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Biography
The High Plane Drifters are a Psychedelic Garage Blues two piece from Nothern England consisting of Wesley John Stephenson on Drums and Timothy James Oxnard on Vocals and Guitar.
A Two Man Band With A Four Man Sound
Together they have inspired and excited many with their exciting live set, betraying their audiences ears with their full sound. Their music comes from so many sources echoing half a century of rock and roll heritage and more that it renders itself fresh, The High Plane Drifters are totally original.
Described as “like having all your birthdays arrive at once, well that’s if you like your tunes packed with what sounds like a bastardised concoction of raw as you like early primitive JMC going head to head with the more gritty garage ensembles, imagine John Spencer and Co dropped dead centre of the 60’s beat scene – yeah that f**king good, listen a little closer and the detachment of early Warsaw / Joy Division begins to eke into view”.
Their self released output of Two E.P's, an LP and most recently a Download Single have sold around the globe. Although they have had interest from many major and minor record labels their LP was financed by the winnings of the PRS ATOM AWARD
, a nomination only award that they won, being only one of three winners in the UK, the only band from the North of England to do so.
They have also landed themselves a publishing deal in the United States with
Hunnypot Publishing
, based in Los Angeles, who approached them to sign the deal, they have had music used in
C.S.I Miami
and
Breaking Bad
as well as being touted for Tarantino movies amongst other things, most recently they feature in the forthcoming Tekken Movie. They join a staple of artists as diverse as
Clutch
and
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
.
Shortly before he died
John Peel
was impressed enough to play their demo version of
“Trouble In Mind”
, and this was long before they released any records. On the strength of their U.S Tour and Download Single "Sweet Poppy Jean / White Star Lightning" they performed a live session for the Marc Riley show on BBC6 in August this year having been invited by Vic Galloway, a strong supporter of the group. They have also been played by
Mark Lamarr on Radio 2, Vic Galloway on Radio 1, Steve Lamacq and a heap of local BBC shows throughout the U.K, good underground stations like Artrocker and Resonance, Student Radio around the world plus a host of other stations in America, New Zealand, Ireland, Croatia, Portugal, France, Israel, Malta, Slovenia and Argentina not to mention The British Forces Broadcasting Service.
.
They have toured all parts of the British Isles and most recently toured The United States after invites from promoters there including Chris Johnson from
The Deep Blues Festival
in Minnesota where the band performed in 2009 as part of their 16 gigs in 16 days in 14 cities covering 11 different States U.S tour. Having been "Recoginzed As Internationally Outstanding Performers In The Blues Music Field" by The American Federation Of Musicians the band are now set to return to the United States and break into Europe. They have played gigs with Stateside bands such as the
The Black Diamond Heavies, The Bohannons, The Immortal Lee County Killers, The Soledad Brothers, The Bravery, Cut In The Hill Gang, Left Lane Cruiser, SSM, The Hentchmen, Whirlwind Heat, Pearlene, Dooley Wilson
who they also released a Split E.P with, as well as acoustic artists such as
Benjamin Wetherill
and
Serious Sam Barrett...the list goes on.
“This pair sound like a three-, even four-piece band at times, and they achieve this more subtly than by just blasting the room with wall-to-wall racket. Drummer Wesley John Stephenson's fulsome and varied percussive palette is crucial to this illusion - as is frontman Timothy James Oxnard's use of his guitar alternately as rhythm engine, lead instrument, surrogate bass, even as a kind of modernist cello when he grinds a bow futuristically across six strings, propelled by appropriately Krautrock express-train drums”.
Considering this is a group that have achieved this with their self released records on their own label and have organised their own tours with limited resources and hard work they remain optimistic, open minded and excited about the future and what it has to offer, and it seems right now that the world is ready to offer a great deal more than obscurity.
Currently the band are continuing to play the U.K, writing and recording new material, filming a documentary with Charlotte Johnson from
Pixy Films
and preparing for
SXSW 2010
and their second tour of the U.S.A. The band are also considering their contribution to the second
Cosmos Recordings
"We Are All Circling The Stars" Compilation Album and preparing a session for
Dandelion Radio in April 2010 whilst planning some new releases of their very own.
RELEASES...
“Hot Property E.P” - Vinyl 7”
“The High Plane Drifters and Dooley Wilson Split E.P” - Vinyl 7”
“Georgian Ghosts, Archer Street Blues and The Candy Factory” - Vinyl LP and CDR
"Sweet Poppy Jean" and "White Star Lightning" Download Single
COMPILATIONS...
Blighty’s Still Smokin’ (Free Compilation with Issue 30 of Carbon 14 Magazine)
The Ballroom Of Romance (Free Compilation Issued at The Lower Deck, Dublin, 28th April 2005)
Spearhead In The City (Promotional Compilation sponsored by Orange and Generator North East)
TELEVISION and CINEMA
All tracks are released through Don't Tell Clare Records. 3 tracks from the Debut "Georgian Ghosts..." LP have achieved sync placements with "Cry Like A River" featuring in CSI Miami (Episode 712 - Season 7 Episode 12 "Head Case" First Aired 12th January 2009), "Electricity In My Bones" featuring in Breaking Bad (Season 2 - Episode 11 First Aired 17th May 2009) and "An Hour To Suffer, A Lifetime To Live" featuring in the Tekken Movie.
STREAMING and DOWNLOADS
Tracks are available for streaming primarily through myspace although they also feature on Sonicbids and Last FM, tracks are also available to buy through Tunecore who distribute to Amazon, I-Tunes and Napster amongst others, live performance footage is also on You Tube and other internet sites.
The band have had quite a bit of airplay which is outlined in the Biography and includes BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 amongst other worldwide and internet stations.
CONTACT INFORMATION...
If you would like to book the band get in touch through myspace or
thehighplanedrifters@hotmail.com
The debut LP titled
"Georgian Ghosts, Archer Street Blues and The Candy Factory"
is now available to buy along with the previous
“Hot Property E.P”
and
“THPD and Dooley Wilson Split E.P”
. The records are available to buy online from the
Don't Tell Clare Webshop.
www.donttellclare.co.uk/shop.htm
Alternatively you can order releases from all good record shops with
Cargo Distribution
or contact the band directly and to see what they can do.
If you want to know anything else just get in touch! THPD are always looking for gigs and opportunities to release more records and they would love to hear from you if you have any Videos / Photographs / Reviews.
Get in touch also for promos if you want to DJ or review the music
.
God bless you all
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that my jam!
