NAME:
Sea Power
ABOUT
SP are based in Brighton; the band members live in Sussex, Kendal and on the Isle Of Skye.
Sea Power’s music has won them some remarkable admirers – Lou Reed, David Bowie and London’s National Maritime Museum. Indeed, the BSP fanbase now includes Doctor Who, Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes. Peter Capaldi is a confirmed BSP fan. “A band of stark originality,” he wrote in his foreword for the reissue of the band’s 2003 debut album, The Decline Of British Sea Power. “BSP’s songs bring you the bite of the wind, the fury of the sea, and music that is simply exhilarating.” Daniel Radcliffe has talked in detail about his plan to get a BSP tattoo (featuring the 2002 T-shirt slogan Bravery Already Exists). Benedict Cumberbatch is also an admirer of the band.
Sea Power have played atop the Great Wall Of China, at the CERN atom-research labs and beside the diplodocus skeleton at London’s Natural History Museum. They’ve played at London’s Czech Embassy and beneath the big astronomical dish at Jodrell Bank. They’ve played on ships at sea, deep inside Cornish slate mines and at the Chelsea Flower Show. The intensity and invention of the band’s shows made them Time Out magazine’s Live Band Of The Year in 2004.
SP have toured giant American stadiums with old friends The Killers, and have played forests and arenas as specially requested guests of The Flaming Lips, The Strokes and Pulp. But BSP also stage remarkable events in remote Sussex pubs and Lake District village halls, where their own support acts have included birds of prey and The Copper Family, a clan of Sussex folk singers who’ve been going for two centuries.
British Sea Power formed at the close of the 20th century. From the English Lake District came brothers Yan Scott Wilkinson and Neil Hamilton Wilkinson, plus school friend Matthew Wood. Guitarist Martin Noble arrived from West Yorkshire. It was the band’s live performances that defined their early years. When BSP played the 2002 Reading Festival, Rolling Stone indicated that the entirety of the weekend’s bill paled before them: “Fuck this puerile drivel, we’re going to see British Sea Power… British Sea Power rule!” The band's distinctive approach to live shows has included their own micro-festival at the Tan Hill Inn, the most elevated pub in Britain, high up on the North Yorkshire dales. It’s the only place you're likely to see the Arctic Monkeys getting boozed up between husky races and falconry displays. When invited by the late Poet Laureate’s family to play at the John Betjeman Centenary Gala in 2006, BSP performed alongside Ronnie Corbett, Nick Cave and The Prince Of Wales.
BSP’s debut album, The Decline Of British Sea Power, was released in 2003. The album swung boldly from 30-second choral swoons to the 14-minute epic Lately. The latter took in life, death and Scandinavian sea lanes. “Stadium-sized melodies and exquisite songwriting,” said MOJO. The NME was in accord: “Out of this world… a dazzling debut.” The Sunday Times was unequivocal: “The best band in Britain.”
There were concerts from St Petersburg to San Francisco – including tours with the Flaming Lips, Interpol, Pulp and The Killers. In 2005, BSP released their second album, Open Season. Again the press located strength in depth. “A marvellous album,” reported The Guardian, “a triumphant lesson in sweeping toward the mainstream with your imagination and mystery intact.” Rolling Stone: “The first few songs are so jaw-slackeningly great it can take days to get to the album’s highlight, the epic eight-minute medley of Please Stand Up and North Hanging Rock.” In one week BSP made a single with The Wurzels and jammed in concert with German Krautrock legends Faust. The latter engagement concluded with an energetic fist fight.
British Sea Power’s third album, Do You Like Rock Music?, was recorded in the Czech Republic, Canada and at Fort Tregantle – a 19th century stronghold high on the Cornish cliffs. The album was released in 2008 and went straight into the UK top ten. Subject matter included economic migrants from Eastern Europe, the Apocalypse and Slavia Prague Football Club. The single “Waving Flags” was acclaimed by the Guardian as this summers festival anthem. The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. BSP didn’t win, but victors Elbow added their name to the list of BSP admirers. Frontman Guy Garvey declared that, “Not only do British Sea Power own the best name in history, they’re fucking great.”
