Ozric Tentacles
Encyclopedia
Ozric Tentacles are an instrumental rock
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...

 band from Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, 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...

, whose music can loosely be described as psychedelic
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...

 or space rock
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...

. Formed in 1983, the band has released 28 albums as of 2011, and become a cottage industry selling over a million albums worldwide despite never having major label backing. Throughout many line-up changes over the years, Ed Wynne
Ed Wynne (guitarist)
Edward Wynne is an English guitarist and keyboardist best known as a founding member, principal composer and the only constant member of psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles.-Biography:...

 has remained the only original member of the band.

History

The original lineup met in 1983 at the Stonehenge Free Festival
Stonehenge Free Festival
The Stonehenge Free Festival was a British free festival from 1972 to 1984 held at Stonehenge in England during the month of June, and culminating on the summer solstice on June 21. The festival was a celebration of various alternative cultures...

 and its name arose from discussions of hypothetical cereal brands (Malcolm Segments, Desmond Whisps, and Gordon Lumps are among the names that were considered). In the 1980s the band built a fanbase on the festival circuit, becoming particularly associated with the Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...

, and made a series of cassette releases, sold at gigs and via a fan club.

Its first label release was Pungent Effulgent
Pungent Effulgent
Pungent Effulgent is an album by psychedelic rockers Ozric Tentacles. Released in 1989 to wide acclaim, it followed the many cassette-only albums they released in the 1980s.-Track listing:All songs by Ozric Tentacles unless otherwise stated....

in 1989, which was also re-released in the early 2000s, packaged with Strangeitude
Strangeitude
Strangeitude, released in 1991 on Dovetail Records, is an album by Ozric Tentacles. It was re-released in 1998 by Snapper Music.-Track listing:# "White Rhino Tea" - 5:55# "Sploosh!" - 6:26...

. This was followed by Erpland
Erpland
Erpland is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 1990 on Dovetail Records.-Track listing:# "Eternal Wheel" – 8:20# "Toltec Spring" – 3:03...

(1990), an album dedicated to the Pongmaster, a character which appears on many of the band's album artworks. 1991 saw the Strangeitude
Strangeitude
Strangeitude, released in 1991 on Dovetail Records, is an album by Ozric Tentacles. It was re-released in 1998 by Snapper Music.-Track listing:# "White Rhino Tea" - 5:55# "Sploosh!" - 6:26...

LP. The track "Sploosh!" was used by BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

 in an advertising campaign and became the band's only single. By 1993 the band had grossed over three million dollars, and its Jurassic Shift
Jurassic Shift
Jurassic Shift is a studio album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was first released in 1993 on the band's own label on Dovetail Records. In 1998 a re-release came from Snapper Music, with one additional track...

album reached the Top 20 of the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

.

The band has gone through myriad line-up changes, with Ed Wynne
Ed Wynne (guitarist)
Edward Wynne is an English guitarist and keyboardist best known as a founding member, principal composer and the only constant member of psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles.-Biography:...

 (guitar, keyboards) being the only constant presence since the beginning. Many members left to pursue more electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 spin-off acts, such as Eat Static
Eat Static
Eat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.-History:...

, Transglobal Underground
Transglobal underground
Transglobal Underground is a London-based music collective who specialise in a fusion of western, oriental and African music styles...

, Nodens Ictus
Nodens Ictus
Nodens Ictus formed in 1986 as an offshoot of British psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles.-History:Nodens Ictus began life in 1986 when Ozric Tentacles guitarist Ed Wynne and keyboardist Joie Hinton were asked by the promoters of the Crypt club in Deptford, South London, to produce an ambient set...

, Dubblehead and Moksha. Nick Van Gelder (aka Tig), drummer for Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai is a British jazz funk and acid jazz band formed in 1992. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies. Other Acid Jazz artists such as...

 during the Emergency on Planet Earth
Emergency on Planet Earth
Emergency on Planet Earth is the debut studio album released by British acid jazz band Jamiroquai. Released in 1993, the album features strong elements of the mixture of the R&B, and funk genres, but it is notable for being one of the group's definitive acid-jazz albums...

era was once part of the Ozric Tentacles line up, contributing drums and songwriting on the original cassettes Tantric Obstacles and Erpsongs. Nevertheless, the band maintained its identity and continued with this prolific rate of albums throughout the 1990s, and into the new millennium. It also continued to tour extensively, releasing a live DVD in 2002 entitled "Live at the Pongmaster's Ball".

