The Milk And Honey Band
Encyclopedia
The Milk And Honey Band is an English rock band centred around the talents of singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Robert White (ex-Ring
, Levitation
and Zag And The Coloured Beads
).
but with more energy and better songs. Or at times like a blissful Who
.” . Various reviewers have made comparisons to Crowded House
, David Gray
, Elliot Smith, Ron Sexsmith
, The Beatles
, The Beach Boys
, XTC
, Teenage Fanclub
, The La's
and Nick Drake
.
, Ring
and "jazz punk" band Peru (with fellow Zag member Paul Howard). Another member of Zag And The Coloured Beads was guitarist/bass player Michael "Mik" Tubb – both he and Ring guitarist Christian "Bic" Hayes
would work with White on future projects. This scene also featured bands such as the Purple People Eaters, The Dave Howard Singers
and Cardiacs
, many of whom interacted and sometimes shared members.
By 1990, this group of bands had spawned Levitation
, which formed when White and Hayes teamed up with ex-House Of Love
guitarist Terry Bickers
, bass player Joe Allen, violinist Johnny T and drummer David Francolini
. White performed mostly as the band’s keyboard player, third guitarist and harmony singer, and wrote a high proportion of the band’s material within its collective format.
Levitation recorded three albums and several EPs, and gained a lot of press attention. Severe tensions within the band, however, ensured that it was a relatively short-lived unit. Several line-up changes rocked the band (the most dramatic being the departure of mercurial frontman Bickers in 1993, to be briefly replaced by Steve Ludwin) and Levitation had split up by the end of 1994.
These tracks made up the project’s first album Round The Sun, which was released on Rough Trade Records in 1994. This album was more notably lo-fi than subsequent recordings, and featured musical elements that would be phased out of later Milk And Honey Band material. Several tracks had light classical or light-instrumental elements (emphasizing a nostalgic tone similar to that sometimes used in progressive rock) or a heavier dark-psychedelia approach.
Following the collapse of Levitation, White relocated to Brighton and pursued a steady career in commercial music production, while simultaneously building up a stock of Milk And Honey Band songs for future release. During this period, two more collaborators were brought into the band. These were Richard Yale (bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards and backing vocals) and White’s former Zag And The Coloured Beads bandmate Michael Tubb (electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards and backing vocals).
Regarding the band’s working arrangements, White has commented "I do write the majority of the tunes, but without Richard and Michaels' help this group...well, it wouldn't be a group for starters. They keep me sane and generally massage my ego just enough to keep me buoyed without adding too much to the 'ego mountain that is Robert'. It's a bit like the old it's-my-ball-and-I-say-when-you-can-play-with-it syndrome, but as I happen to be the one lucky enough to have a studio at home then most of the recording/rehearsing activities of The Milk & Honey Band happen here."
The band later released two download-only albums via Ape. These were compilations of both previously released and unreleased material. *Crumbs!* Volume One included more Boy From The Moon tracks ("Touched The Sun", "Wonderful", "Can’t Sleep", and an a cappella version of "Sold My Star") as did *Crumbs!* Volume Two ("500 Miles", "You’re The One", "Saved Again" and an acoustic version of "San Francisco").
The Milk And Honey Band played their first low-key acoustic concerts in Brighton in 2004. The band later added two extra members for live concerts - Dan Burke on keyboards, guitar and backing vocals and Christian Parsons (Polak, Astrid Williamson
) on drums.
In March 2009, the band released their fourth full album, Dog Eared Moonlight, on Ape Records. At around the same time, Burke and Parsons were confirmed as full members of the band.
In November 2010, Ape Records released a download-only album "In Colour", comprising twelve tracks recorded at the same time as "Dog Eared Moonlight." Three hundred physical copies of the album were also produced and made available.
In December 2010, a Robert White cover version of the Sea Nymphs song "Lily White's Party" (recorded in collaboration with Andy Partridge
) appeared on Leader Of The Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1
, a fundraising compilation album to benefit the hospitalised Cardiacs
/Sea Nymphs leader Tim Smith.
Ring (band)
Ring were an English psychedelic rock band active during the 1980s.The band is notable for having helped to launch the subsequent musical careers of Robert White , Michael "Mik" Tubb and Christian "Bic" Hayes .-History:Ring evolved out of the south London experimental...
, Levitation
Levitation (band)
Levitation were an English rock band fronted by ex-House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers. Levitation's music and attitude challenged an early 1990s UK alternative music scene dominated by shoegazing and Madchester....
and Zag And The Coloured Beads
Zag And The Coloured Beads
Zag And The Coloured Beads are an English experimental rock band.Blending elements of psychedelic rock and progressive rock, the band were initially active in the 1980s London free-festival scene and featured several members who went on to subsequent projects including Ring, Levitation and The Milk...