By this point, BSP had expanded to a six piece – with the addition of Abi Fry (viola/keyboards) and Phil Sumner (keyboards/cornet/guitar). The sextet recorded their critically acclaimed new soundtrack for the 1934 film Man Of Aran, a largely instrumental score for Robert Flaherty’s classic quasi-documentary. The BSP soundtrack well received. “Stunning... breath-taking,” said Ireland’s Hot Press. “Chimes perfectly with BSP’s fascination with lost ways of life,” said The Independent On Sunday. BSP played their new soundtrack to screenings of the film on a series of islands: Jersey, the Hebrides, a Norwegian islet in the Arctic Circle. The film’s theme of survival-in-the-face-of-the-elements produced similarly emotional responses among wildly different demographics – tear-stained Norwegian fishermen in a 14th-century wooden church; a packed mass of ravers at the UK’s Big Chill festival; 2,000 ex-pat Irish at the Perth International Film Festival in Australia.
BSP’s fourth studio album, Valhalla Dancehall, was written and recorded on the Isle Of Skye and in a remote farmhouse in East Sussex. The album has a glorious scope, moving from the windswept 11-minute meditation of Once More Now to the neat electronic pop of Living Is So Easy. The press greeted the an impressive addition to the BSP catalogue. NME: “One of the contenders for album of 2011." The Financial Times: "An idiosyncratic state-of-the-nation address... incandescent." Q magazine: "Divine... Time to laud British Sea Power for attaining greatness strictly on their own terms."
BSP followed Valhalla Dancehall with a much-celebrated soundtrack for the 2012 film From The Sea To The Land Beyond. Directed by Penny Woolcock, this poetic, impressionistic 73-minute documentary was compiled from a century’s worth of maritime footage from around the British Isles. “An exquisite soundtrack... truly extraordinary,” said the critic and author Caitlin Moran. When the film was premiered on BBC television under the regular Storyville banner the transmission was accompanied by a wave of spontaneous ‘must see’ recommendations across Twitter. The result was a viewing figure twice the norm for this slot. “A stunning soundtrack,” said The Sunday Times. “The sweeping music is mesmeric,“ said The Radio Times.
Next came the 2013 album Machineries Of Joy. “Their best record yet,” said Q magazine. “A triumph of sophisticated rock engineering.” The Times wrote in praise of “Irresistible songs driven by an enthusiasm that’s infectious…a coming of age.” The Independent On Sunday said, "It's almost boring: yet another excellent British Sea Power album."
Since then British Sea Power have scored the 2014 feature-length documentary film Happiness, made by French director Thomas Balmès and which won an award for its cinematography when it was premiered at the Sundance Festival. British Sea Power then wrote and recorded the soundtrack for The Greatest Living Englishman, a feature film depicting the life Captain Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel.
In 2015 BSP released Sea Of Brass – an ambitious project funded by The Arts Council where selections from the BSP repertoire were arranged and scored for full brass bands by Peter Wraight. Accompanied by competition-standard brass bands, including the Redbridge Brass Band and the teachers’ union ensemble the NASUWT Riverside Brass Band, BSP took this spectacular to major UK concert venues, including a sold-out night in the main hall at London’s Barbican Centre.
Next, BSP guitarist Noble wrote and recorded the theme music for BT coverage of football’s European Champions League. Imagine his joy as he heard his music accompanying the linguistic innovations of pundit princelings Macca and Scholesy, or soundtracking Bayer Leverkusen tangling with BATE Borisov. BSP viola player / multi-instrumentalist Abi wrote the soundtrack for the BBC Radio 4 play Your Perfect Summer, On Sale Here!
In 2017 came the band’s first new studio album in four years. Let The Dancers Inherit The Party is a streamlined blast of modernist rock music infused with more pop immediacy than ever before in the band’s history. The release was followed be extensive headline tours of the UK and Europe, the most radio play they have ever had even reaching daytime Radio 2 A playlist plus numerous main stage festival appearances at Glastonbury, Hyde Park, Green Man and many others.
In the midst of the new LP release, BSP continued to show their diversity by composing and scoring music for the Polish Cultural Institutes celebration of 100 years of avant-garde Polish animation. This was performed live at a sell out Barbican show in London and repeated at the Leeds International Film festival both performances receiving standing ovations.
In the autumn of 2019 they curated and hosted their Krankenhaus festival at the 12th century Muncaster Castle on the coast of the western Lake District. For three days they and a wildly enthusiastic audience enjoyed a glorious mix of music, spoken word, natural beauty, hill climbing steam trains, bird of prey displays and surreal Bingo Ningen! Interspersed between 6 different BSP and band offshoot sets, there was a marvellous array of talent - from 6 Music stars Squid, Snapped Ankles, Rozi Plain, Pictish Trail and the aforesaid Bo Ningen to the ethereal Hannah Peel, aptivating poetry and a bonkers DJ set from the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, DJ’ing from 'not at all boring’ Steve Davis plus his Moog loving band The Utopia Strong, a revealing talk with Stephen Morris (New Order/Joy Division) and readings from Luke ‘Quietus’ Turner and David Keenan. All in all a perfect weekend festival held in amazing settings under glorious autumnal sunshine.
