Mostly Autumn тобы: тарихы мен құрамы

English rock band

Mostly Autumn are an English rock band. The group formed in 1995 and have built their reputation through constant touring, never signing to a major label. They produce music heavily influenced by 1970s progressive rock. According to the BBC, Mostly Autumn "fuse the music of Genesis and Pink Floyd with Celtic themes, hard rock and strong, emotional melodies". Olivia Sparnenn joined the band in 2005 to provide backing vocals. Ben Matthews of Thunder stood in on keyboards for Mostly Autumn's headline gig at the Baja Prog Festival in Mexico in March 2006. Chris Johnson was then recruited as a permanent replacement, with Angela (now under her married name Gordon) also taking a more prominent role on keyboards. At the beginning of 2007, both guitarist Liam Davison and drummer Andrew Jennings left the band; Davison to concentrate on his solo album and Jennings to devote his time to his other projects. The guitar parts were shared out amongst the rest of the group. Ex Karnataka drummer Gavin Griffiths stood in on drums for most of the 2007 live shows; Andrew Jennings temporarily rejoined the group at the end of 2007, until Henry Bourne took over in 2008. Gavin Griffiths returned for the first shows of 2009 in Manchester and London. After Chris Johnson and Angela Gordon left in 2007, Iain Jennings and Liam Davison returned to the group on keyboards and guitar respectively. Anne Marie Helder (who had played support slots in the past and stood in for Angela during her pregnancy) took over the role of flute, keyboards and backing vocals. A new studio album entitled Glass Shadows was released in early 2008 and an accompanying tour took place in spring and early summer. A 100 minute DVD, 'The Making of Glass Shadows', accompanied the special pre order version of the album. During October 2008, Mostly Autumn performed two gigs with an alternative, semi acoustic line up in support of the Bad Shepherds. The line up consisted of Bryan Josh (guitar and vocals), Olivia Sparnenn (lead vocals), Andy Smith (bass), Anne Marie Helder (keyboards and flute) and Robbie Baxter (drums). This tour was truncated after the Bad Shepherds cancelled many dates. Mostly Autumn have their own independent record label and choose to finance each album release itself. The group typically prints a limited edition of each album and sells those to cover their recording costs. A retail version of the album is then made available via retail outlets, distributors, the group's concerts and through their website. Up to and including Heart Full of Sky (2006), Mostly Autumn's albums have started with the last few seconds of the previous album's final song. This tradition was dropped with the release of Glass Shadows (2008). At the beginning of 2010, Heather Findlay announced her intention to leave the band to focus on solo work and on her family. She performed her last gig with the band at Leamington Spa Assembly on 2 April 2010. This was filmed, and released as a 2 disc DVD under the name That Night in Leamington, which also included a 30 minute interview with Josh and Findlay. After her departure, Olivia Sparnenn stepped into the lead role, and the band's next album Go Well Diamond Heart was released in 2010. Bryan Josh and Olivia Sparnenn were married on 21 June 2013. From mid 2013 onwards, Helder and Griffiths were absent from the band's touring line up due to other commitments; their positions being temporarily filled by keyboardist Hannah Hird and drummer Alex Cromarty. In March 2014, it was revealed by Bryan Josh on the band's official website that Griffiths had decided to leave the band and that Cromarty was now his official replacement. With this line up the band then recorded their eleventh album, Dressed in Voices. In May 2014, shortly prior to the release of Dressed in Voices, Josh announced that founding member Liam Davison had left the band and had been replaced by returning member Chris Johnson, and this new line up recorded the live album Box of Tears. In the autumn of 2014, Josh and Sparnenn – as "Mostly Autumn Acoustic" – supported Steve Hackett on the UK leg of his "Genesis Extended" tour. In mid 2015, former Mostly Autumn flautist and keyboardist Angela Gordon replaced Hannah Hird in the band's touring line up; whilst no official statement was made at the time, the band have now acknowledged that Gordon had officially replaced Helder in the band's line up, and with this new line up the band recorded its next album, Sight of Day. On 5 November 2017, the band announced that founding guitarist Liam Davison had died.

