GuilFest 2006. The 3 Day Guildford Music Festival on 14th, 15th and 16th July 2006

About the bands
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Artist: This Is Seb Clarke
Genre: Big band - Big show
Performing: 15th July 2005 / BBC Radio2 Main Stage
Website Address: [www.this-is-seb-clarke.co.uk] ,
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‘This Is Seb Clarke’ are a band from Stoke-on-Trent. Their line-up comprises Hammond organ, piano, bass, drums, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, two trumpets, three saxophones and a trombone. The somewhat inimitable Seb Clarke is their front-man and songwriter.

Seb started out as a solo artist in 2001 playing soulful ballads armed only with his acoustic guitar and blues harp. A tour of acoustic tents at numerous festivals culminated in a performance at T in the Park. Later that year, the line-up expanded to incorporate a bass player and drummer, but this trio – Seb being the kind of person who just doesn’t know when to stop – rapidly grew into the twelve-piece it now is. The band sound was getting faster, louder and more energetic and soon developed into a curious blend of Northern Soul and punk. Comparisons with early Dexy's or “The Clash with brass” come closest to describing such an eclectic sound.

This in due course lead to the name “This is Seb Clarke”. As a solo artist Seb had, for obvious reasons, been billed under his own name but now the ‘act’ had very much become a band. Already, as a nod towards old Northern Soul posters, sixties Stax album cover designs and Spinal Tap(!), the band had begun to advertise itself, with tongue firmly in cheek, as “This Is Seb Clarke”. “This is” stuck and so a solo acoustic act had officially become a full throttle, stomping twelve-piece Soul-Punk band.

In summer 2003 the band went into the studio to record their debut album; Rover. Funded by their own label SONS Ltd, the sessions were incredibly successful, and as promo copies started to leak out so naturally more doors began to open. The band signed a distribution deal with the giant THE Ltd, they played a sell out gig at the legendary London west end venue The Borderline, and their performance at Guilfest brought endless commendation from reviewers and fans alike – the Radio 2 website voted them the second best band of the Festival after Blondie and before The Stranglers. Asked in an interview why he thought the band had begun to experience such success, the ever-modest Seb Clarke said, “Because this is where the Stone Roses would have gone. This is true Indie. This is Soul. This really is – Rock’n’Roll!”

The band’s debut album Rover will be released on April 8th 2005.