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Saloon (band)

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Saloon
OriginReading, England
GenresIndie
Years active1997–2004
LabelsDarla Records
Past membersMatt Ashton
Alison Cotton
Adam Cresswell
Amanda Gomez
Mike Smoughton

Saloon was an English indie musical group from Reading, who formed in 1997 and disbanded in 2004. The band included Adam Cresswell (bass/synthesisers), Michael Smoughton (drums), added Alison Cotton (viola), Amanda Gomez (lead vocal) and Matt Ashton (guitars).[1] Their first gig at The Fox and Hounds in Caversham.[2] In 1999, Saloon came to the attention of DJ John Peel, who featured the band on his radio programme. The band recorded three Peel sessions, which aired 4 July 2001, 7 August 2002 and 19 April 2003.[3]

Career

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The band released songs through various independent labels including "Shopping"[4] (Amberley Records), "Electron"[5] (Bearos Records), "Snow"[6] (Fortuna Pop), and "Impact"[7] (Glamour Puss), a split with the Sonic Catering Band. The band eventually settled on Darla Records[8] for the US releases and the Track and Field Organisation in the UK,[9] on which they were to release their last singles "Free Fall",[10] "Have You Seen The Light"[11] (a split with Dressy Bessy) and "Girls Are The New Boys".[12]

At the same time as gigging and releasing numerous 7-inch singles, the band wrote and recorded their debut album, a process which took them a year and half.[13] "(This Is) What We Call Progress"',[14] which was engineered by singer Amanda Gomez at the Reading College School of Art and Design (now knows as Reading College[15])and mixed by Andrew Prinz of Mahogany in his New York studio, who also designed the sleeve. The album was released in April 2002 to mixed but mostly favourable reviews including the Sunday Times in the UK[16] and Pitchfork which rated the album 7.4.[17]

Saloon quickly got to work writing the follow-up. Between the release of the albums the band were hit with unexpected success when Girls Are The New Boys reached number one in Peel's annual Festive 50. This was one of four Saloon releases in the coveted chart, with two entries in 2001 and two entries in 2002. Following this success, Saloon came up against its first serious criticism with accusations of vote rigging. One fanzine Unpeeled went as far as printing an alternative Festive 48[18] which excluded both of the band's 2002 entries. Although the fact that the band were invited back for a third Peel Session suggested that Peel and his production team felt there had been nothing irregular, the criticism clearly disturbed feeling within the band. In a 2006 interview Cresswell, while commenting on their 2001 festive 50 number 12, commented "despite only being released on a 500 copy limited split 7-inch ... this song [Impact] reached Number 12 in John Peel's Festive 50. No one accused us of cheating that year though. Bitter, me?”[19]

The self-produced second album If We Meet in the Future[20] was released in June 2003, again to mostly positive reviews including the NME who awarded it 8/10[21] and Pitchfork who rated the album at 7/10[22]

Split and following years

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Following the release, the band completed their touring commitments and disappeared. In May 2004 it was announced that Smoughton, Ashton and Cotton had quit,[23] and on 30 October 2004, five days after the death of John Peel, Gomez and Cresswell announced the official split of the band.[24]

A compilation album of the early Saloon singles, Lo-Fi Sounds, Hi-Fi Heart,[25] was released in 2006. Gomez and Cresswell also provided production duties on the 2004 album Let's Get Static by another Track and Field band, The Projects.[26] Gomez briefly also covered keyboard duties in the band.

At the turn of the decade, Ashton, Cotton and Cresswell were still writing and recording respectively in bands called The Leaf Library, The Left Outsides and Arthur and Martha. In November 2010 Mike Smoughton and his wife Sara were killed in a car accident in Canada.[27][28]

References

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  1. ^ STRONG MC, The Great Indie Discography, 2nd edn. Edinburgh: Canongate.
  2. ^ Reading Evening Post 12 April March 1999
  3. ^ "BBC.co.uk". BBC. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  5. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. 3 July 2000. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  6. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  8. ^ "Darla.com". Darla.com. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  9. ^ "Trackandfield.org.uk". Trackandfield.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 March 2001. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  10. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. 24 September 2001. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  11. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  12. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. 21 October 2002. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  13. ^ Get Reading Retrieved 15 May 2012
  14. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  15. ^ "Further and Higher Education Colleges | Activate Learning". Reading-college.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  16. ^ Sunday Times; 8 December 2002
  17. ^ Christopher Dare (28 April 2002). "Saloon: (This Is) What We Call Progress Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Unpeeled Fanzine January 2003 website". Unpeeled.net. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  19. ^ "Popnews Interview with Adam Cresswell and Matt Ashton April 2006". Popnews.com. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  20. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  21. ^ NME Second effort from Reading's only exponents of Kraut-Folk; 21 June 2003
  22. ^ Scott Plagenhoef (28 July 2003). "Saloon: If We Meet in the Future Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  23. ^ "Web.archive.org". 22 May 2004. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  24. ^ "Web.archive.org". 30 October 2004. Archived from the original on 30 October 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  25. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs. 30 January 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  26. ^ "Gullbuy.com". Gullbuy.com. 11 January 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  27. ^ University of Reading, Alumni, Obituaries Retrieved 15 May 2012
  28. ^ @theleaflibrary (21 November 2020). "It's 10 years since our friends Mike and Sara died and I miss them every day. I was lucky enough to be in a band (S…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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