William D. Drake
Encyclopedia
William D. Drake is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs
, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992. He has also been a member of The Sea Nymphs, North Sea Radio Orchestra
, Nervous, Wood, Lake of Puppies and The Grown-Ups, as well as pursuing a career as a solo artist. He is a distant cousin of the English singer-songwriter
Nick Drake
.
(such as the work of Syd Barrett
and Peter Hammill
), sea shanties
, Early Music
(such as madrigals
), and both classical and modernist solo piano music (including that of Dmitri Shostakovich
). He has also displayed a taste for composing poetry settings featuring Jacobean and Romantic sources.
and began playing the harmonium as soon as he was able to stand. He began learning the piano at the age of five, training by playing duets with his grandmother before taking formal lessons. He went on to play with numerous bands during his schooldays
On leaving art college, Drake took a telesales job on leaving art college where he met punk singer/trumpet player Little Sue. He played a gig with her band Honour Our Trumpet at The Grey Horse in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1983. The sound engineer for the concert was Tim Smith, otherwise known as the leader of the Kingston-based band Cardiacs
, a rapidly developing cult act with a taste for complex compositions. Intrigued by Drake's skills, Smith immediately wrote out a complicated piece of sheet music and challenged him to play it. Drake performed it with ease. Smith then immediately recruited Drake into Cardiacs, apparently by telling him that he was now a member of the band whether he liked it or not.
was at The Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London in August 1983, supporting Here and Now
. He joined the band towards the end of the recording sessions for their album The Seaside (released in 1984) and consequently only performed on "a couple of tracks".
Meanwhile Drake, Tim Smith and Sarah Smith formed a new band in parallel to Cardiacs, initially simply called Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake
. Whilst the Cardiacs sound was clearly at the core of the new band, the rock guitars and drums were stripped away, replaced with atmospheric soaring string sounds, faintly wintery chiming and tinkling effects and angelic vocals, with Drake's piano as the central instrument. Astonishingly all this was recorded on four-track, for the eponymous 1984 cassette album Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake
. It was initially available from the fan club and at Cardiacs gigs, and was eventually released on CD in 2002 by Tim Smith’s label All My Eye and Betty Martin Music.
Drake was a fully fledged recording member of Cardiacs by the 1985 Cardiacs EP "Seaside Treats", and also played on the 1986 Big Ship mini-album and the 1986 Rude Bootleg live album. In 1987, he performed on two Cardiacs 12-inch singles, "There’s Too Many Irons in the Fire" and "Is This the Life". Drake also played a major part on the next Cardiacs album, 1988's A Little Man and a House and a Whole World Window for which he co-composed the songs "I'm Eating In Bed" and "The Whole World Window". 1988 also saw the release of another single - the Kinks
cover "Susannah’s Still Alive", released in 7" & 12" versions - and a BBC Radio 1 sessions EP (Night Tracks (The Janice Long Session)), as well as a second live album called Cardiacs Live.
Drake's compositional role in Cardiacs had increased by the time of the recording of the On Land and in the Sea album in 1989, for which he co-composed four songs - "I Hold My Love in My Arms" (featuring music he'd originally written at the age of fifteen), "The Duck and Roger the Horse", "Mares Nest" and "The Ever So Closely Guarded Line". He also appeared on the accompanying "Baby Heart Dirt" 7-and-12” single. In 1990, Cardiacs recorded a live concert in Salisbury in which Drake was part of a seven-piece band. This was released as the Maresnest live video in 1992 and as the live album All That Glitters is a Mares Nest in 1995. The 1991 Songs For Ships and Irons compilation collected together various EP tracks originally released between 1986 and 1987 (including two songs co-written by Drake, "Tarred and Feathered" and "Blind in Safety and Leafy in Love").
