4 or 5 Magicians new live lineup for 2009 - the year we finally DO IT!
DAN ORMSBY - Vocals, Words, Guitar (+ Drums on recordings)
SAM CLARKE - Guitar
IVAN BERRY - Bass
ALEX WILKINSON - Drums
GRAHAM PEMBREY - Keyboard, Guitar
plus Sam Moore, Ilja Gray, and Mike Lord contributed guitar, drums, and keyboards respectively to some recorded songs, and Daniel Moss may join up again live as an additional guitarist if his dodgy arm recovers!
Influences
Principally : REM, Guided By Voices, Nirvana, The Replacements, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Weezer, Beck, Pavement, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Archers Of Loaf, Built To Spill, Minutemen, Everclear, The Thermals, The New Pornographers, The Presidents Of The United States Of America, Mclusky, Times New Viking, The Beatles.
Secondarily : The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Fugazi, Devo, Fiery Furnaces, Oneida, Karate, Wilco, Elliott Smith, Scott Walker, Tom Waits, Jake Thackray AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER BANDS TOO.
Sounds Like
NME TOP TIP FOR 2009 - January 7th Issue :
"Brighton five-piece 4 or 5 Magicians are more exciting than the prospect of Paul Daniels actually fulfilling his long-running promise to leave the country under a Labour regime. With lyrics so slick they make Alex Turner sound like a spluttering old colonel struggling with a cream bun and equal parts lo-fi bedroom fuzz and glorious art-pop melody (think Supergrass meets Shellac) we're struggling to think of one solitary loser who won't like this band. They're going to be the new Manic Street Preachers, but with less tights and guy-liner"
"The songs mainman Dan Ormsby comes up with are quite simply magnificent" - Jaimie Hodgson, NME
Steve Lamacq's New Favourite Band and Change The Record "Such great song construction!" Lamacq Single Of The Week May 28th - June 4th 2008
Also, about Forever On The Edge - "I just really like the juxtaposition of the sort of dismissiveness and confidence rubbing-up against each other...a clattering pop-noise that weaves the singer along" - Steve Lamacq, Radio 1
"Really, really exciting" + "SOOOO SOOOO GOOD!" + "brilliant" + various other superlatives - Huw Stephens, Radio 1
"more than a bit special" - Playmusic Magazine Unsigned Indie/Rock band of the year 2008
"At last a believeable British retort to the drawling rambles of Stephen Malkmus. Think Hefner's Darren Hayman fronting Guided By Voices. Ace." Music Week
"the sort of lo-fi attack jam that Kurt Cobain would have creamed over" - Rocksound
"very nearly stirring enough to make you put some pants on and run down to Capital FM with a big gun. Marvellously cynical alt.rock grubbiness. More please!" - The Fly
"‘Forever On The Edge’ not only boasts a loveable melody so missed from the chord-driven NME crowd , but also a contender for the best lyric of the year ... Lo-fi indie rock at its best" - 8/10 - drownedinsound.com
"inherently fantastic" - rockfeedback.com
SINGLE OF THE MONTH Oct 2007 - "a monumentally fuzz drenched summer anthem for the slacker generation missing the greats!" - subba-cultcha.com
DEMO OF THE WEEK May 24th 2007 - "a promising potentially explosive alt.rock indie-pop X factor edge of their own" --- AND --- SINGLE OF THE WEEK Oct 18th 2007 - "A fine fine debut slice of English alt.rock ... we want everyone to form an orderly queue and pin all your hopes on these four or five fine magicians" - Organart
"This is an impressive collision of relevant underground styles from a young band with seemingly no shortage of energy or ideas" 4.5/5 manchestermusic.co.uk
4 or 5 Magicians are a hootin', tootin', rock 'n' roll band based in popular Sussex seaside resort Brighton. Dan Ormsby writes the songs, and Sam Clarke, Ivan Berry, Alex Wilkinson, and Graham Pembrey (and sometimes other people too) help him play them.
SHOW BOOKINGS (and any other enquiries for that matter!) : fourorfivemagicians[at]hotmail[dot]co[dot]uk
The band have released two singles to date, and both 'Forever On The Edge' and 'Change The Record' have been awarded single of the week by Steve Lamacq on the radio as well as loads of top reviews and stuff.
