Octopus were a

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

band from

Shotts Shotts is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The village has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

formed in 1993. They had three hit singles before splitting up in 1997.

History

The band was formed in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland (near Glasgow) by schoolfriends Marc Shearer (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Alan McSeveney (guitar), Steven McSeveney (bass guitar) and Bob Holmes (drums). The group relocated to London and recruited drummer Oliver Grasset (replacing Holmes).Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 898-9 After playing several times in London (the first of which included a visit and constructive critique from

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...

)Roberts, Leo (1996) "Damon's leg-up for Octopus", '' The Mirror'', 31 October 1996 Octopus were spotted by

Levitation Levitation (from Latin ''levitas'' "lightness") is the process by which an object is held aloft in a stable position, without mechanical support via any physical contact. Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteracts ...

drummer

David Francolini David Thomas Giuseppe Francolini (born 13 September 1969) is an English rock drummer, songwriter and record producer, best known as the drummer in Dark Star and Levitation. Career Prior to forming Levitation, Francolini played with several ban ...

. He passed their demo to

Food Records Food Records was a British rock record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe (formally of Zoo Records), who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade Distr ...

boss

Andy Ross Andrew Ross is an American musician. He has been the guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist for the rock band OK Go since 2005. He is also behind a solo project, Secret Dakota Ring, which released albums in 2004 and 2008. Ross is also co-founder of ...

, who signed the band, releasing their debut single, "Magazine" in March 1996. While retaining the four-piece creative core, the band onstage had by now expanded to an octet with the addition of trumpeters James Donaldson and Andrew Blick (the latter also of Blowpipe), pianist Mike Servent and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

player Nick Reynolds (son of Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds).Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , p. 307 Octopus toured with

Sleeper A sleeper is a person who is sleeping. Sleeper may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Sleeper (Marvel Comics), a Nazi German robot utilized by the Red Skull in Marvel Comics * The Sleeper (Wild Cards), a character in the Wild Ca ...

and second single "Your Smile" gave them their first hit, peaking at number 42 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

.Octopus
,

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

. Retrieved 1 May 2016 "Your Smile" was followed by "Saved", which saw them break into the top 40. Octopus' first (and only) album, '' From a to b'', was released in September 1996 and featured all three of the singles released to date. Cameron Miller (bass guitar, replacing Steven McSeveney) joined the group after the recording of the album. A fourth single, "Jealousy", reached number 59, and proved to be Octopus' final release, the band splitting up in 1997. Miller would later join Andrew Blick in Blowpipe, and play with both

Ben Christophers Benjamin John Christophers (born 1969) is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. To date he has released five albums: the first two on Virgin Records' V2 label, the third on Cooking V ...

and

Adem Adem ( ota, آدم, ) corresponding to Adam (see also Adam in Islam), is a masculine given name common in Turkey and Bosnia. Given name * Adem Alkaşi (born 1984), Turkish footballer *Adem Asil (born 1999), Turkish gymnast *Adem Bereket (bor ...

. Shearer also played with Adem and recorded solo material, with "Magma on My Mind" included on the 2009 compilation ''A Psychedelic Guide To Monsterism Island'' on Lo Recordings, later recording as Marc Meon. Original bass player Steven McSeveney went on to play with

The Secret Goldfish The Secret Goldfish are a band from Glasgow, Scotland. The group was formed by ex- Fizzbombs singer Katy McCullars, guitarist John Morose, and the rhythm section from The Mackenzies, Graham Lironi and Paul Turnbull. History The band took their ...

Discography

Albums

*'' From A to B'' (September 1996),

Food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

- UK No. 82

Singles

*"Magazine" (March 1996), Food - UK No. 86 *"Your Smile" (June 1996), Food - UK No. 42 *"Saved" (September 1996), Food - UK No. 40 *"Jealousy" (November 1996), Food - UK No. 59

EPs

*"All The Fear Of The Fayre" (May 1996, Japan-only), Toshiba EMI Ltd

References

External links

Marc Meon
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:Octopus Scottish rock music groups Britpop groups Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups disestablished in 1997