Artists
Biography
Rothko was formed in the spring of 1997, taking their name and inspiration from Russian/American colourfield painter, Mark Rothko.
The first incarnation was a three piece band consisting of Mark Beazley, Jon Meade and Crawford Blair all on bass guitar. "I knew Jon from the group Geiger Counter and he kindly agreed to play bass (even though he'd never played one before)" says Rothko mainman Mark, "I then met Crawford through the music ads in Melody Maker. The second time Crawford and I met, and the first time we played together and before the group had even rehearsed, we somehow recorded the tracks, 'Terrible Scrape' and 'Suddenly Becomes Light'. That day, for me, was the start of the group."
"The early days of rehearsal were pretty strange; finding our individual space while all playing bass guitar was difficult but it soon became something we felt very happy with. Within a few months and with the help of Nigel Adams at Narwhal Recordings, we played our first gig, at the Hope And Anchor in London in August 1997. We played with a band called Monkey Boy, who we still remain great friends with. Paul from the band set up the original Rothko web-site."
"At our fifth gig, Simon Williams of Fierce Panda was in attendance, liked us and offered to release our first single (we thought he was joking until we saw the review he gave us in the following weeks NME). The track, 'For Danny' (featuring a sample of the double-bass playing of folk-rock legend Danny Thompson), was the result. We were also the first band to be released on Fierce Panda offshoot Livid Meerkat with the 7" single, 'Seventyseven A’ / ‘Undone'. Julian Standen produced all three tracks."
Since that first single, there have been three albums on Jon Tye's Lo Recordings label (including the debut album 'A Negative For Francis'), various EP's, 7", 10" and 12" singles, split singles, collaborations and exclusive tracks on compilation albums by Leaf, Lo Recordings, Arbouse Recordings and Foundry.
"We worked twice with Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins, who runs the Bella Union label, the first result of which was the 'Truth Burns' EP on Foundry Recordings (which also went out as a radio session for XFM on the John Kennedy show) and 'In The Pulse Of An Artery' (a Sunday Times Album of the Year (2001), which was part of the Bella Union 7 Series set of releases. That year also saw them tour as support to Porcupine Tree (including an unforgettable gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire) which, in Mark’s words, "was an amazing experience".
The last release as the original bass trio line-up was the live album, 'Not Gone. Not Forgotten.' in October 2001, featuring mainly unreleased material and a track from the first-ever Rothko gig at The Hope And Anchor. The last live performance by the original line-up was for Radio 3's 'Mixing It' programme at Ocean in Hackney in July 2001 (broadcast both on Radio 3 and the BBC radio website).
"I can't stress enough at how amazing the four and half years with myself, Jon and Crawford were. We had some incredible journeys and experiences and got to meet and work with some incredible people. It wasn't all good, I'd be lying if I said it was - there were some very dark times. The good far outweighed the bad, however, and, considering we were usually referred to as 'a novelty', our achievements as a bass trio speak for themselves.
From August 2001, the line-up of the band has consisted of myself and the musicians from the group Delicate AWOL; Michael Donnelly (also on bass), Jim Version (guitars), Caroline Ross (guitars, vocals, percussion and flute), Tom Page (drums and guitars), Ben Page (keyboards and percussion) and Jo Wright (trumpet).
The final release for Lo Recordings, 'Waters Edge', a collaboration with noted Japanese avant-gardist Susumu Yokota will be released in April followed by the first release for too pure, a 7" single entitled 'Red Cells'. The album, 'A Continual Search for Origns', will follow in May.
More later…
The first incarnation was a three piece band consisting of Mark Beazley, Jon Meade and Crawford Blair all on bass guitar. "I knew Jon from the group Geiger Counter and he kindly agreed to play bass (even though he'd never played one before)" says Rothko mainman Mark, "I then met Crawford through the music ads in Melody Maker. The second time Crawford and I met, and the first time we played together and before the group had even rehearsed, we somehow recorded the tracks, 'Terrible Scrape' and 'Suddenly Becomes Light'. That day, for me, was the start of the group."
"The early days of rehearsal were pretty strange; finding our individual space while all playing bass guitar was difficult but it soon became something we felt very happy with. Within a few months and with the help of Nigel Adams at Narwhal Recordings, we played our first gig, at the Hope And Anchor in London in August 1997. We played with a band called Monkey Boy, who we still remain great friends with. Paul from the band set up the original Rothko web-site."
"At our fifth gig, Simon Williams of Fierce Panda was in attendance, liked us and offered to release our first single (we thought he was joking until we saw the review he gave us in the following weeks NME). The track, 'For Danny' (featuring a sample of the double-bass playing of folk-rock legend Danny Thompson), was the result. We were also the first band to be released on Fierce Panda offshoot Livid Meerkat with the 7" single, 'Seventyseven A’ / ‘Undone'. Julian Standen produced all three tracks."
Since that first single, there have been three albums on Jon Tye's Lo Recordings label (including the debut album 'A Negative For Francis'), various EP's, 7", 10" and 12" singles, split singles, collaborations and exclusive tracks on compilation albums by Leaf, Lo Recordings, Arbouse Recordings and Foundry.
"We worked twice with Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins, who runs the Bella Union label, the first result of which was the 'Truth Burns' EP on Foundry Recordings (which also went out as a radio session for XFM on the John Kennedy show) and 'In The Pulse Of An Artery' (a Sunday Times Album of the Year (2001), which was part of the Bella Union 7 Series set of releases. That year also saw them tour as support to Porcupine Tree (including an unforgettable gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire) which, in Mark’s words, "was an amazing experience".
The last release as the original bass trio line-up was the live album, 'Not Gone. Not Forgotten.' in October 2001, featuring mainly unreleased material and a track from the first-ever Rothko gig at The Hope And Anchor. The last live performance by the original line-up was for Radio 3's 'Mixing It' programme at Ocean in Hackney in July 2001 (broadcast both on Radio 3 and the BBC radio website).
"I can't stress enough at how amazing the four and half years with myself, Jon and Crawford were. We had some incredible journeys and experiences and got to meet and work with some incredible people. It wasn't all good, I'd be lying if I said it was - there were some very dark times. The good far outweighed the bad, however, and, considering we were usually referred to as 'a novelty', our achievements as a bass trio speak for themselves.
From August 2001, the line-up of the band has consisted of myself and the musicians from the group Delicate AWOL; Michael Donnelly (also on bass), Jim Version (guitars), Caroline Ross (guitars, vocals, percussion and flute), Tom Page (drums and guitars), Ben Page (keyboards and percussion) and Jo Wright (trumpet).
The final release for Lo Recordings, 'Waters Edge', a collaboration with noted Japanese avant-gardist Susumu Yokota will be released in April followed by the first release for too pure, a 7" single entitled 'Red Cells'. The album, 'A Continual Search for Origns', will follow in May.
More later…