In 2019 they were commissioned to compose an original soundtrack for a ground breaking game Disco Elysium which went straight to the top of the games sales charts, achieved massive critical acclaim and has won many major international awards. BSP won the BAFTA for best original soundtrack in 2020. The game has now sold in excess of 4 million copies and was released on the big gaming platforms - Playstation, X Box, Nintendo, Stadia etc.
Supported by their ever-loyal fans who have very generously crowd funded the making of the next studio LP, BSP were able to get through the ravages of Covid and completed their 7th studio ‘Everything Was Forever’ LP in readiness for release early in 2022 while preparing to get back playing live.
In September 2021, the band announced the release of the new LP and released the first single ‘Two Fingers’ which promptly went straight onto. the BBC 6 Music A -list They also announced that they were dropping the word British from their name and are now known as Sea Power. This news was greeted with huge media coverage both in the UK and internationally - the vast bulk was supportive with some outrage from the right wing media who accused the band of unpatriotic wokeiness! After 20 years as BSP, the association with imperial nationalism was becoming a hinderance to the bands reputation especially for new comers to the band. It was not meant to be an attack on being British as they are all proud inhabitants of the British Isles and have written many songs embracing and glorifying the wonders and beauty of this country and its people.
In January 2022 the Scottish Wildlife Trust embarked on a national campaign to highlight the growing bio diversity issues in Scotland focusing on sea birds. Using a Sea Power song “The Great Skua” over a beautiful video of skuas in their natural habitat on the Scottish coasts, this was the most successful campaign the SWT had ever ran with acclaim from tens of thousands of supporters.
In February 2022 their 7th studio album “Everything Was Forever” entered the Official UK Album charts at Number 1 and stayed there for 4 days but eventually the might of huge international record labels with the star power of Ed Sheeran and Adele knocked them off the top. Still, a number 4 was still their best ever chart position and quite an achievement for a small fan funded independent record label.
‘Doppelgänger’ a track from the album was chosen by award winning film and video director Michel Gondry to feature in his latest film ‘The Book Of Solutions’.
In August 2022 they returned to Muncaster Castle for the second Krankenhaus festival. With double the attendance, another eclectic line-up featured Gruff Rhys, Richard Dawson, Mark Radcliffe, Beak>, This Is The Kit, Bdrmm, Lias Saoudi (Fat White Family), Pigs x7, Pale Blue Eyes,The Bug Club with return appearances from Stephen Morris, Simon Armitage and Steve Davis. The festival was voted one the 3 best UK festivals by listeners on the Steve Lamacq listeners quite an achievement considering that the other two were the much bigger End Of The Road and Green Man.
In August 2023, they curated their third Krankenhaus festival and this year doubled attendance again and this time sold out. The line up was again unique, ranging from Gwenno, The Waeve, The Lovely Eggs, Deerhoof, Bodega, Jeffrey Lewis, The Go! Team with yet again repeat appearances from Simon Armitage, Steve Davis’ The Utopia Strong, Bo Ningen and Rozi Plain. Taking part in talks, walks and DJing were also Marc Riley, John Robb, Gillian Morris, Bob Stanley, Stuart Maconie, Chris Watson, Luke Turner & John Doran from the Quietus - and Shaun Keaveny hosting a bizarre dog competition. And this year Krankenhaus won the best UK festival on the Lamacq show beating EOTR and Green Man!
Sadly in the summer of 2023, drummer Matthew ‘Woody’ Wood, one of the original founder members from Cumbria back in 2020, announced his departure from the band to concentrate on his family and his wifes band, The Celestial North. His role behind the kit was filled by Tom White from Electric Soft Parade, The Brakes and many others. His appearance at Krankenhaus climaxed with an onstage proposal of marriage - he accepted!
Twenty years on from their first concert Sea Power continue to make bold, galvanising, idiosyncratic marks on the world. Race horses and massive ocean-going yachts have been named after the band. London’s National Maritime Museum recently opened a new £35m exhibition wing. Visitors are greeted by huge, sculpted quotations from Shakespeare and Coleridge – and a lyric from Sea Power.
Sea Power are:
Yan – vocals / guitars.
Hamilton – vocals / guitars.
Noble – guitars.
