This Is Seb Clarke
Encyclopedia
This Is Seb Clarke or are a twelve piece soul
-punk
ensemble from Stoke-On-Trent
, North Staffordshire
. Their line-up plays Hammond organ
, piano
, bass
, drums
, lead guitar
, rhythm guitar
and has a brass section. The group are named after their frontman and principal songwriter
, Sebastian Clarke.
s with an acoustic guitar
and blues harp
. A tour of acoustic tents at numerous festivals
culminated in a performance at T in the Park
in 2004. Later that year, the line-up expanded to incorporate a bass player and drummer, but this trio rapidly grew into the twelve-piece. The band sound was getting faster, louder and more energetic and soon developed into a curious blend of Northern Soul and punk.
As a nod towards old Northern soul
posters, 19960s Stax
album cover designs and Spinal Tap
, the band had begun to advertise itself, with tongue firmly in cheek, as “This Is Seb Clarke”. This, in due course, lead to the name. The band embarked on a UK tour, played a sell out gig at the London venue, The Borderline, as well as a performance at Guilfest
, which found them vote the second best band at the festival by BBC Radio 2
, after Blondie
and before The Stranglers
.
This Is Seb Clarke's debut album
, Rover was released in 2005. "Spring Morning Sunshine" reached #12 in the UK Indie Chart
in 2006. The follow-up single, "I Just Can’t Carry On", from their second album, Vox, entered the indie chart at #7. Their third single "Rock 'n' Roll Alamo - pt 7" reached #1 on the same chart on 5 April 2008.
Soul Music
Soul Music is the sixteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1994. Like many of Pratchett's novels it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of the Discworld, in this case Rock and Roll music and stardom, with...
-punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
ensemble from Stoke-On-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
, North Staffordshire
North Staffordshire
North Staffordshire describes an area of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It contains the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire Moorlands and the City of Stoke-on-Trent. The Stoke and Newcastle areas make up The Potteries Urban Area, whilst the Moorlands are largely...
. Their line-up plays Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
and has a brass section. The group are named after their frontman and principal songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, Sebastian Clarke.
Biography
Playing soulful balladBallad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s with an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
and blues harp
Blues harp
The Richter-tuned harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica or blues harp , is the most widely known type of harmonica...
. A tour of acoustic tents at numerous festivals
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
culminated in a performance at T in the Park
T in the Park
T in the Park is a major British music festival that has been held annually since 1994. It is named after its main sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. It was originally held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire but since 1997 has been held at a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire...
in 2004. Later that year, the line-up expanded to incorporate a bass player and drummer, but this trio rapidly grew into the twelve-piece. The band sound was getting faster, louder and more energetic and soon developed into a curious blend of Northern Soul and punk.
As a nod towards old Northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
posters, 19960s Stax
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
album cover designs and Spinal Tap
Spinal Tap (band)
Spinal Tap is a parody heavy metal band that first appeared on a failed 1979 ABC TV sketch comedy pilot called "The T.V. Show", starring Rob Reiner...
, the band had begun to advertise itself, with tongue firmly in cheek, as “This Is Seb Clarke”. This, in due course, lead to the name. The band embarked on a UK tour, played a sell out gig at the London venue, The Borderline, as well as a performance at Guilfest
GuilFest
GuilFest, formerly the Guildford Festival of Folk and Blues is a music festival held in Stoke Park, Guildford, England each July. The festival, like the larger Glastonbury Festival, features a range of genres including rock, folk, blues, and in recent years pop...
, which found them vote the second best band at the festival by BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
, after Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
and before The Stranglers
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
.
This Is Seb Clarke's debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Rover was released in 2005. "Spring Morning Sunshine" reached #12 in the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
in 2006. The follow-up single, "I Just Can’t Carry On", from their second album, Vox, entered the indie chart at #7. Their third single "Rock 'n' Roll Alamo - pt 7" reached #1 on the same chart on 5 April 2008.
Albums
| Date of Release | Title | Label | UK Indie Chart UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 January 2005 | Rover | SONS Ltd | 12 |
| Winter 2010 | Vox | TBA |
Singles
| Date of Release | Title | Label | UK Indie Chart |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 June 2006 | "Spring Morning Sunshine" | SONS Ltd | 12 |
| 21 January 2007 | "I Just Can't Carry On" | 5 | |
| 24 March 2008 | "Rock 'n' Roll Alamo - pt 7" | 1 | |
| 12 April 2010 | "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" | 29 |