Syd Arthur

Syd Arthur
Syd Arthur performing at The Great Escape Festival
Background information
Origin	Canterbury, Kent, England
Genres	Alternative rock, progressive jazz, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, English folk
Years active	2003 (2003)–present
Labels	Harvest Records Dawn Chorus Recording Company Green Bean Records Madman Records
Website	www.sydarthur.co.uk
Members	Liam Magill Joel Magill Josh Magill Raven Bush
Past members	Fred Rother

Syd Arthur are an English psychedelic jazz band, formed in Canterbury in 2003 by brothers frontman Liam and bassist Joel Magill, drummer Fred Rother and violinist Raven Bush.

Rother was officially replaced by the Magills' younger brother Josh in 2016.

Formed in 2003, the band were initially known as Grumpy Jumper and then Moshka before settling on the name Syd Arthur. The band's name is taken from the Hermann Hesse novel Siddhartha, with the spelling changed reportedly as a nod to the influences of Syd Barrett and Arthur Lee. The Magill brothers had played together since childhood, added drummer Fred Rother in high school and classmate Raven Bush became the final member at 17. Bush is the son of John Carder Bush, brother of Kate Bush.

The band released their self-titled debut album in 2006 on Madman Records and "Kingdoms Of Experience" EP in 2008 on Green Bean Records. The band then set up their own recording space "Wicker Studios" and their own label "Dawn Chorus Recording Company". in 2011 they self released the "Moving World" EP and "Ode to the Summer" single, before releasing their second album "On an On" in July 2012. Explaining the band's reason for releasing the album themselves, the band's bassist Joel Magill stated that it was "because it’s the only way we know. It may have been harder and longer for us but it has given us more satisfaction, I think. But if a major label waved a lot of money at us and said you could work with anyone you wanted we would have to think about that". The band undertook their first nationwide tour to promote the album in February 2013. The band supported Paul Weller on tour in October 2013, invited the band to record in his studio and tipped the band for success in 2014 in the NME.

In December 2013, the band signed to the newly re-activated Harvest Records label. Originally a subsidiary of EMI and linked to the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s in England, the label is now owned by Universal Music Group. The band's debut album was released in the US for the first time on the label.