Cecil was a rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. They released two albums being 1996's Bombar Diddlah and 1998's Subtitles. They gained a small degree of commercial success in the UK charts, with their singles "Hostage in a Frock" and "The Most Tiring Day" in 1997 and 1998.

Formation

Cecil formed in Liverpool in 1993 under the name of "Voy" and released two singles being "Running Out" and "Canyon". The members were Ste Williams (vocals), Patrick Harrison (guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

), Ally Lambert (drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s), Anthony Hughes (guitar and keyboard

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

s), and Jay Bennett (bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

), they changed their name to Cecil from the release of their "No Excuses" single.

First concert

The band took part in a "Battle of the Bands". It was sponsored by the Liverpool Echo

Liverpool Echo

The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is Liverpool's evening newspaper while its sister paper, the Liverpool Daily Post, is the morning paper...

 who later tried to stitch the band up by putting them on the front cover under the title "Bulger Band", a reference to their song "No Excuses" that they believed, incorrectly, to be about the murder of toddler James Bulger

Murder of James Bulger

James Patrick Bulger was a boy from Kirkby, England, who was murdered on 12 February 1993, when aged two. He was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables .Bulger disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, near Liverpool, while...

. The band never spoke to the Liverpool Echo again. The band signed a manangement contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

 with Raymond Coffer, then later signed with the record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 Parlophone

Parlophone

Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...

 (EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

). They released their first single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "No Excuses" with Parlophone in October 1995, which charted at #102 on the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

Tours

The band spent the end of 1995 and most of 1996 playing concert

Concert

A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

s in much of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. They played with such bands as The Levellers, Skunk Anansie

Skunk Anansie

Skunk Anansie is an English rock band whose members include Skin , Cass , Ace and Mark Richardson .Skunk Anansie formed in March 1994, disbanded in 2001 and reformed in 2009...

, Feeder

Feeder

-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...

, The Wildhearts

The Wildhearts

The Wildhearts are a British rock group originally formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as The Beatles and 1980s-era Metallica...

 and Paw

Paw (band)

Paw is a hard rock band from Lawrence, Kansas that formed in 1990. The band, in its original line-up, consisted of Mark Hennessy , Grant Fitch , Charles Bryan , and Peter Fitch . To date, they have released 3 studio albums – Dragline, Death to Traitors, and Home Is a Strange Place...

. They also played in music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

s at Donnington

Donnington

Donnington may refer to:*Donnington, Berkshire**Donnington Castle*Donnington, Gloucestershire*Donnington, Herefordshire*Donnington, Oxfordshire**Donnington Bridge*Donnington, Shropshire, in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington...

 and T in the Park

T in the Park

T in the Park is a major British music festival that has been held annually since 1994. It is named after its main sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. It was originally held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire but since 1997 has been held at a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire...

. Their support show with The Wildhearts in 1996, was broadcasted on BBC Radio 1 as part of their then "Sound City" series of concerts, playing after Feeder at Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

 Town and Country Club, which later closed in 2000 then became a music venue again from 2008 as the O2 Academy

O2 Academy Leeds

The O2 Academy Leeds is a music venue situated in Leeds intended as a larger music venue for the city. It is run by the Academy Music Group and follows in-line with their other music venues around the UK...

. Just before this concert, they released their second single "My Neck" in March, which was backed with an acoustic track and a piano version of the single, giving a hint of the direction they were heading in for the recording of their 2nd record. The single charted at #93 in the United Kingdom. Also in 1996, their first album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 Bombar Diddlah was getting good reviews. It was produced

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 by Barrett Jones

Barrett Jones

Barrett Jones is an American football offensive lineman. He currently attends the University of Alabama in his junior year. Jones is considered one of the best offensive lineman of his class....

 of Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...

.

Later history

Cecil spent most of 1997 writing songs, touring with the band Mansun

Mansun

Mansun were an English alternative rock band formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone. The band broke up in May 2003....

. The changes in their sound and production could particularly be heard in the sound of Ste Williams' vocals. By the end of 1997, their new sound could be heard in their new releases "Red Wine At Dead Time" which charted at #84 in June 1997, and the late 1996 limited edition single "Measured" which was not produced in enough quantities to chart within the top 200. Their second album in 1998, "Subtitles" charted at #132 in November of that year; it did not sell as well as hoped. Before the release of the album, "Hostage in a Frock" became their first official hit single in October 1997, by charting within the top 75 at #68 before "The Most Tiring Day" made #69 in March 1998. The band spent the next few years writing and touring sporadically, finally relocating to Seattle in 2001 to work on a third album with long time cohort Barrett Jones. After a productive 2 month stint, straight after the September 11 attacks, the band went back home to write more songs and booked to go into Stone Gossard's (Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...

) Studio Litho with Barrett to record the rest of the third record. This never happened after being dropped from their label, although "Raise a Glass" from the Seattle seasions has appeared on their MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

. The band went their separate ways in March 2002 and remain firm friends, occasionally reuniting for off the cuff live shows in their native Liverpool.

Singles

• "No Excuses" (1996) - #102 (UK)
• "My Neck" (1996) - #93 (UK)
• "Measured" (1996)
• "Red Wine At Deadtime" (1997) - #84 (UK)
• "Hostage in a Frock" (1997) - #68 (UK)
• "The Most Tiring Day" (1998) - #69 (UK)