Circa 1990 - while still with Cardiacs - Drake formed The Grown-Ups with himself on keyboards and vocals. This was a short-lived project notable for being the first time Drake worked with guitarist/composer Craig Fortnam
(whom he'd later work with in Lake of Puppies and North Sea Radio Orchestra
). The other band members were the then-current Cardiacs drummer Dominic Luckman and two other former Cardiacs members (keyboard player and co-singer Mark Cawthra
and bass player Jon Bastable (who'd been a backup Cardiac during Cawthra's tenure in the band). The Grown-Ups recorded five songs, which have never been released.
In May 1991, Drake left Cardiacs, believing that he needed a change. He has, however, maintained his links with the band, playing support slots and guesting at various live performances as well as appearing as a guest player on two albums released by Cardiacs after his departure (Heaven Born and Ever Bright and Sing to God).
Despite leaving Cardiacs, Drake remained a member of the "Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake" project, which by 1991 had been renamed The Sea Nymphs and had recorded enough material for a new album. A 7" Sea Nymphs single called "Appealing to Venus" was released in 1991, given away free with the first 500 copies of Cardiacs 12” single "Day is Gone" (it was later made available from the fan-club, and was eventually re-released on CD in 1998 by Org Records with additional material added). The band’s eponymous album The Sea Nymphs was initially released on cassette in 1992 and was only available from the Cardiacs fan-club (it was not released on CD until 1995). The Sea Nymphs supported All About Eve
on their "Ultraviolet" tour of 1992.
The Sea Nymphs were briefly reactivated in 1998 and reissued their "Appealing to Venus" single on CD. The band played a Radio 1 John Peel Session on October 4, 1998 (performing "Eating A Heart Out", "Lilly White's Party", "The Sea Ritual" and "Sea Snake Beware"), which was re-broadcast as a "classic Peel Session" on BBC Radio 6 on May 4, 2009. Drake has claimed that material for at least one more Sea Nymphs album has been recorded, but that the trio have not yet got round to finishing it off and releasing it.
), Justin Travis (vocals), Richard "Dicky" Cripps (acoustic guitar), Keith Holden (harmonica), Bernie Holden (clarinet), Oscar O’Lachlainn (electric guitar and drums), Barney Crockford (drums) and Melvin Duffy (pedal steel guitar) to form the folk/country/rock band Nervous. Compared to Cardiacs, Nervous provided a rootsier songwriting style with opportunities for improvisation which appealed to Drake, who took the opportunity to familiarise himself with the Hammond organ
and Fender Rhodes electric piano
in addition to the pianos, harmoniums and synthesizers which he'd played previously. The band gigged in London regularly (with notable shows at the Royal Albert Hall
and Ronnie Scott's) and released an album called Son of the Great Outdoors on Grapevine Records in 1996. Some of the album was recorded in Paul McCartney
’s Hoghill Studio in Sussex (reportedly, Richard Cripps was in a relationship with Paul’s daughter at the time).
Circa 1994 (and while still working with Nervous), Drake formed the band Lake of Puppies. This featured himself on keyboards and vocals, with Sharron Saddington on bass guitar and vocals, Craig Fortnam
on nylon-string acoustic guitar and vocals, and Chin Keeler on drums. Drake has professed "great affection" for this band, which gigged frequently (especially in clubs around the Camden area of London), and recorded three songs which remain unreleased. A fourth Lake of Puppies track, "Large Life", appears on the Cardiacs and Affectionate Friends compilation album of 2001. (Sharron Saddington and Craig Fortnam were later to marry and to form the cross-disciplinary chamber music ensemble North Sea Radio Orchestra
, to which Drake would contribute.)
On leaving Nervous in 1997 Drake joined country-rockers Wood (a country rock band led by singer-songwriter James Maddock). He remained with the band for two years, playing on six tours of the United States. He also appeared on Wood's only album, 2001's Songs from Stamford Hill (albeit as a guest musician playing keyboards on only one track, "Could I Be").
In February 2007, Drake recorded a session for BBC Radio 6 to promote the next stage of his solo career. This consisted of not one but two albums, released simultaneously on two different record labels, both appearing on February 5, 2007.
