Saloon (band)
| Saloon | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Reading, England |
| Genres | Indie |
| Years active | 1997–2004 |
| Labels | Darla Records |
| Website | Myspace.com |
| Past members | Matt Ashton Alison Cotton Adam Cresswell Amanda Gomez Mike Smoughton |
Saloon was an English indie musical group from Reading, who formed in 1997 and disbanded in 2004. The band included Adam Cresswell (bass/synthesisers), Michael Smoughton (drums), added Alison Cotton (viola), Amanda Gomez (lead vocal) and Matt Ashton (guitars). Their first gig at The Fox and Hounds in Caversham. In 1999, Saloon came to the attention of DJ John Peel, who featured the band on his radio programme. The band recorded three Peel sessions; aired 4 July 2001, 7 August 2002 and 19 April 2003.
The band released songs through various independent labels including "Shopping" (Amberley Records), "Electron" (Bearos Records), "Snow" (Fortuna Pop), and "Impact" (Glamour Puss), a split with the Sonic Catering Band. The band eventually settled on Darla Records for the US releases and the Track and Field Organisation in the UK, on which they were to release their last singles "Free Fall", "Have You Seen The Light" (a split with Dressy Bessy) and "Girls Are The New Boys".
At the same time as gigging and releasing numerous 7" singles, the band wrote and recorded their debut album, a process which took them a year and half. "(This Is) What We Call Progress"', which was engineered by singer Amanda Gomez at the Reading College School of Art and Design (now part of Thames Valley University) and mixed by Andrew Prinz of Mahogany in his New York studio, who also designed the sleeve. The album was released in April 2002 to mixed but mostly favourable reviews.
Saloon quickly got to work writing the follow-up. Between the release of the albums the band were hit with unexpected success when Girls Are The New Boys reached number one in Peel's annual Festive 50. This was one of four Saloon releases in the coveted chart, with two entries in 2001 and two entries in 2002. Following this success, Saloon came up against its first serious criticism with accusations of vote rigging. One fanzine Unpeeled went as far as printing an alternative Festive 48 which excluded both of the band’s 2002 entries. Although the fact that the band were invited back for a third Peel Session suggested that Peel and his production team felt there had been nothing irregular, the criticism clearly disturbed feeling within the band. In a 2006 interview Cresswell, while commenting on their 2001 festive 50 number 12, commented “despite only being released on a 500 copy limited split 7" … this song [Impact] reached Number 12 in John Peel's Festive 50. No one accused us of cheating that year though. Bitter, me?”
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