Abi Fry – Viola.
Phil Sumner – keyboards / cornet.
ExpandSea Power’s music has won them some remarkable admirers – Lou Reed, David Bowie and London’s National Maritime Museum. Indeed, the BSP fanbase now includes Doctor Who, Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes. Peter Capaldi is a confirmed BSP fan. “A band of stark originality,” he wrote in his foreword for the reissue of the band’s 2003 debut album, The Decline Of British Sea Power. “BSP’s songs bring you the bite of the wind, the fury of the sea, and music that is simply exhilarating.” Daniel Radcliffe has talked in detail about his plan to get a BSP tattoo (featuring the 2002 T-shirt slogan Bravery Already Exists). Benedict Cumberbatch is also an admirer of the band.
Sea Power have played atop the Great Wall Of China, at the CERN atom-research labs and beside the diplodocus skeleton at London’s Natural History Museum. They’ve played at London’s Czech Embassy and beneath the big astronomical dish at Jodrell Bank. They’ve played on ships at sea, deep inside Cornish slate mines and at the Chelsea Flower Show. The intensity and invention of the band’s shows made them Time Out magazine’s Live Band Of The Year in 2004.
SP have toured giant American stadiums with old friends The Killers, and have played forests and arenas as specially requested guests of The Flaming Lips, The Strokes and Pulp. But BSP also stage remarkable events in remote Sussex pubs and Lake District village halls, where their own support acts have included birds of prey and The Copper Family, a clan of Sussex folk singers who’ve been going for two centuries.
British Sea Power formed at the close of the 20th century. From the English Lake District came brothers Yan Scott Wilkinson and Neil Hamilton Wilkinson, plus school friend Matthew Wood. Guitarist Martin Noble arrived from West Yorkshire. It was the band’s live performances that defined their early years. When BSP played the 2002 Reading Festival, Rolling Stone indicated that the entirety of the weekend’s bill paled before them: “Fuck this puerile drivel, we’re going to see British Sea Power… British Sea Power rule!” The band's distinctive approach to live shows has included their own micro-festival at the Tan Hill Inn, the most elevated pub in Britain, high up on the North Yorkshire dales. It’s the only place you're likely to see the Arctic Monkeys getting boozed up between husky races and falconry displays. When invited by the late Poet Laureate’s family to play at the John Betjeman Centenary Gala in 2006, BSP performed alongside Ronnie Corbett, Nick Cave and The Prince Of Wales.
BSP’s debut album, The Decline Of British Sea Power, was released in 2003. The album swung boldly from 30-second choral swoons to the 14-minute epic Lately. The latter took in life, death and Scandinavian sea lanes. “Stadium-sized melodies and exquisite songwriting,” said MOJO. The NME was in accord: “Out of this world… a dazzling debut.” The Sunday Times was unequivocal: “The best band in Britain.”
There were concerts from St Petersburg to San Francisco – including tours with the Flaming Lips, Interpol, Pulp and The Killers. In 2005, BSP released their second album, Open Season. Again the press located strength in depth. “A marvellous album,” reported The Guardian, “a triumphant lesson in sweeping toward the mainstream with your imagination and mystery intact.” Rolling Stone: “The first few songs are so jaw-slackeningly great it can take days to get to the album’s highlight, the epic eight-minute medley of Please Stand Up and North Hanging Rock.” In one week BSP made a single with The Wurzels and jammed in concert with German Krautrock legends Faust. The latter engagement concluded with an energetic fist fight.
British Sea Power’s third album, Do You Like Rock Music?, was recorded in the Czech Republic, Canada and at Fort Tregantle – a 19th century stronghold high on the Cornish cliffs. The album was released in 2008 and went straight into the UK top ten. Subject matter included economic migrants from Eastern Europe, the Apocalypse and Slavia Prague Football Club. The single “Waving Flags” was acclaimed by the Guardian as this summers festival anthem. The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. BSP didn’t win, but victors Elbow added their name to the list of BSP admirers. Frontman Guy Garvey declared that, “Not only do British Sea Power own the best name in history, they’re fucking great.”