Briny Hooves (released on sheBear Records) was a more lushly-arranged and orchestrated song-based follow up to William D.Drake, recorded with a multitude of musicians and singers and meeting with considerable critical success. Hi-Fi World called it "a beautifully crafted album of mature, powerful and moody pop songs", while Q Magazine’s Tom Doyle commented "(Drake's) frenetic piano-playing inspired Blur
, and here the ex-Cardiacs keyboardist turns his own '60s-refracted take on British art-pop: one part Robyn Hitchcock
, one part a deeper-voiced Robert Wyatt
."
Yews Paw (released on the Onomatopoeia label) was an album of thirteen unaccompanied acoustic piano pieces. All of these were original Drake compositions, although inspirations included classical composers such as Debussy, Rachmaninov, Paderewski, Prokofiev and Hindemith as well as jazz, Walt Disney films and Edward Lear
). As with Briny Hooves, the album was well received. John L. Walters reviewed Yews Paw in The Guardian, describing it as "piano miniatures whose 'light classical' veneer peels back to reveal a tough musical heart."
In December 2010, a William D. Drake cover version of the Tim Smith song "Savour" appeared as the opening track on Leader Of The Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1
, a fundraising compilation album to benefit the hospitalised Smith.
(The original version of the song appeared on Tim Smith's Extra-Special Oceanland World.)
Drake's fourth album The Rising of the Lights was released in spring 2011. It features yet another band line-up as well as instrumentation including hurdy-gurdy, clarinet, saxophone and an array of vintage keyboards alongside more traditional rock instruments. A couple of songs were written whilst Drake was still in Cardiacs and he has commented "There’s a spice of that time on this album."
, the chamber ensemble led by his former Lake of Puppies colleagues Craig and Sharon Fortnam. The ensemble has performed songs and compositions written or co-written by Drake (including his setting of "Mimnermus in Church") and Drake has performed with them as both pianist and member of the vocal chorus. He has also played as part of an occasional acoustic trio with the Fortnams, under the name of The fFortingtons.
in 1995. He also played keyboards for Slowdive
/Mojave 3
singer Rachel Goswell
on her debut solo album Waves Are Universal
and the accompanying tour, as well as working with The Loose Salute
(another Mojave 3
spin-off project).
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...
, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992. He has also been a member of The Sea Nymphs, North Sea Radio Orchestra
North Sea Radio Orchestra
North Sea Radio Orchestra is an English contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra ....
, Nervous, Wood, Lake of Puppies and The Grown-Ups, as well as pursuing a career as a solo artist. He is a distant cousin of the English singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
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...
.
Musical style
Drake's music draws on a wide variety of sources including psychedelic rockPsychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
(such as the work of Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
and Peter Hammill
Peter Hammill
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano...
), sea shanties
Sea shanty
A shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...
, Early Music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
(such as madrigals
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
), and both classical and modernist solo piano music (including that of Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
). He has also displayed a taste for composing poetry settings featuring Jacobean and Romantic sources.
Early years
William D. Drake was born in Stock, EssexEssex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
and began playing the harmonium as soon as he was able to stand. He began learning the piano at the age of five, training by playing duets with his grandmother before taking formal lessons. He went on to play with numerous bands during his schooldays
On leaving art college, Drake took a telesales job on leaving art college where he met punk singer/trumpet player Little Sue. He played a gig with her band Honour Our Trumpet at The Grey Horse in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1983. The sound engineer for the concert was Tim Smith, otherwise known as the leader of the Kingston-based band 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...
, a rapidly developing cult act with a taste for complex compositions. Intrigued by Drake's skills, Smith immediately wrote out a complicated piece of sheet music and challenged him to play it. Drake performed it with ease. Smith then immediately recruited Drake into Cardiacs, apparently by telling him that he was now a member of the band whether he liked it or not.
Work with Cardiacs, The Sea Nymphs & The Grown-Ups (1983-1992, 1998)
Drake’s first gig with CardiacsCardiacs
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...
was at The Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London in August 1983, supporting Here and Now
Here & Now (band)
Here & Now are an English psychedelic/space rock band formed in early 1974. They have close connections with the band Gong and in 1977/1978 worked with Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth under the name Planet Gong...