The band is famous for its live performances, fronted for years by "Jumping Jon" Egan, who used to dance around the stage in a trance-like manner while playing a variety of flutes. Ozric Tentacles has long taken an audio-visual approach to live performance, with an integrated lighting and projections crew. The band has seen many rhythm section changes over the years. As of February 2009, the lineup featured Ed Wynne (guitar, synths), Ed's wife Brandi Wynne (bass, keyboards), Silas Wynne (synths, keyboards) and Oliver Seagle (drums, percussion). (Vinny Shillito toured the UK as a bassist in 1990 as stand-in bass player when Roly Wynne was ill and remained friends with the band after forming his own band Grooveweird with his brother Dominic.) Brandi is back on bass and Silas Wynne (Ed's son) is on synths.

Musicology

Its music is a highly psychedelic mixture of thumping bassline
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...

s, sound effects 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...

 and 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...

 work, with a sound influenced by Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s...

 and Gong
Gong (band)
Gong is a Franco-British progressive/psychedelic rock band formed by Australian musician Daevid Allen. Their music has also been described as space rock. Other notable band members include Allan Holdsworth, Tim Blake, Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Gilli Smyth, Steve Hillage, Francis Moze, Mike Howlett...

. Many of the Ozrics' songs are in unusual time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

s and/or unusual Eastern-influenced modes
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...

. Furthermore, the band often features complex arrangements which change time signature, key signature
Key signature
In musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than the equivalent natural notes unless otherwise altered with an accidental...

 and tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 frequently in the course of a track, a well-known element present in progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

. However, there are also moments of straightforward funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

-influenced grooves and strong influences from jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

, dub/reggae and ambient music styles.

These features are mixed with electronic elements, including densely layered psytrance
Psychedelic trance
Psychedelic trance, psytrance or just psy is a form of electronic music characterized by hypnotic arrangements of synthetic rhythms and complex layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. It appeared in the mainstream in 1995 as with reporting of the trend of Goa trance. The genre offers variety...

- and techno-influenced arpeggiated
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...

 synthesizers, pads, synth basslines, effects and programmed drumbeats. It also has a strong influence from dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...

 and ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

, with many quiet relaxed tracks that balance the frenetic, intense material.

The Ozrics also use a wide range of instruments in their performances. Electric and acoustic guitars, flutes, recorders, xylophones and even sounds of digitally tweaked human voices appear throughout.

Early cassette-only albums

  • Erpsongs (1984) DOVE OT1
  • Tantric Obstacles (1985) DOVE OT2
  • Live Ethereal Cereal (1986) DOVE OT3
  • There is Nothing (1987) DOVE OT4
  • Sliding Gliding Worlds (1988) DOVE OT5
  • The Bits Between the Bits (1985-9) DOVE OT6
After these first six cassette-only albums, the band began recording and releasing material on CD. These first six albums were released in 1994 as a CD box-set called Vitamin Enhanced. The box-set is now deleted, but the albums are available separately (with the above catalogue numbers).

Albums

  • Pungent Effulgent
    Pungent Effulgent
    Pungent Effulgent is an album by psychedelic rockers Ozric Tentacles. Released in 1989 to wide acclaim, it followed the many cassette-only albums they released in the 1980s.-Track listing:All songs by Ozric Tentacles unless otherwise stated....

    (Feb. 1989) DOVE CD2, DOVE LP2
  • Erpland
    Erpland
    Erpland is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 1990 on Dovetail Records.-Track listing:# "Eternal Wheel" – 8:20# "Toltec Spring" – 3:03...

