A Band Called O was a band from

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. Originally known as The Parlour Band, playing

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

, they renamed to A Band Called O for two albums on CBS/Epic and later to The O Band for further albums with UA. Despite issuing five albums, on three major labels, and being championed by

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

, for whom they recorded four

Peel Sessions John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

, they had no chart success; but were a popular live act, who toured Britain and Europe. Derek Ballard is now retired and lives with his wife in Bremen Germany.

The Parlour Band

Formed in Jersey,

, circa 1970, as 'The Parlour Band', the early 1970 line-up comprised founding member Peter Filleul (keyboards and vocals) formerly of the

Climax Blues Band Climax Blues Band (originally known as The Climax Chicago Blues Band) are a British blues rock and pop band that has released 22 albums. " Couldn't Get It Right" reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ...

, with Mike Harwood (lead guitar and vocals) Allen Greenall (acoustic guitar and vocals) Nigel Uren (Drums) John Ashworth (Bass guitar) later replaced by Jeff Smith (Bass and vocals) the last 4 members were replaced in late 1970 by brothers Mark Anders (bass and vocals) and Craig Anders (lead guitar and vocals) Jon "Pix" Pickford (guitar and vocals) and Jerry Robins (drums). Released in 1972, The Parlour Band's only album ''Is a Friend?'', was produced by

Nick Tauber Nick Tauber is a British record producer best known for his work with Thin Lizzy, Toyah and Marillion in the 1970s and 1980s. Nick Tauber continues to manage, produce, and consult with acts/artists/and producers. In the late 1990s, Tauber was inv ...

in a melodic progressive rock style, sounding like a "more mainstream, less art-rock-inclined Yes" with strong keyboard and guitar parts. The Parlour Band toured supporting

Caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

and

Steve Hillage Stephen Simpson Hillage (born 2 August 1951) is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo sound recording and reprodu ...

's Khan. They relocated from Jersey to Leicester, changed their name to 'A Band Called O', and their drummer to Derek Ballard. This line-up released their first album on the Epic label, produced by

Ben Sidran Ben Hirsh Sidran (born August 14, 1943) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band and is the father of Grammy-nominated musician, composer and ...

of the

Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles ...

, and Chris White of

The Zombies The Zombies are an English Rock music, rock band formed in St Albans in 1961. Led by keyboardist/vocalist Rod Argent and lead vocalist Colin Blunstone, the group had their first British and American hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the U ...

. ''A Band Called O'' (1974) and, despite being an album orientated band, a single "Rock and Roll Clown" / "Red Light Mama Red Hot" was released in Germany while they recorded the first of four

on 24 September 1974. They recorded their second Peel Session on 18 March 1975, before touring with

Man A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

and

John Cipollina John Cipollina (August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989) was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band C ...

. Later that year, they released their second album, ''Oasis''. They had one track "There Ain't Nothing I Wouldn't Do" on a single to promote their tour with Sassafras and Randy Pie as the 'Hot on the Tracks' package. Filleul left and was replaced by Ian Lynne, after about 6 months he was also replaced by Jeff Bannister, formerly with the

John Barry Seven The John Barry Seven was a band formed by John Barry in 1957, after he abandoned his original career path of arranging for big bands. Origins Barry contacted three musicians with whom he had served in the Army and three local musicians and i ...

The Alan Bown Set The Alan Bown Set, later known as The Alan Bown! or just Alan Bown, were a British band of the 1960s and 1970s whose music evolved from jazz and blues through soul and rhythm and blues and ended up as psychedelia and progressive rock. The band ...

and

Jess Roden Jess Roden (born 28 December 1947) is an English rock singer, songwriter and guitarist. Biography Roden's first band was The Raiders followed by The Shakedown Sound which also included the guitarist Kevyn Gammond, and keyboard player August Ead ...

Bronco A bucking horse is any breed of horse, male or female, with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for ro ...

The O Band

The band changed label from CBS/Epic to United Artists, and played their third Peel Session on 23 March 1976 (the BBC credit all the Peel sessions to A Band Called O, although one or two were after the name change). Musically, their style had already evolved from

soft-rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

, but it then moved towards a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

style. They changed their name to 'The O Band' and released their third album ''Within Reach'' later that year. A promotional single "Excerpts from Within Reach" was issued in the UK whilst two singles were taken from the album: "A Smile Is Diamond" / "Coasting" was issued in Germany, and "Don't Cha Wanna" / "Coasting" in the UK. They played their fourth and final Peel Session on 22 February 1977. Also in 1977 they released a 12" EP ''Look to the Left, Look to the Right'', before recording their final album ''The Knife'', from which the single "Almost Saturday Night" / "Love Ain't a Keeper" was taken. Shortly before a planned change of management, Pix Pickford decided to leave for a solo career. The O Band later disbanded at the end of 1977. ''On the Road 1975-77'' was released in June 2012 on CD (78 minutes) and as a download (118 minutes). Strangely, for a band known for its live performances, "this is the only live material ever released by the band".