By this point, BSP had expanded to a six piece – with the addition of Abi Fry (viola/keyboards) and Phil Sumner (keyboards/cornet/guitar). The sextet recorded their critically acclaimed new soundtrack for the 1934 film Man Of Aran, a largely instrumental score for Robert Flaherty’s classic quasi-documentary. The BSP soundtrack well received. “Stunning... breath-taking,” said Ireland’s Hot Press. “Chimes perfectly with BSP’s fascination with lost ways of life,” said The Independent On Sunday. BSP played their new soundtrack to screenings of the film on a series of islands: Jersey, the Hebrides, a Norwegian islet in the Arctic Circle. The film’s theme of survival-in-the-face-of-the-elements produced similarly emotional responses among wildly different demographics – tear-stained Norwegian fishermen in a 14th-century wooden church; a packed mass of ravers at the UK’s Big Chill festival; 2,000 ex-pat Irish at the Perth International Film Festival in Australia.
BSP’s fourth studio album, Valhalla Dancehall, was written and recorded on the Isle Of Skye and in a remote farmhouse in East Sussex. The album has a glorious scope, moving from the windswept 11-minute meditation of Once More Now to the neat electronic pop of Living Is So Easy. The press greeted the an impressive addition to the BSP catalogue. NME: “One of the contenders for album of 2011." The Financial Times: "An idiosyncratic state-of-the-nation address... incandescent." Q magazine: "Divine... Time to laud British Sea Power for attaining greatness strictly on their own terms."
BSP followed Valhalla Dancehall with a much-celebrated soundtrack for the 2012 film From The Sea To The Land Beyond. Directed by Penny Woolcock, this poetic, impressionistic 73-minute documentary was compiled from a century’s worth of maritime footage from around the British Isles. “An exquisite soundtrack... truly extraordinary,” said the critic and author Caitlin Moran. When the film was premiered on BBC television under the regular Storyville banner the transmission was accompanied by a wave of spontaneous ‘must see’ recommendations across Twitter. The result was a viewing figure twice the norm for this slot. “A stunning soundtrack,” said The Sunday Times. “The sweeping music is mesmeric,“ said The Radio Times.
Next came the 2013 album Machineries Of Joy. “Their best record yet,” said Q magazine. “A triumph of sophisticated rock engineering.” The Times wrote in praise of “Irresistible songs driven by an enthusiasm that’s infectious…a coming of age.” The Independent On Sunday said, "It's almost boring: yet another excellent British Sea Power album."
Since then British Sea Power have scored the 2014 feature-length documentary film Happiness, made by French director Thomas Balmès and which won an award for its cinematography when it was premiered at the Sundance Festival. British Sea Power then wrote and recorded the soundtrack for The Greatest Living Englishman, a feature film depicting the life Captain Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel.
In 2015 BSP released Sea Of Brass – an ambitious project funded by The Arts Council where selections from the BSP repertoire were arranged and scored for full brass bands by Peter Wraight. Accompanied by competition-standard brass bands, including the Redbridge Brass Band and the teachers’ union ensemble the NASUWT Riverside Brass Band, BSP took this spectacular to major UK concert venues, including a sold-out night in the main hall at London’s Barbican Centre.
Next, BSP guitarist Noble wrote and recorded the theme music for BT coverage of football’s European Champions League. Imagine his joy as he heard his music accompanying the linguistic innovations of pundit princelings Macca and Scholesy, or soundtracking Bayer Leverkusen tangling with BATE Borisov. BSP viola player / multi-instrumentalist Abi wrote the soundtrack for the BBC Radio 4 play Your Perfect Summer, On Sale Here!
In 2017 came the band’s first new studio album in four years. Let The Dancers Inherit The Party is a streamlined blast of modernist rock music infused with more pop immediacy than ever before in the band’s history. The release was followed be extensive headline tours of the UK and Europe, the most radio play they have ever had even reaching daytime Radio 2 A playlist plus numerous main stage festival appearances at Glastonbury, Hyde Park, Green Man and many others.
In the midst of the new LP release, BSP continued to show their diversity by composing and scoring music for the Polish Cultural Institutes celebration of 100 years of avant-garde Polish animation. This was performed live at a sell out Barbican show in London and repeated at the Leeds International Film festival both performances receiving standing ovations.
In the autumn of 2019 they curated and hosted their Krankenhaus festival at the 12th century Muncaster Castle on the coast of the western Lake District. For three days they and a wildly enthusiastic audience enjoyed a glorious mix of music, spoken word, natural beauty, hill climbing steam trains, bird of prey displays and surreal Bingo Ningen! Interspersed between 6 different BSP and band offshoot sets, there was a marvellous array of talent - from 6 Music stars Squid, Snapped Ankles, Rozi Plain, Pictish Trail and the aforesaid Bo Ningen to the ethereal Hannah Peel, aptivating poetry and a bonkers DJ set from the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, DJ’ing from 'not at all boring’ Steve Davis plus his Moog loving band The Utopia Strong, a revealing talk with Stephen Morris (New Order/Joy Division) and readings from Luke ‘Quietus’ Turner and David Keenan. All in all a perfect weekend festival held in amazing settings under glorious autumnal sunshine.
