Musical happenings tend to get over-analyzed and super-hyped in Britain.
That’s putting it lightly. For years, the British music press, often in laughably dramatic tones, has crowned new pop kings and queens almost weekly. The end result, for those North Americans paying attention, is an ingrained sense of skepticism regarding anything musical coming to us from across the pond.
The difficulty comes in trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the case of Oxford quartet Stornoway, there’s a valuable assist in the story of a BBC Radio staffer who earned a suspension after locking himself in the DJ booth and playing a full hour of Stornoway’s music on-air.
That type of dedication helped establish the group early on, leading to rave reviews of its 2010 debut, Beachcomber’s Windowsill.
Having grown up reading the U.K. press, Stornoway singer-guitarist Brian Briggs (who was raised in Bristol, a few hours southwest of London) is readily aware of the buzz culture surrounding young bands. But given the bookish undercurrent to his band, which formed while its members were still students, he’s not sure Stornoway fits in anywhere outside its home turf.
“Certainly, where we’re from, Oxford, is a city that punches above its weight in terms of the number of bands it produces,” Briggs said from Toronto, where his band was suiting up to play the Horseshoe Tavern.
“It’s very much a lively scene there, so it’s nice to be a part of that.”
Briggs and his bandmates Rob Steadman (drums), Ollie Steadman (bass) and Jonathan Ouin (keyboards) are looked upon as slightly nerdy types; the collective’s literate, intelligent folk-pop carries with it many of the same traits.
Briggs moved to Oxford to attend university, and was wrapping up his PhD on wildfowl when the band took off. He was forced to give up his job doing ecology consulting — surveying snakes, of all things — to go on tour full-time. Many of his bandmates have similar education backgrounds, save for Rob Steadman, who was only a teenager when the group went out on the road for the first time.
Steadman, now 22, remembers nagging at Ollie, his older brother, to let him audition for the group. “When I joined the band, I was 16 and still in high school,” he said. “It was about a year before I left high school that we started getting festival gigs and things started picking up, so I was having to lie to teachers.”
He began taking correspondence courses last year, which gives him a sense of normalcy.
It has been weird growing up on the road with Stornoway, Steadman admits. “It’s a very different life from the ones my friends all had. But I think it has pushed me closer to these guys. They are my reference point.”
Stornoway, which is touring to support its new album, Tales from Terra Firma, is making its Victoria debut on Sunday. Despite the city’s reputation as Little England, Briggs is interested to see who will turn up at the show: U.K. ex-pats, British music aficionados, or simply curiosity seekers.
“We never know what to expect when we tour,” he said.
Touring Canada is a relatively new pursuit for Stornoway. Previous shows in Toronto and Vancouver were well-attended.However, the band’s recent show in Montreal was less than amazing, both Steadman and Briggs admit.
After playing its pair of B.C. shows this weekend (the group is also booked to perform Saturday in Vancouver at the Media Club), Stornoway will do another week of touring in the U.S. before heading home. It’s always a bit strange returning to England after being in North America for a spell, Steadman said.
Often, due to the amount they tour each year, the members of Stornoway arrive home as complete strangers to their families and friends. “It’s weird for us and for them,” Steadman said.
“We were in Europe for two weeks last month, and when I got home, my sister was a bit weird for a couple of days. It was like she didn’t even know me.”
Stornoway with Horse Thief
When: Sunday 8 p.m.
Where: Lucky Bar
Tickets: $15 at Lyle’s Place, Ditch Records and ticketweb.ca
