Ultrasound (band)
| Ultrasound | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Britpop, alternative rock |
| Years active | 1997–99, 2010–present |
| Labels | Nude Records |
| Members | Bruce Renshaw Andrew "Tiny" Wood Richard Green Vanessa Best Bob Birch |
| Past members | Matt Jones and Andy Peace |
Ultrasound are an English indie band, predominantly active during the late 1990s. Although the band's focal point (in particular for reviewers) was their tall, obese singer/guitarist Andrew "Tiny" Wood, the main songwriter was guitarist Richard Green, with the line-up completed by drummer Andy Peace, keyboardist Matt Jones and bass player/second singer Vanessa Best.
Having split up acrimoniously in 1999, the band reunited in early 2010 with their first concert in eleven years scheduled for a benefit event in September of that year.
Three-fifths of Ultrasound originally met at Wakefield College, Yorkshire, England in 1989. Andrew "Tiny" Wood (a mature student) and Richard Green (a 16-year-old classical cellist) met on the Popular and Commercial Music course, where they also befriended Andy Peace. Moving on to a music degree course in Newcastle, they encountered future bass player Vanessa Best.
Following a succession of brief-lived bands, Wood, Green and Peace teamed up with guitarist and songwriter Paul Hope, an old ally and bandmate of Wood's who had worked with him in a band called Step TLV. Joined by Hope's flute-playing wife Rachel Theresa, the four put together a psychedelic rock band called Sleepy People. For the next two years the band toured around the UK playing in various small venues around the UK and gaining underground attention. Wood, Green and Peace all appear on Sleepy People's 1994 cassette album Blunt Nails In A Sharp Wall (originally a cassette release, but reissued on CD in 1999 on Org Records).
Tiny Wood and Richard Green left Sleepy People in 1995, taking keyboard player Pete Haslam with them. They also reconnected with Andy Peace (who had left the band some time previously). Moving to London, they formed a new progressive/art rock band, Pop-A-Cat-A-Petal, which began earning underground attention (in particular after supporting cult band Cardiacs). At this point, Green played bass (as he had in Sleepy People) and Wood doubled on guitar and harmonium as well as lead vocals.
Pop-A-Cat-A-Petal released a self-titled cassette EP on Org Records in 1995, but did not prosper. Wood was later to comment that the band "had a bit too much prog-rock about it." Vanessa Best (who had moved to London and was singing as a backing vocalist in a George Michael tribute band, was then added to the Pop-A-Cat-A-Petal line-up as bass player, with Green moving to lead guitar. With the subsequent departure of Haslam, the band began to reduce their more obvious progressive rock influences in favour of a stronger element of 1970s glam rock and a more pronounced "indie" outlook. Circa 1996, Pop-A-Cat-A-Petal changed their name to Ultrasound.
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