There are at least two acts named The Lorelei:
1. The most scrobbled The Lorelei song, S.T.O.P. (STOP), was a single by an American soul/R&B group of this name, which became very popular in the United Kingdom during the Northern Soul craze of the 1970s.
2. The Lorelei is (or was?) a Scottish band from Dyce, Scotland, U.K., active between 1990 and 1997, and 2005 and onwards.
The following biography is about The Lorelei #2, from Scotland:
The Lorelei formed in 1990 in a garage in Dyce with Jonny and Beefy being original members along with Martin Watson, the original singer. Over the next 2 years The Lorelei settled on a line up which apart from John.S.Martin, The Lorelei’s new frontman, remains to this day.
After being selected by M8 magazine to feature on a free tape of Scottish unsigned talent, The Lorelei were offered a 2 album deal with Lochshore records. The Lorelei went on to record their 2 albums “Headstrong” and “ Progression”.
The Lorelei spent 7 years touring from Lerwick to London doing more than 100 gigs a year. Gigs ranged from playing in small bars to a few locals to playing to a huge crowd at the Royal Concert Hall as part of Celtic Connections in 1995. Managed originally by Rob Swan and then by Tam Balloch they built up a solid fan base across the country, becoming regular features in venues throughout Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. Touring was constant and The Lorelei way of life was based around travelling, playing, drinking and laughing – their reputation for having a good time preceeded them. This was part of the whole charm of The Lorelei, and something that remains with them to the present day. Fans of the Lorelei are loyal – known as the Clangers, and The Lorelei continue sell the first two albums all over the world. After constant touring and living in a yellow transit van together for too many years, The Lorelei split….Until now!
In summer 2005 Jonny and Beefy met at The Tartan Heart festival and got talking (engineered in part by Rob Swan!). On the Saturday night of that weekend Jonny, Beefy, Flossie and Keith sat down and played together and talked about days gone by and how much they missed playing together. That afternoon, Beefy and Flossie bumped into promoter Rob Ellen who immediately asked “Are the whole band here? ‘Cause we could get you on for a slot!” This was the point that the seed was sown in Beefy’s head about getting The Lorelei back together.
After 6 months of emailing and discussing getting back together, The Lorelei finally met on the 9th of January 2006 at Beefy’s house to have a go with a new singer Mr John .S. Martin. John was a close friend to The Lorelei as he had played in The Dawntreaders- another Aberdeen band who had spent many years touring all over Europe.
It was clear immediately that it was going to work and they decided on that afternoon not to try and relive old glories and have a public early mid life crisis but, The Lorelei would concentrate on writing new material and move on.
In July of 2006 The Lorelei relaunched with a sell out show at Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree. No one has been more surprised than the band themselves at the interest they have generated in the 12 months.
Since The Lorelei reappeared in July 06 they have launched their website, www.thelorelei.co.uk recorded a live DVD, due for release in summer 2007, were invited to record a brand new track for the Fat Hippy Sampler Vol 2, had a new track “Home” used in a Barnardos DVD, had airplay on Northsound, Xfm, BBC radio 2, BBC 6 music, Radio Scotland and Moray Firth Radio and rounded off 2006 with a special Christmas show to another capacity crowd at The Lemon Tree.
The Lorelei were also invited to submit a track for the cover CD of the September issue of Rock’n’Reel magazine - very exciting as The Lorelei are the only unsigned band to be included in Rock’n’Reel’s cover CD series. The Lorelei opened the Tartan Heart festival this year and supported Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls (The Wonderstuff) on the May leg of their acoustic tour.
This has all been tied together with The Lorelei releasing an EP of new recordings in August 07. The EP entitled “ Home” is 6 brand new tracks written by The Lorelei. They are highly charged and emotional tunes and the band have retained their high octane approach to folksy rootsy rock. The songs are about life experience from a personal and collective point of view as musicians, teachers, doctors, community workers, husbands, wives, fathers and most importantly observers. The title track “Home” is simply about the band getting back together not really being a choice but a need.
The Lorelei now look forward to a brand new and more positive outlook on their musical career. They lost their way once before and are even more determined not to loose it again – to enjoy playing, writing and growing old together until they can’t any more. Older and wiser maybe? Older and wider…definitely!
The Lorelei have been described in many ways:
“The Lorelei have managed to create a new musical genre – Total Thrash Speed Folk.
It’s a wild and energetic sound with savage guitars mixed with acoustic instrumentation”
Rock’n’Reel Magazine Issue19
“Though born of the folky, rootsy rhythms and acoustic afternoons spent busking,
The Lorelei were always more urban energy than fisherman’s blues.”
M8 1992
“ The Pogues and The Screaming Trees swaggering home drunk”
Time Out 1994
“ The Waterboys after too much marching powder”
Time Out 1995
“Truly contemporary, like some mental post-modern hardcore world music pathfinder general,
the mix’n’match melody merchants.”
The Scotsman 1995
“Live, there is no other band to touch them for a stomingly good gig, sort of like a punk ceilidh.”
Evening Express 1994
““….Folk tinged with sub-pop guitar grunge is perhaps the best way to describe The Lorelei’s
unique and beautifully crafted sound. It’s a fusing of disparate genres which looks like an impossiblility on paper; live, however, the Lorelei’s music is compelling.”
M8 magazine 1995
“Their music has been described “adrenalin driven anthems of urban energy born of folksy
rootsy rhythms and afternoon’s spent busking.”
