Ocean Colour Scene 'A Hyperactive Workout For The Flying Square' album

A Hyperactive Workout For The Flying Squad, the seventh studio record from one of Britain’s leading rock & roll traditionalists, Ocean Colour Scene, will be released on Sanctuary Records on March 29th.

Written and recorded by the band’s Simon Fowler (lead vocals,
guitar), Steve Cradock (lead guitar, keyboards, vocals) and Oscar
Harrison (drums) and produced by Dave Eringa in only five weeks in a
Hunting Lodge in a remote part of the Scottish highlands in 2004, A
Hyperactive Workout For The Flying Squad, has thirteen tracks on the
album, featuring collaborations with Paul Weller and Jools Holland (who
both appear on "Waving Not Drowning", a beautifully inspirational
record which features Weller on guitars and Holland on piano and organ)
and soul stress Carleen Anderson. The album is emotionally honest and
stylistically diverse that covers a multitude of lyrical and musical
moods and showcases a real maturity and depth in the band's song
writing. It’s a real feel good record that has all the qualities of a
classic Ocean Colour Scene record in the making taking inspiration from
the likes of Neil Young, The Beatles, Lou Reed, U2 and Scott Walker.
After finishing Hyperactive, the band decided to recruit two more
members, Andy Bennett (guitars) and Dan Seeley (bass), to not only
replace bassist Damon Minchella (who left the band prior to recording
the new record), but to widen the band's sound. The first single, “Free
My Name”, with its big brass intro quickly sweeps into the raspy and
distinctive vocals of lead singer Fowler, as the record builds into big
sweeping chorus lines and Cradock’s intricate and guitar sections weave
in and out of Harrison’s groovy beats to produce an infectious OCS
anthem. Fowler says he is pleased with their first single from the
album. “’Free My Name’ is very simply a song about love and that love
should set you free and not be caged. The meaning is in the title,
‘free my name, just give me love!’. The track was actually written some
time ago in the late 90s. Both PP Arnold and Liam Gallagher liked the
song and played around with their own versions. Craddock and Liam
worked on the song further whilst in the studio recording the Weller
cover ‘Carnation.’ We always wanted to release the track but were
waiting for the right moment. Then whilst we were recording at the
Lodge one day, Cradock started putting some of the chords down for the
track and before we knew it had taken a life of its own and blossomed
into ‘Free My Name.’”
A Hyperactive Workout For The Flying Squad is the follow up to August
2003’s North Atlantic Drift, which entered UK album charts at Number
14, was certified Silver, and received critical acclaim from both sides
of the Atlantic. Rolling Stone.com’s John Dugan raved, “On their sixth
studio record, Ocean Colour Scene don't stray far from the mode of
their pleasing 1996 Brit-rock breakthrough Moseley Shoals. The band
still practices the same retro naturalism and love for soul and
psychedelia, but amid the trad modness it gives increasing attention to
breezy pop ditties and neo-folk melodies…Steve Cradock's R&B-soaked
riffs and stylized vintage guitar sonics remain magnetic and Simon
Fowler's passionate crooning retains its own brand of allure.” Blair
Fischer in the Chicago Tribune’s “Red Eye” proclaimed, “North Atlantic
Drift, is a remarkable disc loaded with gorgeous, thoughtful,
melody-rich ballads that deserve the oft-fanciful comparisons to the
Beatles. An absolute stunner.”
“I suppose the influences from this album come from fifty years of rock
music and the unique combination of our own individual experiences and
musical contributions and what we have been through together as a band.
It’s those collective experiences and the emotion that you all
experience that creates the moment” said guitarist Cradock.
Highlights of the album include the opening and appropriately titled
track "Everything Comes At The Right Time", a real inspirational
driving record fuelled by Cradock's electrifying guitar riffs,
underpinned by Harrison's rhythm section and Fowler’s raw and edgy
vocals. The band pay their respects to the late Beatle George Harrison
with a groove heavy version of "Wah Wah", a classic Beatle's inspired
track with Fowler's velvet vocals gliding effortlessly over the
track. "Drive Away" is a simply beautiful and poignant record with
remarkable similarities to U2's classic "One Love". An emotive and
powerful record, “Drive Away” is a classic record in the making and as
Fowler succinctly sums it up, "its one of he best records I have ever
written." "I Love You" with it’s achingly beautiful symphonic lushness,
is a beautiful, dramatic and striking ballad, inspired with Fowler
paying homage to Roy Orbison and the Velvet Underground. "This Day
Should Last Forever", a brilliant up tempo folk inspired song and
future OCS anthem in the making. A real feel-good record which features
acclaimed folk musician John McCusker on violin. Poignant lyrics for a
band who have survived the cut throat world of the music business. A
band who have been there, done it all, read the "rock and roll" book
and worn the proverbial rock and roll tee-shirt! And there are the
