Black Sheep (anarcho-folk band)
Encyclopedia
Black Sheep are an English anarcho-folk band formed by singer/songwriter and counter-cultural activist Julian Cope
. They are the most recent of Cope's ongoing side projects, which include Brain Donor
and Queen Elizabeth
.
, for which he assembled a varied group of contributing musicians both from his longstanding talent pool and from more recent associates. Black Sheep was a predominantly acoustic project, dominated by Cope’s vocals and Mellotron
playing and by varied contributions mainly played on acoustic guitars and large bass drums. Besides Cope (who also played guitars, bass guitar, synthesizer and bass drum), the album featured long-term Cope sidemen Patrick "Holy" McGrail (synthesizer) and Doggen
(guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, drums and backing vocals - also of Spiritualized
), plus acoustic guitarists/singers/drum beaters Michael O'Sullivan and Ady "Acoustika" Fletcher. The album also credited a "blasphemous movie division" run by "Big Nige", and a "law council" featuring McGrail, Big Nige, and "Vybik John".
On October 27, 2008 Cope and various Black Sheep related musicians began the "Joe Strummer
Memorial Busking Tour", a 3-day-long busking tour of UK cultural centres as defined by Cope. These included several locations in London (the statues of Emily Pankhurst, Winston Churchill
and Thomas Carlyle
; the Wat Tyler
memorial on Blackheath Common
; and Karl Marx
's grave in Highgate Cemetery
), the Eddie Cochran
memorial in Chippenham
, the site of the Peterloo Massacre
in Manchester
, the King's Standing and Swanborough Tump barrows and Carl Jung
's statue in Liverpool
.
Working on Black Sheep both as an album and as a counter-cultural touring event inspired Cope to extend the concept to a full band (later described, although not by Cope, as "an assortment of the chemically damaged and the intellectually fired-up"). Acoustika, O’Sullivan and McGrail remained on board, while Vybik Jon and Big Nige stepped up as additional performers. Also added were several new recruits - drummer Antony Hodgkinson
(Antronhy), Christophe F. (formerly of Universal Panzies), "Fat Paul" Horlick (on electronics and drums) , Adam "Randy Apostle" Whittaker (who’d previously mostly worked with Cope as an engineer), and the more obscure "Hebbs" and "Common Era". All of these members played on the Black Sheep debut double album Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse, released in 2009.
Rather than being just another Cope vehicle, it became clear that Black Sheep was considered a collective effort on the evidence of the album’s second half, which featured tracks led by individual group members (McGrail on the 24-minute epic "Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse" and Christophe F. on "We're The Baa-aa-aader Meinhof", "You Can Gaol The Revolutionary, But You Cannot Gaol The Revolution" and "Heathen Frontiers In Sound"). The group recorded several BBC sessions which were released the same year on Black Sheep at the BBC. Musically, this featured the same lineup as the debut album bar Whitaker and Hebbs, and with the addition of the group’s engineer (singer-songwriter David Wrench
) on grand piano and vocals plus additional vocalist Eddi Fiegel. Attention to the sleevenotes of the albums illustrated Black Sheep’s increasingly collective approach – Fiegel also served as one of the group’s photographers, while the musically absent Hebbs had contributed a painting. Other contributors to Black Sheep have included Cope’s wife Dorian Cope, performing under the pseudonym of "Mother of the Revolution" (Dorian Cope's radical blog "On This Deity" is also a Black Sheep project).
The collective approach has also allowed for an increasing number of releases foregrounding individual group members and associates. Christophe F. stepped to the fore on 2009’s Heathen Frontiers in Sound which he predominantly wrote while backed by the group. Black Sheep have also backed David Wrench on his 2010 album Spades, Hoes, Plows (for which they were co-credited).
As Black Sheep:
As Christophe F./Black Sheep:
with David Wrench:
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
. They are the most recent of Cope's ongoing side projects, which include Brain Donor
Brain Donor
Brain Donor are an English power trio, formed in July 1999 by Julian Cope and two Spiritualized members, Doggen Foster and drummer Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales...
and Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth (band)
Queen Elizabeth is a British band. It is a collaborative experimental project between Thighpaulsandra and Julian Cope. The general concept behind Queen Elizabeth was a "sonic ritual" in which sounds, melodies and other sonic properties would combine...
.
Background and work
The origins of Black Sheep lie in Julian Cope’s 2008 solo album Black SheepBlack Sheep (Julian Cope album)
Black Sheep is a 2008 double album by Julian Cope, former lead singer of The Teardrop Explodes, released on Head Heritage Records. Cope described the album as "a musical exploration of what it is to be an outsider in modern Western Culture"...
, for which he assembled a varied group of contributing musicians both from his longstanding talent pool and from more recent associates. Black Sheep was a predominantly acoustic project, dominated by Cope’s vocals and Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
playing and by varied contributions mainly played on acoustic guitars and large bass drums. Besides Cope (who also played guitars, bass guitar, synthesizer and bass drum), the album featured long-term Cope sidemen Patrick "Holy" McGrail (synthesizer) and Doggen
Doggen
Doggen is the pseudonym of the Nottingham born guitarist Tony Foster .Doggen is presently playing lead guitar, piano and organ with Jason Pierce's Spiritualized.- References :...
(guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, drums and backing vocals - also of Spiritualized
Spiritualized
Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3...
), plus acoustic guitarists/singers/drum beaters Michael O'Sullivan and Ady "Acoustika" Fletcher. The album also credited a "blasphemous movie division" run by "Big Nige", and a "law council" featuring McGrail, Big Nige, and "Vybik John".
On October 27, 2008 Cope and various Black Sheep related musicians began the "Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
Memorial Busking Tour", a 3-day-long busking tour of UK cultural centres as defined by Cope. These included several locations in London (the statues of Emily Pankhurst, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
; the Wat Tyler
Wat Tyler
Walter "Wat" Tyler was a leader of the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381.-Early life:Knowledge of Tyler's early life is very limited, and derives mostly through the records of his enemies. Historians believe he was born in Essex, but are not sure why he crossed the Thames Estuary to Kent...
memorial on Blackheath Common
Blackheath Common
Blackheath Common is an area of of heathland in Surrey, England, near the village of Albury in the borough of Waverley. It is part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and much of the common is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest...
; and Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
's grave in Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a cemetery located in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery....
), the Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
memorial in Chippenham
Chippenham
Chippenham may be:* Chippenham, Wiltshire* Chippenham * Chippenham, Cambridgeshire-See also:* Virginia State Route 150, also known as Chippenham Parkway, USA* Cippenham, Berkshire, UK...
, the site of the Peterloo Massacre
Peterloo Massacre
The Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation....
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, the King's Standing and Swanborough Tump barrows and Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
's statue in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
Working on Black Sheep both as an album and as a counter-cultural touring event inspired Cope to extend the concept to a full band (later described, although not by Cope, as "an assortment of the chemically damaged and the intellectually fired-up"). Acoustika, O’Sullivan and McGrail remained on board, while Vybik Jon and Big Nige stepped up as additional performers. Also added were several new recruits - drummer Antony Hodgkinson
Antony Hodgkinson
Antony Hodgkinson was the drummer for the indie rock band Bivouac. He has also played drums in several bands such as Punish the Atom, , and now writes and performs with Julian Cope & also his Black Sheep . Hodgkinson is best known for dancing on stage for Nirvana's 1992 Reading Festival...
(Antronhy), Christophe F. (formerly of Universal Panzies), "Fat Paul" Horlick (on electronics and drums) , Adam "Randy Apostle" Whittaker (who’d previously mostly worked with Cope as an engineer), and the more obscure "Hebbs" and "Common Era". All of these members played on the Black Sheep debut double album Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse, released in 2009.
Rather than being just another Cope vehicle, it became clear that Black Sheep was considered a collective effort on the evidence of the album’s second half, which featured tracks led by individual group members (McGrail on the 24-minute epic "Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse" and Christophe F. on "We're The Baa-aa-aader Meinhof", "You Can Gaol The Revolutionary, But You Cannot Gaol The Revolution" and "Heathen Frontiers In Sound"). The group recorded several BBC sessions which were released the same year on Black Sheep at the BBC. Musically, this featured the same lineup as the debut album bar Whitaker and Hebbs, and with the addition of the group’s engineer (singer-songwriter David Wrench
David Wrench
David Wrench is a singer, musician and studio producer/ sound engineer from Anglesey, Wales. His music has ranged from camp synth pop to Doom inspired Folk....
) on grand piano and vocals plus additional vocalist Eddi Fiegel. Attention to the sleevenotes of the albums illustrated Black Sheep’s increasingly collective approach – Fiegel also served as one of the group’s photographers, while the musically absent Hebbs had contributed a painting. Other contributors to Black Sheep have included Cope’s wife Dorian Cope, performing under the pseudonym of "Mother of the Revolution" (Dorian Cope's radical blog "On This Deity" is also a Black Sheep project).
The collective approach has also allowed for an increasing number of releases foregrounding individual group members and associates. Christophe F. stepped to the fore on 2009’s Heathen Frontiers in Sound which he predominantly wrote while backed by the group. Black Sheep have also backed David Wrench on his 2010 album Spades, Hoes, Plows (for which they were co-credited).
Discography
As Julian Cope:- 2008 Black SheepBlack Sheep (Julian Cope album)Black Sheep is a 2008 double album by Julian Cope, former lead singer of The Teardrop Explodes, released on Head Heritage Records. Cope described the album as "a musical exploration of what it is to be an outsider in modern Western Culture"...
As Black Sheep:
- 2009 Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse (Invada)
- 2009 Black Sheep at the BBC (Fuck Off and Di)
As Christophe F./Black Sheep:
- 2009 Heathen Frontiers In Sound (Trilithon Records)
with David Wrench:
- 2010 Spades, Hoes, Plows (Invada)
External links
- Head Heritage - Julian Cope's own site
- On This Deity – Dorian Cope's radical blog and Black Sheep project