| Sad Lovers & Giants | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Rickmansworth, England |
| Genres | Post-punk |
| Years active | 1980–1983, 1986–1991 occasionally since |
| Labels | Midnight Music |
| Past members | |
|
Garçe Allard |
|
Sad Lovers & Giants are a rock band from Watford, England who formed in 1980.[1] Their sound blends post-punk, atmospheric keyboards and psychedelia and the band has been described as "a pastoral Pink Floyd".
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The band's members have included Garçe (Simon) Allard (vocals), Tristan Garel-Funk (guitar), Tony McGuinness (now part of the trance trio Above & Beyond) (guitar), Cliff Silver (bass), Ian Gibson (bass), David Wood (keyboards and saxophone), Juliet Sainsbury (keyboards), Nigel Pollard (drums & percussion) and Will Hicks (keyboards).
The original lineup produced two studio albums, Epic Garden Music (1982) and Feeding the Flame (1983), before splitting in 1983. During this initial period they recorded a John Peel Session for the BBC,[2] and a live concert for the Dutch Radio Hilversum station in 1983, which was subsequently released as the album Total Sound in 1986.[1] Live performances included headline dates at UK colleges and clubs with occasional trips to Europe, although they did support The Sound at a major London venue on the day Epic Garden Music entered the UK independent charts.
European interest in the band began to grow, and with the release of second album Feeding the Flame, they toured Germany and Holland, gaining a dedicated fanbase. Tensions within the band caused a split, with Garel-Funk and Pollard leaving to form The Snake Corps.
Not much was heard for a while; their label Midnight Music released a "mopping up" album entitled In the Breeze in 1984, which included one of their previously unreleased signature tunes, "Three Lines".
They returned in 1986 with an updated line-up (Tony McGuiness on guitar, Juliet Sainsbury on keyboards and Ian Gibson on bass), and new album entitled The Mirror Test.[1]
As interest abroad grew, the band performed extensively in Holland, Spain and France, headlined at the old Marquee club in London's Soho, and with the release of their fourth album, Headland, were a featured band in Melody Maker.
They released a further album Treehouse Poetry before Midnight Music went bust and the band split once again, coming together occasionally for gigs supporting And Also The Trees at the Marquee Club and London's Electric Ballroom. E-mail from Eternity, a 'best of' compilation, was released by the record label Cherry Red in 1996 after the company picked up the Midnight catalogue.
In 2002, the band released an album called Melting in the Fullness of Time. They played two dates in Italy a year later.
Another reformed lineup (Allard, McGuiness, Pollard, Gibson) played several gigs in Italy in April 2009, coinciding with Cherry Red's rereleases of Feeding the Flame and Epic Garden Music. Current keyboardist Will Hicks joined later in 2009.
During 2010, the band played a handful of successful live dates in Athens, Greece, and Barcelona, Spain, reissued The Mirror Test, and recorded a new 7" double single, "Himalaya"/"Happiness Is Fragile."
2011 finds Sad Lovers & Giants writing and recording new material for a future album. Their first live date of the year takes place in March 2011 in Berlin, Germany.