'Forever On The Edge' is a 3" CD and can be bought from the Alcopop! Records website www.ilovealcopop.co.uk
'Change The Record / Ideal Man' is a double A-side 7" vinyl and can be bought from the This Is Fake DIY Records website www.thisisfakediyrecords.co.uk
4 or 5 Magicians recently joined the Smalltown America Records roster, and debut album 'Empty, Derivative Pop Songs' will be released in October 2009. I've been listening to it quite a lot recently, it's really good.
Here is a video we made in a couple of sunny afternoons in Brighton for the single 'Nice Little Earner'. Don't be alarmed, Sam didn't actually jump off. In fact, he ran up Elm Grove to Brighton General hospital to have an operation on his toe straight after filming. Anyway, enjoy!
Here is a video of four people (Dan on vocals / guitar, Sam on guitar, Graham on bass, and Alex on drums) performing Preaching To The Conversed at The Old Blue Last in February 2009 :
Here is a video of four people (Dan on vocals / guitar, Sam on bass, Sam Moore on guitar, and Ilja Gray on drums) performing Change The Record at the Notting Hill Arts Club in April 2008 :
!! VIDEO OF THE WEEK !!
I've been listening incessantly to Scott Walker for about a month now, so I didn't really want to take his video down, but it's been there a while now so time for a change! From one perennial favourite to another - the lyrically untouchable Jake Thackray. He released his first album 'The Last Will And Testament Of Jake Thackray' in 1967, the same year as Scott Walker released his first solo album 'Scott'. And I suppose both were similar in the fact their subject matter was dark and irreverent, kind of out of keeping with their comparatively conventional sound (at least on their respective debuts), but in reality they were worlds apart - Walker the smooth American ex-teen idol, and Thackray the ostensibly dour and misanthropic Yorkshire schoolteacher. Both however are (or rather, were, in the case of Thackray, who died in 2002 aged 64) undeniably brilliant, and two of the very best natural songwriting talents of all time.
Ideally I'd be putting up a video of an early masterpiece like 'The Blacksmith And The Toffeemaker' or 'The Lodger' but no proper footage exists of either song (at least not on youtube!). Instead, here is probably his most famous song, 'On Again! On Again!' from the 1977 record of the same name, his final studio album. I have taken big influence lyrically, even vocally to an extent (in terms of phrasing and delivery) from Jake Thackray, and would highly recommend to any budding songwriters, or lyrical appreciators, the purchase of both the 'Jake In A Box' box set, and the 'Live Performance' LP - one of my favourite albums of all time. Here is the video though. As Jake puts it himself, "this song is offensive"... :
5 : Tom Waits - Kentucky Avenue (live in London, 1979) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOYcRXzs1Y
6 : REM - Gardening At Night (live in New Jersey, 1984) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpwb9JICQUk
7 : Laura Groves - Coast (live in London, 2008) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwzcrhljUQo
8 : Scott Walker - Rosary (live UK TV, 1995) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoNEspmcknc
In June 2007, three people went to Maida Vale Studios to record three songs for the Huw Stephens show on Radio 1. These were Dan Ormsby on Vocals, Guitar, and Drums, Jon Wood (now playing in Epideme) on Bass, and Matt Hayward (now playing in Favours For Sailors) on Guitar :
Don't forget to tune in tonight at 7.00pm GMT for the New Subs show at www.rechargedradio.com . Oh, and feel free to stick us in your top friends list!
hey dan! cheers! almost saw you guys when i went to go see stagecoach at hectors house, had to leave to catch up on some uni work, wish i stayed now though, had stagecoach telling us how awesome you were when we played a show with them a few days later! catch you soon i hope x jp
Fantastic upcoming band, Pharaohs, will shortly be releasing their new EP on All Aboard Records - "We've Tried Nothing and We're All Out Of Ideas" and to celebrate will be playing a special launch gig at the infamous Old Blue Last on 4th November!
With support from special guests: LIGHTS GO BLUE A STRANGER IN MOSCOW THE FOREST AND THE FIRE
thank you very much, mister daniel. very good of you, sir. yes check out mark's dungeon at some point. we're practicing there for the first time tonight as it goes.
Online Now!
![BEAR CAVALRY [NEW SONG UP!]](http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/26/s_6844b9f28d2f4608808f069a595ae20f.jpg)
![GET WANTED Gigs [NEW BLOG]](http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/111/s_0e68c07c86e047b69affaf98da761b69.jpg)