Founding members Bryan Josh, Liam Davison, Heidi Widdop, Alun Hughes, Bob Faulds and Chris Walton played in the Pink Floyd/1970s tribute band One Stoned Snowman. They disbanded at the end of 1995, largely due to the popularity of Mostly Autumn. Liam Davison and Alun Hughes played with the hard rock band Life Support from their founding in 1994 until leaving at the same time during 1996. Life Support split up in 1999. Heather Findlay contributed to Arjen Lucassen's 'Ayreon' project on The Human Equation album in 2004, singing the part of "Love". Iain Jennings left the band at the beginning of 2006 to pursue his own musical ambitions and formed his own band, Breathing Space, as well as contributing to projects by other artists and even becoming a Music Technology teacher at Huntington School, York, a local Comprehensive. He recruited then Mostly Autumn backing vocalist Olivia Sparnenn to sing lead vocals and the pair, along with various other musicians recorded three albums. Despite his return to the Mostly Autumn fold in 2008, Iain remained a member and core songwriter in Breathing Space. In April 2010, Sparnenn took over lead vocals in Mostly Autumn so decided to stop working with Breathing Space. Breathing Space continued for a short while with original Mostly Autumn vocalist Heidi Widdop, before splitting up. During 2005 Heather Findlay and Angela Gordon formed an acoustic side project called Odin Dragonfly (an anagram of their surnames), making live appearances both as a support act and as headliners. In August 2007 they released their first album, Offerings, which was followed by Sirens in 2022. Both Anne Marie Helder and Gavin Griffiths are members of Panic Room, and were previously members of Karnataka. Following a one off project in 2019 involving Iain Jennings and York rock band Godson (which includes founding Mostly Autumn bassist Alun Hughes), Iain became a full member of Godson in August 2020. They subsequently changed their name to The Tower Radio and are working on their eponymous first album. This has been delayed by COVID 19 restrictions and is now planned for release in 2022.

ImageNameYears activeInstrumentsRelease contributionsBryan Josh 1995–presentlead and backing vocals, lead guitar, keyboardsall releasesIain Jennings1995–2006, 2007–presentkeyboards, backing vocalsall releases, except Glass Shadows (2008)Angela Gordon 1999–2007, 2015–presentflutes, keyboards, recorders, whistles, percussion, backing vocalsall releases from For All We Shared (1998) to Heart Full of Sky (2006) and from Sight of Day (2017) onwardsAndy Smith 2000–presentbass all releases from The Last Bright Light (2001) onwardsOlivia Sparnenn Josh2004–presentlead and backing vocals, percussion, keyboardsall releases from Storms over London Town (2006) onwardsChris Johnson 2006–2007, 2014–presentrhythm & acoustic guitars, keyboards, backing and lead vocalsHenry Rogers 2018–presentdrums all releases from White Rainbow (2019) onwards

ImageNameYears activeInstrumentsRelease contributionsLiam Davisonrhythm, lead & acoustic guitars, backing and occasional lead vocalsall releases until Dressed in Voices (2014), except Glass Shadows (2008)Bob Faulds1995–2000violins Kev Gibbons 1995–1999whistles For All We Shared (1998)Heidi Widdop1995–1996vocals noneAlun Hughesbass, keyboardsChris Waltondrums Stuart Carver 1996–2000bass Allan Scott1996–1999drums For All We Shared (1998)Heather Findlay 1996–2010lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitars, keyboards, recorders, whistles, percussionall releases until That Night in Leamington (2010)Rob McNeil1999–2000drums The Spirit of Autumn Past (1999)Jonathan Blackmore 2000–2004all releases from The Last Bright Light (2001) to The Next Chapter (2003)Andrew Jennings 2004–2007, 2007Gavin Griffithsall releases from Live 2009 (CD 2009) to The Ghost Moon Orchestra (2012)Anne Marie Helder 2007–2015flutes, keyboards, acoustic guitars, recorders, whistles, percussion, backing vocalsHenry Bourne2007–2008drums Glass Shadows (2008)Robbie Baxter2008–2009noneAlex Cromarty2014–2018