Skyclad (band)

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Skyclad
Skyclad at Rockharz Open Air 2018
Background information
Origin	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Genres	Folk metal[1] progressive thrash metal[2] power metal[3]
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Demolition Records, Massacre, Noise, Nuclear Blast, Listenable, Burning Airlines
Members	Steve Ramsey Graeme "Bean" English Dave Pugh Georgina Biddle Kevin Ridley Arron Walton

Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music.^[4] They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal.^[5] The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad only by the sky, as a sign of equality. The name alludes both to the band's religious leanings and to their social beliefs, as set out in the song "Skyclad" on their first album.

History

The band was founded in 1990 by then former

Howell resumed her studies and was replaced by Georgina Biddle for 1995's The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea, after which both Baxter and Pugh left the group. Having a deficit of band members, the band was generally unable to tour, although they replaced Tiamat on the Black Sabbath Forbidden UK tour in 1995. This was whilst recording Irrational Anthems, which was released early the following year.

The lineup remained stable for the recording of 2000's Folkémon, but founding member Walkyier left the band in 2001, citing various reasons, such as financial difficulties and the band's unwillingness to tour in South America owing to security concerns as the final straw, though other band members have commented that his somewhat acerbic personality was one of the major contributing factors to the group's lineup instability. Walkyier went on to form The Clan Destined. For many fans, Walkyier's lyrics and delivery style were one of the band's central attractions, and there were fears that his departure spelled the end of the band. After replacing drummer Jay Graham (who left shortly after Walkyier) with drummer Arron Walton, and moving Kevin Ridley onto vocals, the group sprang into action to remedy these fears with 2002's No Daylights... Nor Heel Taps which featured studio recordings of "Irish Pub versions" of Skyclad classics by the new line-up, preceded by a single, 2001's "Swords of a Thousand Men". The single's title track, a cover tune (originally recorded by Tenpole Tudor), also appeared on Folkémon as a bonus track, although in a different version. The single featured two recordings of the track, one of them with Ridley on vocals and one with Ridley sharing the microphone with Ten Pole Tudor's vocalist Edward Tudor-Pole. The single/album release was accompanied by The Same...But Different tour, the largest Skyclad had undertaken for many years. Also in 2001 the band's former record label released Another Fine Mess, which featured live recordings from 1995 and the contents of the Outrageous Fourtunes EP.

After some unpleasantness between Walkyier and the other band members over copyrights and royalties for his lyrics, as well as the release of tracks featuring him, 2004's A Semblance of Normality marked the band's first new material post-Walkyier. Its style was very much in the vein of previous releases, with Ridley's lyrics making an obvious effort to follow similar themes and styles to Walkyier's whilst retaining an individual identity.

Skyclad self-released an EP, Jig-a-Jig, in 2006. A new album had been planned for the same year but Black Lotus Records went out of business just a few months after Skyclad had signed to it.

The band's twelfth studio album

In June 2012, Walkyier announced that a band called "Martin Walkyier's Skyclad" would be headlining a festival in Nottingham, England in September of that year.^[6]

Skyclad's 13th studio album Forward Into The Past was released on 28 April 2017 via Listenable Records. It is the first album since 1995's Silent Whales of Lunar Sea to feature second guitarist Dave Pugh, who returned to Skyclad as a full member in 2014.^[7]

Band members

Current members

• Steve Ramsey – guitars (1990–present)
• Graeme "Bean" English – bass (1990–present)
• Dave Pugh – guitars (1992–1995, 2014–present)
• Georgina Biddle – violin, fiddle, keyboards (1994–present)
• Kevin Ridley – guitars (1998–present), vocals (2001–present)
• Arron Walton – drums (2001–present)

• Skyclad at Rockharz Open Air, Germany, 2018
• 
  Steve Ramsey
• 
  Graeme "Bean" English
• 
  Dave Pugh
• 
  Georgina Biddle
• 
  Kevin Ridley
• 
  Arron Walton

Former members

• Martin Walkyier – vocals (1990–2001)
• Keith Baxter – drums (1990–1995; died 2008)
• Fritha Jenkins – violin, keyboards (1992–1993)
• Catherine Howell – violin, keyboards (1994)
• Paul A.T. Kinson – drums (1996–1997)
• Jay Graham – drums (1998–2001)

Live/Session Members

• Danny Porter – guitar (1992)
• Dave Ray – guitar (1995)
• Jed Dawkins – drums (1995)
• Paul Smith – drums (1996)
• Dave Moore – guitar (1996)
• Nick Acons – guitar, violin (1997)
• Mitch Oldham – drums (1997)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth (1991)
• A Burnt Offering for the Bone Idol (1992)
• Jonah's Ark (1993)
• Prince of the Poverty Line (1994)
• The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea (1995)
• Irrational Anthems (1996)
• Oui Avant-Garde á Chance (1996)
• The Answer Machine? (1997)
• Vintage Whine (1999)
• Folkémon (2000)
• A Semblance of Normality (2004)
• In the... All Together (2009)
• Forward into the Past (2017)

Compilations and live albums

• Old Rope compilation (1996)
• Poetic Wisdom
  Compilation (limited tour Greek edition) (2001)
• Another Fine Mess live album (2001)
• Live at the Dynamo compilation/live album (2002)
• History Lessens compilation (2002)
• No Daylights... Nor Heel Taps compilation/re-recording (2002)

Singles and EPs

• Tracks from the Wilderness EP (1992)
• "Thinking Allowed?" (1993)
• Outrageous Fourtunes limited edition EP (1998)
• Classix Shape limited edition EP (1999)
• "Swords of a Thousand Men" (2001)
• Jig-a-Jig limited edition EP (2006)

Videos

• "Emerald" (1992)
• "Thinking Allowed?" (1993)
• "Inequality Street" (1996)
• "Words Upon the Street" directed by Fernando J. Martínez (2009)
• "Change Is Coming" directed by Fernando J. Martínez (2017)^[8]
• "Starstruck?" directed by Fernando J. Martínez (2017)
• "Words Fail Me" directed by Fernando J. Martínez (2018)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Skyclad.

• Official website
• Skyclad at
  AllMusic