The Lazily Spun are: Matt Woolham - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, soundscapes, sound manipulation, bike & bell Harry
Sumnall - bass, harmonium, guitars, q-chord, percussion, tamboura,
sitar, autoharp, gopichand, synthesisers, mellotron, sampling, sound
FX, soundscapes, theremin, bells & whistles James Pagella - drums and Ire~Sensi Wisdom Juan Bercial-Velez - lead guitar & ritual theremin-pole dancing
With
co-founding member Anshu Asthana (currently a London based freelance
designer), and exploding from a fluctuating free-lifestyle awash with
entheogens, the band crafted their sound based upon their love of far
out 60s psychedelia, contemporary psych-miscreants, mycology, and
studio trickery. Gigs in Manchester (UK) caught the ear of local music
legends John Squire (Stone Roses) and Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets) who
offered guidance on the golden road (to unlimited devotion). A lovingly
crafted demo tape was recorded in 1996, capturing the attention of
respected the Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine. A feature article and
tracks for consecutive Terrascope 7" releases releases - "Old Guy" and
"A Puce Moment" (the latter a cover of the legendary Hermit by Kenneth
Anger soundcraft wizard Jonathon Halper) led to a hasty assembled
private issue of the band's tunes. Despite being considered a 'demo'
(with a view to re-recording with better equipment at a later date) the
album was well received in the underground scene and "The Whole" was
included on the Camera Obscura compilation Serotonin Ronin II). An EP,
Double B Side, was recorded for Earworm records, gaining national
airplay on John Peel's Radio 1 show.
Partly due to
disillusionment with the Lazily Spun's slow progress, internal
tensions, and challenging life events, the original band slowly
dissipated. Harry moved cities to Liverpool in order to pursue (and
complete in 2002!) a PhD in the psychopharmacology of MDMA, and all
seemed lost. Matt resolved many complications by laying down tracks
that were to form the backbone of the new Lazily Spun sound.
Reconnecting with Harry, the band rehearsed songs with new members
until settling with the current (perfect!) line up. James and Juan were
both Liverpool based musicians playing and recording with the Living
Brain, Vitamina, and Hand Museum. (Sidebar: Harry joins James in
Zukanican, a dense free-form outfit dripping with klanging Krautrock
influences - debut release expected on Pickled Egg records in late
2002/early 2003).
Photo Scott SterbenzFrom original demos to
final mixdown The Lazily Spun's debut album was assembled over 3 years
and released on Camera Obscura in March 2003. Some sound samples date
back to the first phase of the Lazily Spun and the album features all
key members of the band's history in some sonic shape or form. Songs
were recorded at Matt and Harry's PC based home-studios (Manchester
& Liverpool), Testa Rosa studios (Manchester), Elevator Studios
(Liverpool) and Living Brain rehearsal studio (Liverpool).
Their
name derives from classic experiments performed in the 1950's whereby
flies were injected with various drugs (mescaline, cannabis
preparation, LSD, and caffeine) and then fed to the spider
Zilla-x-notata Cl. The subsequent webs produced by the spiders were
then analysed. LSD and mescaline webs looked as if they were "lazily
spun" (!).
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