Spraydog are an English band that formed in 1994 in

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at ...

and Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Biography

Formed around 1994, Spraydog have released five studio albums, (4 on their own Ferric Mordant label), nine EPs on Beautiful Pigeon Records, and numerous singles and compilation contributions on a variety of independent labels including

Fierce Panda Fierce Panda Records is a London-based independent record label, with its first release in February 1994. It also produced a small number of releases that year by now famous artists such as Ash, The Bluetones, Baby Bird and Supergrass. Fie ...

, Stupidcat and Fortuna Pop! Their most recent album, ''Karate Summer Camp'' was released in late 2006. They have recorded two

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

sessions for DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

. Spraydog kick-started their career touring with the band

Kenickie Kenickie were an English four-piece pop punk band from Sunderland. The band was formed in 1994 and consisted of lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Lauren Laverne (b. Lauren Gofton), drummer Johnny X (real name Pete Gofton, Lauren's brother ...

and continue to play live both in their home town and occasionally elsewhere in the UK and Europe. According to their MySpace profile, their musical influences include

Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas ar ...

, My Bloody Valentine and Pavement. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' magazine described them in 2006 as "very great, scrummy lo-fi scuzz". Spraydog celebrated their 20th anniversary in April 2017.

Band members

The current line-up consists of: *Steve Robson (vocals, guitar) *Maria Fontana (vocals) *Phil Tyler (guitar) *James Atkinson (bass) *Jonny Partington (drums)

Additional information

*Phil has a sideline as a folk duo performing

shape note Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the notehe ...

and early American folk songs *Chris Lanigan also plays drums in the current line-up of Milky Wimpshake and Phil frequently guests in the same band on fiddle *Maria Fontana played the dental nurse in the Royal Television Society award-winning 2002 short film ''Danny and His Amazing Teeth'' *A compilation album of early material, ''Lines Are Drawn Only By The Eye'' was released in the USA on Kittridge Records *The cover artwork of all Spraydog albums and the majority of their singles is by long-time Spraydog collaborator Sarah E Hall and Jason Gibbons *Acclaimed singer-songwriter and poet Neville Clay contributes the spoken-word part on the Spraydog track "Amaranth"

References

* {{Authority control English indie rock groups