Mike Heron
Encyclopedia
Mike Heron is a Scottish
singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work in the Incredible String Band
in the 1960s and 1970s.
, where his father was a teacher, and spent a year at Edinburgh University before leaving to start training as an accountant. He played in R&B and pop bands in Edinburgh, including The Saracens, and in late 1965 successfully auditioned to join a new trio, The Incredible String Band, with Robin Williamson
and Clive Palmer
. Heron has said: "It was an exploring era in the Sixties and people were rebelling from the boring pop stuff into folk and blues and world music. You couldn't sit down and listen to Buddy Holly and pass the joint around. So we tried to make the kind of music we felt was missing from our lives, that fitted with the hippy lifestyle."
He has also released a number of solo recordings, mostly more rock-oriented than the Incredible String Band material. The first of these, Smiling Men with Bad Reputations
, released in 1971 when still a member of the ISB, took eclecticism to a new extreme, blending rock, folk and world music into an atmospheric whole. Contributing musicians included Pete Townshend
, Keith Moon
, Duncan Browne
and Ronnie Lane
(as "Tommy & The Bijoux"!), John Cale
, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks
, Simon Nicol
, Dave Pegg
, Dudu Pukwana
, Elton John
, and Steve Winwood
.
The Incredible String Band broke up in September 1974. With three other members of the final "electric" ISB line-up - Graham Forbes, John Gilston, and Malcolm Le Maistre
- he formed the band Mike Heron's Reputation, later known simply as Heron, with whom he recorded and toured until 1977. In 1977/78, while still living in the Glen Row cottage near Innerleithen
which had been the Incredible String Band's home and headquarters, he recorded songs which were eventually issued as The Glen Row Tapes. In 1979, he released a solo album on Casablanca Records
, but then withdrew from performance for several years. In the 1990s he re-emerged with a new group, Mike Heron's Incredible Acoustic Band, and released the album Where The Mystics Swim.
In 1997 he reunited with Williamson for some concerts, and from 1999 to 2006 performed occasionally with a reformed version of the Incredible String Band.
He has also recorded a song with his daughter Georgia Seddon, based on a poem by John Burnside
, for the Ballads of the Book
album released in March 2007.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work in the Incredible String Band
Incredible String Band
The Incredible String Band were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially within British counterculture, before splitting up in 1974...
in the 1960s and 1970s.
Career
He attended George Heriot's SchoolGeorge Heriot's School
George Heriot's School is an independent primary and secondary school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff and 80 non-teaching staff. It was established in 1628 as George Heriot's Hospital, by bequest of the royal goldsmith George...
, where his father was a teacher, and spent a year at Edinburgh University before leaving to start training as an accountant. He played in R&B and pop bands in Edinburgh, including The Saracens, and in late 1965 successfully auditioned to join a new trio, The Incredible String Band, with Robin Williamson
Robin Williamson
Robin Williamson is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, songwriter and storyteller, who first made his name as a founder member of The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
and Clive Palmer
Clive Palmer
Clive Palmer is a British folk musician and banjoist best known as a founding member of the Incredible String Band.Born in Edmonton, North London, he first went on stage at the age of 8, and took banjo lessons from the age of 10. Around 1957 he began playing with jazz bands in Soho...
. Heron has said: "It was an exploring era in the Sixties and people were rebelling from the boring pop stuff into folk and blues and world music. You couldn't sit down and listen to Buddy Holly and pass the joint around. So we tried to make the kind of music we felt was missing from our lives, that fitted with the hippy lifestyle."
- Main article : The Incredible String Band
He has also released a number of solo recordings, mostly more rock-oriented than the Incredible String Band material. The first of these, Smiling Men with Bad Reputations
Smiling Men with Bad Reputations
Smiling Men with Bad Reputations is the 1971 solo debut release by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band.Here Heron was prone to generate odd, atmospheric melodies, some of which were drawn from Celtic and Eastern sources. "Spirit Beautiful" is a fine example in which Heron creates an Indian...
, released in 1971 when still a member of the ISB, took eclecticism to a new extreme, blending rock, folk and world music into an atmospheric whole. Contributing musicians included Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
, Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
, Duncan Browne
Duncan Browne
Duncan Browne was an English singer-songwriter.-Career:Browne attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, studying both music theory and drama. He chose to become a musician when in 1967 he met Andrew Loog Oldham, and signed with his Immediate Records label...
and Ronnie Lane
Ronnie Lane
Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Lane was an English musician, songwriter, and producer who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of two prominent English rock and roll bands; the Small Faces where he was nicknamed "Plonk", – and, after losing the band's frontman, Faces, with two new...
(as "Tommy & The Bijoux"!), John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks is a rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician, and as a performance artist...
, Simon Nicol
Simon Nicol
Simon John Breckenridge Nicol is a guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founder member of British folk rock, or electric folk group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the band...
, Dave Pegg
Dave Pegg
Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, arguably most visible as a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the pre-eminent electric folk band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of important folk and rock groups including The Ian Campbell...
, Dudu Pukwana
Dudu Pukwana
Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, and Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
.
The Incredible String Band broke up in September 1974. With three other members of the final "electric" ISB line-up - Graham Forbes, John Gilston, and Malcolm Le Maistre
Malcolm Le Maistre
Malcolm Le Maistre is a British musician, experimental artist and theatre director, who was a member of The Incredible String Band in the 1970s....
- he formed the band Mike Heron's Reputation, later known simply as Heron, with whom he recorded and toured until 1977. In 1977/78, while still living in the Glen Row cottage near Innerleithen
Innerleithen
Innerleithen is a small town in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders.-Etymology:The name "Innerleithen" comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "confluence of the Leithen", because it is here that the river joins the Tweed. The prefix "Inner-/Inver-" is common in many Scottish...
which had been the Incredible String Band's home and headquarters, he recorded songs which were eventually issued as The Glen Row Tapes. In 1979, he released a solo album on Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...
, but then withdrew from performance for several years. In the 1990s he re-emerged with a new group, Mike Heron's Incredible Acoustic Band, and released the album Where The Mystics Swim.
In 1997 he reunited with Williamson for some concerts, and from 1999 to 2006 performed occasionally with a reformed version of the Incredible String Band.
He has also recorded a song with his daughter Georgia Seddon, based on a poem by John Burnside
John Burnside
John Burnside is a Scottish writer, born in Dunfermline.-Background:Burnside studied English and European Languages at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. A former computer software engineer, he has been a freelance writer since 1996...
, for the Ballads of the Book
Ballads of the Book
Ballads of the Book is a studio album, released on 5 March 2007, on Chemikal Underground. The project was curated by Roddy Woomble, and features collaborations between Scottish musicians and Scottish writers. The album is considered a "joint effort" by all those involved...
album released in March 2007.
Solo discography
- Smiling Men with Bad ReputationsSmiling Men with Bad ReputationsSmiling Men with Bad Reputations is the 1971 solo debut release by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band.Here Heron was prone to generate odd, atmospheric melodies, some of which were drawn from Celtic and Eastern sources. "Spirit Beautiful" is a fine example in which Heron creates an Indian...
(1971) - Mike Heron's Reputation (1975)
- Diamond Of Dreams (as Heron) (1977)
- Mike Heron (1979)
- The Glenrow Tapes (1988)
- Where the Mystics Swim (1996)
- Conflict Of Emotions (1998)
- Futurefield (2002)
- Echo Coming Back (2005)