Formed in the late 90's in the UK by Nick Portnell, Nick Holton & Kevin Wells as tin pot, fuzz, banjo, clarinet wielding 4 tracker outfit. Working with local like minders- Jamie Lee Martin (poet), Ian Parton (now the Go Team), Neil Halstead and Ian McCutcheon (Loose Salute & Mojave3) and many more- filling suit cases with cassette tapes of songs and noodles.
Neil Halstead (Slowdive & Mojave 3) decided to work with Coley Park on his solo album "Sleeping on Roads" (out on 4ad Records), after borrowing them on many Mojave3 recordings. This followed with a one off performance at Spain's Benicassim Festival. Coley Park returned to their studio to record another album "Hands of the Sun". Halstead tired of the bands pattern of shelving and decided to put out a mini album "Across the Carpet Stars" on his own Shadylane record label. Most of the songs were culled from "Hands..." & "Across the Carpet Stars" came out November 2003 and was received well by the press:-
“Anglodelic sensations Coley Park, have come from nowhere in particular & on the basis of their debut album, are headed somewhere peculiar. Coley Park boast a murderous innocence all of their own. There’s a touch of Syd Barrett’s creepy childlike psychosis throughout.”Bang4/5
"The shimmering melodies, happy-sad voices and mix of Americana and Anglo pastoral-psychedelia" - Syvie Simmons Mojo
"Coley Park do a very fine line of marrying skew folk, alt.country and nu-psychedelia, and the results are continuously joyous." - Rock Sound 8/10
By the time the album was released the band had written and recorded most of the follow up, the stripped to the bone "Down at the Devilin tree", which veers from surf to dark folk. This was again released on Shadylane Records in January 2005. With the thumbs up from Dazed and Confused Magazine (Dazed & Approved) the Park enjoyed some more good press:-
“Coley Park manage to strike a telling balance between the pastoral vibes of little England & a warm Americana-come-west coast sound rooted in the 1960s. Detailed by studied lyrics, they stir up a woozy pych sound of a high standard” 4/5 The Independent.
"At times lovely. At others as on the Dr Who through Leslie speaker-cones of "Sleeping Apart"- mildy freaky." Uncut
"Opener "Milky Moon" is made of blinding Californian sunshine mixed with soulful backbeat..." Rock Sound 8/10
"Coley Park's almost hermitic existence has been spent crafting a set of honey sweet, alt country gems. Somehow they manage to simultaneously pack every bar with a whole ranch of laid back Americana melodies, delivered with the urgency of a great pop band.
The hard hitting drumming could floor a buffalo while the steel guitar and herd of hooks will make you want to barbeque the beast and dance the night a way. The well honed tunes are made to shimmer with the odd flicker of wigged out instrumental flurries. It’s the sort of music Teenage Fanclub should be making. More importantly, it’s the sound that anybody who demands that little bit more from a tune but still demands a tune should hear. Lock this band in your basement before they flee for the hills." BBC Gimp live review.
By the time "Down at the Devilin Tree" came out, the band had already written the follow up. They returned to their Studio in October 2004 to rehearse and record "RHINOCEROS".
"Coley Park are purveyors of jangly indie-pop with a country twang and a psychedelic twist. For this, their third album, they’ve come up with an understated gem, their beguiling naivety on tracks such as ‘Said And Done’ coming across like Nick Drake fronting The Pastels. “We’re so peripheral right now”, they lament on closer ‘Of All Faces’ – if this was a just world they wouldn’t be." 8/10 NME
"With very little effort, they can turn in the prettily pastoral (Said & Done), the freakily garage-psych (I Never Believed A Word You Said) and just about all points in between." 8/10 Rock'n'Reel
"Coley Park boast of melancholic pop potency." 3/5 Q
"Coley Park isn't all about sunshine and happiness though. Ghosts In The Sun bewitches you from the first beat as sorrowful lyrics mesmerizingly embrace a storytelling role that is both unnerving and yet beautiful, accompanied as has come to be expected by Coley Park's peculiarly unique touch which this time takes the form of a wall of distortion that pierces the song. Engagingly captivation, Rhinoceros in unlike anything else you will hear this year." 11/13 Room 13
"Fuzzy, woozy psychedelia, wigged-out banjos, shimmering steal guitar add lashings of hallucinogenic nostalgia." 3/5 Uncut
RHINOCEROS released June 2007 on Big Potato Records, title inspired by a play by Ionesco. Music is supplied from melodic, fuzzy, wooshy keys, dirty jangly guitars, flutes, violins, harmonies, recorder & banjo.
EP Quiet Lanes & Other Stories was also released in June 2007 & featured collaboration with Ian Parton from Go! Team "Thurston Moore".
Kevin Wells & Dave Barrow are currently in space-rock trio Slow River Slow. Nick Holton formed Holton's Opulent Oog with Ian McCutcheon & Roger Proctor & has released 2 albums on Big Potato Records. Mark Smith plays with Trojan Werk Horse.
Line up by 2004-
Nick Portnell - most of the singing, guitar, backwards guitar & tambo.
Kevin Wells - singing, banjo, recorder, guitar, clarinet, jaw harp & lap steel.
Mark Smith- bass, guitar & backing vocals.
Nick Holton- keyboards, guitar, banjo, gloc & backing vocals.
Dave Barrow- drums & backing vocals.
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