The Shrubbies were an English pop group from

Wallington, London Wallington is a town in the London Borough of Sutton, in South London, England. It is south south-west of Charing Cross. Before the Municipal Borough of Beddington and Wallington merged into the London Borough of Sutton in Greater London in 1965, ...

, active from 1996 to 1998. The band was formed as Shrubby Veronica by

Craig Fortnam Craig Edward Fortnam (born September 1967) is an English composer, conductor and musician. Fortnam is a skilled guitarist and bass guitarist, specialising in nylon-string acoustic guitar (which he plays in a style drawing on classical and Afr ...

(vocalist and guitarist), Sharron Saddington (vocalist and bass guitarist) and the former

Cardiacs Cardiacs are an English rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by Tim Smith (lead guitar and vocals) and his brother Jim (bass, backing vocals) in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. The band's sound fused circus, baroque pop and medieval mu ...

members Sarah Smith (vocals, saxophone, keyboards) and Dominic Luckman (drums). They gigged enthusiastically in London for several years and then split up as Fortnam was disillusioned with playing the traditional

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

toilet circuit The toilet circuit is the network of small music venues in the United Kingdom which rising indie, rock and metal bands often visit to gain support and promote themselves. The name may refer to the size and often the cleanliness of the venue, or ...

. Fortnam had a chance meeting with

William D. Drake William Derek Drake (born 7 February 1962) is an English musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 ...

which led to him joining Drake's band, Lake of Puppies, with Saddington. Fortnam and Saddington fell in love, forming the Shrubbies with Smith and Luckman. The band released an eponymous EP, ''The Shrubbies'', in 1997 and an album ''Memphis in Texas'', in 1999, following its dissolution. Fortnam and Saddington later married and recruited musicians associated with Cardiacs to form the

North Sea Radio Orchestra The North Sea Radio Orchestra (NSRO) is an English contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra (plus chorus). Formed in 2002, the NSRO was set up mainly as a vehicle for the compositions of its musical director, Craig F ...

History

After playing bass guitar in a

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

band,

had a chance meeting with the former Cardiacs member

, which led to him joining Drake's post-Cardiacs

psychedelic pop Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, backwards recording, ...

combo Lake of Puppies with Sharron Saddington. Fortnam fell in love with Saddington, and the couple formed the Shrubbies alongside former Cardiacs members Sarah Smith and Dominic Luckman. The pop group, initially called Shrubby Veronica, originated from

in 1996. They gigged enthusiastically in London and beyond, supporting a headlining gig by Huge Baby and playing concerts with like-minded bands

the Monsoon Bassoon The Monsoon Bassoon were an English independent rock band active between 1995 and 2001, notable for their exceptionally complex and energetic music. During their lifespan, the band won the NME's Single Of The Week award three times (for three c ...

, Podsdarapomuk and Delicate AWOL. Though the collaboration was creatively rewarding for Fortnam, he became disillusioned with playing the traditional

. Fortnam was annoyed the poor etiquette and atmosphere he encountered at concerts, so the band dissolved in 1998. Following their dissolution, Fortnam went to Dartington College to study composition and decided he "wanted to be

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

", married Saddington and recruited like-minded musicians associated with Cardiacs and classical connections to form the

, with Sharron on lead vocals. Shrubbies, featuring Dominic Luckman, were set to specially reform for the Alphabet Business Convention at the Salisbury Arts Centre on 26 August 2017, but were replaced by the band Prescott on the revised bill.

Discography

The Shrubbies' discography was produced by Cardiacs frontman

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians * T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and prod ...

and released though the

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Merlin Audio. The songs were recorded at Apollo 8 in

Chessington Chessington is an area in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames within Greater London. Historically part of Surrey, today it is the largest salient of Greater London into that county. At the 2011 census it had a population of 18,973. Th ...

, Surrey and Purple Studios in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, Norfolk. The music has been described as

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

- pronk and folk prog by ''Misfit City'' and ' respectively, and their releases have been categorised as acoustic pop,

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid 1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropria ...

, electroacoustic

folk baroque Folk baroque or baroque guitar, is a distinctive and influential guitar fingerstyle developed in Britain in the 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British folk music to produce a new and elaborate form o ...

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music. Chara ...

and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

. A four-track EP released in 1997 and the album ''Memphis in Texas'' in 1999 following the dissolution.

''The Shrubbies'' EP

A self-titled EP featuring a selection of songs from ''Memphis in Texas'' was released by Merlin Audio on 20 September 1997, exclusively on CD. ''Misfit City'' described the tracks as "four complex and leaping songs, swinging through an adventure playground of sophisticated eccentric harmony based around Craig’s dextrous gut-strung acoustic guitars and Sharron’s fluffy chirrup", praising Sarah Smith's saxophone and keyboard riffs.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from ''The Shrubbies'' EP liner notes. ;Shrubbies *Sharron Saddington – vocals, bass guitar *Dominic Luckman – drums *Sarah Smith – vocals, , keyboards *

– vocals, guitar ;Additional musicians *

– handclaps on "Perfect Present" *Rob Deschamps –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

on "Carefree Clothes" ;Technical *Tim Smith – production *Matthew Cutts – photography *John Whitehouse – digital mastering

''Memphis in Texas''

The Shubbies' lone album was released on CD by Merlin Audio in 1999. ''Memphis in Texas'' (stylised in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

) was reissued on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

on 11 September 2011.

Track listing

* Adapted from Bandcamp.

Personnel

Adapted from the ''Memphis in Texas'' liner notes. ;Shrubbies *Sharron Saddington – vocals, bass guitar *Dominic Luckman – drums, percussion *Sarah Smith – vocals, saxophone, keyboard,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, cello *

– vocals, guitars, keyboard,

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

;Additional musicians *

– handclaps on "Perfect Present" *Rob Deschamps –

on "Carefree Clothes" *The Inkling Quartet – strings on "Hearty Connection" ;Technical *Jonnie Hamilton – photography *Big Faluda Productions (Ian Johnson) – design *Tim Smith – production

Notes

References

{{Cardiacs English pop music groups Psychedelic pop music groups English indie rock groups Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 1996 establishments in England 1998 disestablishments in England