    (Nov. 1990) DOVE CD1, DOVE LP1, DOVE MC1
  • Strangeitude
    Strangeitude
    Strangeitude, released in 1991 on Dovetail Records, is an album by Ozric Tentacles. It was re-released in 1998 by Snapper Music.-Track listing:# "White Rhino Tea" - 5:55# "Sploosh!" - 6:26...

    (Aug. 1991) DOVE CD3, DOVE LP3
  • Afterswish
    Afterswish
    Afterswish is the sixth album by Ozric Tentacles, released in 1992 on Dovetail Records. It is a compilation of tracks from their early cassette releases, featuring also three new tracks.-Disc 1:#"Guzzard"  – 2:03...

    (1992) DOVE CD4 (double-disc compilation of material from early cassette releases, with 3 previously unreleased tracks)
  • Live Underslunky
    Live Underslunky
    Live Underslunky is a live album by the Ozric Tentacles. The album was originally released in 1992 on Dovetail Records, and it has been re-released in 2003 by Snapper Music.-Track listing:# "Dots Thots" – 7:54...

    (Apr. 1992) DOVE CD5, DOVE LP5
  • Jurassic Shift
    Jurassic Shift
    Jurassic Shift is a studio album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was first released in 1993 on the band's own label on Dovetail Records. In 1998 a re-release came from Snapper Music, with one additional track...

    (1993) DOVE CD6, DOVE LP6
  • Arborescence
    Arborescence (album)
    Arborescence is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 1994 on Dovetail Records. The album was rereleased in 1999 on Snapper Music, this time with sleeve notes by Andy Garibaldi...

    (1994) DOVE CD7
  • Vitamin Enhanced (1994) DOVE BOX1 (CD box-set, now deleted, of the first six cassette-only releases) (see above)
  • Become the Other
    Become the Other
    Become The Other is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 1995, and is the first release from the band after Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton left to form Eat Static...

    (1995) DOVE CD8
  • Curious Corn
    Curious Corn
    Curious Corn is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 1997 on Snapper Music.- Track listing :# "Spyroid" – 3:47# "Oolite Grove" – 5:57# "Afroclonk" – 8:06...

    (1997)
  • Spice Doubt
    Spice Doubt
    Spice Doubt is a live album by British band Ozric Tentacles. Released in 1998, it is the soundtrack of the band's live webcast in the summer of that year...

    (live) (1998) (album of the band's live webcast that summer)
  • Waterfall Cities
    Waterfall Cities
    Waterfall Cities is an album by the British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 1999 on Stretchy Records.Like previous studio albums by the band, Waterfall Cities was recorded at guitarist Edward Wynne's home studio, The Mill, and features a cover by the artist Blim.-Track listing:# "Coily" –...

    (1999)
  • Floating Seeds Remixed (1999) (remix album, containing material from the band's other projects)
  • The Hidden Step
    The Hidden Step
    The Hidden Step is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 2000 on Stretchy Records.The band's sixteenth studio album, it was their last to include bassist Zia Ahmad Geelani and drummer "Rad"...

    (2000)
  • Swirly Termination
    Swirly Termination
    Swirly Termination is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. Though released in 2000 this record contains songs made as early as 1992. The reason for this is that the band had to deliver one more album to their record company, Snapper Music, before parting ways, and thus came up with some...

    (2000)
  • Pyramidion
    Pyramidion (album)
    Pyramidion is a 5 track EP by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was releasd in 2001 on Snapper Music. Only the title track on this EP is a new song; the rest are older tunes recorded live at the Boardwalk in Sheffield, UK.-Track listing:...

    (live EP) (2001)
  • Live at The Pongmaster's Ball (2002) SPECIAL EDITION CD + live DVD
  • Eternal Wheel (The Best Of)
    Eternal Wheel (The Best Of)
    Eternal Wheel is a two-disc compilation record released by Ozric Tentacles in 2004.-Disc one:#"Jurassic Shift" - 11:04#"Myriapod" - 5:59...

    (2004) (double-disc compilation, consisting entirely of previously-released material)
  • Spirals in Hyperspace
    Spirals in Hyperspace
    Spirals in Hyperspace is an album by British band Ozric Tentacles. It was released in 2004 on Magna Carta Records.-Track listing:# "Chewier" – 5:26# "Spirals in Hyperspace" – 9:51# "Slinky" – 8:39# "Toka Tola" – 7:46# "Plasmoid" – 5:17...

