Early years, and work with Goat Adrian Oxaal was born in
California, United States, of mixed
Norwegian-American and Guyanese ancestry, however, he grew up in
Kingston upon Hull where he learned guitar and cello and befriended his future James colleague
Saul Davies when both were members of the City of Hull Youth Symphony Orchestra. Oxaal went on to study music at the
University of Sussex in
Brighton, where he settled permanently. Oxaal's heart was not in the world of classical music, and after leaving university he chose to play in bar bands, notably Lenna and the Snakemen, with whom he made 2 albums (Something's Cooking (1988) and No Blow Blues (1989)) – which eventually led to him being asked to play on a demo for a band named Goat (not the
Swedish band of the same name) whose music Oxaal would later describe as being "a kind of melodic hard rock." Goat went to sign a deal with
Beggars Banquet, although he admitted that it did not really amount to much apart from some studio experience. Sharkboy were nonetheless signed to
Nude and went on to support
Suede (whose frontman
Brett Anderson was a fan) on their first big UK tour. Sharkboy recorded two albums (
Matinee and
The Valentine Tapes) which were critically well received but sold poorly, and the band folded circa 1995. This became evident on both the
Whiplash and
Millionaires albums, as well as in the live environment in which Oxaal was noted for his willingness to play "storming" guitar solos from time to time (something never really attempted by either Gott or his own predecessor in James, Paul Gilbertson).
Post-James (work in music education) Following his time in James, Oxaal returned to Brighton and performed a handful of solo bar gigs, seemingly having gone full circle since leaving University. He then moved into music education, having worked as Course Team Leader for the
BTEC National Diploma in Contemporary Music at
South East Essex College of Arts and Technology in
Southend-on-Sea, Essex. He left this post during the summer of 2007, and worked as a music teacher at
Bexhill College, East Sussex, followed by a stint at
City College,
Brighton. When not touring with James or Oysterband, Oxaal performs solo, either singing to blues guitar, or singing to cello accompaniment, and participates in occasional reunions of Lenna and the Snakemen, which included the recording of a third album (Back And Blue) in 2016. He also plays with Lucky Jim, a pub band comprising Gordon Grahame of The Lost Soul Band on vocals and guitar and Eddie Myer of
Turin Brakes on bass. He has also appeared in many stage productions including:
Motherland by Vincent Dance Theatre (2013),
The Opinion Makers by
Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon (2013) and
Trumpton Comes Alive!, also with the Foundry Group (2015).
Oysterband Since 2012, Oxaal has toured the UK, Germany, Austria, Canada and Scandinavia with folk rock band
Oysterband, mainly playing cello, but also taking over on bass guitar and electric guitar. He played on their 2014 album
Diamonds on the Water. ==Discography==