National Park (band)

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National Park is a band, from Glasgow, Scotland, formed in 1997 by John Hogarty and Scott Walker.

1 History
2 Discography
3 Live appearances
4 Band Members
5 External links

[edit] History

John Hogarty had previously played in notable Glasgow based Bands: BMX Bandits, Telstar Ponies and The Clouds. Scott had played in Speedboat with, Teenage Fanclub keyboard player, Finlay MacDonald. National Park are not particularly similar to any of these bands, often compared to the Velvet Underground, Galaxie 500 and Yo La Tengo, favouring a loose, free, drone-based sound.

The band expanded to a four piece to tackle their first gig, August 1997, at The Pastels club Illumination with Simon Shaw and Michael McGaughrin of V-Twin joining on Bass and Drums. Their first single, Great Western, a 10" single on Earworm records was a ten minute track, recorded on a tape deck at an early practice. Despite the length of the track it was playlisted on Xfm Radio, London. Collaborations with Future Pilot AKA, the band formed by Sushil Dade from The Soup Dragons followed on Beggars Banquet and again on Earworm records. The band played live with many of their favourite bands, at one point being the unlikely support for friends Belle and Sebastian at the Shepherds Bush Empire.

Scott Walker left in 1999, returning briefly to record No More Rides for the Geographic Records (a sub-label of Domino Records) compilation, You Don't Need Darkness To Do What You Think Is Right in 2001/2002, on which they appear alongside Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine and Jim and William Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain.

Scott Walker was replaced briefly by Alasdair Roberts (of Appendix Out) and later by Gerry Love of Teenage Fanclub. In 2003, they released a lathe-cut, 7" single on Australian label, Background Frequencies. The band continue to record, in 2005 releasing, The Only Stars, in Japan, featuring contributions by Bill Wells (piano), Sarah Martin (flute)and Mick Cooke (horn) of Belle and Sebastian.

[edit] Discography

(1998) Great Western 10" (Earworm Records)
(1999) National Park vs. Future Pilot AKA 7" (Earworm Records)
(2000) Sterling, on Future Pilot AKA vs. a Galaxy of Sound LP (Beggars Banquet)
(2001) No More Rides, on Geographic Japanese compilation CD (Trattoria/Polystar)
(2002) No More Rides, on Geographic comp for rest of world (Geographic/Domino)
(2003) Secret Songs 7" (Background Frequencies)
(2005) The Only Stars, on Japanese Compilation, Crunk Into Up Vol. 3 (LD&K)

[edit] Live appearances

National Park have played live appearing beside: Acid Mothers Temple, Appendix Out, Belle and Sebastian, Empress, Future Pilot AKA, International Airport, Jad Fair, Lucky Luke, Movietone, Music and Movement, The Pastels, Elliot Smith, The Styrenes, Richard Youngs.

[edit] Band Members

John Hogarty, has played live or on recordings by: The Pastels, The Telstar Ponies, Belle and Sebastian, Jad Fair, Lucky Luke, Music and Movement, The BMX Bandits, Dan Penn, The Clouds, Future Pilot AKA, Phantom Engineer.

Simon Shaw, has played live or on recordings by: Lucky Luke, V-Twin, Tibi Lubin.

Michael McGaughrin, has played live or on recordings by: V-Twin, Teenage Fanclub, The 1990s.