Genres Rock Genre Rock music | Labels Ron Johnson Record label Ron Johnson Records | |
Years active 1986–1992, 2007–present Members Tim Ellis
Fergus Durrant
Adam Sindall Past members Dave Tibbats
Dan Morrison
Steve Law
Fran Juckes
Tris King
Andy Guthrie
Alan McCulloch
Andy Grimmer
Wilf Plum
Charley 'H' Bembridge Origin Leamington Spa, United Kingdom (1986) Similar A Witness, Bogshed, The Noseflutes, Big Flame, Dog Faced Hermans | ||
Jackdaw with crowbar 1st john peel session 1987
Jackdaw with Crowbar was an English multi-media indie band from Leamington Spa. The band was formed in 1986 and signed to Ron Johnson Records.
Contents
Jackdaw with crowbar solar solace
History
Jackdaw with Crowbar's original line-up was Tim Ellis, Fergus Durrant, Dave Tibbats and Dan Morrison, with Adam Sindall, Steve Law and Fran Juckes making 8mm films which accompanied live performances. This line-up released the band's first three records, Monarchy, Mayhem and Fishpaste, Sink Sank Sunk and Hot Air.
The band contributed to the 1988 compilation album Take Five in aid of the charity Shelter.
In 1991, Jackdaw released Hanging In the Balance, expanding the line-up with Tris King (formerly of Bogshed and later of A Witness), Andy Guthrie, Alan McCulloch (aka "Wak"), Andy Grimmer, Wilf Plum (Dog Faced Hermans) and Charley 'H' Bembridge (The Selecter).
Jackdaw had two John Peel sessions on 19 May 1987 and 4 October 1987. Jackdaw stopped touring around 1991 or 1992. In 2005, "Fuck America" was released on a compilation CD, Commercially Unfriendly: The Best Of British Underground, on Gott Discs. In 2007, Ellis and Sindall started working together and Jackdaw was re-hatched with Fergus Durrant joining soon after. With all new films and songs, Jackdaw released a new EP available from Hybrid Cuts. The 8mm films were replaced by lap tops and video projectors. Jackdaw received air play on BBC Radio 6 in Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone and Don Letts' show.
Jackdaw performed live again in March 2010 at the Flatpack film festival.
Musical style
The band's musical style was described by the musician and writer John Robb as a combination of "spiky and dark guitar-driven blues and guitar-punk disco-filth". Discussing the first EP, Monarchy, Mayhem, and Fishpaste, the writer John Corbett described the music as "a song sung through a bull horn ("Crow"), an accordion reggae-dub ("Fourth World"), a two-step featuring slide guitar reminiscent of Zoot Horn Rollo in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band ("The Night Albania Fell on Alabama")." In Corbett's view, "the brief appearance of Jackdaw's records exemplifies the local-mode commodity at both its most appealing and its most politically volatile".