The Sea Urchins

The Sea Urchins were formed in Birmingham in 1986 by James Roberts, Patrick Roberts, Simon Woodcock, Robert Cooksey, Bridget Duffy and Mark Bevin. As with many of their contemporaries in the C86, indiepop music scene, they initially released 2 split flexi disc singles through fanzines - Clingfilm (Kvatch) and Summershine (Sha la la), the flexis brought them to the attention of the newly formed Bristol record label Sarah who snapped up the band and the label's first release in the summer of 1987 was the classic Pristine Christine 7". By the time of the release Mark Bevin had been replaced by Darren Martin. The band's second single a double A-side Solace and Please rain fall was released 10 months later. The 10 month gap was minimal compared to the gap until the next and final single release on Sarah in July 1990 - A morning odyssey. During that period both Bridget Duffy and Darren Martin had both left the band but during that period the band had released 2 flexis and 3 classic singles which passed many by but those who heard them knew how special and important the band were. During 1990 a one-sided 7" was also released on the Swansea label Fierce - it was an untitled track recorded on 30.10.88. it was a beautiful and fragile ballad. It had been a frustrating but fabulous time for fans who had been fed on a diet of just 6 singles in 3 years but what singles they were!!! After the band had left Sarah they had slid out of focus into obscurity into another barron time zone, there was another 10 months or so before it was announced the band had signed to the Cheree label, it was great news to know they still existed and best of all a new single was on the way, released in May 1991 Please don't cry was a choppy guitar driven number and reminded all fans of what made the band so special, there was also a fantastic cover of Badfinger's No matter what on the B-side of the 12" version, it appeared that there was hope of greater things to come from the band but sadly there was no more, was the title a message to the fans not to cry as the band were about to split? Very little else was heard about The Sea Urchins apart from the release of 2 posthumous albums (at long last) - in 1992 Sarah released Stardust an absolutly essential compilation of the 2 flexis and 3 Sarah singles and two unreleased tracks, it summed up the total genius of the band but sadly the release was very limited and copies today easily change hands for over £50 (money well spent). In 1994 Fierce released a live album - Live in London, it featured a mock-up Who - Live in Leeds sleeve and featured rough sounding versions of the singles and a generous helping of cover versions which were a regular feature at Sea Urchins gigs. Another 2 years had passed by and had seen indiepop, Madchester and Shoegazing make way for the beginings of Britpop. In 1993 to the excitement of the fans James and Patrick announced the formation of a new band - Delta, a harder edged more mature sound was mixed together with the jangly guitars and sweet vocals from the Sea Urchins days, it worked perfectly. James, Patrick, Robert Cooksey (later replaced by Louis J. Clark), Bird and Matthew Eaton released their debut 10" single - Sugared up on the Che label, it breezed in with a full-on riff which was a million miles from the acoustic demo of the track which had been doing the rounds towards the end of the Sea Urchins career. During 1994 the band had signed to the Dishy label and by the middle of 1995 had released 3 singles - Gun EP, All my life EP and Make it right EP. All 3 singles showcased yet more flashes of brilliance that long term fans had come to expect. The boys were back in town and the music industry was finally begining to take notice so much so the band sign a deal with an off-shoot of the Acid Jazz label - Focus. During a very unproductive and restrictive contractual period nothing happended for the band, were they about to miss their big moment and ride the huge Britpop wave along with Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene and Blur, a wave they were partly responsible for creating? They recorded 1 single - I'm getting darker which only made promo stage, it was pulled and the band were locked into a contract and denied from releasing any music at all. Two years had been wasted, incredibly it took a further 2 years until 1999 before Dishy released a compilation of demos recorded during the 4 years. The sleeve notes even saw the owner of the label Guy Sirman ask if anyone could give the band some money to record their first album. The compilation sold well enough to enable the band to record their masterpiece - Slippin' out. Released in September 2000 the NME made it Album of the month, it may have taken 7 years but finally credit came the band's way and boy it was worth the long wait, classic tracks including Color madre, Everybody, It's alright and Don't bring it home were up there with any of the band's back catalogue. Following the release of The city's bigger than both of us EP on Dell'orso in 2001 the band landed a major label contract with Mercury in 2002, was the big time about to touch the band? The band released Could you as a taster single from their new album Hardlight. But once again frustration and contractual difficulties were to strike the band as Mercury had a change of heart and dropped all guitar bands from it's roster which sadly included Delta, fortunately the album had been recorded and the label gave them the masters which they released on Dell'orso later in the year. The album was pretty much the end of Delta, a fitting finale came in 2004 which saw the American label Elephant Stone release the mighty fine Singularity compilation which put together the Che 10" and the 3 Dishy EP's from the early 1990's. It was the perfect statement - DELTA REALLY WERE THAT GOOD!!! Once again a few more years passed by and it looked like the end of a long hard road may have finally arrived but in February 2006 James Roberts released a solo album - Everything you know is right on Dell'orso. It was an unexpected surprise, there was no surprise about the quality of the music though, James doing what we know and love - it even included an old demo Laughing mostly and some glorious new tunes including Anyway I lie, Yeah so and It's all made light.