The Senior Service returns with a brand new 10” EP for 2022.
A year or so ago, The Senior Service decided that it wanted to add a little more to its well-honed instrumental sound. On one slightly drunken night out, they approached local songwriter and chanteuse Rachel Lowrie and asked if she’d like to perform guest vocals on some specially written new material. By this time, Rachel had supplied impressive ‘pipework’ on quite a few Medway records so the band was confident that she’d be able to deliver – the band was right.
Following a lengthy hiatus in activity due to lockdown restrictions, The Senior Service was finally able to get together to record the new songs, so they piled into Ranscombe Studios to crack on. It soon became apparent that they’d lost none of the chemistry that had made them such a powerful musical collective and the instrumental backing tracks were laid down with relative ease. It was when Rachel arrived and sprinkled vocal sugar over the tracks that they really began to shine! Intuitively, she understood the approach needed and delivered a made-to-measure performance for each song.
This collection includes four original tracks penned by the band plus two rollicking covers of lesser-known instrumentals; John Schroeder’s take on ‘Lovin’ You Girl’ – a slinky slice of lounge grooviness, given a slightly chunkier sound, informed by the band’s musical aesthetic, and ‘Mysterious Land’ – The Chris Lamb Orchestra’s little heard filmic masterpiece; a track seemingly tailor-made for the band to get its musical chops around.
So, we invite you to spend ‘A Little More Time with The Senior Service’.
__________________
A bit of history…
In 2016 The Senior Service were one of the latest bands to burst forth from the little clutch of towns known collectively as Medway. However, they are no newcomers (as their name may suggest), for they have been in some of the biggest bands to have come from that area.
Senior Service – Debut Single
These bands include –
The Prisoners
The Mighty Caesars
The James Taylor Quartet
The Masonics and
Billy Childish and The Buff Medways.
The band members –
Jon Barker – organ,
Graham Day – guitar,
Darryl Hartley – bass guitar
Wolf Howard – drums and percussion
have been close friends throughout and have always been into film themes and instrumental music.
Their debut album
Amongst their influences are John Barry, Barry Grey, Booker T and the MG’s, Ennio Morricone and The Small Faces.
“We got together to play instrumental covers because I happened to have bought a Hammond organ” says Jon, “but we dropped that idea before we played a note and quickly moved onto our own stuff.”
The recordings, done at Borstal Road Studios (Jon’s house) have an organic feel to them that only close, like-minded friends can achieve, and it feels like the time is just right for a fresh batch of exciting tunes played on antique instruments by young-minded lovers of Sixties instrumentals!
Their first single, a two track affair with ‘Depth Charge’ on the A-side and ‘Hall Of Mirrors’ on the flip was released in January 2016 and made it to number 8 in the official vinyl charts!
Their debut album The Girl In The Glass Case followed in the summer of 2016.
In 2018 the band released a critically acclaimed follow-up King Cobra on CD and LP along with a limited 7″ of ‘Slingshot, taken from the album.
