After Hours: The Owl Service

It’s that After Hours time of the week again..This week, it’s the turn of The Owl Service. An intriguing four piece who create a truly strange and beautiful sound, as if beamed in from another era. A track from their forthcoming album A Garland Of Song (release June 13th via Southern) can be downloaded for free from our rather awesome Southern Records Sampler. Grab the whole thing here folks. We caught up with founder of the band, Steve Collins to find out what he’s been reading/watching/listening to lately….

It’s our round, what are you having?
A pint of Adnams Broadside please, with a Jack Daniels chaser.

Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
One of my favourite new bands is Rubus – a 3 piece centred around singer Emily Portman (who also plays in The Devil’s Interval with another fine singer named Jim Causley). Basically, they’re dedicated to playing traditional British folk music with great arrangements, all topped off with Portman’s stunning vocals. – What’s been the best album you’ve heard in the last 12 months?My favourite new album from the last 12 months is probably Wolves in the Throne Room’s “Two Hunters”. My favourite old-but-new-to-me album is Sandy Bull “Fantasias For Guitar and Banjo”. It’s the blueprint for the current freak-folk sound – you’d think it was Six Organs of Admittance, but it was recorded in 1964. Just amazing, timeless music.

What was the last book you read? Would you recommend it?
I’m pretty lazy when it comes to reading and can’t actually remember the last book I finished so I’ll go with what I’m reading now, which is a biography of Joe Meek called “Telstar Man”. It’s not particularly well-written but I’d certainly recommend it to fans of Joe Meek, and anyone who’s generally obsessed with 1960s pop-culture. It’s a really fascinating insight into the world of pre-Beatles British pop music.

What was the last film your saw in the cinema and was it any good?
I go the cinema even less frequently than I manage to finish a book, so I think it was Revenge of the Sith. Despite being all too aware of its many flaws, I did enjoy it – I’m not too precious about the Star Wars trilogy, I think that the prequels are fairly decent for what they are.

If push came to shove, what’s your all-time favourite song and why?
It changes every week, but today I’d say “Something I’ve Got to Tell You” by Glenda Collins; if I ever need to explain why I think Joe Meek is better than Phil Spector, this is always “exhibit A”. A great, great pop song with a superb vocal performance, I just love the way the piano and drums drive it all the way to the fade-out. I don’t think ’60s pop comes any better than this, I never tire of hearing it and it never fails to fill me with a rush of excitement.

MP3 / CD / Vinyl: what’s your format of choice?
Vinyl for sound quality and packaging, but I love the convenience of mp3. It’s made CDs totally disposable for me – when I get a CD now, unless some effort has been made with the packaging I rip it and discard it. Hate to admit it, but my iPod has become a bit of an essential item for me.

What’s the best TV show you’re currently following?
I don’t really watch much television, but I’m currently enjoying a guilty pleasure in the form of Howards’ Way on DVD. An episode was shown on BBC4 recently during their cult Sunday evening TV season and it reminded me of watching it as a child, so I thought I’d check it out and now I’m hooked. The acting isn’t great, the plots are all over the place and the sets are cheap, but something about it keeps me watching.

What one piece of criticism has stuck in your mind and was it justified?
We haven’t had much harsh criticism yet, but I remember seeing a gig review that said we didn’t know what we were doing. As it happens, it was justified – it was only our second show and in all honesty, we didn’t really know what we were doing. It was after that show that we had a bit of a rethink and started improving as a live band.

What one thing has caused you to waste your free time in the past 6 months?
The internet – minutes into hours into days…

Do you follow any type of sport? If so, who’s your “home team”?
The only 2 sports I watch avidly are football and darts; I support Southend United, I live about 2 miles from their stadium and was a season ticket holder until The Owl Service took over my life. Darts is something I’ve loved since the late ’70s heyday of Eric Bristow and Jocky Wilson. I’ve been to the World Championship quite a few times – it’s pretty much my ideal night out.

We’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
OK, 5 traditional songs with a girls name in the title;
Tim Hart & Maddy Prior – Farewell Nancy
Shirley & Dolly Collins – Nellie the Milkmaid
Anne Briggs – Polly Vaughan
Shirley Collins & Davy Graham – Jane Jane
Pete & Chris Coe – Cheshire May Day Carol