Ocean Colour Scene

Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English rock band from Birmingham. They were formed after two other local bands called The Boys and Fanatics disbanded. Fanatics released an E.P. titled Suburban Love Songs.Their first 7" single was called "Sway" and was released in the early '90s UK indie era. However, when their record label was swallowed up by larger company Phonogram their eponymous debut was mixed, against the band wishes, to fit in with the Madchester musical trend of the time. With the album largely deemed a failure, and with the band in dispute with their record company, they spent several years in the wilderness.With the explosion of the Britpop scene, OCS's music became nationally and internationally known. Their second album Moseley Shoals was received to critical acclaim, containing four hit singles and reaching the heights of 2 in the UK Albums Chart and the follow up, Marchin' Already displacing Oasis at the top of the charts.Their song The Riverboat Song was featured on Chris Evans' TFI Friday - as the backing music when guests were introduced, and "Hundred Mile High City" and "July" were used in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the associated television series.Having undergone lineups changes, the band continue to record and perform, though they have struggled to recapture the success they enjoyed with their breakthrough album, Moseley Shoals.Their sound is deliberately retro, and influenced by sixties rock, especially The Small Faces.Lead Guitarist Steve Cradock and former bass guitarist Damon Minchella have been long-time members of ex The Jam frontman - Paul Weller's backing group, performing live and contributing to his solo albums before Ocean Colour Scene broke through to a wider audience. Lead singer Simon Fowler has also contributed to Paul Weller's albums in the past.Cradock and Minchella still regularly perform with Weller, despite Minchella no longer being an active member of Ocean Colour Scene. During their peak OCS also regularly performed on stage with Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis with whom they were on tour with at the time. These connections came about mainly due to OCS's musical abilities, which both Gallagher's and Weller praised greatly.One particular performance of note with the Gallagher's was a storming rendition of The Beatles "Day Tripper", which was included as a live B-Side to the single "The Circle", the song was also included on the B-side compilation album B-sides, Seasides and Freerides . Noel Gallagher previewed an advanced copy of the song during an interview on Radio 1 with DJ Jo Whiley, the interview mainly focused on Oasis' then forth-coming gig in the grounds of Knebworth House, of which Ocean Colour Scene were one of the supporting acts. Over 10 Million people applied for tickets for the shows, making it the biggest demand for concert tickets in British history. There was a combined audience of over 250,000 people. See Concerts at Knebworth House.As they have done in recent years, the band have recently announced a number of December tour dates, and Glamour Model Jodie Marsh has anounced that they will be playing at her wedding on 1st September which will be filmed for her MTV Show Totally Jodie MarshOCS played Festivals in Japan/Korea during August 2007 and were well received despite the band themselves thinking they were not well known over there. The band also played at the V festival over the weekend on the 18th and 19th of August.In a survey dated 18th September 2007 Ocean Colour Scene’s second studio album Moseley Shoals entered the top ten albums of all time. The official programme of the survey was broadcasted on channel four 2nd October 2007. Interviews with O.C.S. guitarist Steve Cradock, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Paul McCartney, Liam Gallagher, Alex James, Brian Ferry, Alison Moyet, Tony Hinnegan, Jools Holland, Gem Archer, Rico Rodriguez, Tony Griffiths, Chris Griffiths, Steve White, Jody Marsh and Ben Shepard followed the announcement.Up coming British band The Enemy have used the track Get blown away from Ocean Colour Scene’s Marchin’ already album as a b-side for the single It's Not OK from the album We'll Live And Die In These Towns. The single peaked at 41 in the uk charts. The Enemy cover/version mainly is piano and vocals instead, of what Ocean Colour Scene fans acknowledge the track for, the sky ripping guitar solo’s of Steve Cradock and the passionate bellows of Simon fowlers story telling vocals, however the song went down as a hit with fans when The Enemy preformed the song live.It was announced on 15 October 2007 that fan favourite "Go To Sea" would be released as a free download single via the band's website.