Octopus were a Britpop

Britpop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 band from Shotts

Shotts

Shotts is a small rural town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh . As of the 2001 census, the population was 8,235...

, Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...

, Scotland

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...

 formed in 1995. They had three hit singles before splitting up in 1997.

History

The band was formed by Marc Shearer (vocals, guitar) and Alan McSeveney (guitar) who recruited Cameron Miller (bass guitar) and Oliver Grassel (drums) and relocated to London. After playing several times in London (the first of which included a visit from Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...

) they were spotted by Levitation

Levitation (band)

Levitation were an English rock band fronted by ex-House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers. Levitation's music and attitude challenged an early 1990s UK alternative music scene dominated by shoegazing and Madchester....

 drummer David Francolini

David Francolini

David Francolini also known as "Mitch Razor" is an English rock drummer, and has previously played in a number of bands, most notably Strangelove, Levitation, and Dark Star....

 who passed their demo to Food Records

Food Records

Food Records was a record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe, who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade Distribution, Food licenced acts to the Polygram offshoot London and Warner's WEA Records, before...

 boss Andy Ross, who signed the band, releasing their debut single, "Magazine" in March 1996. Live members at this time included harmonica

Harmonica

The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

-player Nick Reynolds, son of Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds and a horn section. They toured with Sleeper

Sleeper (band)

Sleeper were a British Britpop band in the 1990s fronted by Louise Wener. The band had eight UK Top 40 hit singles and three UK Top 10 albums. Their music was also featured in the soundtrack of Trainspotting.-Career:...

 and second single "Your Smile" gave them their first hit, peaking at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The 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 ...

. This was followed by "Saved", which saw them break into the top 40, and their album From A to B was released in September 1996. A fourth single from the album, "Jealousy", reached number 59, and proved to be their final release, the band splitting up in 1997.

Miller later played with Ben Christophers

Ben Christophers

Ben Christophers is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands of England. To date he has released five albums: the first two on Virgin's V2 label, the third on Cooking Vinyl and the two most recent on his own label, Rocketeer.He collaborated with French...

, Blowpipe, and Adem, while Shearer also played with Adem, and recorded solo material, with "Magma on My Mind" included on the 2009 compilation A Psychedelic Guide To Monsterism Island on Lo Recordings, later recording as Marc Meon.

Singles

• "Magazine" (1996), Food - UK #90
• "Your Smile" (1996), Food - UK #42
• "Saved" (1996), Food - UK #40
• "Jealousy" (1996), Food - UK #59