The Lucky Bishops

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The Lucky Bishops are four men from Weymouth, Dorset, England, - Al Strawbridge, Tom Hughes, Luke Adams and Rich Murphy ( who through circumstances beyond his control is my youngest brother). They are all vocally gifted multi-instrumentalists who combine four-part harmonies with guitars and keyboards to produce a unique and addictive sound which has both psychedelic and contemporary threads running through it.

They have so far released two CD albums on the Woronzow label, where their managers, Nick Saloman (Bevis Frond) and Ade Shaw (Bevis Frond and ex of Hawkwind), say they are the best band they've heard in 20 years. The LB's self-titled first album was described in MoJo as being a "stunning 'classic pop' debut" and the recent second album "Grimstone" has further consolidated their reputation as great musicians. Fans will be pleased to know that they already have enough material for a third album, I'll keep you posted on suspected release dates. "The Lucky Bishops" and "Grimstone" are both available from Woronzow themselves, who deliver very quickly, or from AmazonUK or Amazon.com .

Some reviewers cite influences like the Beach Boys and XTC, and whilst their songs certainly rival the complexity of both those sounds, the LB's style is definitely all their own. Pervading all their songs are melody and really infectious hooks. "The Lucky Bishops" was angry in places, many of the songs showed the band getting long-cultivated angst off of their chest. "Grimstone" has the same, hard to pin down LB's sound, but it's somehow gentler, less aggressive, as though, having dealt with a few dark issues two years ago, they are now not afraid to share their warmer feelings with us. There are some genuinely touching songs on the album. Don't be too fooled by the sweetness of the vocals though, there are, as usual, a host of acerbic comments lurking within the lyrics. They've just decided to deliver them in a more subliminal fashion now that they're older and more chilled.

You'll have to take my word for it that "Grimstone" is great, but here to give you a taster of more vintage stuff is a sample of I'm convinced . This was the third track on their first CD, converted by me into a rather tinny RealPlayer audio stream by kind permission of The Lucky Bishops and Woronzow Records.

The Lucky Bishops recently played the Terrastock 5 festival in Boston and at The Knitting Factory in NYC. All went really well and The LBs would (probably) like to thank everyone involved, organisers and fans, for their support, help and wholehearted appreciation, and for showing them such a great time.

Al, still apparently in the grip of Turette's syndrome, has provided us with a tour diary. Please note it is intended to be read only by those with an intact sense of humour.

Simon Felton's Pink Hedgehog Records site has a page devoted to the Lucky Bishops, with a full discography. There you can also find out about Simon's own band Garfield's Birthday, get the full s.p. on the West Country band scene and check out the latest PinkHedgehog releases.

The Lucky Bishops (when awake) can mainly be found doing the following:

Luke Adams: drums, vocals, trumpet, flute.
Tom Hughes: organ, piano, mellotron, vocals, trumpet, guitar, harmonica.
Rich Murphy: guitar, vocals, trumpet, bass, violin.
Alan Strawbridge: bass, vocals, guitar, drums, xylophone.

In the photo below they are, from left to right: Luke, Tom, Al and Rich.