Fulborn Teversham are the mind-blowing new
group of Seb Rochford, the extraordinarily in-demand and prolific
drummer/composer, leader of Mercury Music prize nominees Polar Bear, and winner
of BBC Jazz award for Rising Star 2004.
Fulborn Teversham pursue a more eclectic,
and less overtly jazz direction than Polar Bear, or indeed Rochford’s other
acclaimed group, Acoustic Ladyland, incorporating elements of electronica,
Bablicon/Henry Cow-style prog and post punk. With clever balancing of cosmic and
acoustic sounds, Seb Rochford (drums), Nick Ramm (Nord synthesizer), Pete
Wareham (saxophones), and Alice Grant (vocals), set up an intimate and thrilling
improvisational post-punk post-jazz chamber music for the future.
Forget the jokes about drummers being people
who hang out with musicians - Seb Rochford is a music academy graduate who plays
several instruments and can converse about any genre from modern classical to
grind core. He does, however, hang out with an inordinate number of musicians,
playing with 'about 10 different bands', at the last count, including the
acclaimed Polar Bear, whose recent album, ‘Held on the Tips of Fingers’, was
nominated for the highly prestigious 2005 Mercury Music Prize. It went on to
appear in the top 100 all time jazz recordings that shook the World in Jazzwise
Magazine in 2006.
Rochford has also performed and recorded
with Pete Wareham's Acoustic Ladyland, Julia Biel, Ingrid Laubrock, Oriole,
Juliet Kelly, and Tim Richards among others. He also appears in various alt rock
bands such as Menlo Park and Paul the Girl. Among his many ventures, Seb
appeared at the Patti Smith Meltdown concert at the Barbican, drumming for Yoko
Ono alongside her son and guitarist, Sean Lennon, and in October 2006, he
appeared at the newly renovated Camden roundhouse for the Electric Proms, in duo
with Soft Machine legend, bassist Hugh Hopper. Seb was also the subject of a
recent major feature in the Observer Music Monthly magazine.
Pete Wareham is a graduate of Leeds College
of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music. He played tenor and baritone sax in
the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (1997-99), and was a prize-winner at the 1997
Young Jazz Musician of the Year. But it was his masterminding of Acoustic
Ladyland and partnership with Seb Rochford that have brought him the highest
accolades. Winning Best Band at the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards, and 'Last Chance
Disco's’ nomination there for Best Album, has made Acoustic Ladyland a near
household name, captivating new and unexpected audiences with its hip London
punk-jazz. Pete has brought his fiery sax playing to a wide variety of other
projects including Polar Bear, and Jonathan Bratoeff's latest quartet CD.
Alice Grant is a singer with a very
distinctive, punky, deadpan, English-accented vocal style. She also sings (and
plays assorted musical instruments) with Leafcutter John, and has provided
vocals on the new Acoustic Ladyland album. She also has her own group, Normal
Gimbel.
Sydney-born Nic Ramm, studied at the
Guildhall School of Music, under Simon Purcell, John Taylor and Bosco de
Oliviera. He has performed as keyboardist/pianist with many of the F-IRE
collective projects, including Acoustic Ladyland, Jade Fox, Timeline, Synergy,
and the F-IRE Collective Large Ensemble. He also has his own group, Clown
Revisted, whose debut album of circus-inspired music, ‘Flashes of a Normal
Woorld’ was released on F-IRE in 2006.