Stornoway

Stornoway are a British indie folk band from the Cowley area of Oxford that released three albums from 2010 to 2015. As of 2023 the band is led by singer, lyricist and guitarist Brian Briggs, with multi-instrumentalists Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman.

Their sound incorporates an ever-changing selection of stringed instruments and keyboards, supported by a typical pop backline of guitar, drums and bass guitar. The trio typically performs live with additional musicians including Susie Attwood on violin and percussion; Charlotte Glasson on violin, percussion, saxophone and flute; Felix Higginbottom on drums, percussion and backing vocals; and Adam Briggs on trumpet and percussion.Briggs and Ouin met during Freshers’ week at Oxford; Briggs thought Ouin looked like a member of Teenage Fanclub, a band both of them liked that became a topic of their first conversation. Soon after, the two began playing music together. They advertised for a bass player, and Oli Steadman was the only person to respond. Oli’s younger brother Rob Steadman later auditioned for the role of drummer.The band is named after the Scottish town of Stornoway on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis. The band had never been to Stornoway when they decided to name themselves after the town. They played their first gig there on 9 April 2010 and also signed their contract there with label 4AD, a British independent record label part of Beggars Group. In a 2010 interview with British music blog There Goes the Fear, Brian Briggs described the band’s hunt for a name: “We were looking in books about knots and, I dunno, guides to natural history of the seashore. And we tried quite a few out and they all failed, and this [Stornoway] was the only one that stuck, and it was reinforced by the fact that if you see at the BBC weather forecast, Stornoway is up there… so we get this wonderful free promotion every time there’s a weather report.In October 2016 the band announced that they would be splitting up after a farewell tour during spring 2017. They played their final show on 12 March 2017. They reformed for gigs in 2022, and have continued to perform since.

On 13 April 2023, the band announced on their Facebook page and on BBC Radio 6 that their fourth studio album Dig the Mountain! was released on 8 September 2023 followed by a tour of the UK and Ireland.Starting with Dig The Mountain! (and followed rapidly by Beachcomber’s Windowsill & Tales From Terra Firma on reissued vinyl), the band have release their music chiefly on recycled materials and packaged in sustainable card packaging.

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