Funny, this was one band I really didn`t think he`d like. Correct me if I`m wrong but he`s never shown enthusiasm for anything "psychedelic" before? They`re alright mind.

-Ben G

http://www.thecoral.co.uk/

The Coral
James Skelly - guitar / vocals
Ian Skelly - drums
Nick Power - organ / vocals
Bill Ryder-Jones - guitar / trumpet
Lee Southall - guitar / vocals
Paul Duffy - bass / sax
John Duffy – Percussion

“The opposition don’t stand a chance” – NME

Hoylake, Merseyside. Where’s that? It’s “One of those villages where everyone knows everyone, but no one really knows anyone”. It’s a non-descript seaside town on England’s west coast – the anti-Blackpool, if you will – where the less than extravagant yearly highlight is Lifeboat Day.

Most importantly it’s home to The Coral. Six youthful troubadours; aged between 19 and 22, who collectively form one of the most exciting new bands in years. Still, after a quick listen through EPs Shadows Fall and The Oldest Path you'd be forgiven for mistaking them as The OK Corral. They choose styles and specialise where no-one else would even think to tread. Minor key ballads infused with the spirit of the Wild West under moonlit bayou, for example. How cool is that? You’d be impossibly pushed to find a comparison amongst their peers, a band so young and yet so progressive – they’ve both eyes on the future and a finger in every musical pie.

Indeed for some so early of years, The Coral are prodigiously aware. Like some wheeling cultural kaleidoscope they pick up everything from the WWF to Origin Of The Species, Hemingway to Huckelberry Finn, eclectic yet accessible. Everything they come into contact with is assimilated, cogitated and brought to be in the overall perspective. Marley. The Beach Boys. The Doors. Treasure Island. The American Civil War. BMX bikes. You name it - they dig it. As James himself says, “Inspiration is absolutely everywhere”.

So how did they get from there to here? Six years ago the band formed from a group of mates at Hilbre High School, Hoylake. James and Ian took guitarist-to-be Lee home for tea, convincing their mother that he was “one of them Kosovan refugees”, picking up Paul, Nick and Bill along the way. They learned some old favourites (Oasis, mainly) and wrote some new ones, about pirates and Sheriffs and men who look like plants. They had a go at secondary education but felt it wasn’t right; it sapped expressive energies and couldn’t be accommodated. Says James: “We all tried college, we all left. It wasn’t very exciting; it wasn’t very good. It didn’t seem like they actually wanted to teach you”. And why be taught when you can learn? Why shackle yourself to one thing when you can try a hundred?

And so they went, retiring to a disused shelter by the sea to practise – and smoke - to their hearts content. They worked part time to cover the costs of their endeavours, knocking out demos in between. It was Alan Wills, once the heart of Shack’s beat machine, who picked up The Coral and launched Deltasonic from their capable backs after being impressed by a mere rehearsal. They stuck out a debut EP in the summer, “Shadows Fall”, whose title track featured Russian flavoured folk intersected by a mad ragtime wig-out. They played some gigs with mates and fellow standard-bearers The Music. A&R men wept. They followed this up with “The Oldest Path” before Christmas last year, Johnny Cash singing with The Specials and another example of these lads’ impressive diversity.

“We’re not James Dean heroes. More like Luke Skywalker; ‘I’m a bit of a pussy but I’ve got a lightsabre” - Paul

In a nutshell, for once here’s a band who make use of their different interests in every possible way – endeavouring to capture an energy, rather than using it as a mere template. Which is so refreshingly unlike so many of their elder contemporaries, so many new and recent guitar bands you’d care to mention, and will surely stand them in good stead for years and albums to come.

So I guess you’ll want to know more now. About the Woy-Oi boy? About life by the sea and all that? You’d best get up to speed then and catch them whilst you can. With their new album ‘Magic & Medicine’

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they say he's got thinner.

Yet whenever I next see him (tv,gig,etc) he looks just as chubby as before.

He should be thin as a rake the amount of times people have reported him losing weight).

Liverpool i think. Glad to see hes supporting home grown talent.

Great band! They've never quite hit it big (though they've been on TOTP a few times) - in the UK they're more of a band's band -- a lot of famous Northerners (and Southerners) give them props, deservedly so.

Was singing "Pass It On" at karaoke just the other night.

Do you think Morrissey goes only to gigs of bands he absolutely loves? Of course not. He's just like any other dedicated gig goer.

He probably just felt like going out that night and they were the best thing on. Or perhaps whoever he was with likes them and he went along as a friend. Or perhaps he really loves them.

Whenever he gets spotted at a gig we get people on here expressing their intense disappointment that he was seen in the vicinity of a band they hate. Does everything he does have to by analysed so much?

Who did Morrissey leave with? I was sitting behind them and he left with a young woman with a striking red dress on and a white shirt with a picture of Crissie Hynde [The Pretenders]on it. I followed them outside and they both hopped in a limo together! Hmmm, is this Morriseey's latest flame?

Who cares where he hangs out.
Get a life

...you "gave him the two finger salute" huh? what a daft moron. would you flip-off someone you admire?...well, you did. idot. http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/25/messag es/1024.html