babylon" and the haunting "Scarecrow".
Break-up
Alright Jack was the group's greatest achievement and almost their last. Tams left soon after and the remaining members gradually moved on to other projects. They reunited, without Tams, in 1991 to contribute to the charity compilation All Through the Year and with Caddick toured the UK, recordings of which were released as Wild Life (1995), but they disbanded soon after.2011 reunion
In 2011 it was announced that Home Service are reuniting for live performances. The reunion is taking place to promote a forthcoming album of previously unheard live recordings from 1986.Current members
- John TamsJohn TamsJohn Tams is an English actor, singer, songwriter, composer and musician.- Folk musician :John Tams was a member of Derbyshire folk group Muckram Wakes in the 1970s, then worked with Ashley Hutchings as singer and melodeon-player on albums including Son of Morris On, and as a member of the...
- vocals, melodeon, guitar - Graeme TaylorGraeme TaylorGraeme Taylor is a British electric guitarist.Taylor played lead guitar with 1970s medieval/rock band Gryphon, and leading folk rock bands including the Albion Band and Home Service...
- electric guitar - Jon DavieJon DavieJon Davie, bass guitar player with British folk rock bands including Gryphon and Home Service. Was also, using the name John Thomas, a member of The Banned, a British punk / New Wave outfit in the late 1970s....
- bass guitar, vocals - Andy FindonAndrew FindonAndrew Findon is an English flautist and saxophonist. Educated at Harrow County School for Boys, he trained as an orchestral flautist, and served as principal flute of the National Youth Orchestra in the early 1970s and three years at the Royal College of Music...
- saxophone, clarinet and flutes - Steve King – keyboards, vocals
- Michael Gregory - drums, percussion
- Paul Archibald – trumpet, flugelhorn
- Roger Williams - trombone, tuba
Past members
- Bill CaddickBill CaddickBill Caddick is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist, particularly noted for his songwriting and as a member of the innovative and influential group Home Service.-Career outline:...
- vocals, guitar - Howard EvansHoward EvansHoward Evans, , was a British trumpeter.Having played in the band of the Welsh Guards and the London Symphony Orchestra, Evans moved into theatre work. He was a member of the line-up of the Albion Band which played for 'Larkrise' at the National Theatre...
– trumpet - Malcolm Bennet – bass guitar
- Colin Rae - trumpet
Discography
- The Home Service (Jigsaw, 1984)
- The Mysteries (Coda, 1985)
- Alright Jack (Making Waves, 1986)
- with various artists All Through the Year (Hokey Pokey Records, 1991)
- Wild Life (Fledg'ling, 1995)
- Early Transmissions (reissue of The Home Service) (Fledg’ling, 1996)
- Live 1986 (Fledg'ling, 2011)