The Seahorses biography
The Seahorses were an English rock band, formed in 1996 by guitarist John Squire, following his departure from The Stone Roses.
The band released one album, Do It Yourself (1997), and began work on a follow up, before splitting up due to musical differences during recording sessions in January 1999.
History
Formed in 1996 following his departure from The Stone Roses, Squire first recruited bassist Stuart Fletcher who he saw by chance at the Fibbers venue in York playing in local covers band The Blueflies, with whom Fletcher was filling in for the bands regular bass player who had pulled out of the gig at the last minute due to RSI pains. He then auditioned two singers - Sean O'Brien, previously of Warrington band "The Steamboat Band" and Chris Helme, who was spotted by a friend of Squire's guitar tech busking outside Woolworths in York. Following several auditions and the prompting of his manager, Squire eventually settled on Helme, despite being hesitant because he "closed his eyes when he sang and only folk singers do that". And whilst Helme was a songwriter himself, Squire admitted early on "Yeah, he can write the odd tune but I don t really like them and it might be a problem later on if he wants to record them with the band".
Squire, Helme and Fletcher rented a cottage in Coniston, Cumbria to write and rehearse in the summer of 1996. Numerous drummers were auditioned before recruiting Andy Watts, who had previously been in bands with Fletcher and also knew Helme. The delay in recruiting a drummer for the band was due to Squire's desire to get a drummer who could also sing backing vocals. It had previously been rumoured that Reni was set to join the band.
Just weeks after Watts joined, the band played secret warm up gigs in Buckley, Greenock and Lancaster, before heading to North Hollywood to record with David Bowie and T. Rex producer Tony Visconti.
The band's debut album, Do it Yourself, was released in June 1997 on Geffen Records with whom Squire was still signed to following his departure from the Stone Roses, and received mixed reviews. One of the songs on the album, "Love Me and Leave Me", was co-written with Liam Gallagher of Oasis, with whom the band toured in 1997.
Shortly before the release of the single "Love Me And Leave Me", it was announced that drummer Andy Watts was leaving the group to spend more time with his family. Watts later revealed that he was actually asked to leave by the band's manager Steve Atherton at a meeting with the band's accountants, on behalf of the band, because Squire did not approve of the drummer's excessive behaviour on tour, and felt he did not fit in with the desired image for the band. Helme also commented at the time that Watts was "playing like an arse", which Watts later attributed to his cocaine habit at the time.
Watts was temporarily replaced by Mal Scott, who toured with the band throughout 1997 and played on the stand-alone Squire/Helme co-write single "You Can Talk To Me" in December 1997 and Toby Drummond.
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