Unrelated O-Band

Since 2008 the name "The O Band" has been used by an unrelated Jazz, Hip-Hop, R&B and Gospel band from

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. There is also music band from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

called Band O (Гурт О)

Subsequent careers

* Craig Anders later played with Alan Ross and Charlie Dore. * Mark Anders now runs Bug Music. * Derek Ballard went on to work with Razar,

Charlie Dore Charlie Dore (born 1956) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Although best known as a singer-songwriter, Dore has a multi-faceted career that includes acting in film, TV and radio, comedy-improvisatio ...

Bram Tchaikovsky Peter Bramall (born 10 November 1950 in Lincolnshire, England), better known by his stage name Bram Tchaikovsky, is a British vocalist and guitarist. He first came to prominence as a member of UK punk/ pub rock band The Motors, whom he joined ...

and John Watts. In 1982 he moved to Germany and works in Berlin as a session musician and photographer. * Filleul rejoined the

and later became a session musician recording with numerous artists including,

Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. He has released twenty-six studio albums, four live albums, and six compilations. Some of his best-known songs include "The Swimmin ...

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and

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, adding composing, mixing and production work to his keyboard playing. * Pix Pickford had a brief solo career, releasing two singles: "Long Drop" and "Are you Rockin'", before moving to Spain to play with 'Racket' comprising Pickford, Nik Ramsey and Arturo Tore. Later, after a personnel change the band became 'Guiri', which saw Tore being replaced by Nigel Barrett on bass/vocals and for a while included Mike Smith on guitar and

Blue Weaver Derek John "Blue" Weaver (born 11 March 1947) is a Welsh rock keyboardist, session musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Weaver's career as a musician began as a co-founding member of 1960s Welsh rock band Amen Corner and its succ ...

on piano and keyboards. After Weaver and Smith's departure, Stefan Wickenden joined the band on guitar/vocals and this continued to be the line-up. Pickford lived in

Torre del Mar Torre del Mar is a locality on the southern coast of Spain, in the municipality of Vélez-Málaga, Axarquía, located in the province of Málaga. It is a popular summer tourist resort for Spanish people. History A large 6th- to 8th-century necr ...

, and was found dead in Spain, in September 2021, after going missing on 29 August following a meal with friends. * Jeff Bannister played with

, on

Raphael Ravenscroft Raphael Ravenscroft (4 June 1954 – 19 October 2014) was a British musician, composer and author. He is best known for playing the saxophone riff on Gerry Rafferty's 1978 song "Baker Street". Early life Ravenscroft was born in the distri ...

's ''Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway'' (1979), and

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin; September 22, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music#J, Godmother of Punk", she is regarded as a Pop icon, rock icon and ...

's '' Bad Reputation'' (1980).

Discography

Albums

;As The Parlour Band * 1972: ''Is a Friend'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

Deram Records Deram Records was a subsidiary record label of Decca Records established in the United Kingdom in 1966. At the time, U.K. Decca was a different company from the Decca label in the United States, which was owned by MCA Inc. Deram recordings w ...

SDL 10 / CD: 2010, Esoteric Eclec 2192) ;As A Band Called O * 1974: ''A Band Called O'' (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

EPC 80120) UK * 1975: ''Oasis'' (CBS/Epic EPC 80596) UK * 2012 ''On the Road 1975-77'' ( Major League Productions (MLP) MLP21CD) UK ;As The O Band * 1976, ''Within Reach'' (

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

UAS 29942 / CD: 1994, Repertoire RR4419) + Bonus tracks (2002) * 1977: ''The Knife'' (United Artists UP36276 UK / CD: 1994 Repertoire RR442, Germany / CD: 2006 Repertoire)

Singles

;As A Band Called O * 1974: "Rock & Roll Clown" / "Red Light Mama Red Hot" (Epic EPCS 2677) Germany * 1974: "There Ain't Nothing I Wouldn't Do" (1Epic HOT 1 UK) (Concert promo with Sassafras & Randy Pie) * 1974: "No Manners" / "That's Up" (Epic SEPC 2721) UK ;As The O Band * 1976: "Excerpts from Within Reach" (United Artists UA-PROMO 1) UK * 1976: "A Smile Is Diamond" / "Coasting" (United Artists 36108AT) Germany * 1976: "Don't Cha Wanna" / "Coasting" (United Artists UP36108) UK * 1977: "Look to the Left" / "A Smile Is Diamond" (United Artists UP36297) UK * 1977: "Look to the Left" / "A Smile Is Diamond" / "Fine White Wine(live)" (12" red vinyl) (United Artists 12-UP36297) UK * 1977: "Almost Saturday Night" / "Love Ain't a Keeper" (United Artists UP36276) UK

References

;Further Reading ''The Alan Bown Set – Before and Beyond'' by Jeff Bannister, published by Banland Publishing Ltd {{DEFAULTSORT:Band called O English progressive rock groups English dance music groups Musical groups established in 1970 Deram Records artists Epic Records artists United Artists Records artists