Denzil

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Denzil are a rock/powerpop band from Bournemouth, England, based around singer-songwriter Denzil Thomas. Denzil were signed to Giant records in the USA in 1993 and put out one album, Pub, in 1994. Pub was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1994.

[edit] History

Denzil were formed in Bournemouth during 1990 by singer/songwriter Denzil Thomas. Thomas had been playing folk clubs for about a year when he met producer/bassist Steve Ennever in a Bournemouth studio. The product of this meeting was the release of a local cassette called "A Tape Called Denzil". Ecstatic local press reviews saw thousands of tapes being sold in a matter of months. By the time the band proper hit a stage in September 1990 they were already the most popular draw in town.

Over the next year or so, Denzil played far and wide in the UK, first picking up alternating drummers Andy Place and Jeremy Stacey and later finding guitarist Craig Boyd in nearby Portsmouth.

In 1992 the band attracted the attention of former William Morris Agency and Famous Music A&R Michael LeShay, when a friend from the UK came to stay at his Los Angeles home. On the strength of Denzil's demos, LeShay was able to convince major label Giant Records to imprint his "Play" Records and fund the release and marketing of a denzil album in the USA. So it was that the band entered the studio in the early summer of 1993 armed with a sheaf of Thomas' songs to begin recording an album.

Thomas' tunes and ability to evoke a story were matched with Ennever's simplistic arrangement and production during the making of the album. Denzil gradually selected songs that worked together as a concept that the stories mainly came from his local pub, the title was set. The resulting album had a "back to basics" feel and gritty soap-box narrative. Even before it was completed (which took over six months) the buzz at Giant had started in earnest.

On February 17th, an acoustic Thomas and Boyd played the pub at the St.Francis Hotel in San Francisco as part of the 1994 Gavin convention. This, their first show on US soil, launched over 80 dates in 1994 across nearly every state in the Union, ending at Maxwell’s in Hoboken on December 9th 1994.

Released on 12th April 1994, Pub – and the single "Useless" - was picked up by over 300 radio stations in the USA. The album went on to widespread critical acclaim, with major press such as the LA Village Voice, Rolling Stone, the NME and Interview Magazine giving the album positive reviews. By the end of 1994, Pub had been nominated for two Grammy Awards.

However, despite these successes, Pub never sold in great numbers, frictions between LeShay and Giant stood in the way of continued label support. By October 1994, in an effort to get Giant behind the record, Play Records fired de facto manager and label boss LeShay. Unfortunately this move came too late and Giant's confidence in Denzil was shaken enough for them to pass on second option in 1995, despite a raft of new demos and a plan to re-locate Thomas to the east coast of the USA.

These frictions were also having an effect on the band. Two days after returning from the US, Thomas asked Ennever to leave the touring band, Ennever decided to part company with Denzil entirely.

Ennever was replaced live with Bournemouth stalwart bass player Martin "Budgie" Burden, also known as "Budge Magraw". In mid-January 1995, Thomas, Burden, Boyd and Stacey began an 11 date tour of the UK to support the release of pub in the UK on BMG records under license from Giant. Denzil entered the studio immediately afterwards with Stacey as producer to create a series of demos for the next album. The band also filmed a special for VH-1 at this time, being interviewed by Robert Sandall.

Sandall introduced Denzil to Billy Bragg's manager Peter Jenner who started looking after the band from early 1995. In May 1995 BMG declined an offer to sign Denzil direct to the UK, which effectively left them without a deal. The band was offered a series of small record deals in 1995 and 1996 which were not taken up. By 1997 Thomas was working full time in the music industry and effectively the band disbanded.

Thomas continued to work on demos with Stacey until 1999, even playing a couple of shows and a BBC radio session that year. However, the original Denzil line-up did not play again until one unannounced show in 2003.

In the wake of the popularity of a new wave of British artists, Pub has been name checked in the popular music press as "one of the most overlooked albums of the 90s" - a tag it picked up almost immediately at the time. Spurred on by features in the music press and a lot of action on the Internet, interest in the album and the band from new and original fans has increased a great deal recently. A number of newer artists including Granddaddy and The Handsome Family now cite Pub as an influence on them.

Renewed offers in 2006 to play the USA, Italy, Spain and the UK and offers to re-release Pub as well as major label interest in new material finally got them working on a new set in August 2006. Denzil are currently looking to play a couple of low key warm up shows in the UK in late 2006 and book a small tour of the US with a particular stop-off at the SXSW festival in March 2007. This activity will pre-empt and showcase the release of new material in 2007.