Over the Wall (band)
| Over The Wall | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Indie pop |
| Years active | 2006–2014 |
| Labels | Motive Sounds Recordings (UK, 2008-present) |
| Members | Ben Hillman, Gav Prentice |
Over The Wall are a pop-rock-folk band based in Glasgow, Scotland. The outfit consists of multi-instrumentalists Ben Hillman and Gav Prentice, a line-up that has remained unaltered since its 2006 formation.
Prentice and Hillman met in student halls as freshers at the University of Glasgow, and began running a regular music evening at the Stereo bar (now a vegetarian cafe called The 78), on Kelvinhaugh Street in the West End. Having performed individually at these events, the pair soon began collaborating as a duo and quickly found their idiosyncratic-yet-natural niche: euphoric, folk-tinged pop music. The name 'Over The Wall' was taken from a now-defunct fanzine of Prentice's favoured football team Albion Rovers.
Over The Wall's sound is influenced by a range of different artists and genres. Prentice told The Scotsman: "Ben and I first bonded over classic pop songwriting. Stuff like Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, early Tom Waits and The Beatles were the things that brought us together." Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel is also an inspiration to the pair. Prentice has also gone on record as saying the aim of the Over The Wall 'experience' is to induce "Euphoria, the same euphoria you get from a trance compilation or any given chart hit but hopefully presented in a more thoughtful package."
Lyrically, the band has traversed a diverse range of topics and themes, including getting older, finding your place in the world, body image, and political history - often displaying chagrin at the influence of Margaret Thatcher's premiership. The song "Istanbul" explores the effect of the half-time team talk given by then Liverpool F.C. manager Rafael Benitez during the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, while "The Crucible" is a fictional story about the wife of a philandering snooker player, set in Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.
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