Ozric Tentacles (commonly known as the Ozrics ) is an instrumental rock band from Somerset, England, whose music can loosely be described as psychedelic or space rock. Formed in 1984, the band has released 28 albums as of 2009, and become a cottage industry selling over a million albums worldwide despite never having major label backing.

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History

The original lineup met on June 21, 1984, at the Stonehenge Free Festival and its name arose from discussions of hypothetical cereal brands (Malcolm Segments, Desmond Whisps, and Gordon Lumps are among the names that were considered). In the 1980s the band built a fanbase on the festival circuit, becoming particularly associated with the Glastonbury Festival, and made a series of cassette releases, sold at gigs and via a fan club.

Its first label release was Pungent Effulgent in 1989, which was also re-released in the early 2000s, packaged with Strangeitude . This was followed by Erpland (1990), an album dedicated to the Pongmaster, a character which appears on many of the band's album artworks. 1991 saw the Strangeitude LP. The track "Sploosh!" was used by BMW in an advertising campaign and became the band's only single. By 1993 the band had grossed over three million dollars, and its Jurassic Shift album reached the Top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. ^[1]

The band has gone through myriad line-up changes, with Ed Wynne (guitar, keyboards) being the only constant presence since the beginning. Many members left to pursue more electronic music spin-off acts, such as Eat Static, Transglobal Underground, Nodens Ictus, Dubblehead and Moksha. Even Nick Van Gelder (aka Tig), drummer for Jamiroquai during the Emergency on Planet Earth era was once part of the Ozric Tentacles line up, contributing drums and songwriting on the original cassettes Tantric Obstacles and Erpsongs. Nevertheless, the band maintained its identity and continued with this prolific rate of albums throughout the 1990s, and into the new millennium. It also continued to tour extensively, releasing a live DVD in 2002 entitled "Live at the Pongmaster's Ball".

The band is famous for its live performances, fronted for years by "Jumping Jon" Egan, who used to dance around the stage in a trance-like manner while playing a variety of flutes. Ozric Tentacles has long taken an audio-visual approach to live performance, with an integrated lighting and projections crew. As of February 2009, the lineup featured Ed Wynne (guitar, synths), Ed's wife Brandi Wynne (synths), Oliver Seagle (drums, percussion) and Vinny Shillito (bass). (Vinny toured the UK in 1990 as stand-in bass player when Roly Wynne was ill and remained friends with the band after forming his own band Grooveweird with his brother Dominic.)

Musicology

Its music is a highly psychedelic mixture of thumping basslines, sound effects and keyboard and guitar work, with a sound influenced by Steve Hillage and Gong. Many of the Ozrics' songs are in unusual time signatures and/or unusual Eastern-influenced modes. Furthermore, the band often features complex arrangements which change time signature, key signature and tempo frequently in the course of a track, a well-known element present in Progressive rock. In places, this is deliberately confusing; however, there are also moments of straightforward funk-influenced grooves and a strong influence from jazz fusion.

These features are mixed with electronic elements, including densely layered psytrance- and techno-influenced arpeggiated synthesisers, pads, synth basslines, effects and programmed drumbeats. It also has a strong influence from dub and ambient music, with many quiet relaxed tracks that balance the frenetic, intense material.

The Ozrics also use a wide range of instruments in their performances. Electric and acoustic guitars, flutes, recorders, xylophones and even sounds of digitally tweaked human voices appear throughout.

Discography

Cassettes

• Erpsongs (1984/5)
• Tantric Obstacles (1985/6)
• There Is Nothing (1986)
• Live Ethereal Cereal (1986/7)
• Sliding Gliding Worlds (1988)
• Wonderful Sploshy Things (1988/9)
• The Bits Between the Bits (1989)

Albums

• Erpsongs (1985) DOVE OT1
• Tantric Obstacles (1985) DOVE OT2
• Live Ethereal Cereal (1986) DOVE OT3
• There is Nothing (1986) DOVE OT4
• Sliding Gliding Worlds (1988) DOVE OT5
• The Bits Between the Bits (1989) DOVE OT6

:The first six albums were released as a CD box set called Vitamin Enhanced Ozric Tentacles

• Pungent Effulgent (Feb. 1989) DOVE CD2, DOVE LP2
• Erpland (Nov. 1990) DOVE CD1, DOVE LP1, DOVE MC1

:Erpland and Pungent Effluent are both shown as being released in 1990 on Discogs.org

• Sploosh / Live Throbbe EP (July 1991) DOVE ST3
• Strangeitude (aug 1991) DOVE CD3, DOVE LP3
• Afterswish (1992) DOVE CD4 (double) (compilation of material from early cassette releases, with 3 previously unreleased tracks)
• Live Underslunky (apr 1992) DOVE CD5, DOVE LP5
• Jurassic Shift (1993) DOVE CD6, DOVE LP6
• Arborescence (1994) DOVE CD7
• Vitamin Enhanced DOVE BOX1 (1994) - CD box set of the first six cassette releases
• Become The Other (1995) DOVE CD8
• Curious Corn (1997)
• Spice Doubt (1998)
• Waterfall Cities (1999)
• Floating Seeds (1999)
• The Hidden Step (2000)
• Swirly Termination (2000)
• Pyramidion EP (2000)
• Tantric Obstacles - Erpsongs re-release (2000)
• Live at The Pongmasters Ball (2002) - live DVD
• Eternal Wheel (The Best Of)
• Spirals in Hyperspace (2004)
• The Floor's Too Far Away (2006)
• Sunrise Festival (2008)
• The Yum Yum Tree (2009)

Former members

Jon Egan parted company with the band in 2005 and is now playing with space rock outfit Dream Machine (along with ex-Ozric Joie Hinton, among others). He has also played with ex-Ozric Zia Geelani's dance and electronica band (ZubZub), as well as his own band Champignon, playing eclectic, spacey world music with Alex Pym (Dream Machine) and Mindflux (Dream Machine). Jon also recently contributed to the lesser known band 'JC's Flatline Junkies' (www.myspace.com/jcsflatlinejunkies) and their first album Brass Ladies and Butterflies (2007), playing flutes on the three songs, "Crawling off the Sliproads", "Flatline" and "Passing Song".

References

1. British Hit Singles & Albums