In 2019 they were commissioned to compose an original soundtrack for a ground breaking game Disco Elysium which went straight to the top of the games sales charts, achieved massive critical acclaim and has won many major international awards. BSP won the BAFTA for best original soundtrack in 2020. The game has now sold in excess of 4 million copies and was released on the big gaming platforms - Playstation, X Box, Nintendo, Stadia etc.
Supported by their ever-loyal fans who have very generously crowd funded the making of the next studio LP, BSP were able to get through the ravages of Covid and completed their 7th studio ‘Everything Was Forever’ LP in readiness for release early in 2022 while preparing to get back playing live.
In September 2021, the band announced the release of the new LP and released the first single ‘Two Fingers’ which promptly went straight onto. the BBC 6 Music A -list They also announced that they were dropping the word British from their name and are now known as Sea Power. This news was greeted with huge media coverage both in the UK and internationally - the vast bulk was supportive with some outrage from the right wing media who accused the band of unpatriotic wokeiness! After 20 years as BSP, the association with imperial nationalism was becoming a hinderance to the bands reputation especially for new comers to the band. It was not meant to be an attack on being British as they are all proud inhabitants of the British Isles and have written many songs embracing and glorifying the wonders and beauty of this country and its people.
In January 2022 the Scottish Wildlife Trust embarked on a national campaign to highlight the growing bio diversity issues in Scotland focusing on sea birds. Using a Sea Power song “The Great Skua” over a beautiful video of skuas in their natural habitat on the Scottish coasts, this was the most successful campaign the SWT had ever ran with acclaim from tens of thousands of supporters.
In February 2022 their 7th studio album “Everything Was Forever” entered the Official UK Album charts at Number 1 and stayed there for 4 days but eventually the might of huge international record labels with the star power of Ed Sheeran and Adele knocked them off the top. Still, a number 4 was still their best ever chart position and quite an achievement for a small fan funded independent record label.
‘Doppelgänger’ a track from the album was chosen by award winning film and video director Michel Gondry to feature in his latest film ‘The Book Of Solutions’.
In August 2022 they returned to Muncaster Castle for the second Krankenhaus festival. With double the attendance, another eclectic line-up featured Gruff Rhys, Richard Dawson, Mark Radcliffe, Beak>, This Is The Kit, Bdrmm, Lias Saoudi (Fat White Family), Pigs x7, Pale Blue Eyes,The Bug Club with return appearances from Stephen Morris, Simon Armitage and Steve Davis. The festival was voted one the 3 best UK festivals by listeners on the Steve Lamacq listeners quite an achievement considering that the other two were the much bigger End Of The Road and Green Man.
In August 2023, they curated their third Krankenhaus festival and this year doubled attendance again and this time sold out. The line up was again unique, ranging from Gwenno, The Waeve, The Lovely Eggs, Deerhoof, Bodega, Jeffrey Lewis, The Go! Team with yet again repeat appearances from Simon Armitage, Steve Davis’ The Utopia Strong, Bo Ningen and Rozi Plain. Taking part in talks, walks and DJing were also Marc Riley, John Robb, Gillian Morris, Bob Stanley, Stuart Maconie, Chris Watson, Luke Turner & John Doran from the Quietus - and Shaun Keaveny hosting a bizarre dog competition. And this year Krankenhaus won the best UK festival on the Lamacq show beating EOTR and Green Man!
Sadly in the summer of 2023, drummer Matthew ‘Woody’ Wood, one of the original founder members from Cumbria back in 2020, announced his departure from the band to concentrate on his family and his wifes band, The Celestial North. His role behind the kit was filled by Tom White from Electric Soft Parade, The Brakes and many others. His appearance at Krankenhaus climaxed with an onstage proposal of marriage - he accepted!
Twenty years on from their first concert Sea Power continue to make bold, galvanising, idiosyncratic marks on the world. Race horses and massive ocean-going yachts have been named after the band. London’s National Maritime Museum recently opened a new £35m exhibition wing. Visitors are greeted by huge, sculpted quotations from Shakespeare and Coleridge – and a lyric from Sea Power.
Sea Power are:
Yan – vocals / guitars.
Hamilton – vocals / guitars.
Noble – guitars.
Abi Fry – Viola.
Phil Sumner – keyboards / cornet.
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