. He joined the band towards the end of the recording sessions for their album The Seaside (released in 1984) and consequently only performed on "a couple of tracks".
Meanwhile Drake, Tim Smith and Sarah Smith formed a new band in parallel to Cardiacs, initially simply called Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake
Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake
Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake is an album performed by a side project of Cardiacs, created by Tim Smith, Sarah Smith and William D. Drake. At the time, the project itself was also known as "Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake" but would later be renamed The Sea Nymphs.The album was initially only...
. Whilst the Cardiacs sound was clearly at the core of the new band, the rock guitars and drums were stripped away, replaced with atmospheric soaring string sounds, faintly wintery chiming and tinkling effects and angelic vocals, with Drake's piano as the central instrument. Astonishingly all this was recorded on four-track, for the eponymous 1984 cassette album Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake
Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake
Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake is an album performed by a side project of Cardiacs, created by Tim Smith, Sarah Smith and William D. Drake. At the time, the project itself was also known as "Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake" but would later be renamed The Sea Nymphs.The album was initially only...
. It was initially available from the fan club and at Cardiacs gigs, and was eventually released on CD in 2002 by Tim Smith’s label All My Eye and Betty Martin Music.
Drake was a fully fledged recording member of Cardiacs by the 1985 Cardiacs EP "Seaside Treats", and also played on the 1986 Big Ship mini-album and the 1986 Rude Bootleg live album. In 1987, he performed on two Cardiacs 12-inch singles, "There’s Too Many Irons in the Fire" and "Is This the Life". Drake also played a major part on the next Cardiacs album, 1988's A Little Man and a House and a Whole World Window for which he co-composed the songs "I'm Eating In Bed" and "The Whole World Window". 1988 also saw the release of another single - the Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
cover "Susannah’s Still Alive", released in 7" & 12" versions - and a BBC Radio 1 sessions EP (Night Tracks (The Janice Long Session)), as well as a second live album called Cardiacs Live.
Drake's compositional role in Cardiacs had increased by the time of the recording of the On Land and in the Sea album in 1989, for which he co-composed four songs - "I Hold My Love in My Arms" (featuring music he'd originally written at the age of fifteen), "The Duck and Roger the Horse", "Mares Nest" and "The Ever So Closely Guarded Line". He also appeared on the accompanying "Baby Heart Dirt" 7-and-12” single. In 1990, Cardiacs recorded a live concert in Salisbury in which Drake was part of a seven-piece band. This was released as the Maresnest live video in 1992 and as the live album All That Glitters is a Mares Nest in 1995. The 1991 Songs For Ships and Irons compilation collected together various EP tracks originally released between 1986 and 1987 (including two songs co-written by Drake, "Tarred and Feathered" and "Blind in Safety and Leafy in Love").
Circa 1990 - while still with Cardiacs - Drake formed The Grown-Ups with himself on keyboards and vocals. This was a short-lived project notable for being the first time Drake worked with guitarist/composer Craig Fortnam
Craig Fortnam
Craig Fortnam is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar and also sings...
(whom he'd later work with in Lake of Puppies and North Sea Radio Orchestra
North Sea Radio Orchestra
North Sea Radio Orchestra is an English contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra ....
). The other band members were the then-current Cardiacs drummer Dominic Luckman and two other former Cardiacs members (keyboard player and co-singer Mark Cawthra
Mark Cawthra
Mark Cawthra is a musician and music producer working in the UK. He was born in Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire.-Biography:...
and bass player Jon Bastable (who'd been a backup Cardiac during Cawthra's tenure in the band). The Grown-Ups recorded five songs, which have never been released.
In May 1991, Drake left Cardiacs, believing that he needed a change. He has, however, maintained his links with the band, playing support slots and guesting at various live performances as well as appearing as a guest player on two albums released by Cardiacs after his departure (Heaven Born and Ever Bright and Sing to God).
