GARY STRINGER - VOCALS KENWYN HOUSE - GUITARS JACK BESSANT - BASS DOMINIC GREENSMITH - DRUMS
They're on a mission. Three albums into their life as electrifying rock saviours Reef have skidded into a whole new phase. Over the past half a decade the West Country roof raisers have repeatedly proved themselves to be the most exciting riffed up rock'n'roll band in Britain: the funkiest low end; the roughest voice; the nastiest guitars. Then just when the consensus thinks it has 'em pinned down they've flatfloored the accelerator.
For whatever murky reasons of tours and producers, moodswings and mindfood, the band's fourth album 'Getaway' contains their most upbeat, energy-pumped, hook-blessed set of songs. Call it sawn off pop or superboosted rock hitsmanship, if you will, the eleven new tunes comprise a major challenge to the notion that Travis, The Stereophonics and packaged teen pop have cornered the market in popular melodies.
'Getaway' is the sound of a band planing on a creative high. That's not exactly a surprise. When the firey four toured their way out of obscurity in 1995, barging into a Brit Pop obsessed music scene, it was the band's exuberance that drew in the crowds. Right now, with a trail of hit singles already behind them, Stringer-House-Bessant-Greensmith are at the perfect point in theirevolution to lock down all that energy into four intense minutes.
They had a little help, of course. After two successful collaborations with legendary American producer George Drakoulias on 'Rides' and 97's 'Glow' they decided to invite in new influences. A three track try out with British producer Al Clay (Pixies, Stereophonics, Boo Radleys) revealed an immediate chemistry and Clay joined up for the whole album. As winter 2000 ebbed, Clay's touch guided them swiftly through the raw songs, honing their pop edge at the sessions in Brussels' ICP studios. On a ten week crest, the new team completed the album by the end of May 2000.
"There is a new feeling in the band, it's a new producer for a start," says Ken. "I think we have been underestimated for our songwriting sometimes. We've developed as songwriters and I think that's had a lot to do with Al Clay's influence. He's really brought out that side of us, as opposed to going with that corny idea that 'they're very visceral, they're not very cerebral'." " I think it is a to the point, direct rock record but coming from a pop point of view too," says Gary." We've gone for getting melody into three minutes and songs that are a bit more rocking and immediately brilliant. With 'Glow' we toured for so long that when we came back to write 'Rides'we just wanted to be in our bedrooms with acoustics. This time it seems like we've bounced back the other way."
'Getaway' is the only album you'll get this year where you can hear the drummer laughing at the end of a song ('Superhero') because the feeling's so'up'. Rooted in the abiding Reef philosphy that the emotional connection is the priority it's a record that sounds completely natural and super-boosted at the same time. Energised, sunburst rockers predominate but when they slow down for a ballad like 'All I Want' it contains a heartaching chorus that boybands would beg to be allowed to dilute.
First single 'Set The Record Straight' (released 31/7/00) is about dancing for joy. No apologies, its about dancing. 'Superhero' is about the rush of feeling like your hero. 'Getaway' is lust-for-life escapology. 'Solid' is self-affirmation (and not being a hippy). 'Levels' touches on growing into fatherhood and re-connecting with simple pleasures. 'Pretenders' and 'I Do Not Know What They Will Do' deal with the weirdness of pop life, surrounded by fakers and money makers. So why 'Getaway' as the title? "Good music just has that effect, where it doesn't matter what's gone on at home, when you stick 'Superhero' on, it lifts you out of it,"says Gary. "Theres also a slight element of Sweeney style getaway robbery, kind of vibe which we did feel a little bit," adds Ken. "We're on a bit of a mission. We've got the stockings over our heads and we're off. The getaway car is just outside."
It's understandable that Reef feel some affiliation with outlaw raiders.Smash and grab touring in the mid 90s gained them a devoted mass following of hyper kids and loudmusic connoisseurs, but the band never slotted into the domestic UK pop clubs. They still feel like "outsiders", but by now they've started to enjoy that status. "Where we grew up and what we were like as people gave us so much strength to come to London." explains Gary. "We felt we'd come from something that was pretty wicked in itself and so we were never impressed with scenes in London and having the right hair cut.I think we always knew who we were."
The four marauders grew up around Glastonbury, Barnstaple and Cheddar.Gary and Jack lived in shared houses early on, hanging out in Cornish beachland, and playing together in a hardcore funk covers band. By 92 they'd moved up to London with Ken and Dom on board. They were playing Hendrix,Massive Attack and Jane's Addiction on the stereo and jamming grooved up blues metal at rehearsals.
