The Coral
The Coral marks the musical coming together of six northern UK chums, singer/guitarist James Skelly, trumpet-player/guitarist Bill Ryder Jones, drummer/percussionist Ian Skelly, guitarist/vocalist Lee Southall, bassist/saxophonist Paul Duffy, and organ-player/vocalist Nick Power.
Formed within their home-town of Hoylake, near Liverpool, the sextet had been playing together for six years until interest finally struck them. Still only aged between 19 and 21 at the time, they signed to new indie-label Deltasonic, and released the much-acclaimed, limited-edition debut single, ‘Shadows Fall’. Its 1,000 copies sold out immediately, and the response was ecstatic. Naturally, it didn’t take long before industry-moguls and curious fans alike packed out early shows in order to sample the act’s unique and original blend of 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s stylings, the following ‘Oldest Path EP’ selling out in good time, and attracting Sony Music to negotiate a deal with Deltasonic to distribute its future recordings.
Soon shacking up with former Lightning Seeds frontman/songwriter Ian Broudie, sessions went underway on recording the debut-album and a further EP – ‘Skeleton Key’ – was unveiled to righteous acclaim. By this time, tours were selling out across the UK, and press-support was inscrutably strong, allowing the release of the band’s self-titled full-length LP to rocket into the top-five, aided by the band’s first ever hit-single, ‘Goodbye’, a track that worked its way on to ‘Top Of The Pops’ to designate the band a high profile live-appearance on TV.
With festivals attended, played and conquered throughout the summer of 2002, the upcoming future is another single – the floaty pop of ‘Dreaming Of You’ – and a tour which includes a sold-out date at London’s prestigious Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Like the boys themselves, days may still be young, but the future is continuing to promise prosperous times.
Photo Credit: James Faherty
OFFICIAL SITE: The band\'s zany, Flash-only home; known in the past for giving away the occasional free goodie here and there, visit it now.
UK LABEL SITE: Find out what other worthy talent Deltasonic - The Coral\'s record-company - is working alongside within this funky locale.