Gryphon (band)

Formation Gryphon formed in early 1972 as a four-piece band by English musicians Graeme Taylor, Richard Harvey, Dave Oberlé, and Brian Gulland. Harvey and Gulland were graduates of the Royal College of Music in London who started an acoustic band, using their classically trained backgrounds to perform a mixture of English folk music, contemporary rock, medieval and Renaissance music. The duo were joined by guitarist Graeme Taylor and drummer Dave Oberlé shortly after, thus becoming the first line-up of Gryphon. They soon signed a recording deal with the folk label Transatlantic Records and secured Nick Wright as their manager. Later that year they composed for the documentary film Glastonbury Fayre (1972) and completed a European tour. Taylor and Bennett were replaced on guitars and bass by Bob Foster and Jonathan Davie respectively, with Alex Baird recruited as kit drummer to allow Oberlé to focus fully on singing and lighter percussion. This lineup recorded a fifth, even more rock-oriented album, Treason, which was released on Harvest Records in 1977. Gryphon split up later in 1977, after the release of Treason, due to the band members feeling that the band's momentum had been lost and that the advent of punk had sidelined their style of music. Another factor was that Richard Harvey's projects outside the band (in folk rock, sessions and soundtrack work) were developing further and beginning to require too much of his attention. In the same year, both Harvey and Jonathan Davie - under the names Rik Mansworth and John Thomas - were briefly members of the punk/new wave "scam" group The Banned. Reunion In September 2007, Gryphon announced on their website that they had finally decided to produce a new album after a silence of thirty-one years. A one-off performance occurred on 6 June 2009 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, thirty-two years after their last performance. The four original members - Richard Harvey, Brian Gulland, Graeme Taylor and Dave Oberlé - opened the evening with a selection of songs and instrumentals from the first album Gryphon. They were then joined by Jon Davie (the final bass player, who appeared on Treason) and a new member, the multi-instrumentalist and film/production music composer Graham Preskett for the rest of the evening. A follow-up tour was postponed, but the band eventually played six dates in May 2015, with further dates in 2016 including Fairport Convention's Cropredy Convention and a return to Union Chapel Hall. Harvey left the group in early 2016, and shortly after they were joined by Keith Thompson on woodwinds and Rory McFarlane on bass. In September 2018, the band released a new studio album of original material entitled ReInvention, their first in 41 years. This was followed in November 2020 by a seventh studio album, ''Get Out Of My Father's Car!'' == Musical style ==

The band's music is said to be "steeped in the medieval traditions of English folk music." According to Classic Rock Magazine: "This is renaissance rock taken to such an extreme that it makes Blackmore’s Night sound perfectly normal." ==Personnel==

Band members ;Current members • Brian Gulland (born 30 April 1951) – bassoon, trombone, crumhorn, recorder, keyboards, vocals (1973–1977, 2009, 2015–present) • Graeme Taylor – guitars, vocals, keyboards (1973–1975, 2009, 2015–present) • Dave Oberlé – drums, percussion, lead vocals (1973–1977, 2009, 2015–present) • Rob Levy – bass (2018–present) • Andy Findon – flute, crumhorn, saxophone, clarinet, vocals (2017–present) • Clare Taylor – violin, keyboards (2019–present) Former members • Richard Harvey – recorder, crumhorn, mandolin, keyboards, vocals (1973–1977, 2009, 2015–2016) • Philip Nestor – bass, vocals (1974) • Malcolm Bennett (known since 1989 as Malcolm Markovich) – bass, flute (1974–1975) • Alex Baird – drums (1977) • Jonathan Davie – bass (1975–1977, 2009, 2015) • Bob Foster – guitar (1977) • Graham Preskett – violin, keyboards, mandolin, guitar, harmonica, percussion (2009, 2015–2019) • Keith Thompson – recorder, crumhorn, oboe (2016–2017) • Rory McFarlane – bass (2016–2018?) Additional personnel • Ernest Hart – organ (on Midnight Mushrumps and Red Queen to Gryphon Three). This "credit" is spurious and actually refers to the fact that Ernest Hart of organmakers Copeman Hart made the electronic reed organ played by Richard Harvey on the albums. • Peter Redding – acoustic bass (on Red Queen to Gryphon Three) • Tim Sebastion – lyrics (on Treason) Timeline ==Discography==

Studio albums • Gryphon (1973) • Midnight Mushrumps (1974) • Red Queen to Gryphon Three (1974) • Raindance (1975) • Treason (1977) • ReInvention (2018) • ''Get Out Of My Father's Car!'' (2020) Singles • "Spring Song" / "The Fall of the Leaf" (UK, 1977) Compilations and other releases • The Collection (1991) • The Collection II (1995) • About as Curious as It Can Be (2002; BBC Radio sessions from 1974 and 1975) • Glastonbury Carol (2003; BBC Radio sessions from 1972 and 1974 BBC Radio session performances plus theme music for the Peter Neal film Glastonbury Fayre) • Crossing the Styles: The Transatlantic Anthology (2004) • Raindances: The Transatlantic Years Recordings (1973-1975) (2018) ==References==