Yan (Jan Scott Wilkinson) - Vocals, guitar
Noble (Martin Noble) - Guitar
Hamilton (Neil Hamilton Wilkinson) - Bass, vocals, guitar
Wood (Matthew Wood) - Drum
Phil Sumner - Cornet, Keyboards
Abi Fry - Viola
Yan, Hamilton and Wood are school friends from Kendal in Cumbria. They were in a number of bands together while at school, but after finishing his exams Yan moved to study at Reading University, where he met guitarist Noble. A few years later Hamilton and Wood moved down to join them and form a band.
They played some gigs and produced a 4 track demo in Reading as British Air Powers, before relocating to Brighton in search of a more vibrant music scene. "British Sea Power" was actually the name of one of these demo tracks, and was eventually reworked into Carrion. In Brighton, BSP amassed a strong local following, due mainly to their own club night called "Club Sea Power". The club nights featured many different support bands, and other forms of entertainment such as a 1930s fashion show, and were most frequently hosted at the Freebutt and the Lift (the latter has now closed down).
Their debut single, Fear of Drowning, was issued in limited numbers of their own Golden Chariot label. The artwork for the B side "A Wooden Horse" borrows heavily from the dust cover of the 1950 book "The Wooden Horse" that details the escape of Allied POWs during WWII. Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records saw the band live and in September 2001 signed them to his label. A number of singles were issued on the label, and Eamon (Eamon Hamilton) was recruited to play live keyboards in autumn 2002.
The Decline of British Sea Power, the band's debut album, was released in June 2003 to critical acclaim. A single from the album, "Carrion", became the band's first Top 40 single. The album only charted in the lower reaches of the UK Album Chart, but turned out to be a word of mouth success, shipping well over 60,000 copies over the following two years and allowing them to play sell-out UK tours to venues of over 1,000 people.
The follow-up, Open Season, was released in early April 2005, and also enjoyed wide critical praise. It showcased a more accessible, produced sound and charted at #13 in the UK Albums Chart. Lead single It Ended on an Oily Stage charted at #18 in the UK Singles Chart a week earlier.
British Sea Power have a reputation for elaborate and well-thought out live shows and won the 2004 Time Out London Live Band of the Year award. The stage is often decorated with foliage and plastic birds and sets generally finish with a semi-improvised song called "Rock in A", which sometimes lasts for over 20 minutes. Various members often climb riggings and tear down the foliage, Eamon walks around the audience beating his marching drum, and a ten-foot bear, Ursine Ultra, occasionally makes an appearance - often taking a beating from various band members. This has become one of the signatures of the band. Their tours often include unusual venues such as the Scillonian Club on the Isles of Scilly, Grasmere Village Hall, the St. John Boste Social Club in Kendal, Cumbria and Carnglaze Caverns in Cornwall.
The band have built up an eccentric image in interviews and press releases; some of which is based on fact, other times merely whimsical building of outward personas. This has included giving journalists grid references at which to meet them, and expressing obsessions with Field Marshal Montgomery and bird watching.
The band has a fiercely loyal and devoted hardcore fanbase, sometimes referred to as the Third Battalion.
At the beginning of 2006, it was announced that Eamon had left British Sea Power to concentrate on his own band Brakes. The group spent part of late 2006 working on new material in Montréal, and are preparing a DVD.
In 2007, American Laundromat Records announced that British Sea Power would record a version of the Pixies' "Caribou" for an album called "Dig For Fire - A Tribute To Pixies."
In October 2007, the band went on tour throughout the east coast of America to showcase their new 5-track EP, Krankenhaus EP. In November 2007, they toured a variety of unusual locations in the UK including a seaside cafe in Saltdean, East Sussex; a ferry across the River Mersey, Liverpool; the Tan Hill Inn, the UK's highest inn; All Saints Church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and White Mischief, an indoor festival mixing live bands with unusual vaudeville acts.
Their Krankenhaus? EP was released digitally for purchasable download in October 2007 and was released on CD and vinyl on November the 20th. Their third album, Do You Like Rock Music? was released on 14th January 2008 in the U.K. and scheduled for release on 12th February 2008 in the U.S. Prior to their tour in support of Do You Like Rock Music? (visiting Ireland, UK, Belgium, Holland, Germany and US), Wood injured his back and had to be temporarily replaced by Tom White of Electric Soft Parade and Brakes fame.
In January 2008 the keyboard and cornet player ended up in hospital after being knocked unconscious when he attempted a stage dive. The crowd at Leeds Irish Centre failed to catch Phil Sumner, who jumped off a 12-foot PA system landing head first. The press department at Rough Trade Records reported "The impact knocked him out. Thankfully an ambulance was quickly summoned and he was whisked away, bloody and unconscious and despite a concussion, a broken molar and a maze of stitches in his chin, a very groggy Phil is expected to make a full recovery." In spite of this, he returned to the stage with the rest of the band a day later in Kendal.
In February 2008, the band appeared on Later with Jools Holland, playing Waving Flags, Canvey Island and No Lucifer. They were ably accompanied by a small number of the London Bulgarian Choir and a display of Cumbrian wrestling. The band are also scheduled to play at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Latitude, T in the Park and Bestival.
