Ozric Tentacles are an instrumental rock band from Somerset, whose music can loosely be described as psychedelic or space rock. Formed in 1984, the band has released 28 albums as of 2009, and become a cottage industry selling over a million albums worldwide despite never having major label backing.
The original lineup met on 21 June 1984, at the Stonehenge Free Festival and its name arose from discussions of hypothetical cereal brands (Malcolm Segments, Desmond Whisps, and Gordon Lumps are among the names that were considered). In the 1980s the band built a fanbase on the festival circuit, becoming particularly associated with the Glastonbury Festival, and made a series of cassette releases, sold at gigs and via a fan club.
Its first label release was Pungent Effulgent in 1989, which was also re-released in the early 2000s, packaged with Strangeitude. This was followed by Erpland (1990), an album dedicated to the Pongmaster, a character which appears on many of the band's album artworks. 1991 saw the Strangeitude LP. The track "Sploosh!" was used by BMW in an advertising campaign and became the band's only single. By 1993 the band had grossed over three million dollars, and its Jurassic Shift album reached the Top 20 of the UK Albums Chart.
The band has gone through myriad line-up changes, with Ed Wynne (guitar, keyboards) being the only constant presence since the beginning. Many members left to pursue more electronic music spin-off acts, such as Eat Static, Transglobal Underground, Nodens Ictus, Dubblehead and Moksha. Even Nick Van Gelder (aka Tig), drummer for Jamiroquai during the Emergency on Planet Earth era was once part of the Ozric Tentacles line up, contributing drums and songwriting on the original cassettes Tantric Obstacles and Erpsongs. Nevertheless, the band maintained its identity and continued with this prolific rate of albums throughout the 1990s, and into the new millennium. It also continued to tour extensively, releasing a live DVD in 2002 entitled "Live at the Pongmaster's Ball".
The band is famous for its live performances, fronted for years by "Jumping Jon" Egan, who used to dance around the stage in a trance-like manner while playing a variety of flutes. Ozric Tentacles has long taken an audio-visual approach to live performance, with an integrated lighting and projections crew. The band has seen many rhythm section changes over the years. As of February 2009, the lineup featured Ed Wynne(guitar, synths), Ed's wife Brandi Wynne (bass, keyboards), Silas Wynne (synths, keyboards) and Oliver Seagle (drums, percussion). (Vinny Shillito toured the UK as a bassist in 1990 as stand-in bass player when Roly Wynne was ill and remained friends with the band after forming his own band Grooveweird with his brother Dominic.) Brandi is back on bass and Silas Wynne (Ed's son) is on synths.
Its music is a highly psychedelic mixture of thumping basslines, sound effects and keyboard and guitar work, with a sound influenced by Steve Hillage and Gong.[citation needed] Many of the Ozrics' songs are in unusual time signatures and/or unusual Eastern-influenced modes. Furthermore, the band often features complex arrangements which change time signature, key signature and tempo frequently in the course of a track, a well-known element present in Progressive rock. In places, this is deliberately confusing; however, there are also moments of straightforward funk-influenced grooves and a strong influence from jazz fusion.
These features are mixed with electronic elements, including densely layered psytrance- and techno-influenced arpeggiated synthesizers, pads, synth basslines, effects and programmed drumbeats. It also has a strong influence from dub and ambient music, with many quiet relaxed tracks that balance the frenetic, intense material.
The Ozrics also use a wide range of instruments in their performances. Electric and acoustic guitars, flutes, recorders, xylophones and even sounds of digitally tweaked human voices appear throughout.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozric_Tentacles
