The House Band

The House Bandwas amusical groupformed inEdinburghin 1984 by musicians Ged Foley (vocals,guitar), Jimmy Young (smallpipes,flute,whistle), Iain Macleod (guitar,mandolin) andChris Parkinson(melodeon,keyboards,piano accordionandharmonica).They played original compositions and traditional music in aCeltic/Britishfolkstyle, with influences fromreggae,country,pop,jazzandworld music.Successive regroupings of the band released ninealbumsover seventeen years, touring in United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the United States,before finally disbanding in 2001.

History

The band's first performance took place in October 1984, at a school inDalkeith.Its first contract was withTopic Recordsin London and the first album,The House Band,was recorded in January 1985.

In 1985, The House Band performed in Italy, and then Germany and Switzerland in October and November. A tour of New Zealand took place from December 1985 until mid-February 1986, after which the original group disbanded.

On returning to theUK,Chris Parkinson and Ged Foley formed a new group with John Skelton and Brian Brooks, later billing themselves as The New House Band.In 1987, they recorded a secondalbum,Pacific,for Topic Records.

Brian Brooks had lived inNew York Cityfor a while, so had some contacts which led to several gigs there in 1987. Ged Foley's prior association withBattlefield Bandled to tours of theUSafter this — bothBattlefield Bandand The House Band worked with the same agency. These successful tours continued until the end of the 1990s. Brooks left the band in 1988, after which the three remaining members recordedWord of Mouthat Topic Records' studios.

During this period, the band also toured in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, with a stay in Zanzibar for a few days. The name for the band's next album,Stonetown,was inspired by the name of the old part ofZanzibar City,the capital of the island of Zanzibar. Immediately after a tour of the Netherlands and Belgium, the whole album was recorded in eight days in 1991, for Harbourtown Records. The photo for the sleeve ofStonetownwas taken inWhitby,where Chris Parkinson was living at the time and is, coincidentally, the same street whereSimply Redhad filmed part of the video for their song "Holding Back the Years".The album won a Music Retailers Association Annual Award for Excellence (in the 'Folk and Country Music' category) in 1992.

Following this, the band signed withGreen Linnet Records,and in 1993 released acompilationof previous works entitledGroundwork.Roger Wilsonjoined the band onfiddle,guitarandvocals,and the album,Another Setting,followed in 1994. Bernie Nau (piano) and Mark Hellenberg (percussion) worked with the band assession musiciansduring the recording of this album.

The next album wasRockallin 1996, which was also recorded inVermont.

After that,October Songwas recorded at Studio du Chemin 4,Joliette,Quebec,in December 1997. The studio was owned by Denis Frechette, a pianist withLa Bottine Souriante,and therecording engineerwas André Marchand (ex-member of La Bottine Souriante) who added some 'foot percussion' on one of the tracks.October Songwas released in time for a tour of Australia and New Zealand in early 1998, followed by tours of the UK, Europe and the US. Roger Wilson left the band after these tours, at the end of 1998.

In April 2000, The New House Band was relaunched with a recording of a four-trackdemoinOhio.A short tour of the US was arranged for December 2000, and a tour of the UK from May until June 2001. The UK tour also included gigs in Belgium and Denmark. A final album,The Very Best of The House Band,was released in 2001, after which the group disbanded.

Discography

• The House Band(1985)
• Pacific(1987)
• Word of Mouth(1988)
• Stonetown(1991)
• Groundwork(compilation) (1993)
• Another Setting(1994)
• Rockall(1996)
• October Song(1998)
• The Very Best of The House Band(compilation) (2001)

In 2009, "The Happy One-Step/Green Willis" fromWord of Mouth,was included in Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set,Three Score and Ten,as track six on the seventh CD.