With all that affirmation going on - for the spirit of the new dance music, the passion of primal rock, the power of nature (even) - its not surprising that Sony's S2 picked up their demo 'The Purple Tape'. Paul Weller had also seen their potential, taking them out with him for his 'Wild Wood' tour in 1994. By the end of the year they had signed to S2 and gone into the studio to record their debut album 'Replenish' with Clive Martin.
Blues with a silver lining and funk with fangs, 'Replenish' was British rock looking superfit American bands like the Chilli Peppers straight in the eye. In early 95 the lead up singles 'Good Feeling' and 'Naked' went to No 24 and No 11 respectively. 'Replenish' came out in June and went straight to No. 9 in the album charts.
The Reef rollercoaster ride was now speeding up. As the British media continued to typecast the band as mere longhaired rock upstarts (true they were a stylist free zone) they toured America, Australia and Japan and supported The Rolling Stones in London. A further single 'Weird' went to No 18 before the year was out.
'Replenish' laid down the groundwork but the follow up 'Glow' turned the band into a global giant, acheiving double platinum status. Joining up with George Drakoulias in the spring they began work in London's Abbey Road. By June they were out in LA with the Def Jam co-founder and Crowes/Primals/Beasties producer, perfecting the P Funk meets Led Zep vibe in Royaltone studios. Drama followed them through 96. Gary was glassed in an unprovoked pub attack. They also won the psychologically significant Music Industry Soccer Six competition in their home country, beating Oasis in the process. Two singles tee-d up for the second album. 'Place Your Hands' went to No 6 in October 96 and 'Come Back Brighter' hit No 8 in January 97.
On its release in February 'Glow' rocketed straight to No 1, saving the nation from the on-going tedium of Spice Girls tyranny. Reef's momentum was now formidable. The singles 'Consideration' and 'Yer Old' went to No 13 and No 21 in the summer. The blurred year (18 months in fact) of international gigging for the band culminated in near nervous breakdown and jubilant end of year shows in front of 7000 of their close mates.
After applying the brakes for the early part of 98, the band reconvened in a tiny studio near London's Old Street to start work on 'Rides'. In the summer they flew to LA again and went back in with George Drakoulias, this time at Ocean Way studios. It was time to broaden the palate.
"'Rides' I think is a classic album where you've sold some records and you want to see what music you can make," says Gary. "Certainly it wasn't a singles record but I don't love it any less for that."
A sold out November tour of the UK took the band up to 99. When 'Rides' was unveiled in April it proved to be the band's most critically acclaimed record so far. The first song taken from it -'I've Got Something To Say' - went top 20 in March 99 followed by a world tour and blinding festival dates. Reef were now poised to bounce back with the pop swagger of 'Getaway'. The new phase in the band's development gives them unshakeable balance. They now have the string of delirious pop tunes to go with the pagan madness of the live shows. Reef's profound belief in the educational worth of their edge-of-chaos gigging techniques, is reflected in a Summer 2000 tour of British schools. Boy bands miming to DATS are no longer going to have it all their own way.
"It's about giving them an option," says Gary. "From the radio or telly at the moment 14 year olds are just getting S Club 7 and Sash and sorry,that's bollocks. I think what we do is a fresh thing, but the only way you can communicate that is by going out to people and showing them. We're the best live band in Britain, there's no fucking doubt about it. "
Reef are not flagwavers of soapboxers. Individually they're as opinionate and 'political' as any driven human, but like Dom's activities as a photographer or Jacks recent fund raising trip to the Himalayas they regard these as personal matters, outside the remit of the band. Collectively, however, they do stand for something. It was there right back in the early days (check the lyrics for 'Choose To Live'). Its more alive than ever now, in the words to 'Hold On' or the ravishing harmonies giving 'Set The Record Straight' its spirit, or the gigs they'll be playing any moment. Reef are committed to the task of inspiring their fellow humans.
"The way we are as people, we've always come across as quite down to earth," says Jack. "And I think we are - we've all got our things going on inside our heads but we've never really pushed that - so people think of Reef in a particular way. The expression is in the music."
"One of the things I love about the band is that we go into a situation that's a bit restrained and we can free it up. You go in somewhere and wake people up and bring a bit of life back into something thats gone a bit stale. And rock'n'roll music is a f*****' wicked way of doing that, because its so instantly exciting. I think we've got that in us."
Oh yes they have. Raise two arms in the air, index fingers stretched out and let their high volume inspiration wash over you.
Source: http://www.reef.co.uk/reef/nav.php?t=About&p=about/biography.php&s=no