Scottish Music magazine 1995
1. The most scrobbled The Lorelei song, S.T.O.P. (STOP), was a single by an American soul/R&B group of this name, which became very popular in the United Kingdom during the Northern Soul craze of the 1970s.
2. The Lorelei is (or was?) a Scottish band from Dyce, Scotland, U.K., active between 1990 and 1997, and 2005 and onwards.
The following biography is about The Lorelei #2, from Scotland:
The Lorelei formed in 1990 in a garage in Dyce with Jonny and Beefy being original members along with Martin Watson, the original singer. Over the next 2 years The Lorelei settled on a line up which apart from John.S.Martin, The Lorelei’s new frontman, remains to this day.
After being selected by M8 magazine to feature on a free tape of Scottish unsigned talent, The Lorelei were offered a 2 album deal with Lochshore records. The Lorelei went on to record their 2 albums “Headstrong” and “ Progression”.
The Lorelei spent 7 years touring from Lerwick to London doing more than 100 gigs a year. Gigs ranged from playing in small bars to a few locals to playing to a huge crowd at the Royal Concert Hall as part of Celtic Connections in 1995. Managed originally by Rob Swan and then by Tam Balloch they built up a solid fan base across the country, becoming regular features in venues throughout Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. Touring was constant and The Lorelei way of life was based around travelling, playing, drinking and laughing – their reputation for having a good time preceeded them. This was part of the whole charm of The Lorelei, and something that remains with them to the present day. Fans of the Lorelei are loyal – known as the Clangers, and The Lorelei continue sell the first two albums all over the world. After constant touring and living in a yellow transit van together for too many years, The Lorelei split….Until now!
In summer 2005 Jonny and Beefy met at The Tartan Heart festival and got talking (engineered in part by Rob Swan!). On the Saturday night of that weekend Jonny, Beefy, Flossie and Keith sat down and played together and talked about days gone by and how much they missed playing together. That afternoon, Beefy and Flossie bumped into promoter Rob Ellen who immediately asked “Are the whole band here? ‘Cause we could get you on for a slot!” This was the point that the seed was sown in Beefy’s head about getting The Lorelei back together.
After 6 months of emailing and discussing getting back together, The Lorelei finally met on the 9th of January 2006 at Beefy’s house to have a go with a new singer Mr John .S. Martin. John was a close friend to The Lorelei as he had played in The Dawntreaders- another Aberdeen band who had spent many years touring all over Europe.
It was clear immediately that it was going to work and they decided on that afternoon not to try and relive old glories and have a public early mid life crisis but, The Lorelei would concentrate on writing new material and move on.
In July of 2006 The Lorelei relaunched with a sell out show at Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree. No one has been more surprised than the band themselves at the interest they have generated in the 12 months.
Since The Lorelei reappeared in July 06 they have launched their website, www.thelorelei.co.uk recorded a live DVD, due for release in summer 2007, were invited to record a brand new track for the Fat Hippy Sampler Vol 2, had a new track “Home” used in a Barnardos DVD, had airplay on Northsound, Xfm, BBC radio 2, BBC 6 music, Radio Scotland and Moray Firth Radio and rounded off 2006 with a special Christmas show to another capacity crowd at The Lemon Tree.
The Lorelei were also invited to submit a track for the cover CD of the September issue of Rock’n’Reel magazine - very exciting as The Lorelei are the only unsigned band to be included in Rock’n’Reel’s cover CD series. The Lorelei opened the Tartan Heart festival this year and supported Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls (The Wonderstuff) on the May leg of their acoustic tour.
This has all been tied together with The Lorelei releasing an EP of new recordings in August 07. The EP entitled “ Home” is 6 brand new tracks written by The Lorelei. They are highly charged and emotional tunes and the band have retained their high octane approach to folksy rootsy rock. The songs are about life experience from a personal and collective point of view as musicians, teachers, doctors, community workers, husbands, wives, fathers and most importantly observers. The title track “Home” is simply about the band getting back together not really being a choice but a need.
The Lorelei now look forward to a brand new and more positive outlook on their musical career. They lost their way once before and are even more determined not to loose it again – to enjoy playing, writing and growing old together until they can’t any more. Older and wiser maybe? Older and wider…definitely!
The Lorelei have been described in many ways:
“The Lorelei have managed to create a new musical genre – Total Thrash Speed Folk.
It’s a wild and energetic sound with savage guitars mixed with acoustic instrumentation”
Rock’n’Reel Magazine Issue19
“Though born of the folky, rootsy rhythms and acoustic afternoons spent busking,
The Lorelei were always more urban energy than fisherman’s blues.”
M8 1992
“ The Pogues and The Screaming Trees swaggering home drunk”
Time Out 1994
“ The Waterboys after too much marching powder”
Time Out 1995
“Truly contemporary, like some mental post-modern hardcore world music pathfinder general,
the mix’n’match melody merchants.”
The Scotsman 1995
“Live, there is no other band to touch them for a stomingly good gig, sort of like a punk ceilidh.”
Evening Express 1994
““….Folk tinged with sub-pop guitar grunge is perhaps the best way to describe The Lorelei’s
unique and beautifully crafted sound. It’s a fusing of disparate genres which looks like an impossiblility on paper; live, however, the Lorelei’s music is compelling.”
M8 magazine 1995
“Their music has been described “adrenalin driven anthems of urban energy born of folksy
rootsy rhythms and afternoon’s spent busking.”
Scottish Music magazine 1995
Soul