GABRIEL were a band I formed around 1997 and we went on to play many gigs as well as write nearly 100 songs before we eventually split in 2005 having only had chance to release one ‘proper’ album ‘ASCENSION’ in 2000.
Back in 1997-98 the original line up, along side myself on vocals/acoustic guitar, featured Bryan Josh (Mostly Autumn) on guitar, Iain Jennings (Mostly Autumn) on keys, Shelly (ex-Dare) on bass and Dave Hardy (Huge) on drums. It is this line up that recorded the first 10 tracks on this album. The songs were recorded at our own 8 track studio The Barn in Copmanthorpe, York in 1998 and we engineered and mixed the whole thing ourselves. These ten demo tracks were our first calling card to the world and mark the start of the GABRIEL journey. Only a handful cassette copies were made and even fewer CD versions. My own personal CD copy was somehow lost along the way during the following years and it’s only thanks to our friend Andrew Davidson (who still had a CD copy after all this time) that I managed to get these recordings back recently. It’s been wonderful to hear them again and a bit of a shock to hear how young my voice sounds on the songs (even though I was around 30 at the time!).
The tracks from 11 to 16 involves the second incarnation of the band and features my old Frontier band mates Andy ‘Rob’ Swann on keys and Andy Seddon on bass alongside Allan Scott (ex-Mostly Autumn) on drums, Marcus Bousfield on guitar and Graham Hodge on acoustic guitar and backing vocals. Again these songs we recorded and mixed by ourselves at The Barn on our 8 track studio (this time in 1999) and feature a few songs that would go on to be re-recorded for the ‘Ascension’ album. It was this line up (minus Marcus) that recorded our debut album at Fairview studios in Hull the following year and the rest, as they say, is history…
I hope you enjoy hearing these songs in their raw, demo form as much as I have re-visiting them after all this time. Songs from last century indeed…
Peace, love and rock n roll… Marc (Feb 2021)