).
Sound
The music of The Milk And Honey Band is a mixture of pastoral English psychedelic rock, accessible acoustic pop songwriting and space rock, with plentiful use of acoustic guitars and banked vocal harmonies plus extended melodic lead guitar and atmospheric production. XTC's Andy Partridge (the owner of their current record label) has described them as "a bit like The Moody BluesThe Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
but with more energy and better songs. Or at times like a blissful Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
.” . Various reviewers have made comparisons to Crowded House
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand , Australia and the United States...
, David Gray
David Gray (musician)
David Gray is an English singer-songwriter. He released his first studio album in 1993 and received worldwide attention after the release of White Ladder six years later...
, Elliot Smith, Ron Sexsmith
Ron Sexsmith
Ronald Eldon "Ron" Sexsmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario, currently based in Toronto. He started his own band when he was fourteen years old, and released the first recordings of his own material seven years later, in 1985...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
, Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake , Raymond McGinley , Gerard Love and Francis MacDonald , with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love...
, The La's
The La's
The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group is most famous for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1984 and Mavers joined soon after...
and Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
.
Roots in London psychedelia (Ring, ZATCB, Levitation)
Robert White had begun his musical career in the south London free festival scene of the 1980s, within which he had played various instruments (mostly bass and keyboards) and sang back-up vocals for assorted bands in the psychedelic/experimental genre, most notably Zag And The Coloured BeadsZag And The Coloured Beads
Zag And The Coloured Beads are an English experimental rock band.Blending elements of psychedelic rock and progressive rock, the band were initially active in the 1980s London free-festival scene and featured several members who went on to subsequent projects including Ring, Levitation and The Milk...
, Ring
Ring (band)
Ring were an English psychedelic rock band active during the 1980s.The band is notable for having helped to launch the subsequent musical careers of Robert White , Michael "Mik" Tubb and Christian "Bic" Hayes .-History:Ring evolved out of the south London experimental...
and "jazz punk" band Peru (with fellow Zag member Paul Howard). Another member of Zag And The Coloured Beads was guitarist/bass player Michael "Mik" Tubb – both he and Ring guitarist Christian "Bic" Hayes
Christian Hayes
Christian Hayes , also known as Bic Hayes, is an English rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. His highest profile musical role has been fronting the band Dark Star between 1998 and 2001, whom he formed with fellow ex-Levitation members David Francolini and Laurence O'Keefe.He has also played in a...
would work with White on future projects. This scene also featured bands such as the Purple People Eaters, The Dave Howard Singers
The Dave Howard Singers
The Dave Howard Singers is a cult Canadian alternative rock band/project originally formed in Toronto, Canada. The project is based around the talents of singer-songwriter Dave Howard and the signature sound of his Ace Tone organ...
and Cardiacs
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
, many of whom interacted and sometimes shared members.
By 1990, this group of bands had spawned Levitation
Levitation (band)
Levitation were an English rock band fronted by ex-House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers. Levitation's music and attitude challenged an early 1990s UK alternative music scene dominated by shoegazing and Madchester....
, which formed when White and Hayes teamed up with ex-House Of Love
The House of Love
The House of Love is an English alternative rock band. Formed in 1986, the band rose to prominence in the UK as a leading indie rock band in 1988 and split up in 1993, eventually reforming a decade later in 2003. The band is best known for its detailed psychedelic guitar sound and for the...
guitarist Terry Bickers
Terry Bickers
Terry Bickers is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a member of the rock bands The House of Love and Levitation...
, bass player Joe Allen, violinist Johnny T and drummer David Francolini
David Francolini
David Francolini also known as "Mitch Razor" is an English rock drummer, and has previously played in a number of bands, most notably Strangelove, Levitation, and Dark Star....
. White performed mostly as the band’s keyboard player, third guitarist and harmony singer, and wrote a high proportion of the band’s material within its collective format.
Levitation recorded three albums and several EPs, and gained a lot of press attention. Severe tensions within the band, however, ensured that it was a relatively short-lived unit. Several line-up changes rocked the band (the most dramatic being the departure of mercurial frontman Bickers in 1993, to be briefly replaced by Steve Ludwin) and Levitation had split up by the end of 1994.
Early Milk And Honey Band
The Milk And Honey Band began life as a Robert White solo project. It was recorded in between commitments with Levitation, and in part as an antidote to the frustrations of life in that band. For the initial recordings, White sang lead vocals and played all instruments (drums, guitars, keyboards, bass, mandolin and percussion) and also handled engineering and production.These tracks made up the project’s first album Round The Sun, which was released on Rough Trade Records in 1994. This album was more notably lo-fi than subsequent recordings, and featured musical elements that would be phased out of later Milk And Honey Band material. Several tracks had light classical or light-instrumental elements (emphasizing a nostalgic tone similar to that sometimes used in progressive rock) or a heavier dark-psychedelia approach.
