The Nightingales
Angular, restless post-punk with a sharp tongue and a stubborn pulse. Perfect for those who like their rock music intelligent, abrasive, and slightly eccentric.
Angular, restless post-punk with a sharp tongue and a stubborn pulse. Perfect for those who like their rock music intelligent, abrasive, and slightly eccentric.
The Nightingales sound like a conversation in a crowded pub that is simultaneously brilliant, confusing, and slightly threatening. Their music is built on a foundation of driving, repetitive rhythms and guitars that slash across the melody rather than following it. It is a sound that refuses to settle into comfortable patterns, preferring to keep the listener on edge with sudden shifts in tempo and tone.
What truly sets them apart is Robert Lloyd's vocal presence. He doesn't sing so much as he orates, delivering dense, satirical, and often surreal observations with a deadpan wit that would make a stand-up comedian jealous. There is a gritty, unpolished honesty to their production that feels like a direct transmission from a Birmingham basement, capturing the friction of a band that has spent decades perfecting their own idiosyncratic language.
Start with 'Hysterics' for a masterclass in early 80s post-punk tension, or jump into 'Four Against Fate' to hear how their bite has only grown sharper with age. It is music for people who value character over polish and ideas over easy hooks.
Nightingales (a.k.a. The Nightingales) are a British post-punk/alternative rock band, formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England, by four members of Birmingham's punk group The Prefects. They had been part of The Clash's 'White Riot Tour', recorded a couple of Peel Sessions, released a 45 on Rough Trade and, years after splitting up, had a retrospective CD released by US indie label Acute Records. Described in John Robb's book on 'post punk' Death To Trad Rock as "The misfits' misfits" and comprising an ever-fluctuating line up, based around lyricist/singer Robert Lloyd, the Nightingales enjoyed cult status in the early 1980s as darlings of the credible music scene and were championed by John Peel, who said of them – "Their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans". The original members were Robert Lloyd on vocals, Eamonn Duffy on bass and Paul Apperley on drums, all formerly of The Prefects. The band, before splitting up, played more sessions on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show than any other band excluding The Fall and Half Man Half Biscuit. In the late 1980s, the Nightingales stopped working but, following the occasional gig between times, they re-grouped in 2004, with Lloyd being joined by original Prefects guitarist Alan Apperley. The current line up features Robert Lloyd, James Smith, Andreas Schmid on bass and ex-Violet Violet drummer Fliss Kitson. Since restarting the group have been more productive than ever – releasing five 7" vinyl singles, a 10" EP and six studio albums (plus two live albums), touring England, mainland Europe and US numerous times, recording many radio sessions along the way. They have been invited to play various festivals in Europe and the States, including Glastonbury and SXSW. Their "Let's Think About Living" 45 was 'Single of the Week' on BBC 6 and they have continued to receive regular rave reviews for their records and live shows. A feature-length documentary about the band - King Rocker - fronted by comedian and writer Stewart Lee and directed by Michael Cumming was to be released in 2020, but it eventually debuted on the UK Sky Arts channel on 6 February 2021.
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Shares post-punk, indie rock, art rock (subgenres); lo fi, dry intimate, hand played (production style)
Shares post-punk, indie rock, garage rock (subgenres); lo fi, dry intimate, hand played (production style)
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