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| By The Sea |
The Wirral based five piece band 'By The Sea' were formed in 2010 by Liam Power, brother of 'The Coral's' Nick Power and vocalist and guitarist for the band, who grew up in the old Viking named Meols. Eventually, as many music-loving young kids on Merseyside did, Liam started a band that would become 'By The Sea', a name, part in homage to the solitary album recorded by folk/pop
singers 'Wendy and Bonnie' and part in a nod to his roots on the Wirral. They started as an acoustic duo, with Liam and his friend Steve Campbell taking cues from harmony groups like Simon and Garfunkel and acoustic folk musicians like Townes Van Zandt. Bit by bit, the band increased in size, first with Daniel O'Connell on bass guitar, then Mark Jackson on guitar, and finally Andy Royden on drums and then Joe Edwards on keyboards/synths, with Steve taking a 'sabbatical' to journey around South America.
While their earliest gigs saw the group play as an acoustic driven quintet, a switch to electric guitars and the arrival of Joe on organ saw them decisively change direction yet retain the melodicism at the core of all their songs. Describing themselves as 'escape pop', they were driven to their uniquely affecting sound because, as Danny explains, after their first couple of demos recorded with ex 'Coral' guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones, "We somehow got this name as Scouse revivalists, like we were this jangly Scouse band, but we were really not like that at all." This forced the band to find their own identity outside of these narrow expectations that people seem to be desperate to apply to any band from Liverpool. The lads cited 'the boredom of the Wirral in general' as the main factor they had to thank for their music.
With producer Bill Ryder-Jones at the helm they'd found a sterling captain to steer their maiden voyage. Bill himself said, "I'm producing for my friends band at the moment, they're called 'By The Sea'. I like them, they're the least pretentious band I've ever met, and it shows in their music."
They had already released two 7" singles, 'Waltz Away' and 'The See See/ By The Sea' on The Great Pop Supplement in the U.K. when they announced they were releasing 'Dream Waters', and there was a sense they'd not only come good on that early potential but struck upon something extra. So after a couple of years quietly amassing plaudits there followed their eponymous album in November 2012, when, 'By The Sea', was released through Dell'Orso Records and The Great Pop Supplement. It was recorded and produced by Bill Ryder-Jones, with the band handling its business in a DIY fashion, splitting recording time among a Scandinavian church in Liverpool, Joe Edwards' garage, and 'Bill's mum's house. This DIY approach would be extended to the founding of their own label, War Room Records. As Liam Power said, "If someone else isn't going to pick up your stuff, then you've just got to do it yourself."
Early shows at Liverpool's Bluecoat had found them almost apologetic in their naive, 'Bambi-finding-her-feet ways', yet in amongst Liam's bashful pleas for the audience to bear with them while they tuned up, was a band, who anyone that was there was all too aware, knew something special was already working. As they played more and more gigs it was easy to see how they were developing their new unique sound in an easy going way that belied their youth.
Their first album was well received, with front man Liam's velvety vocal ushering you into a richly textured swirling oceanic world of a softly plucked Mark Jackson guitar, the humming undercurrents of Joe Edwards' keyboard swell and gentle soars of ambience, together with Daniel O'Connell's bass and the drumming of Andy Royden.
This album only left their fans desperate for more and the preview of the featured single, 'I See A Crystal Sky', in 2014 only made the wait more excruciating before the band issued their second album, 'Endless Days, Crystal Sky', in the same year, both on their own War Rooms record label.
In the build up to the release of this second album, they played numerous festivals such as Wakestock and at that year's Liverpool International Music Festival alongside artists as big as 'Foxes', 'The Hoosiers' and 'Kid Creole'.
In December 2017 the music website 'Getintothis' presented a run down of the artists that have made Liverpool the new music capital of the world and named 'By The Sea' as one of those. In May 2020 they released their 3rd album 'The Let Downs'.
Their line up has changed since 2014, with Liam Power remaining as frontman with Steve Campbell on guitar,Christopher Pickering on bass and Andrew Royden on drums. Further changes followed before the release of their third album, 'Heaven Knows Magnolia' as, revitalised and refreshed after a break, 'By The Sea' now includes ex lead singer of North Wales dream psych types 'Gintis' Carl Roberts on guitar joined by fellow new band member Chris Deakin on bass with original drummer Andy Royden back behind the kit. Recorded at Yawn Studios in West Kirby the album will be released later. probably in 2022 now, with a collection of singles set to follow soon.
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