In May 2009, British Sea Power released their fourth album, Man of Aran. Several tracks on this album are remakes of older songs, such as the main riff from North Hanging Rock which features in the new track Boy Vertiginous. The album comes paired with a DVD containing the Robert J. Flaherty film 'Man of Aran', a silent film with music from the album dubbed in.
In October 2010, British Sea Power released the seven track 'Zeus' ep and announced the release of their next album, 'Valhalla Dancehall' in January 2011.
In November 2011, the band started hosting a regular club evening in Brighton called "Krankenhaus" that recalled some of their Club British Sea Power events. DJ sets, friends of the band and general BSP hijinx.
On 9 August 2021, British Sea Power announced they were changing their name to Sea Power. In a statement the band explained:
"In recent times there’s been a rise in a certain kind of nationalism in this world – an isolationist, antagonistic nationalism that we don’t want to run any risk of being confused with. It’s become apparent that it’s possible to misapprehend the name British Sea Power, particularly if someone isn’t familiar with the band or their recordings. We’ve always been internationalist in our mindset, something made clear in songs like Waving Flags, an anthem to pan-European idealism. We always wanted to be an internationalist band but maybe having a specific nation state in our name wasn’t the cleverest way to demonstrate that. We very much hope the band’s audience won’t be affronted by this adjustment to the name. We’d like to make it clear that removing the word “British” does NOT indicate any aversion to the British Isles whatsoever. We all feel immensely fortunate to have grown up in these islands. Several or our songs are filled with love and awe for this place. We do love these lands. We all still live within the British Isles, but we are now just Sea Power. We feel the name change comes in part from the band’s audience – who at a good show will shout out, “Sea Power! Sea Power!” Maybe this name change has been there for years, shouted in our ears. It’s just taken us this long to realise – to hear what was there in front of us… "
Grey Goose
British Sea Power Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The preacher went a'hunting
He carried along his shotgun
And along came a grey goose
Gun went a'boom-boom
And down come the grey goose
Six weeks of falling
He was six weeks a'hauling
Then my wife and your wife
Him a'feather picking
He was six weeks a'pickin'
Then they put him on the parboil
He was six weeks a'boilin'
And they put him on the table
The knife wouldn't cut him
No the knife wouldn't cut him
No the knife wouldn't cut him
So they took him to the hog pen
But the hog couldn't eat him
No the hog wouldn't eat him
So they took him to the saw mill
But the saw couldn't eat him
And the last time I saw him
He was flying across the ocean
Yeah the last time I saw him
He was flying across the ocean
With a long string a'goslin'
And they're all going quack-quack
Yeah they're all going quack-quack
And they're all going quack-quack
And he broke the hog's teeth out
And he broke the hog's teeth out
And he broke the saw's teeth out
And he broke the saw's teeth out
And the last time I saw him
He was flying across the ocean
Flying across the ocean
With a long string a'goslin'
And they're all going quack-quack
Yeah they're all going quack-quack
The lyrics of "Grey Goose" by British Sea Power, tells a slightly bizarre story of a preacher who goes hunting and shoots down a grey goose. The first two lines go like this, "One sunny morning, The preacher went a'hunting." The preacher carried his shotgun and shot the grey goose. The next lines go, "Gun went a'boom-boom, And down come the grey goose. Six weeks of falling, He was six weeks a'hauling." Six weeks later, the bird was picked of its feathers and boiled, but even then the knife wouldn't cut it. The people then attempted to feed the leftover bird to the hog, but even the hog couldn't eat it. The last time they saw the goose it was flying over the ocean with its goslings.
Line by Line Meaning
One sunny morning
On a bright day, at the start of the story
The preacher went a'hunting
The minister went off to hunt
He carried along his shotgun
He brought his firearm
And along came a grey goose
A grey bird appeared
Gun went a'boom-boom
The gun made a sound as he shot
And down come the grey goose
The bird fell to the ground
Six weeks of falling
The bird kept falling for six weeks
He was six weeks a'hauling
He was taken away for six weeks
Then my wife and your wife
Women in the story
Him a'feather picking
Picking the bird's feathers
He was six weeks a'pickin'
They picked the feathers for six weeks
Then they put him on the parboil
They boiled him
He was six weeks a'boilin'
He boiled for six weeks
And they put him on the table
Placed him on a surface
The knife wouldn't cut him
The knife could not slice him
No the knife wouldn't cut him
They couldn't cut him with the knife
So they took him to the hog pen
They moved him to the pig enclosure
But the hog couldn't eat him
The pig refused to eat him
No the hog wouldn't eat him
The pig did not want to eat him
So they took him to the saw mill
They carried him to the mill
But the saw couldn't eat him
The saw was unable to cut him
And the last time I saw him
Last encounter with the bird
He was flying across the ocean
He flew over the sea
Yeah the last time I saw him
A repetition of the previous line
With a long string a'goslin'
A long string of young geese
And they're all going quack-quack
The young birds made quacking sounds
Yeah they're all going quack-quack
The birds repeated their sound
And he broke the hog's teeth out
The bird damaged the pig's teeth
And he broke the saw's teeth out
The bird also damaged the saw's teeth
And the last time I saw him
Another repetition of the encounter
Flying across the ocean
The bird continued to fly over the sea
With a long string a'goslin'
He still had the young geese in tow
And they're all going quack-quack
The birds were still making quacking sounds
Yeah they're all going quack-quack
The same sound as before
Contributed by Brody C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.