RSS NEWS FEED | From Folk-Punk to Wyrd-Folk... call it what you will it's all here...
Oysterband
Formed from the ashes of the ' Whitstable Oyster Co. Ceilidh Band', and 'Fiddler's Dram' in the late seventies, The Oyster Band spent the eighties gigging around the UK and producing their own albums. Their strength lay in the way they grounded the energy and protest of punk with the sensibilities of Folk.
It was the late eighties before their first commercial album releases, up until then they had released them on their own 'pukka' label. Their first commercially released album was 'Step Outside' and it helped to ignite the folk-punk explosion of the late eighties and early nineties.
Their songwriting tackled all the ills of society and of a government (Thatcher's) constantly stirring up protest. They inject traditional songs with a rock edge, and have covered an eclectic range of material over the years. Members of the band pop up regularly collaborating with other artists. John Jones recently worked with Chumbawamba on their latest album A Singsong And A Scrap. He's also popping up on Seth Lakeman's Freedom Fields.
They are the driving force behind the popular Big Session festival, 2005 was it's debut year and it sold out. Check out their site for a complete (and exhaustive) discography.