Pram are an English post-rock band formed in Birmingham in 1988 by singer-keyboardist Rosie Cuckston, guitarist Matt Eaton, drummer Andy Weir and bassist Samantha Owen.

The group signed to Too Pure Records in 1993, where they released their debut LP The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small... Stay as You Are. They later signed to Domino. (now Birmingham City University), where Cuckston met Shropshire-born Samantha "Sam" Owen by chance (at a local supermarket's Singles Night). Weir had moved to London to study art, but kept in touch: in the meantime, Cuckston and Eaton played together in bands and got as far as recording in commercial studios, but Eaton would later recall that "the process didn’t lend itself to diversity and experimentation." In 1988, Weir reunited with the other three and they began playing music together in Birmingham under the temporary name Hole (at that point, performing solely with vocals and a homemade theremin).

Some time later Hole changed their name to Pram, with Cuckston singing and playing keyboards, Eaton mostly playing guitar, Weir drumming, and Owen playing bass guitar. A little later the group added a fifth member, Leeds Grammar School-educated Max Simpson, on keyboard and sampler. Over time, the various band members introduced their multi-instrumental skills to the project. Sam Owen and Matt Eaton frequently shared bass guitar and six-string guitar roles (as well as adding to the keyboards), while Owen also performed on various woodwind and reed instruments as well as singing backing vocals. The band were also quick to incorporate unusual instruments, including toys, into their sound - their performance and recording armoury included the theremin, a zither, a toy piano, a glass hammer, a glockenspiel, and a Hawaiian bubble machine.

Pram's name emphasised their unearthly, childlike tone and presentation, with Rosie Cuckston's eerie vocals and lyrics dealing with depression, loneliness and the dark side of childhood. The band's early recordings had a Krautrock-influenced blend of rhythmic guitar, keyboards and percussion which would eventually see them associated with the emerging post-rock genre, as would other elements of their work (although the band have rejected the label). The band was also inspired by multimedia and by memories of broadcast material: Sam Owen has commented that "in some ways film, animation, children's TV, Play for Today and public information broadcasts all lodged their spirit into our songs as much as the music we listened to.". Signing to Too Pure in 1993, Pram embarked on the release of several increasingly sophisticated recordings, the first of which was the Iron Lung EP.

Andy Weir left shortly after the release of the EP and was replaced as drummer by Daren Garratt, who would perform on all subsequent recordings until the dawn of the new millennium. This new line-up gelled instantly and would write, record and mix the band's debut album, 1993's The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small... Stay as You Are in time to meet their agreed, scheduled September release date. During the recording sessions, a trumpeter (credited only as "The Verdigris Horn") also joined the band and played on several album tracks, including the quarter-hour "In Dreams You Too Can Fly".

In April 1994, Pram released the Meshes EP, which was followed in September by their second album Helium. This record featured increasing use of the sampler. Pram's subsequent recordings began to show a marked interest in exotica.

Although their third album, 1995's Sargasso Sea, was awarded a rating of 0/10 when reviewed by the NME (which Pram took as a compliment), the band continued to gain momentum and popularity. Despite this, the band's sales were insufficient to save their business relationship with Too Pure, and the label dropped the band in late 1995. Pram have acknowledged that, despite the end of the business relationship, the label had always respected their artistic integrity and let them be themselves.

Between labels

For a couple of years, Pram performed and recorded without a long-term record deal. Their first release during this period was a 1995 self-released cassette compilation of early demos and live recordings called Perambulations.

The band's next EP, Music for Your Movies, was released in November 1996 through Stereolab's label Duophonic Records. It was followed by the vinyl-only "Omnichord/Sixty Years of Telephony" single on the small independent label Wurlitzer Jukebox Records. Another non-album single, "The Last Astronaut", was released in 1997 on the Kooky label. Also in 1997, the band expanded and reissued their debut EP Gash as a full-length album on the æ label, adding five tracks from Perambulations and doubling the length.

Pram's lineup changed several times during this period. A theremin player known only as "The Colonel" joined the band in 1996, bringing his own home-made theremin with him. By late 1997, Daren Garratt would be replaced on drums by Mark Butterworth, although pre-recorded material with Daren would continue to feature on records for the following two years. Former Long Fin Killie drummer Dave Turner would also have a stint with the band. In spite of the relatively greater success of Dark Island, Pram did not release a new album for another four years.

In 2004, NME finally reversed their previous scathing opinion of Pram by tipping them as the next big band to watch out for.

In 2006, trombonist Harry Dawes (who also played theremin and stylophone) joined the band. By this time, both Sales and Clare had left for other projects.

In September 2007 Pram released their seventh studio album The Moving Frontier. It was named number 7 in Wire Magazine's Top Ten records of the year. A remix EP based on various Moving Frontier tracks, Prisoner of the Seven Pines, followed in 2008 as did a full self-released collection of the band's visual work (short films, music videos and animations), collated on a limited edition 90-minute DVD called Shadow Shows of the Phantascope These would be the band's last commercial releases for a decade.

Following the release of Prisoner of the Seven Pines and Shadow Shows of the Phantascope, Rosie Cuckston permanently left the band in 2008 to concentrate on academia (and, later, politics).

Release hiatus/work in other artistic areas

Partly as a consequence of Cuckston's departure, Pram went into a period of dormancy (as far as commercial releases were concerned) for almost a decade. The remaining band members worked on other projects, both separately and together.

