WOB

WOB is a solo acoustic artist from the United Kingdom who has performed since 1990. His work is centred on guitar-led songs with strong vocals, direct lyrics and memorable melodies, and he also performs in trio form. The trio line-up includes Wob on guitar, Kerri Stapleton on bass and Jon Edon on drums. Other members associated with the act are POG, Blyth Power and Anal Beard.

Career

He begins as a solo performer in 1990, often playing in unusual venues and travelling extensively with an acoustic guitar. Early live appearances across England draw strong reactions from audiences more used to punk music than acoustic sets. At the end of 1990 he joins Blyth Power, an agit-folk-rock band, and spends four years touring and recording with them before returning to focus on his own music.

His performances then take him to festivals, rock venues, folk clubs and a wide range of other places in Britain, Europe, Australia and the United States. He also tours Australia with the Killjoys in March 1996 and wins the Best Newcomer award at the Port Fairy Festival, receiving a Maton guitar as the prize. In August 1997 he undertakes a charity tour of Romania, playing in children's homes and culture houses.

Recordings and releases

WOB's debut album, I Can't Stay Long, is released in 1995 on Cycle Records. It is followed by Friends In The Night, Straight On Till Morning, Gather, Shouting from the Shore, With Just One Step and A Month of Sundays. Straight On Till Morning is recorded in Wales with Matt Cooper on bass and Wig on drums, with production by Wiggy, who previously works with Billy Bragg. The album marks a more band-oriented direction in his sound.

Gather appears in early 1999 and combines material from the Straight On Till Morning sessions, new recordings from Lighthouse Studios in Weymouth, and live tracks recorded in Germany and Austria. Shouting from the Shore uses live recordings from his 2000 tour. With Just One Step is released in 2003, and after this he reforms a trio with John Forrester and Wig for booked Silverleaf shows. A Month of Sundays, recorded in 2006, is made largely by Wob alone and is later mixed and mastered at Audrey Studios in Melbourne by Craig Pilkington while he tours South Australia; it is released in 2007 and toured through that year.

Silverleaf and later trio work

Silverleaf begins after Wob plays at a friend's wedding in Vienna with Matt Cooper and then joins John Rutherford and Robbie Davies for a last-minute performance at the Szene supporting Kangaroo Moon. The project continues for a couple of years, with performances in the UK and Austria, but ends because the members are split between Edinburgh and southern England.

After the project ends, WOB continues to perform and prepare new material in trio form. The trio records with Kerri Stapleton on bass and Jon Edon on drums, while earlier trio line-ups include John Forrester and Wig.