    (2004)
  • The Floor's Too Far Away
    The Floor's Too Far Away
    The Floor's Too Far Away, released in 2006, is the seventeenth studio album by Ozric Tentacles.-Track listing:#"Bolshem" – 4:49#"Armchair Journey" – 5:54#"Jelly Lips" – 6:08#"Vedavox" – 2:51#"Spacebase" – 9:36#"Disdots" – 6:49#"Etherclocks" – 8:02...

    (2006)
  • Sunrise Festival
    Sunrise Festival
    Sunrise Festival, released in 2008, was a live album from the Ozric Tentacles, recorded 1 June 2007. This recording marks the return of Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton to the band, who had left in 1995 to form Eat Static...

    (live) (2008)
  • The Yumyum Tree
    The Yumyum Tree
    -Credits:*All tracks written by Ed Wynne*Recorded 2006-2008 in Somerset, England*Tracks 3, 5 & 8 recorded at Mooncalf Studios, Wiltshire, England*Mastered by Jas Mitchell at Loud Mastering*Cover art by Boswell*Ed Wynne - guitars, synths, programming…...

    (2009)
  • Paper Monkeys
    Paper Monkeys
    Paper Monkeys is a studio album by English psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles, released on 10 October 2011 by Snapper Music.-Track listing:-External links:* at Allmusic...

    (2011)

Single

  • Sploosh / Live Throbbe (July 1991) DOVE ST3 (the only single the band has released: two tracks from the Strangeitude album)


In addition to the official releases, there are known to exist numerous other obscure / rare recordings from the band's many studio sessions. It was said in the early days that the band even invited fans to send them blank cassettes, which they filled with tracks and returned.

Current

  • Ed Wynne
    Ed Wynne (guitarist)
    Edward Wynne is an English guitarist and keyboardist best known as a founding member, principal composer and the only constant member of psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles.-Biography:...

     - Guitars, Synths
  • Ollie Seagle - Drums
  • Brandi Wynne - Bass
  • Silas Wynne - Synths

Former

Original bassist Roly Wynne, Ed's brother, was a major force in shaping the melodic rhythms at the heart of the Ozrics sound. He died in 1999.
Seaweed was keyboard player for much of the 1990s, he was previously a member of the Thunderdogs (who toured with French circus troupe Archaos in the early 1990s) and Moksha.
John Egan parted company with the band in 2005 and is now playing with space rock
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...

 outfit Dream Machine
Dream Machine (band)
Dream Machine are a space rock supergroup, based in London, UK. Dream Machine play music that can be described as psychedelic and ambient rock music, incorporating guitar, synthesizers and woodwind instruments...

 (along with ex-Ozric Joie Hinton, among others). He has also played with ex-Ozric Zia Geelani's dance and electronica band (ZubZub), as well as his own band Champignon, playing eclectic, spacey world music with Alex Pym (Dream Machine) and Mindflux (Dream Machine). Jon also recently contributed to the lesser known band 'JC's Flatline Junkies' and their first album Brass Ladies and Butterflies (2007), playing flutes on the three songs, "Crawling off the Sliproads", "Flatline" and "Passing Song".
Ex-drummer Stu Fisher
Stu Fisher
Stuart "Stu" Fisher is an English musician, notable for being the current drummer of alternative rock band Hole. Prior to becoming a member of Hole, Fisher was also the drummer of English psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles and also Fingermonster...

 is now the drummer of Hole
Hole (band)
Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...

. Ex-bass player Greyum May is now the bass player for Firebird
Firebird (band)
Firebird is a British blues-rock power trio founded by Bill Steer in 1999. The music style, reminiscent of seventies rock bands such as Cream, is a radical departure from Steer's previous work with grindcore pioneers Napalm Death and death metal band Carcass....

. Ex-bass player Paul Godfrey is now the bass player in The Cellar Door Sound.
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