In 2010 and 2001, Pram collaborated with visual artist "Film Ficciones" (filmmaker Scott Johnston) on a large scale multi platform show that used early cinematic techniques, shadow-play, theater and a live musical performance in silhouette to soundtrack a three-screen film produced by Johnston and the band. The piece "Shadow Shows" premiered at Supersonic Festival Birmingham, touring to Germany and then headlining the closing day of the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2011.

In 2012 the group recorded a series of experimental works at Jochen Hans Irmler's Klangbad Studio, with the intention of releasing a new LP of experimental works.

As Pram, the group conducted workshops in sound art and field recording, producing as yet unreleased work that was performed live in 2016.

Now working as a semi-instrumental project, with an increased interest in film and site-specific work, the band performed at the Imaginary Musics festival in Switzerland in May 2017 (playing an audio-visual "Music for Kopfkino" set) and at a combined sound-art installation and concert ('Under the Blossom That Hangs On The Bough') in Birmingham's Martineau Gardens as part of the for-Wards project and festival for June 2017.

Return to album releases

In 2018 Pram released a new album, Across the Meridian, on Domino Records (with Sam Owen now handling vocals). The album was launched at a Club Integrale Midlands concert at the Edge, on 20 July 2018, followed by concerts at The Lexington, London, on 22 July and the Soup Kitchen, Manchester, on 26 July (with Fliss Kitson of The Nightingales playing drums).

During 2019 the band were working on further editing and arranging for the 2012 Klangbad Studio session recordings.

Work as remixers

Pram remixed LFO and Aphex Twin for Warp Records' 10th anniversary compilation. They also remixed a song by the Indian singer Mohammed Rafi.

Outside band activities

Rosie Cuckston recorded songs with Lætitia Sadier as Monade in the late 90s. She appeared on their "M Is The Thirteenth Letter/Monade" and "Split" singles.

Matt Eaton produces his own music under the name 'Micronormous' and has released a number of tracks on compilation albums - in Autumn 2009 he was reporting as working on an album for Warm Circuit records (home of the Modified Toy Orchestra). Eaton also DJs with Mark Cancellara (ex-Plone) at Silver Dollar, a reggae club in Birmingham.

Sam Owen and Max Simpson record and perform their own work as 'Moths of the Moon'. Their first mini-LP 'Another Place' was released in July 2021 on Ondes Positives Recordings.

Band members

Current members

  • Samantha "Sam" Owen (vocals, flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone, accordion, keyboards, melodica, guitar, bass guitar)
  • Matthew Eaton (guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, sampler, strings)
  • Max Simpson (sampler, keyboards, bass guitar, melodica, synthesisers)
  • Harry Dawes (trombone, theremin, stylophone)

Live band members

  • Fliss Kitson - drums (2018-present)

Past members

  • Rosie Cuckston (vocals, keyboards)
  • Laurence Hunt (drums)
  • Andy Weir (drums)
  • Daren Garratt (drums)
  • Steve Perkins (drums)
  • Nick Sales (zither, theremin, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, sampler, melodica)
  • Alex Clare (trumpet)
  • Dave Turner (drums)
  • Mark Butterworth (drums)
  • Hannah Baines (trumpet, cello)
  • "Mr. Verdigris Horn" (horns) AKA "Verdigris", "Mr. Verdigris", "Verdigris Al", "The Mysterious Verdigris Horn" (may possibly have been Alex Clare under a pseudonym)
  • "The Colonel" (theremin)

Discography

Albums

  • The Stars Are So Big, the Earth Is So Small... Stay as You Are (1993), Too Pure
  • Helium (1994), Too Pure
  • Sargasso Sea (1995), Too Pure
  • North Pole Radio Station (1998), Domino
  • The Museum of Imaginary Animals (2000), Domino
  • Dark Island (2003), Domino
  • The Moving Frontier (2007), Domino
  • Across the Meridian (2018), Domino

Singles and EPs

  • Gash (1992), Howl - original 6-song EP
  • Iron Lung EP (1993), Too Pure
  • Meshes EP (1994), Too Pure
  • Music for Your Movies EP (1996), Duophonic
  • Omnichord (1997), Wurlitzer Jukebox
  • Sleepy Sweet EP (1998), Domino
  • The Last Astronaut (1998), Kooky
  • Keep in a Dry Place and Away From Children (1999), Domino
  • The Owl Service (2000), Domino
  • Somniloquy (2001), Domino - mini-album
  • Prisoner of the Seven Pines EP (2008), Domino

Compilations

  • Perambulations (1995) - self-released on 'Howl Record'. Cassette-only collection of early recordings, some live.
  • Gash (1997), æ. Debut EP expanded to album length via the addition of 5 songs from Perambulations
  • Telemetric Melodies (1999), Domino. Album collecting various single/EP tracks from 1997 to 1999

Compilation appearances

  • Brum Brum (1989, Pram's song "Jack Sabbath" appears on this compilation, along with other Brummie bands)
  • In The Light Of Time: UK Post-Rock and Leftfield Pop 1992 - 1998 (Jumbo Records, 2023)

DVDs

  • Shadow Shows of the Phantascope (2008)

References

  • 'Happy music is for discos' BBC Interview
  • MTV.com bio
  • Keep in a Dry Place and Away from Children (animated film)
  • Review of 'Photophonic' Tour in The Telegraph
  • Vimeo page of Scott Johnston (Pram visual artist)
  • "A New Nineties - Part Four: Why Pram Wrote The Best Album Of The Nineties" - article in The Quietus by Neil Kulkarni, 22 December 2011.