Spire is an acoustic band from Oxfordshire (UK) that in the main plays British traditional folk songs and tunes.
It was formed in the summer of 1997 by Sian, Pete, Roxy and Ed, as the result of two desperate housewives and two frustrated rock and rollers meeting and admitting that they liked folk music really. The name comes from the initial letters of the names of these four, which put together nearly spell the word 'spire' and seemed quite apt because they all have associations with Oxford, the 'city of dreaming spires'.
At the beginning of 1998, they were joined by Helen Bell, on viola and whistle. Her name presented something of a problem, but she volunteered to be called 'Ingrid', and thus supply the missing 'i'. When Helen departed in 1999 to study music at York university, Steve, whom Ed and Pete know from the Larkrise Ranters, took her place, and followed the established tradition by taking the name 'Ivan'. Helen subsequently became a founder member of Ola, finalists of BBC Radio 2's young folk musicians of the year.
