Pete WiseYork is the kind of town which breeds an abundant population of those odd creatures we might refer to as ‘local celebrities’ – the ‘Berwick Taylor’s, ‘Trevor Rooney’s and… ‘Purpleman(!)’s of this world. We have them in spades. When it comes to nationally renowned figures we are also blessed. One such (if slightly less obvious) figure that does however spring to mind in the form of musician Chris Helme.
Plainly, we won’t be seeing Helme on the pages of Heat, but he is a nationally relevant figure – if you’re asking the right kind of people that is. Helme rose to prominence in the 1990′s as frontman of Britpop supergroup The Seahorses, crafting classic tracks like ‘Love is the Law’ and ‘Blinded by the Sun’ along the way, and encapsulating the cultural zeitgeist of the time in doing so.
Well, times have changed and The Seahorses are long gone (we’ve no idea what Helme’s former bandmate John Squire’s up to at the moment…). In spite of the demise of the band that catapulted him to prevalence however, Chris Helme never stopped making music, and is now set to release his latest solo album ‘The Rookery’ next Monday, the 27 August. The album takes it’s name from a Yorkshire Dales hideaway, in which it was recorded under the guidance of producer Sam Forrest – himself a successful frontman with recently reformed noughties grunge act Nine Black Alps. Promising lush, three-way guitar interplay, stirring string arrangements, bluesy fuzz and traditional folk melodies, it’s set to be an album to delight York’s strong blues/folk/acoustic scene, as well as music lovers nationwide.
Chris Helme plays at Galtres Festival this weekend (Friday 24).
To see Chris Helme on One&OtherTV click here.
