The Owl Service (band)
| The Owl Service | |
|---|---|
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Alternative folk, Indie folk |
| Years active | 2006–2016 |
| Associated acts | Country Parish Music, Greanvine |
| Past members | Steven Collins Diana Collier Dom Cooper Katie English Jo Lepine Jason Steel Nancy Wallace |
The Owl Service was an English alternative folk music collective formed in 2006 by multi-instrumentalist Steven Collins (who led the band for its entire 10 year duration), named after the 1967 novel by Alan Garner.
The Owl Service originally began as a studio-based solo project for Steven Collins in June 2006. While working on the first Owl Service release (the Wake the Vaulted Echo EP from 2006) he met Dom Cooper of The Straw Bear Band and Cooper was drafted in to provide lead vocals on the song The Two Magicians. Dom remained involved with The Owl Service until March 2012 singing, writing songs, and co-ordinating the band's graphic design. The Wake the Vaulted Echo EP was warmly received in psych-folk circles and this led to Collins being asked to record a track for the 2007 compilation album John Barleycorn Reborn on the Cold Spring label (for which he also contributed sleeve notes). For the JBR album Steven recorded the traditional song The North Country Maid with session singer Rachel Davies, a song he would revisit on the debut album in an alternative version. While recording the debut Owl Service album later that year two female singers (Jo Lepine and Diana Collier) joined the band on a permanent basis.
The debut album, A Garland of Song, was released on Collins' own Hobby-Horse micro-label in July 2007 as a handmade CD-r limited to 100 copies. Collins arranged, recorded and mixed the album himself at home, also providing almost all of the instrumentation - this model was how the collective operated until its demise; Collins selecting and arranging the songs, recording everything at home, and then bringing in singers and, on rare occasions, extra instrumental players to complete the tracks. Often Collins would record vocals and other parts on location if the singers/players were unable to make it to his home studio in Essex. Soon after the release of the debut album Collins opted to expand the line-up to enable them to function as a live group. It was at this time that Nancy Wallace (formerly of The Memory Band) became a permanent member of the band. By the end of 2007 Collins had signed to UK independent label Southern Records. Not an obvious label choice for a folk band, but Collins felt a certain kinship with Tony Sylvester (who handled Southern Records' A&R at the time) as, like Collins himself, Tony was passionate about both heavy metal and the 1960s English folk revival. The other deciding factor was that two of Collins' favourite records of all time are by the Chicago band 90 Day Men who were also signed to Southern Records.
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