SOUNDS off the SERVES

Sons off the deserted is an rock group formed in 1988.

It is composed of the musicians Ewan Shiels (song, acoustic and electric mandoline), Tracey Booth (become Tracey Shiels in the middle of the Nineties - song, bodhran), Joseph Doherty (violin and saxophone), Stephen Harrison (double bass) and Johnny Nolan (guitar). Noticed following their services in various public places, the Sounds off the Desrt very quickly cut a scenic reputation of share their regular concerts in pubs of London like Marquee Club, Town and Country Club or the Castle Elephant.

They start to turn then, to create sensation in particular with the festivals of Reading and the Transmusicales of Rennes in 1989.

In 1992 leaves a first album, Cannibal hood, Carnival hat . One finds there already the style so particular of the group, which draws from the traditional musics of England and Ireland as in the blues and the bluegrass, the country of the United States to marry them, through arrangements making the good share with ingeniousness and the musical performances, the rock'n'roll or the jazz. Environment is at the very least heterogeneous, oscillating between calm titles and pieces much rougher and furibonds, Tracey and Ewan which incarnates in turn through their interpretations these two registers.

Fallen in love with Brittany after some concerts in France, Tracey and Ewan decide to settle there.

After a crowd in concerts given a little everywhere in the world, the Sounds off the deserted return in 1995 with a second album, this time without Johnny Nolan but with on the other hand distinguished guests like Michael Moore with the clarinet and the piano, or Paul Rodden with the banjo. Greedy, it is the title of the disc, clears even more unexplored musical territories by brewing the kinds, of the Eastern influences to the folk while passing by the instrumental parts liberally fed in solos heavy. Described by its authors like the music of an unknown country, the disc is a critical and public success with regard to the concerts, unfortunately served by a bad distribution. It is in general the reference of the majority of the fans of the group, who find there a perfect sum of the charm, madness, quality, requirement and eclecticism of the formation.

After rounds charged of purple passages, Tracey and Ewan make a pause to raise their new small family. At the wire of time they are put to venture together in parallel projects like Wagon or The Roving Ladies. The formation of the Sounds off the Serves ended up evolving/moving until taking that which one will find on the third and last disc in date, left in 2002: Goodnight Noises Everywhere .

Up to that point virgin of any battery, the music of the Sounds off the deserted takes an important turning which brings the group to being directed a little more towards the jazz/rock'n'roll, without never disavowing for as much the personality of its writing and the originality of its melody style. In addition to Tracey and Ewan Shiels, obviously present as founding members, one finds Vincent Guerin with the double bass and Régïs Boulard with the battery, Paul Rodden making his return to the banjo for some of the pieces on which answer present a plethora of guests, among which Michael Moore once again, pol. Huellou or Bertrand Belin. Once again, the promotional support of their label is not completely with go, contrary to the criticism which it is at the very least unanimous as for intrinsic qualities of this new opus.

In 2002 and the following year, the new training in quartet of the Sounds takes again the roads for new series in concerts. December 2nd, 2003, the group delivers its last concert with Vincent Guerin to the Arrow of Gold, with Paris. It will be replaced starting from the following concert, on July 25th, 2004 with Villeneuve-the-Avignon, by Estelle Amsellem.

Revealed little by little on scene, of new titles of the Sounds off the deserted seems ready right now, confirming the nearest exit of a fourth album.

While waiting for this one, the topicality of the group remains the publication this year of a disc duet of Tracey and Ewan under the name The Shiels, entitled Never Alone .

Discography

Albums

Cannibal hood, Carnival hat (1992)
Greedy (1996)
Goodnight Noises Everywhere… (2002)

External bonds

Official site of the SOUNDS off the SERVES
Official site of THE SHIELS

Random links: