The Churchills | |
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Also known as | Jericho Jericho Jones The Churchills Band The New Churchills |
Origin | Tel-Aviv, Israel |
Genres | Psychedelic rock, hard rock, progressive rock |
Years active | 1965–1973 |
Labels |
Red Bus וRepertoire Hed Arzi |
Associated acts |
Arik Einstein Shalom Hanoch |
Past members |
Yitzhak Klepter Stan Solomon Robb Huxley Haim Romano Miki Gavrielov Ami Traibetch (deceased Sep., 2010) Roni Demol Dani Shoshan Selwyn Lifschitz Eli Tubul |
The Churchills (or The Churchills Band) was an Israeli band founded in 1965, active until the mid-1970s. It was a part of the rhythm bands scene that were active in Israel in the 1970s, especially in Ramla. The band played rock music in English, from psychedelic rock to hard rock and progressive rock. It was also active in other countries, under the aliases of Jericho Jones and Jericho. It was one of the first Israeli rock bands.
The band was a leading force in the early Israeli beat scene, but it was their cooperation with Arik Einstein that helped them cross over to the mainstream of Israeli pop and gain recognition. Their collaboration with Einstein proved to be very influential on Israeli rock. It began when the Churchills were invited to work with Einstein on his third solo album Poozy, recorded in 1969. This is considered by many to be the first rock album in Hebrew. The Churchills played on half of the tracks in that album, one of which was a Hebrew version of one of their own songs ("When You're Gone"). Following Poozy, the Churchills also played with Einstein in his gigs, and continued to play and produce three more albums with Einstein: Shablul (1970), Plastelina (1970) and On Avigdor's Grass (1971). Contributory to the Churchills' sound at the time was the joining of two foreign members: Canadian vocalist Stan Solomon and British guitarist Robb Huxley (formerly with The Tornados).