hypnotic lulling vocal harmonies on “Move Things Over”.
After all these years, Ocean Colour Scene continues as Britain’s most
enduring bands that have the determination and work ethic that makes
them a dynamic unit who have learnt their craft extremely well and yet
are still hungry to impress and impose themselves. Together some
fifteen years now, the band have seen and weathered it all - poverty,
break ups, destructive record company politics, fads and fashions,
critical acclaim and critical abuse. Fowler says, “I think we appeal to
something that people always like which is, funnily enough, songs.
Maybe we have a bit more fun than other bands. We're more of a
knockabout band. I think it comes from that thing of being a gang,
having a laugh. The Beatles, Stones, The Faces, that kind of line.”
It’s not a bad heritage to be falling back on when you’re the second
best band in Britain (which Noel Gallagher proclaimed them in
interviews and sent them a plaque proclaiming that when the band’s
third record Marchin' Already, made it to #1 on the UK charts, knocking
off Oasis’ Be Here Now). “And as The Beatles are the first best band in
Britain,” Fowler says laughing, “that was very nice of him.”
With their audience greatly expanding and the public spotlight upon
them, it wasn't long before the press started digging around the band.
Their scoop was to discover that Fowler was gay, a fact of life that
Simon never thought to declare or not declare, which is how most people
operate. It did make him wonder, though, if this 'revelation' had any
effect on Marchin' Already's, subsequent sales which were half that of
its predecessor. “I began to think if it was the thing about me being
gay in the press,” Fowler muses. “I don't know. I can't see why that
album didn't sell as much. It sold 500,000 copies which today is
amazing but Moseley Shoals, sold 1.3 million and I don't know why the
sales dipped. There are so many intangibles but for me it was as good
as anything we had done. That period was probably the most self
confident I've ever been in my life. We were pop stars for eighteen
months. We were the third biggest selling band in the country and it
was because of Oasis opening up the way for bands like us.”
Feted over the years by the likes of U2’s The Edge, Primal Scream, Liam
and Noel Gallagher, Pete Townsend, supermodel Kate Moss, Hollywood
actor Johnny Depp and Paul Weller who described them “as a great
British band keeping the flames of real rock and roll alive and
burning!.”, the British quartet, Cradock, Fowler, ex-member Damon
Minchella (bass) and Harrison, was formed in the autumn of 1989 when
two bands, The Boys and The Fanatics, met and merged into one. Both
bands were Birmingham-based and both had released independent singles.
Since then, they have had an impressive ten Top 20 singles and five Top
Ten albums in the UK. The band survived their first indie label being
taken over by a major company, disputes over huge costs incurred in
making their debut record, followed by a legal battle between band and
label.
Their second album, Moseley Shoals was released in Spring 1996 in the
UK (it was released in the US in the Summer of ’96), and entered the UK
charts at #2, stayed in the UK Top Ten for over six months and became
one of the year’s top-selling albums in Britain selling over 1.2
million copies.
Their comeback started in 1993 when Paul Weller asked the band to
support him on some live dates and Weller then invited Cradock to play
guitar on a forthcoming single of his called “The Weaver,” and also
brought in Fowler to sing on his breakthrough solo album, Wildwood.
Another huge break for the band came in the autumn of 1995, when Oasis’
Noel Gallagher heard Ocean Colour Scene’s new demo tape and offered
them a support slot on their tour.
With the band’s own audience growing from their various tours and with
both Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller championing their cause in the
press at every opportunity, the band entered the studio again to work
on their much loved album, Moseley Shoals. One From The Modern, Ocean
Colour Scene’s fourth album, was released in the UK in September 1999
and reached #4 in the charts.
At a time when “Pop Idol” and boy bands were taking over on the radio
and TV, in print and in sales, OCS were suddenly a band out of deal and
a band out of time, a fact they were quick to recognize. Cradock
explains, “We did think at one point that with the ways things were
going we would never get another record deal in which case, we would
have started putting out albums over the Internet. But when the band
started the search for another new record deal and signed with
Sanctuary Records, a relieved Ocean Colour Scene returned to the studio
to record the North Atlantic Drift album. The first single “I Just Need
Myself,” entered the UK charts at #13 and furthered the band’s newfound
optimism. It was not only a massive vindication of the support in the
UK for the group but a huge boost for the band's confidence.
Now March 29th brings us A Hyperactive Workout For The Flying Squad,
which highlights OCS’ classic simple approach to pop songcraft and
hook-filled great tunes.

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