Turn (band)

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Turn

Country	Dublin, Ireland
Years active	1998–2006
Genres	Indie, Indie Rock
Labels	Setanta Records
Members	Ollie Cole Ian Melady Gavin Fox
Past members	Alan Lee Ciaran Kavanagh

Turn formed in 1998 when lead singer/guitarist Ollie Cole and drummer Ian Melady joined forces with Dublin bass player Gavin Fox, who they met at a Dublin recording studio. Ollie and Ian had been friends since youth and had previously played in Pixies-influenced punk band Swampshack.

Through frantic gigging and the release of a few choice 7" singles, Turn started to earn a name for themselves and soon found themselves signed to Infectious Records. Their debut album, Antisocial, soon followed and Turn looked to be on their way to stardom. Infectious, however, were not too interested in releasing any singles from the album and Turn soon found themselves in record company limbo once again.

With their schedule clear, Turn hit the road again playing gigs to get funds for more recording. The In Position EP was the fruit of these labours, a six track snapshot on their own Nurture label in March 2002 which was a taster of what was to come. A double a-side Another Year Over/Summer Song was released in July 2002 with the single going Top 30 in Ireland in its first week. However, Turn's luck was soon to catch up with them again as bassist Gavin Fox left to join Idlewild. His last gig with Turn was on New Year's Eve 2002.

Gavin's place was filled by ex-Skindive bassist Alan Lee and recording continued for Turn's second album Forward which was released in May 2003. The album entered the charts at number 16 and became one of the most popular Irish albums of the year. They continued touring through 2003 and 2004. More bass trouble hit when Alan Lee left and Ollie held open auditions in Dublin for a new bassist. Ciaran Kavanagh of The Rags soon joined up. In the meantime, Turn signed on with Setanta Records and began work on their third album.

Turn's third album, eponymous titled, was released in Ireland in September 2005 and entered the Top 30 in its first week. It is due for release in the UK in early 2006. It was short listed for the inaugural Music Choice Award, an industry award to promote quality Irish Musicians/Bands, and the album was also nominated for a Meteor, while Turn were nominated for "Best Irish Band". They lost on both counts to U2, while the Music Choice Award went to Julie Feeney.

In December 2005 Gavin Fox rejoined for a series of gigs.

On 18th July 2006, Ollie announced that Turn planned one more tour of Ireland, before calling it a day. Ollie also added "this has not been an easy decision to make".

As of 19th July 2006, the www.turn.ie website was shut down.