The Rockingbirds are a British country rock band, formed in London in 1990. They disbanded in 1995, but reformed in 2008 for the Heavenly Records 18th Anniversary shows. They began to tour again in spring 2009 and played the 2009 Glastonbury festival.
The band's original line-up featured songwriter Alan Tyler (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), Sean Read (backing vocals and tambourine), Andrew Hackett (electric guitar), Patrick Arbuthnot (pedal steel guitar), Dave (aka Greenwood) Goulding (bass) and drummer Dave Morgan both formerly of Weather Prophets. Their first single release on Heavenly Records was 1991's "A Good Day For You Is A Good Day For Me", followed by a tribute song to Jonathan Richman entitled "Jonathan, Jonathan" in 1992. That same year also saw the release of their eponymously titled debut album (produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley), which included the "Gradually Learning" single. This gained some radio play and Heavenly (backed by a Sony distribution deal) produced a video filmed in Austin, Texas.
In November 1992, Heavenly released The Fred EP, which featured The Rockingbirds' cover of "Deeply Dippy", which provided the group with their only chart hit, and their only Top Of The Pops appearance.
1993 saw Heavenly release a four track EP entitled Rockingbirds-R-Us featuring brand new songs. The band's new line-up now featured Tim Kent on banjo, Chris Clarke replacing Goulding on bass, and new drummer Trevor Smith. Their second album, Whatever Happened to the Rockingbirds?, was released in 1995 via Cooking Vinyl and featured production from Edwyn Collins. This was preceded by a single "Band Of Dreams" – released on 7" vinyl only – but the band split a few months later in November '95, with a farewell gig at The Garage in North London.
Alan Tyler has continued to record and play live both as a solo-performer and with his new band Alan Tyler and the Lost Sons of Littlefield. The new band includes Rockingbirds bass player Chris Clarke and occasionally Sean Read.
Links to Peel[]
Peel played the band's debut single, A Good Day For You Is A Good Day For Me, in 1991. He missed them on stage at the Reading Festival but played their single mentioning that they were one of Annie Nightingales faves, but didn't seem to play any further material from the group after that.
Shows Played[]
- 31 August 1991: A Good Day For You Is A Good Day For Me (single) Heavenly HVN 14
- Peel 192 (BFBS): 'A Good Day For You Is A Good Day For Me (12")' (Heavenly)
- 03 November 1991: You Good Girls Gonna Go Bad () Clawfist
- 09 November 1991: You Good Girls Gonna Go Bad () Clawfist
- 28 December 1991: 'A Good Day For You Is A Good Day For Me (12")' (Heavenly)