The House Band

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The House Band is a musical group formed in 1984 by musicians Ged Foley, Jimmy Young, Iain Macleod and Chris Parkinson. They played original compositions and traditional music in a Celtic/British folk style, with influences from reggae, country, pop, jazz and world music.

The band released nine albums during its 17-year run, and toured in Britain, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The final album, The Very Best of The House Band, was released in 2001 shortly before the group disbanded. Their album Stonetown won The Music Retailers Association Annual Awards for Excellence (in the Folk and Country Music category) in 1992.

[edit] History of the Band

The House Band is a musical group which was formed in Edinburgh in 1984 by Ged Foley (vocals, guitar), Jimmy Young (smallpipes, flute, whistle), Iain Macleod (guitar, mandolin) and Chris Parkinson (melodeon, keyboards, piano accordion and harmonica). The band's first performance took place in October 1984, at a school in Dalkeith.

Their first contract was with Topic Records in London, and their first album (The House Band) was recorded in London in January 1985.

In 1985 The House Band performed in Italy in the Spring, and Germany and Switzerland in October and November. However, by the end of 1985 the band had decided to split up owing to (in Chris Parkinson's words) 'one or two disagreements'. The planned breakup could not take place immediately, however, since the band was committed to a tour of New Zealand which had entailed the purchase of several 'around the world' air tickets — the tour would have to go ahead to pay for these tickets! The tour of New Zealand took place from December 1985 until mid-February 1986.

On returning to the UK, Chris Parkinson and Ged Foley got together with John Skelton and Brian Brooks, both of whom had previously been members of London-based band Shegui. During their subsequent tour of Holland, these four were billed as Shegui, after which they decided to call themselves The New House Band. In 1987, this new lineup recorded a second album, Pacific, for Topic Records.

Brian Brooks had lived in New York for a while, so had some contacts which led to several gigs there in 1987. Ged Foley's prior association with Battlefield Band led to tours of the US after this — both Battlefield Band and The House Band worked with the same agency. These very successful tours continued until the end of the 1990s. Brian, however, left the band in 1988, after which the three remaining members recorded Word of Mouth at Topic Records' studios.

During this period, the band also toured in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, with a stay in Zanzibar for a few days. The name for the band's next album (Stonetown) was inspired by the name of the old part of Zanzibar City, the capital of the island of Zanzibar. Immediately after a tour of Holland and Belgium, the whole album was recorded in eight days in 1991, for Harbourtown Records. The photo for the sleeve of Stonetown was taken in Whitby (where Chris Parkinson was living at the time) and is, coincidentally, the same street where Simply Red had filmed part of the video for their song Holding Back the Years.

Following this, the band signed with Green Linnet Records, and in 1993 released a compilation of previous works entitled Groundwork. Roger Wilson joined the band on fiddle, guitar and vocals, and the album Another Setting followed in 1994. Bernie Nau (piano) and Mark Hellenberg (percussion) worked with the band as session musicians during the recording of this album. In Chris Parkinson's words:

It was recorded in the wilds of Vermont around January where temperatures sometimes went down as low as -16F possibly colder than that. The studio was in a barn and the heating was by hot air blown through ducts. Very noisy too. When it stopped, the whole thing would creak as it cooled down. After that we would have to record until it got too cold to play, then the heating would go back on again.

The next album was Rockall in 1996, which was also recorded in Vermont, and used the talents of Ged, John, Roger, Chris and Mark.

After that, October Song was recorded at Studio du Chemin 4, Joliette, Quebec, in December 1997. The studio was owned by Denis Frechette, pianist with La Bottine Souriante, and the recording engineer was André Marchand (ex-member of La Bottine Souriante) who added some 'foot percussion' on one of the tracks. October Song was released in time for a tour of Australia and New Zealand in Spring of 1998, followed by tours of the UK, Europe and the US. Roger Wilson left the band after these tours, at the end of 1998.

In April 2000, The New House Band was relaunched with a recording of a four-track demo in Ohio. Ged, John and Chris were joined by Bernie Nau on keyboards and oboe, and Sandy Jones on fiddle. Although the demo was never released, a short tour of the US was arranged for December 2000, and a tour of the UK from May until June 2001. The UK tour also included gigs in Belgium and Denmark. A final album, The Very Best of The House Band, was released in 2001, after which the group disbanded.

[edit] Subsequent Careers of The House Band members

Jimmy Young left Scotland and moved to New Zealand, where he still plays and composes music.

Iain Macleod was a member of Scottish band Shoogelnifty, and still lives in the Edinburgh area.

Ged Foley, after living in the US for many years, moved to Ireland c. 2006 after a year in Germany. He plays with Irish band Patrick Street.

John Skelton has lived for many years in Kentucky and plays, tours occasionally, and teaches flute.

Roger Wilson is still playing music, mostly in the UK and Europe. He played an accordion festival with Chris Parkinson in Quebec in September 2005.

Bernie Nau has a studio in Athens Ohio. He teaches piano, and also plays in local rock outfit Wingnuts with drummer Mark Hellenberg (Mark was on Another Setting and Rockall albums).

Sandy Jones is still in Columbus Ohio, plays fiddle but also has ‘a real job’.

Chris Parkinson is still playing and has a website at www.chrisparkinsonmusic.co.uk.

Brian Brooks moved to Rio de Janeiro after leaving the band, then moved to Paris and later back to the London area in the UK. He is a painter as well as a musician.