Rebels Without Applause

Western Electric are (left to right):
Neil Robert Herd
(Vocals, pedal steel guitar, guitar, six string bass)
Dave Morgan
(Drums, percussion)
Sid Griffin
(Vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, autoharp)
Pat McGarvey
(Vocals, bass, banjo, percussion, keyboards, guitar)
For personnel details on Sid, Pat and Neil, see The Coal Porters page.
Dave Morgan (Drums and percussion)
Has played with The Coal Porters at the Gram Parsons Tribute Concert at The Garage in September 1998 though his drumming skills are not generally required now they are more of a bluegrass outfit. Most of his appearances have been with Western Electric and has been very influential in creating their unique sound.. Formerly with UK band The Rockingbirds, before which he played with The Weather Prophets and The Loft.

Western Electric began life as an album title when The Coal Porters began working on a follow-up to 1994's Land Of Hope And Crosby. In 1998, The Coal Porters issued a 6 track mini-album EP Roulette which featured 2 tracks (Everything and Emily In Ginger) "from the album Western Electric to be released Fall 1998". With the album recorded, the band began to tout for a label to put it out. German based label Glitterhouse takes up the story - "Sid sent around tapes of the new Coal Porters album, with about half the songs being their type of county-rock and the other half being these weird and very atmospheric tracks that sounded kinda strange and wonderful at once." The band were asked to come back with more of the weird stuff, and when they did, the result was something so removed from The Coal Porters that Western Electric was used as the band name as well, reflecting the musical change.

The album features 10 tracks and was finally released in March 2000 on Glitterhouse and Munich Records in Europe and Gadfly Records in the USA. The US version features 2 tracks not available on the European versions - see discography for details. The album also includes an unreleased Gene Clark track Straight From The Heart.

According to Billboard's Chris Morris, the album is "Griffin's best, most assured, most experimental, and most ambitious work by a long shot". It features soundbites amid psychedelic layers, loops, varying pace and vocals. It ebbs and flows and it will certainly astound you when you first hear it. It's an unusual thing to hear, especially if you're used to The Coal Porters fast paced live show of country-rock. But give it a couple of listens, and better still, see Western Electric live and the album rises to another plane.

After the release of the album, the band toured the UK and played the odd show in Europe. A full US tour, the first by any band including Sid for several years followed in September/October 2000, with more UK dates in November and a support slot with Billy Bragg to round off 2000.

The emergence of Western Electric is a significant move in Sid's musical career. It has certainly been met with critical success. With new tracks on tribute albums to Michael Nesmith and John Fogerty now available, and a new album not too far away as well, Western Electric are a band to watch out for.

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