Following the collapse of Levitation, White relocated to Brighton and pursued a steady career in commercial music production, while simultaneously building up a stock of Milk And Honey Band songs for future release. During this period, two more collaborators were brought into the band. These were Richard Yale (bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards and backing vocals) and White’s former Zag And The Coloured Beads bandmate Michael Tubb (electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards and backing vocals).
Regarding the band’s working arrangements, White has commented "I do write the majority of the tunes, but without Richard and Michaels' help this group...well, it wouldn't be a group for starters. They keep me sane and generally massage my ego just enough to keep me buoyed without adding too much to the 'ego mountain that is Robert'. It's a bit like the old it's-my-ball-and-I-say-when-you-can-play-with-it syndrome, but as I happen to be the one lucky enough to have a studio at home then most of the recording/rehearsing activities of The Milk & Honey Band happen here."
Boy From The Moon album
The next sign of Milk And Honey Band activity was in 2001 with the release of the Boy From The Moon album on the small Manchester independent label Uglyman Records. A much more polished effort than its predecessor, the record was atmospheric and detailed with a more spacious production sound.Ape Records years (2004 - present)
The Milk And Honey Band signed a distribution deal with Andy Partridge’s Ape Records in 2004 and released a third album The Secret Life Of The Milk And Honey Band. This was in many ways a continuation of the work on the previous album. It contained four reissued songs from Boy From The Moon – the title track, "Sold My Star", "Satellite" and "Junior" (the last of which was retitled "Message")The band later released two download-only albums via Ape. These were compilations of both previously released and unreleased material. *Crumbs!* Volume One included more Boy From The Moon tracks ("Touched The Sun", "Wonderful", "Can’t Sleep", and an a cappella version of "Sold My Star") as did *Crumbs!* Volume Two ("500 Miles", "You’re The One", "Saved Again" and an acoustic version of "San Francisco").
The Milk And Honey Band played their first low-key acoustic concerts in Brighton in 2004. The band later added two extra members for live concerts - Dan Burke on keyboards, guitar and backing vocals and Christian Parsons (Polak, Astrid Williamson
Astrid Williamson
Astrid Williamson is a Shetland born musician and songwriter.In the 1990s, Williamson obtained her degree in music from the Royal Scottish Academy and co-founded a band known as Goya Dress which consisted of Williamson, Terry de Castro, and Simon Pearson...
) on drums.
In March 2009, the band released their fourth full album, Dog Eared Moonlight, on Ape Records. At around the same time, Burke and Parsons were confirmed as full members of the band.
In November 2010, Ape Records released a download-only album "In Colour", comprising twelve tracks recorded at the same time as "Dog Eared Moonlight." Three hundred physical copies of the album were also produced and made available.
In December 2010, a Robert White cover version of the Sea Nymphs song "Lily White's Party" (recorded in collaboration with Andy Partridge
Andy Partridge
Andrew John "Andy" Partridge is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has been known as Sir John Johns and Melchior and rose to fame as a founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter of the pop/new wave band, XTC. He lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he was raised.Partridge also...
) appeared on Leader Of The Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1
Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute to Tim Smith, Songbook 1
Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1 is a compilation album featuring cover versions of songs by Tim Smith . It was released on CD on December 13, 2010 on the Believers Roast label...
, a fundraising compilation album to benefit the hospitalised Cardiacs
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English alternative rock/psychedelic pop band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith. Noted for their complex, varied and intense compositional style and for their eccentric, theatrical stage shows, they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and...
/Sea Nymphs leader Tim Smith.
Albums
- Round The Sun (Rough Trade Records, 1994)
- Boy From The Moon (Uglyman Records, 2001)
- The Secret Life Of The Milk And Honey Band (Ape Records, 2004)
- Dog-Eared Moonlight (Ape Records, March 2009)
- In Colour (Ape Records, download only, November 2010)
Singles/EPs
- "Boy From The Moon" (Ape Records, 2004 - re-recorded version with Andy Partridge on backing vocals and guitar)
- "Disappear" (Ape Records, February 2009 - download-only single with "Mind", an additional track not off the new album)
Compilations
- *Crumbs!* Volume One (Ape Records, download only, 2006)
- *Crumbs!* Volume Two (Ape Records, download only, 2006)
Members
- Robert White – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, mandolin, percussion, drums, programming etc. (1993-present)
- Richard Yale – bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards and backing vocals (circa 1999-present)
- Michael Tubb – electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards and backing vocals (circa 1999-present)
- Dan Burke – keyboards, guitar and backing vocals (2004-present)
- Christian Parsons – drums (2004-present)