Seb started out as a solo artist playing soulful ballads with an acoustic guitar and blues harp. A tour of acoustic tents at numerous festivals culminated in a performance at T in the Park in 2004. Later that year, the line-up expanded to incorporate a bass player and drummer, but this trio rapidly grew into the twelve-piece. The band sound was getting faster, louder and more energetic and soon developed into a curious blend of Northern Soul and punk.
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Seb started out as a solo artist playing soulful ballads with an acoustic guitar and blues harp. A tour of acoustic tents at numerous festivals culminated in a performance at T in the Park in 2004. Later that year, the line-up expanded to incorporate a bass player and drummer, but this trio rapidly grew into the twelve-piece. The band sound was getting faster, louder and more energetic and soon developed into a curious blend of Northern Soul and punk. 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. The band embarked on a UK headline tour, played a sell out gig at the London West End venue The Borderline as well as a performance at Guilfest which found them vote the second best band at the festival by Radio 2 after Blondie and before The Stranglers. This is Seb Clarke’s debut album Rover, since it’s release in Summer 05, has gone on to win both critical and commercial acclaim; ‘a real quirky pleasure’ crack magazine ‘top notch’ fly mag ‘in terms of their scope, energy and artistic ambition, they deliver on every level’ spill mag. Nine main stage festival appearances in the summer of 2006, and eight in 2007, alongside national radio play on BBC Radio 1 won them over an expansive fan base across the UK, which in turn helped propel single ‘Spring Morning Sunshine’ to no.12 in the UK Independent Singles Chart. Follow up release ‘I Just Can’t Carry On’ lifted from their as-yet untitled 2nd album went straight into the indie charts at no.7, backed by Radio 2 airplay - single Rock ‘n’ Roll Alamo pt 7, a favourite of BBC 6Music and Xfm, then topped the charts in 2008, cementing the band as one of the most influencial acts on the UK Indie scene. Single ‘Saturday Night, Sunday Morning’, the final single to be taken from their new album is set to be released in 2010 with the album itself out early next year.
