Long Fin Killie
Encyclopedia
Long Fin Killie was a Scottish
experimental rock
/post-rock
band, which released three albums and several EPs on the British
avant-rock label Too Pure
in the 1990s.
(vocals, violin, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, saxophone, hammer dulcimer, thumb piano, etc.), Colin Greig (electric and upright bass), David Turner (drums/percussion), and Philip Cameron (electric guitar). Sutherland had previously been in a band called Fenn, based in Glasgow
, who played many support gigs, including Ride
and Catherine Wheel
. Their name was taken from a family of ornamental freshwater fishes known as killifish
es, noted for their interesting drought survival and reproductive habits.
The members were all highly-trained, enabling them to create complex, atypical music which usually featured hypnotically-bowed violins/celli, jazz-influenced drumming, and meandering ambient passages. Allmusic cited them as having "staggering levels of musicianly talent". Vocalist Luke Sutherland often delivered his cryptic, highly-literate lyrics in an androgynous falsetto
voice.
Their debut EP Buttergut was released in 1994, with debut album Houdini following the next year. The band's sound, though diverse, was influenced by the likes of dream pop
mainstays A R Kane
, Cocteau Twins
, and Slowdive
, 1970s German krautrock
groups like Can
, and labelmates Moonshake
, Pram
and Laika
. Mark E. Smith
of The Fall contributed "guest rants" to the song "The Heads of Dead Surfers," which appeared in 1995 on the EP of the same name, as well as on Houdini. (British DJ John Peel
voted this the #10 best song of 1995 in his "Festive Fifty
" list of that year.) LFK toured America in 1995 with the band Medicine
; a split EP was released to promote it.
The band received widespread critical acclaim, but little to no radio play, though they did tour on the 1996 edition of Lollapalooza
as part of its "second stage," in support of their 1996 second LP Valentino. While driving from Sweden to Norway in late 1996, the band's tour bus was involved in a major accident on a patch of ice, causing Sutherland to suffer a collapsed lung, broken ribs and collar bone, and other injuries. He began writing his first novel while recuperating from the crash. In 1997, Turner was replaced by Kenny McEwan on drums. Subsequent album Amelia (1998) featured songs of shorter lengths and more conventional structures, but it proved to be their last. The group disbanded shortly afterwards, to little mainstream notice, in 1998 or 1999.
, which has released its albums on Too Pure. Sutherland now lives in London
and has written the novels Jelly Roll (described by L.S. as "vaguely autobiographical"; Anchor, 1998), Sweetmeat (Anchor, 2002), and Venus As A Boy (Bloomsbury, 2004). He has also played violin with fellow Scottish band Mogwai
. He is currently in the band Music A.M.
Greig now lives in Stockholm
, Sweden
, and runs the independent record label Cocohippo. He also performs his own music under the moniker Wilma Cakebread. Turner lives in London and records his own music under the name disco haircut astronaut.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
experimental rock
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
/post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
band, which released three albums and several EPs on the British
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...
avant-rock label Too Pure
Too Pure
Too Pure is a London-based independent record label that was formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox.-History:Too Pure started off as a small experimental label and had built their reputation by releasing primarily alternative/independent music which they felt was being ignored by the major...
in the 1990s.
History
Long Fin Killie's core lineup consisted of Luke SutherlandLuke Sutherland
Luke Sutherland is an English-born Scottish novelist and musician.-Biography:Sutherland was brought up in Orkney and Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross by his adoptive Scottish parents, who moved to Scotland from Lincolnshire in 1976. He was educated at Glasgow University, where he read English and...
(vocals, violin, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, saxophone, hammer dulcimer, thumb piano, etc.), Colin Greig (electric and upright bass), David Turner (drums/percussion), and Philip Cameron (electric guitar). Sutherland had previously been in a band called Fenn, based in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, who played many support gigs, including Ride
Ride (band)
Ride were a British alternative rock band that formed in 1988 in Oxford, England, consisting of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence "Loz" Colbert, and Steve Queralt. The band were initially part of the "shoegazing" scene. Following the break-up of the band in 1996, members moved on to various other...
and Catherine Wheel
Catherine Wheel
Catherine Wheel were a four-piece alternative rock band from Great Yarmouth, England. The band was active from 1990 to 2000, experiencing fluctuating levels of commercial success, and embarking on many lengthy tours.-Biography:...
. Their name was taken from a family of ornamental freshwater fishes known as killifish
Killifish
A killifish is any of various oviparous cyprinodontiform fish . Altogether, there are some 1270 different species of killifish, the biggest family being Rivulidae, containing more than 320 species...
es, noted for their interesting drought survival and reproductive habits.
The members were all highly-trained, enabling them to create complex, atypical music which usually featured hypnotically-bowed violins/celli, jazz-influenced drumming, and meandering ambient passages. Allmusic cited them as having "staggering levels of musicianly talent". Vocalist Luke Sutherland often delivered his cryptic, highly-literate lyrics in an androgynous falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
voice.
Their debut EP Buttergut was released in 1994, with debut album Houdini following the next year. The band's sound, though diverse, was influenced by the likes of dream pop
Dream pop
Dream pop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s, when bands like The Passions, Dif Juz, Lowlife and A.R. Kane began fusing post-punk and ethereal experiments with bittersweet pop melodies into dreamy, sensual soundscapes. The term was almost...
mainstays A R Kane
A R Kane
A.R. Kane were a British dream pop duo consisting of Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala that formed in 1986. Their name was partially derived from their first names, the "A" in Alex and the "R" in Rudy. The duo hailed from East London...
, Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...
, and Slowdive
Slowdive
Slowdive were an English shoegaze band that formed in 1989. The band formed in Reading, Berkshire and primarily consisted of Nick Chaplin , Rachel Goswell , Neil Halstead , and Christian Savill...
, 1970s German krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
groups like Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
, and labelmates Moonshake
Moonshake
Moonshake was a UK-based experimental rock/post-rock band existing between 1991 and 1997. The only consistent member was singer/sampler player/occasional guitarist David Callahan, who initially co-led the project with Margaret Fiedler...
, Pram
Pram (band)
Pram are an experimental band who formed in the Balsall Heath/Moseley area of Birmingham, England in 1990.-History:Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Rosie Cuckston and Matt Eaton went to school together. They moved to Birmingham in the late 80s, schoolfriend Andy Weir keeping in touch...
and Laika
Laika (band)
Laika is a British alternative rock band founded in 1993 by ex-Moonshake members Margaret Fiedler and John Frenett, and producer/engineer Guy Fixsen. The band was named after the first animal to orbit the earth, the Russian dog Laika.-Sound:...
. Mark E. Smith
Mark E. Smith
Mark Edward Smith is the lead singer, lyricist, frontman, and only constant member of the English post-punk band The Fall.-Early life:...
of The Fall contributed "guest rants" to the song "The Heads of Dead Surfers," which appeared in 1995 on the EP of the same name, as well as on Houdini. (British DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
voted this the #10 best song of 1995 in his "Festive Fifty
Festive Fifty
The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show...
" list of that year.) LFK toured America in 1995 with the band Medicine
Medicine (band)
Medicine is an alternative noise-pop/rock band from the San Fernando Valley, United States. They were formed in 1991 by guitarist Brad Laner and signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings label the following year...
; a split EP was released to promote it.
The band received widespread critical acclaim, but little to no radio play, though they did tour on the 1996 edition of Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
as part of its "second stage," in support of their 1996 second LP Valentino. While driving from Sweden to Norway in late 1996, the band's tour bus was involved in a major accident on a patch of ice, causing Sutherland to suffer a collapsed lung, broken ribs and collar bone, and other injuries. He began writing his first novel while recuperating from the crash. In 1997, Turner was replaced by Kenny McEwan on drums. Subsequent album Amelia (1998) featured songs of shorter lengths and more conventional structures, but it proved to be their last. The group disbanded shortly afterwards, to little mainstream notice, in 1998 or 1999.
Recurring themes
- All of their albums had one-word titles honoring public icons who died at early ages: Escape artist Harry HoudiniHarry HoudiniHarry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
, actor Rudolph ValentinoRudolph ValentinoRudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
, and pilot Amelia EarhartAmelia EarhartAmelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
, respectively. - Their releases almost all featured intricate woodcutWoodcutWoodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
-style graphic design; Valentino used woodcuts by 16th-century printmaker Albrecht DürerAlbrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
. - All of their EPs (except for the split EP) featured four songs.
Post-breakup work
Following the breakup, the former members of the band moved on to other projects. Sutherland helmed the slightly more accessible group BowsBows (band)
Bows are a British-based band, who have released three albums on the Too Pure label.-History:Following the dissolution of his former band Long Fin Killie, multi-instrumentalist Luke Sutherland formed Bows with the Danish singer, Signe Høirup Wille-Jørgensen...
, which has released its albums on Too Pure. Sutherland now lives in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and has written the novels Jelly Roll (described by L.S. as "vaguely autobiographical"; Anchor, 1998), Sweetmeat (Anchor, 2002), and Venus As A Boy (Bloomsbury, 2004). He has also played violin with fellow Scottish band Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
. He is currently in the band Music A.M.
Greig now lives in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and runs the independent record label Cocohippo. He also performs his own music under the moniker Wilma Cakebread. Turner lives in London and records his own music under the name disco haircut astronaut.
Albums
- Houdini (1995, Too Pure/ American) (PURE 47) End of CD has hidden 4.5-minute track with hammer dulcimer/ gamelanGamelanA gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
-style instrumentation - Valentino (1996, Too Pure/ American/ Warner Bros.) (PURE 54)
- Amelia (1997/98, Too Pure) (PURE 74)
EPs
- Buttergut EP (1994, Too Pure) (PURE 39)
- The Heads Of Dead Surfers EP (1995, Too Pure) (PURE 44)
- Split EP with Medicine (1995, Too Pure/ American) (AMR CD0017) (3 songs by each band)
- Hands And Lips EP (1996, Too Pure) (PURE 58)
- Lipstick EP (1997, Too Pure) (PURE 75)
Various-artist compilations
- The Camden Crawl (1995, Love Train) (PUBE 07) LFK's song: "The Heads Of Dead Surfers"
- Monsters, Robots And Bug Men: A User's Guide To The Rock Hinterland 2xCD (1996, Virgin) LFK's song: "(A) Man Ray"
External links
- Detailed discography page
- Answers.com data
- [ Allmusic entry]