Reef biography
Reef are an English band from Glastonbury, England. The band members include Gary Stringer on vocals, Kenwyn House on guitar, Jack Bessant on bass and Dominic Greensmith on drums.
Career
Early days
Although most members of Reef have West Country connections, it was not until the four members met in London that the band was formed.
In 1993 while Bessant and Stringer were looking for band members, House had met up with Dominic Greensmith (from Ilfracombe, Devon) in London, and discussed forming a band. The foursome finally got together, and started to jam, producing the extremely rare "Purple Tape" demo. The band initially called itself Naked, but later renamed themselves to Reef as other bands had the same name.
After recording a couple of tracks, the band spent much of 1994 touring and building up a fan base. They signed to S2, an off-shoot of Sony. Their first single "Good Feeling" was released on an independent label, but financed by Sony, then as an official Sony S2 release in early 1995. This paved the way for "Naked" which was used in a TV advert for the Sony MiniDisc in which a record company executive hears the track on MiniDisc, throws it out of the window disapprovingly, but a young man outside picks it up, listens to it and likes it (demonstrating the format's durability). There has been some disapproval of the band's participation in this campaign, but in interviews they have emphasised that they were a young band and were offered a chance that any young band would not resist.
Commercial success
During their touring in '94 and '95 Reef supported Paul Weller, The Rolling Stones and Soundgarden, amongst others.
Both the Good Feeling and Naked singles came from Reef's 1995 release, their now gold debut album Replenish. The album was recorded in the remote Cornish Sawmills recording studio and in a studio in Bath.
"We wanted our first album, Replenish, to be a really honest statement. Four people playing in a room and getting something that's totally their own. It was recorded in the most basic way possible. Minimal room sounds. Up until recently, all I used for effects was a wah-pedal and I only used that on two songs." Kenwyn House.
Hot on the heels of Replenish, in summer 1995, came a non-album, four-track single release entitled "Weird". It was a very non-commercial track and Reef had said the release was aimed at the fans. Sunrise Shakers, one of the B-sides to Weird, was later featured in snowboarding film Day Tripper, by independent film maker Christian Stevenson. Stevenson, known for his films about extreme and free sports, was later to direct a promotional video for Reef, for their Sweety single in 1999.
The follow-up to Replenish was 1997's Glow, which was more diverse, with the band using different instruments and creating a more interesting style. Glow was recorded under the direction of The Black Crowes' record producer, George Drakoulious and engineered by Jim Scott, in Los Angeles. It spawned the hit singles "Place Your Hands", "Come Back Brighter", "Consideration" and "Yer Old" which increased Reef's profile in the UK and abroad. On the week of its release, Glow went straight to number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.
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