The EARTHLING SOCIETY formed January 2004 in Fleetwood/UK when singer songwriter/guitarist Fred Laird and David Fyall met up with drummer Jon Blacow. Disillusioned with the current music trends and sharing a love of 70′s progressive rock, krautrock and 60′s psychedelia the band built a primitive 8 track recording studio in a corner of a disused glass factory. Influenced by their heroes Funkadelic/Ash Ra Tempel/Can/Amon Duul II and Hawkwind they were ignoring any commercial intention and started recording what became their debut album purely as they had the ability to do so.
Their debut album ‘Albion’ started to receive glowing praise and critical acclaim amongst the undeground music press. In June 2005 ‘Albion’ was picked up by Hans Georg Bier, head of Berlin based psychedelic label Nasoni Records who promptly re-released it on CD and vinyl formats. By August 2005 it became album of the month on Julian Cope’s website Head Heritage.
Expanding their line-up with the addition of keyboard player Joe Orban EARTHLING SOCIETY began to work on the follow up entitled ‘Plastic Jesus And The Third Eye Blind’. It was released after supporting Julian Cope on his 2006 Dark Orgasm tour early that summer. The band in the meantime had become firm favourites on the European and UK festival circuits and for their appearance in Berlin at the tenth anniversary of Nasoni records, Irish keyboardist Kevy Canavan joined the group on a permanent basis.
The winter of 2006 saw EARTHLING SOCIETY writing and recording their third studio album, a 70 minute double LP entitled ‘Tears Of Andromeda, Black Sails Against The Sky’. Again released through Nasoni it was eventually released on April 20th 2007 to co incide with their debut appearance at the Roadburn festival alongside acts such as Blue Cheer, The Melvins, Sundial and Guru Guru. A gig broadcast simultaneously live on several European radio stations.
After a couple of appearances in the UK and the internet becoming littered with live and studio reviews EARTHLING SOCIETY have been in negotiations with UK based record distribution company Cargo records who officially released the band’s entire back catalogue in the UK for the first time in September 2007. A live track from their Roadburn festival performance appears on the 2008 compilation album ‘Under The Radar Vol. 4′ and the same year their debut album for 4 zero ‘Beauty And The Beast’ was released to critical acclaim.
In August of 2008 the band started work on what is to become their most defining album to date.
Sci-Fi Hi-Fi (2009) their second album for 4zero is the sound of a band redefining the space rock genre. Not content with aping bands like Hawkwind with a tried and tested formula, instead E-Society have used the spacerock genre to make a loose conceptual album on the darker side of the 60′s American counter-culture and political intrigues. Sci-Fi Hi-Fi is a darkly paranoid musical journey, taking in the krautrock workouts of Ash Ra Tempel, free instrumental acid rock, 60′s folk and Floydian electronics culminating in the 20 minute Magnum Opus ‘E.V.I.L.U.S.A’.
Sci-Fi Hi-Fi received glowing praise in such established magazines as Shindig!, R2, IO pages and Record Collector, as well as reaching many webzines top 10 best of’s for 2009.
In 2011 Earthling Society released ‘ Stations of the ghost’ on 4 zero records. The album mastered by Nick Robbins (The Pogues, Link Wray, Felt) at ace/big beat records, contained 7 tracks of heavy psychedelic prog rock inspired by the occult, paganism and Lancashire witchlore.
The album gained rave reviews in Shindig!, Record Collector and R2. Classic Rock Presents Prog hailed the album as “A mighty record”, which lead to a full page feature in the magazine’s on the threshold section.
Also in 2011 the band released a 7″ coloured vinyl of the Fleetwood Mac classic ‘The Green manalishi’ and a freaked out version of the Chocolate watchband’s instrumental ‘Dark side of the mushroom’.
Both releases where for Fruits De Mer records.
2012 sees the band returning into the studio to record an album of psychedelic glam rock to be released towards the end of the year. Also on the cards are two new tracks for Fruits De Mer records, and 2012 will see the debut album release of E-S frontman Fred Laird. Who, with his proto druidic krautrock solo project ‘Moon Of Ostara’ will release the kosmische epic instrumental album that is ’The Star-Child’ to limited edition CD and mp3 download in spring.
Discography:
Albion (2005)
Plastic Jesus And The Third Eye (2006)
Tears Of Andromeda, Black Sails Against The Sky (2007)
Sci-Fi Hi-Fi (2009)
Stations of the Ghost (2011)
The Green Manalishi 7″ (2011)
Links:
http://www.earthlingsociety.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Earthling-Society/57935902560
http://www.myspace.com/earthlingsociety
