- 1988-1992
- The Coal Porters were formed by Sid Griffin and
fellow ex-Long Ryder Greg Sowders sometime in
1988 after The Long Ryders split up. Originally
the line-up included Chris Buessem on guitar and
Ian Thomson on bass. When Greg Sowders decided to
quit playing and get into music publishing, he
was replaced by Billy Frank. The band remained
based in Los Angeles and played in and around the
LA area whilst trying to secure a deal and
recording material for their first release. When
the right deal slipped out of their hands, Sid
jumped at the chance to put out a record with
Australian label Rubber Records and in 1991 after
many delays, Rebels Without Applause finally
appeared. By now the band had Billy Block on
drums and Andy Kaulkin on keyboards and continued
to strive to make it big in California. Sid and
the band played over in the UK occasionally
including support slots in the UK and Europe with
Billy Bragg and it was during this time that Sid
met up with Kate St John. With "the future
Mrs Griffin" in England and Los Angeles not
offering the sort of prospects that he would have
liked Sid took the very big decision to leave his
home country and come to London to base himself.
Before doing so, the band recorded numerous
tracks, many of which would later appear on The
Coal Porters albums.
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- 1993-1995
- In England, Sid had to re-form the band with
Geordie Ian Thomson and recruited John Bennett on
guitar. The drummer's slot continued to change
with Rob Allum often playing live though not a
permanent band member. When Ian Thomson left the
band, he was replaced by young Pat McGarvey and
despite no-one permanently on drums, the band
continued to gig around the UK and record
material for another album. In the meantime they
produced a cassette only release of live material
called Whoah, Big Fella! which was similiar in
tone to Metallic BO but contained more original
material. During the summer of 1993 the seeds of
a fanzine about the band called "Rebels
Without Applause" were sown and the first
issue appeared in February 1994. Kevin Morris
eventually settled behind the drums long enough
for the band to issue a second 'album' entitled
Land Of Hope And Crosby which was released by
Prima Records in July 1994 and the band toured
the UK to promote it. Towards the end of 1994,
Dave Roberts replaced Kevin Morris on drums and
the band also recruited Bob Stone on keyboards.
However, by the time Sid and Pat played the
Jackson Lane Community Centre in January 1995
they had lost John Bennett to the High Llamas and
had recruited Joff Lowson as the new guitarist,
making his live debut at Fibbers in York in
February. March saw Sid and Pat venture to the
USA where they were joined by Chris Buessem and
Greg Sowders for a few gigs, whilst April saw the
whole band in Holland and Sid and Joff went to
Slovenia in May. But the band were not just
playing live and September 1995 saw the release
of Los London, their second full length release
for Prima Records and October and November were
spent touring behind the album.
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- 1996-1999
- By February 1996, the band's line-up suffered
another set back when Joff Lowson announced his
decision to leave. Wes McGhee took his place for
live performances whilst the band seached for yet
another replacement. On a positive note, the band
now had a presence on the internet after Phil
Dennison created the band's officially sanctioned
website. New guitarist Rob Childs joined the band
in early spring and made his debut in April in
Banbury. With Sid concentrating on finishing off
his long awaited solo album, 1996 was a quiet one
as far as The Coal Porters were concerned. The
band played only a handful of gigs all year,
including the first Chris Hillman birthday
celebration at The Weaver's Arms in Islington.
This gig featured new drummer Will Morrison who
replaced Dave Roberts in the early autumn.
- April 1997 saw the release of Little Victories,
Sid Griffin's first solo album, a largely
acoustic affair, which saw him accompanied by
several Coal Porters past and present. He spent
much of the spring touring to promote the album
with Pat McGarvey in tow and also supported Roger
McGuinn on some of his UK shows as well and
played some German shows supporting Bob Neuwirth.
The band as a whole played some European shows
over the summer, but remained generally quiet in
the UK. Throughout this time the band had been
recording a new album and continued to have
tracks included on various compilation releases,
though a full length release from The Coal
Porters was still some way off. September 1997
also saw the appearance of the 10th issue of the
Rebels Without Applause fanzine.
- It looked as though 1998 was going to be the big
year for The Coal Porters. March saw the release
of EP Roulette, a 6 track mini-album which was to
act as a taster for a full length release called
Western Electric in the autumn. The band toured
the UK and Europe to promote it, though without
keyboard player Bob Stone who decided to leave
the band in the spring before the tour started.
As autumn came and went, fans were in for the old
"good news, bad news" scenario. The bad
news was that Western Electric had been delayed
whilst the band tried to secure a better European
record deal. The good news was that a Gram
Parsons tribute concert held at The Garage in
London in September 1998 had been recorded and
was to be released as both a live CD and video in
early 1999. The CD was released in February 1999
by Prima and again the band toured to promote it,
receiving generally favourable reviews. The video
release followed later that year, and though
there was still no news on a release for Western
Electric, the band continued to contribute to
compilation albums, and there was further promise
in the news that Sid had been making good
progress on his second solo album. Before the end
of the millennium however both guitarist Rob
Childs and drummer Will Morrison had left the
band, and when Sid played the annual Chris
Hillman birthday show at the 12 Bar Club in
December, it was with new guitarist Neil Robert
Herd on stage with him, alongside the
ever-present Pat McGarvey and new drummer Dave
Morgan in the audience.
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- 2000-present
- As 2000 began, The Coal Porters had yet another
new line-up and an album promised since September
1998 still awaiting release. The Coal Porters
continued to perform acoustic, bluegrass style
shows mostly doing covers of Chris Hillman and
Gram Parsons tunes. In March, Western Electric
finally released their eponymous debut album (the
name change reflecting a change in style). The
'new' band made their live debut the same month
in Holland, then toured the UK and played a
couple of dates in Germany. Over the summer, the
band began a series of free shows at Borders
Bookshops around the UK, whilst The Coal Porters
continued to play the odd acoustic show. In
September and October, Western Electric made
their first tour of the USA (and the first band
shows there since 1995). Returning to the UK,
they played several more UK dates to promote
Western Electric and finished December off
supporting Billy Bragg on his UK dates. The Coal
Porters, typically ended their year with a Chris
Hillman birthday tribute show at The Verge in
early December.
- 2001 saw The Coal Porters continue to ply their
bluegrass trade to good effect, the net result
being the release in July of the very well
received Chris Hillman Tribute Concerts recorded
both in the UK and the US and released as usual
through Prima. The Coal Porters toured to promote
the album, with gigs in Germany and the UK. Sid
Griffin managed to find some time to play a few
solo shows as well, as he developed songs for a
second solo album. With The Coal Porters
dominating the scene, Western Electric only found
time for a one-off gig in June 2001. In 2002 The
Coal Porters bluegrass efforts continued to be at
the forefront of band activity with gigs in the
UK, Spain and Ireland. Western Electric activity
was slowed considerably in October, by a near
fatal road accident involving drummer Dave
Morgan. Thankfully he is now well on the way to
recovery. Meanwhile Sid has been trying to
complete his second full solo album which will
hopefully be released some time in 2003 and The
Coal Porters have been working on their first
full bluegrass studio album.....the story
continues.....
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