Despite leaving Cardiacs, Drake remained a member of the "Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake" project, which by 1991 had been renamed The Sea Nymphs and had recorded enough material for a new album. A 7" Sea Nymphs single called "Appealing to Venus" was released in 1991, given away free with the first 500 copies of Cardiacs 12” single "Day is Gone" (it was later made available from the fan-club, and was eventually re-released on CD in 1998 by Org Records with additional material added). The band’s eponymous album The Sea Nymphs was initially released on cassette in 1992 and was only available from the Cardiacs fan-club (it was not released on CD until 1995). The Sea Nymphs supported All About Eve
All About Eve (band)
All About Eve were a British rock/pop band. The creative core consisted of the Coventry born Julianne Regan , and the Huddersfield born Andy Cousin , with other members changing over the years...
on their "Ultraviolet" tour of 1992.
The Sea Nymphs were briefly reactivated in 1998 and reissued their "Appealing to Venus" single on CD. The band played a Radio 1 John Peel Session on October 4, 1998 (performing "Eating A Heart Out", "Lilly White's Party", "The Sea Ritual" and "Sea Snake Beware"), which was re-broadcast as a "classic Peel Session" on BBC Radio 6 on May 4, 2009. Drake has claimed that material for at least one more Sea Nymphs album has been recorded, but that the trio have not yet got round to finishing it off and releasing it.
Work with Nervous, Wood and Lake of Puppies (1992-1999)
Soon after leaving Cardiacs Drake teamed up with Dean Gainsburgh-Watkins (bass guitar, formerly of Here and NowHere & Now (band)
Here & Now are an English psychedelic/space rock band formed in early 1974. They have close connections with the band Gong and in 1977/1978 worked with Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth under the name Planet Gong...
), Justin Travis (vocals), Richard "Dicky" Cripps (acoustic guitar), Keith Holden (harmonica), Bernie Holden (clarinet), Oscar O’Lachlainn (electric guitar and drums), Barney Crockford (drums) and Melvin Duffy (pedal steel guitar) to form the folk/country/rock band Nervous. Compared to Cardiacs, Nervous provided a rootsier songwriting style with opportunities for improvisation which appealed to Drake, who took the opportunity to familiarise himself with the Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
and Fender Rhodes electric piano
Electric piano
An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
in addition to the pianos, harmoniums and synthesizers which he'd played previously. The band gigged in London regularly (with notable shows at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
and Ronnie Scott's) and released an album called Son of the Great Outdoors on Grapevine Records in 1996. Some of the album was recorded in Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
’s Hoghill Studio in Sussex (reportedly, Richard Cripps was in a relationship with Paul’s daughter at the time).
Circa 1994 (and while still working with Nervous), Drake formed the band Lake of Puppies. This featured himself on keyboards and vocals, with Sharron Saddington on bass guitar and vocals, Craig Fortnam
Craig Fortnam
Craig Fortnam is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar and also sings...
on nylon-string acoustic guitar and vocals, and Chin Keeler on drums. Drake has professed "great affection" for this band, which gigged frequently (especially in clubs around the Camden area of London), and recorded three songs which remain unreleased. A fourth Lake of Puppies track, "Large Life", appears on the Cardiacs and Affectionate Friends compilation album of 2001. (Sharron Saddington and Craig Fortnam were later to marry and to form the cross-disciplinary chamber music ensemble North Sea Radio Orchestra
North Sea Radio Orchestra
North Sea Radio Orchestra is an English contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra ....
, to which Drake would contribute.)
On leaving Nervous in 1997 Drake joined country-rockers Wood (a country rock band led by singer-songwriter James Maddock). He remained with the band for two years, playing on six tours of the United States. He also appeared on Wood's only album, 2001's Songs from Stamford Hill (albeit as a guest musician playing keyboards on only one track, "Could I Be").
