Skywhale was a

Progressive Rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band formed in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

UK in 1974 by musicians from

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

. Skywhale members were Steve Robshaw on guitar, violin and synthesizer, Stan Thewlis on Flute and Tenor Sax, Howard Scarr also known as Gywo Zepix on keyboards,

EMS VCS 3 The VCS 3 (or VCS3; an initialism for ''Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3'') is a portable analog synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited (EMS) in 1969. EMS released ...

and

ARP Instruments ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before de ...

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, the late Paul Todd on Soprano Sax, Flute and Penny Whistle, Dougall Airmole on Bass, Mick Avery on Drums and John Schofield on Percussion. Skywhale played at Glastonbury Festival in 1977. They recorded one L.P. of original compositions, '' The World at Mind's End'' in Bristol. The L.P. was re-released as a CD in 2006 on CD Baby.

Band History

Steve Robshaw moved to Bristol from Huddersfield in 1974 and gradually gathered a collection of fellow musicians who wanted to experiment with instrumental rock music similar to what some of their peers were doing in the

Canterbury Scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

100 miles away on the other side of England. The band consisted of Robshaw on guitar, Paul Todd on saxophone, Pete (Lazlo) Ridsdale on violin, Jon Beedell on piano and Roy Dodds on drums. The band practiced in the cellar of Beedell's parents' house at the end house in Windsor Terrace,

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

, overlooking the

Avon Gorge The Avon Gorge () is a 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometre) long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles (5 km) from the mouth of the r ...

and underneath the

Clifton Suspension Bridge The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides fun ...

. They were joined in 1975 by tenor sax and flute player Stan Thewlis, also from Huddersfield. In 1977 synthesizer and keyboard player Howard Scarr, also known as Gwyo Zepix left the band

Zorch Zorch, who formed in 1973, were an early English totally electronic band, pioneering integrated performances of synthesizers and lightshow. Originally a four-piece, by 1975 Zorch were performing as a duo: Basil Brooks and Gwyo Zepix played three ...

to join Skywhale and they played at Glastonbury. Dodds was replaced by Mick Avery on drums and the band procured recording time at Mushroom Studios Clifton where Avery acted as sound engineer. They also made a short 12 date tour of Holland. Sadly Soprano sax player Paul Todd was killed in a car accident shortly after the completion of their first and only L.P. The World At Mind's End. Skywhale played at the Ashton Court Festival in 1978 and at South West venues until 1979 when they disbanded. Steve Robshaw went on to work with

Peter Hammill Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and ...

as a composer on three of his albums, PH7, Skeletons Of Songs, and Typical, Howard Scarr joined

Gong (band) Gong are a progressive rock band that incorporates elements of jazz and space rock into their musical style. The group was formed in Paris in 1967 by Australian musician Daevid Allen and English vocalist Gilli Smyth. Band members have included ...

, reformed Zorch in 2000, and in 2008 was hired by composer

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

, while Roy Dodds went on to play with

The Korgis The Korgis are a British pop band known mainly for their hit single "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" in 1980. The band was originally composed of singer/guitarist/keyboardist Andy Davis (born Andrew Cresswell-Davis 10 August 1949) and singe ...

Annie Whitehead Lena Annie Whitehead (born 16 July 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire, England) is an English jazz trombone player. Career Whitehead learned the trombone in high school and participated in rock and jazz bands. When she was 16, she left school to become ...

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop (music), pop and country music, country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical perfor ...

Maddy Prior Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...

Steve Tilston Steve Tilston (born 26 March 1950) is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. Early life Steve Tilston was born in Liverpool and brought up in Leicestershire. A graphic designer before taking up music in 1971, Tilston lived in Bristol ...

and

Eddi Reader Sadenia "Eddi" Reader MBE (born 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known for her work as frontwoman of Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards. In 2003, she showcased the wo ...

. Stan Thewlis played with the Bristol jazz group Spirit Level, then in the mid 1980s he changed his name to Stan Rivera, joining Colombian percussionist Roberto Pla in London to form El Sonido de Londres, one of the UK's first Salsa music bands, and then London Merengue music dance band Merengada.

References

{{Authority control English progressive rock groups