Origin London Years active 2004–present | Genres rock, folk Website Official website | |
Labels Stolen Recordings, Bella Union Members Ed Wallis
Nick Goss
Jim Wallis
Dan Davis | ||
My Sad Captains are a four-piece band originally from London, and currently signed to Bella Union. They consist of Ed Wallis (vocals, guitar), Nick Goss (guitar, sonics), Jim Wallis (drums, keyboards, vocals) and Dan Davis (bass) and have released three albums to date and have toured both Europe and North America. Their most recent record is Best of Times, released in March 2014.
Contents
History
The band was formed in 2004 by frontman Ed Wallis after his previous outfit, which included Nick Goss, had dissolved, after the two had moved down to London to attend university. Wallis decided to "record a load of songs myself and call it My Sad Captains". He realised that the tracks would work better with a full band set-up and reconnected with Goss, while recruiting Jack Swayne on bass and Ed's brother Jim Wallis on drums. After the band had formed it wasn't 'until a year or so later that we were all living in London and taking it seriously'. The band became a five-piece when Cathy Lucas joined the band on violin, vocals and keyboards. The band decided to concentrate on their material and avoided to release something 'for the sake of it'.
In 2007 they made their debut with a 7" single ‘Bad Decisions' b/w 'Here And Elsewhere' for the Fortuna Pop! label. It was followed by 'All Hat and No Plans' b/w 'Great Expectations’ released at the end of March 2008 through White Heat. Over the course of 2008, the band began recording their debut album with Paul Jones. While the sessions were self-financed, Jones, the co-owner of Stolen Recordings, made them 'an offer we couldn’t refuse'. In June 2009, the band released Here & Elsewhere. It was followed in 2011 by Fight Less, Win More on the same label.
They released their third album, Best of Times, on 17 March 2014 through Bella Union. They spent much of the year on tour in support, while videos for the songs "Goodbye" and "Hardly There" appeared.
Name
The band's name comes from a poem by the Anglo-American poet Thom Gunn, Wallis explained that he decided 'to steal someone else’s idea rather than think of my own'. He simply liked the poem, but that there was 'no special significance to it'. Wallis discovered the book 'sitting on a shelf unattended, when I was looking for a name, and it seemed to capture some element of the music that I heard in my head'.