Solo career (2001-present)
By the late 1990s Drake had composed a very large number of original piano pieces, which Tim Smith then encouraged him to write lyrics for. Smith went on to produce sessions for Drake over the next few years, resulting in the release of the "Melancholy World" single in 2002, followed by Drake’s debut solo album William D.Drake which was released on Smith’s label All My Eye and Betty Martin Music in 2003. (The song "Fiery Pyre" from this album had also found its way onto the Cardiacs and Affectionate Friends compilation album in 2001.) As gig offers came in Drake put together a live band with a somewhat shifting line-up, the set list depending on which musicians were available. He played at various points over the next five years while working on new material and various projects.In February 2007, Drake recorded a session for BBC Radio 6 to promote the next stage of his solo career. This consisted of not one but two albums, released simultaneously on two different record labels, both appearing on February 5, 2007.
Briny Hooves (released on sheBear Records) was a more lushly-arranged and orchestrated song-based follow up to William D.Drake, recorded with a multitude of musicians and singers and meeting with considerable critical success. Hi-Fi World called it "a beautifully crafted album of mature, powerful and moody pop songs", while Q Magazine’s Tom Doyle commented "(Drake's) frenetic piano-playing inspired Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
, and here the ex-Cardiacs keyboardist turns his own '60s-refracted take on British art-pop: one part Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
, one part a deeper-voiced Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
."
Yews Paw (released on the Onomatopoeia label) was an album of thirteen unaccompanied acoustic piano pieces. All of these were original Drake compositions, although inspirations included classical composers such as Debussy, Rachmaninov, Paderewski, Prokofiev and Hindemith as well as jazz, Walt Disney films and Edward Lear
Edward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...
). As with Briny Hooves, the album was well received. John L. Walters reviewed Yews Paw in The Guardian, describing it as "piano miniatures whose 'light classical' veneer peels back to reveal a tough musical heart."
In December 2010, a William D. Drake cover version of the Tim Smith song "Savour" appeared as the opening track 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 Smith.
(The original version of the song appeared on Tim Smith's Extra-Special Oceanland World.)
Drake's fourth album The Rising of the Lights was released in spring 2011. It features yet another band line-up as well as instrumentation including hurdy-gurdy, clarinet, saxophone and an array of vintage keyboards alongside more traditional rock instruments. A couple of songs were written whilst Drake was still in Cardiacs and he has commented "There’s a spice of that time on this album."
Work with North Sea Radio Orchestra & The fFortingtons (2004-present)
Since 2004, Drake has been involved with North Sea Radio OrchestraNorth Sea Radio Orchestra
North Sea Radio Orchestra is an English contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra ....
, the chamber ensemble led by his former Lake of Puppies colleagues Craig and Sharon Fortnam. The ensemble has performed songs and compositions written or co-written by Drake (including his setting of "Mimnermus in Church") and Drake has performed with them as both pianist and member of the vocal chorus. He has also played as part of an occasional acoustic trio with the Fortnams, under the name of The fFortingtons.
Sessions work
William D. Drake played keyboards with prog-goth band Lefaye during their support tour with The CureThe Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
in 1995. He also played keyboards for Slowdive
Slowdive
Slowdive were an English shoegaze band that formed in 1989. The band formed in Reading, Berkshire and primarily consisted of Nick Chaplin , Rachel Goswell , Neil Halstead , and Christian Savill...
/Mojave 3
Mojave 3
Mojave 3 are a British band, consisting of Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell, Simon Rowe, Alan Forrester, and Ian McCutcheon. Goswell, Halstead and McCutcheon previously played in Thames Valley shoegazing band Slowdive....
singer Rachel Goswell
Rachel Goswell
Rachel Goswell is a singer-songwriter who was a vocalist with shoegazing pioneers Slowdive. Goswell, along with Neil Halstead, Ian McCutcheon and former Chapterhouse member Simon Rowe became Mojave 3 when Slowdive transitioned to a more country/folk rock style...
on her debut solo album Waves Are Universal
Waves Are Universal
Waves Are Universal is the debut solo album from former Slowdive and Mojave 3 singer/bassist Rachel Goswell. It was produced by David Naughton, and released by 4AD on June 14, 2004 in the UK and June 22, 2004 in the US. The album was recorded after production and touring for Mojave 3's album Spoon...
and the accompanying tour, as well as working with The Loose Salute
The Loose Salute
The Loose Salute are a British band founded by drummer Ian McCutcheon of Slowdive and Mojave 3 who also sings and plays guitar. The band consists of Lisa Billson , Charlotte King , Alan Forrester...
