British Sea Power waives the rules

British Sea Power recently pulled off a coup that will make them the envy of their peers. No, they didn’t get Kate Bush back into the studio, buy an old Spitfire fighter plane or play a secret gig one mile beneath the ocean on a nuclear powered submarine. It was better than that. They managed to wangle sponsorship from a brewery...

“We ask for Budvar on our rider all of the time,” says guitarist Noble as he quaffs a pint not brewed in Czechoslovakia in a Brighton watering hole. “And someone from the English side of Budvar knew about the band, and got in touch.” This led to the brewer sponsoring a recent show in the Czech republic and even giving the band some hard cash: “We haven’t actually got any free beer off them yet,” rues Noble, “but it is a tasty beer. It is better than Carling, so we are quite proud to be sponsored.”

British Sea Power are also proud of their position as a band finding favour with critics and fans alike. They have been steaming around the oceans of the live circuit for four years and initially came together in 2000.

“I met Yan (vocals/guitar) at university,” recalls Noble (guitar). “We were both late for the same lecture and we found out that we both liked Pavement and went for a coffee. It was like, let’s start a band.” As luck would have it Yan had already been playing in bands in his native Kendal with brother Hamilton (bass/vocals) and Wood (drums) so they were swiftly summoned.

Various names were toyed with before British Sea Power won the day. “We were worried that people were going to think that we were imperialists …

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