Founded in 2007 and named after the iconic Orange Juice track, The Fabulous Artisans is a collaboration between Glasgow based Oscar and BAFTA award winning actor, former stand-up comic and singer Neil Crossan and Edinburgh based songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jeremy Thoms (also of The Cathode Ray and Stereogram label boss). “With a sound fed from Bacharach to Barry, Brel to Bowie, Cave to Collins, Magazine to Morricone and Wilson to Walker, this is timeless music for or from any era…”
Latest single “Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained” is only the fourth track The Fabulous Artisans have released since their warmly received debut album “…From Red to Blue” came out on Swedish indie label Bendi Records in 2008. It continues their lineage of mixing up the classic pop sounds of the past with a modern twist, whilst adding their characteristic big lyrical themes of life and death.
The album “…From Red To Blue” itself was described as “A series of reflections on life in all it’s hues …from red to blue. Twelve songs about love and loss; joy and regret; hope and failure; sex and god; identity and home; parenthood and childhood; mortality and morality; frustration and inspiration; age and optimism; memories and belief; fantasy and reality…”
With previous single “Belongs To You” (2013) they revealed a more soulful side to their sound – one could imagine Jim Morrison jamming with The Four Tops. while Mick Ronson gatecrashes the party. It followed “These Open Arms” (2013) which also featured a hitherto unexplored side to the Artisans sound, bumping and grinding like the sleazy glam rock bastard love child of The Cramps, Johnny Cash and Link Wray, while the lyrics explored the familiar areas of alienation and disconnection.
“Mother & Child” completed the quartet of recent releases and was The Fabulous Artisans’ contribution to “The Sound Of Stereogram” compilation which was released to great acclaim in 2015, coinciding with The Stereogram Revue, a live showcase of Stereogram acts.
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