(another Mojave 3
Mojave 3
Mojave 3 are a British band, consisting of Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell, Simon Rowe, Alan Forrester, and Ian McCutcheon. Goswell, Halstead and McCutcheon previously played in Thames Valley shoegazing band Slowdive....
spin-off project).
albums
- William D.Drake (2003)
- Briny Hooves (2007)
- Yews Paw (2007)
- The Rising of the Lights (2011)
compilation appearances
- Various Artists, Leader Of The Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith, Songbook 1Leader of the Starry Skies: A Tribute to Tim Smith, Songbook 1Leader 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...
(2010) album of cover versions of songs by Tim Smith - contributes cover version of "Savour" - Various Artists, Cardiacs and Affectionate Friends (2001) album - contributes "Fiery Pyre"
- Various Artists, The Central Element (2011) album - contributes "Bond Of The Herd"
- Various Artists, The Box album - contributes "One Armed Bandits".
with Cardiacs
- The Seaside (1984)
- "Seaside Treats" (1985) 12” EP
- Big Ship (1986) mini LP
- "There’s Too Many Irons in the Fire" (1987) 12” single
- "Is This The Life?" (1987) 7” & 12” single
- "Susannah’s Still Alive" (1988) 7” & 12” single
- A Little Man and a House and a Whole World Window (1988) Album
- "Night Tracks - The Janice Long Session" (1988) Radio One Session 12” single
- Cardiacs Live (1988) album
- On Land and in the Sea (1989) Album
- "Baby Heart Dirt" (1989) 7” & 12” single
- Songs for Ships and Irons (1991) album
- Maresnest (1992) concert video
- All That Glitters is a Maresnest (1995) live album
with The Sea Nymphs
- "Appealing to Venus" (1991) single
- The Sea Nymphs (1992) cassette album (1995) CD album
- Peel Session (1998)
with Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake
- Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake (1985) cassette album (2004) CD Album
with Lake of Puppies
- Various Artists, Cardiacs and Affectionate Friends (2001) album - contributes "Large Life"
as session/guest musician
- Rachel GoswellRachel GoswellRachel Goswell is a singer-songwriter who was a vocalist with shoegazing pioneers Slowdive. Goswell, along with Neil Halstead, Ian McCutcheon and former Chapterhouse member Simon Rowe became Mojave 3 when Slowdive transitioned to a more country/folk rock style...
, Waves Are UniversalWaves Are UniversalWaves Are Universal is the debut solo album from former Slowdive and Mojave 3 singer/bassist Rachel Goswell. It was produced by David Naughton, and released by 4AD on June 14, 2004 in the UK and June 22, 2004 in the US. The album was recorded after production and touring for Mojave 3's album Spoon...
, (2004) album - Rachel GoswellRachel GoswellRachel Goswell is a singer-songwriter who was a vocalist with shoegazing pioneers Slowdive. Goswell, along with Neil Halstead, Ian McCutcheon and former Chapterhouse member Simon Rowe became Mojave 3 when Slowdive transitioned to a more country/folk rock style...
, The Sleep Shelter EP, (2003) CD EP - Wood, Songs from Stamford Hill, (2001) album
- Silver Ginger 5Silver Ginger 5Silver Ginger 5 was originally formed in 1999 as a solo project for Ginger, lead singer/songwriter of The Wildhearts.The band was not formed until after the recording of the album Black Leather Mojo, and despite the name only ever had 4 members...
, 'Black Leather MojoBlack Leather MojoDebut album released in 2000 by British Rock band SilverGinger 5, produced by Tim Smith of the Cardiacs, who Ginger counted as one of his biggest influences. It was claimed by Ginger himself in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, that the audition for Wildhearts bassist Danny McCormack consisted...
' (2001) album