Pale Saints
Background information
Origin	England
Genre(s)	Shoegazing, Dream pop, Britpop
Years active	1987–1994
Members
Meriel Barham - Vocals, Guitar Colleen Browne - Bass, Vocals Graeme Naysmith - Guitar Chris Cooper - Drums
Former members
Ian Masters - Bass, Vocals

Pale Saints began their existence as a three-piece jangly indie pop band, influenced by the early Primal Scream sound, later developing in a more ethereal pop direction. Forming in 1987 in Leeds, England, the band was signed to 4AD Records records after their first London show by 4AD chief Ivo. Their first EP, Barging Into the Presence of God, was critically praised, but received minimal press, especially in the United States.

• 1987:
  • Ian Masters - Bass, Vocals
  • Graeme Naysmith - Guitar
  • Chris Cooper - Drums

Early band interviews showed them to be a fun-loving bunch in contrast to their dark, lyrically pessimistic pop music. They described themselves as enthusiastic football fans and were perpetually excited about touring. Lead vocalist Ian Masters was often wont to gratuitously lie in interviews, helping the group to successfully build up a certain party reputation.

With Ashley Horner from Edsel Auctioneer (guitar) joining the band in 1989, their first album was released in 1990 and entitled The Comforts of Madness. Tracks from the album were separately produced by both John Fryer and Gil Norton. A mixture of atmospheric, unique male-ethereal vocals along with noisy pop-oriented guitar created a heretofore unheard of combination. The album includes a cover version of "Fell From the Sun" by Opal (pre-Mazzy Star).

1991:

Ian Masters - Bass, Vocals

Meriel Barham - Guitar, Vocals

Graeme Naysmith - Guitar

Chris Cooper - Drums

In late 1990, the band added Meriel Barham, the original vocalist from Lush, as second guitarist and vocalist, replacing Horner who concentrated full-time on his own band Edsel Auctioneer. Meriel added backing vocals and guitars to the Half-Life EP, then joined permanently for the Flesh Balloon EP.

In 1992 the band recorded their second full-length album, entitled In Ribbons. Produced by Hugh Jones, the album reached modest sales in the UK, but was largely ignored in the U.S. In this year they also recorded the Hugh Jones produced EP Throwing Back the Apple.

1993:

Meriel Barham - Vocals, Guitar

Colleen Browne - Bass, Vocals

Graeme Naysmith - Guitar

Chris Cooper - Drums

Ian Masters departed the band in 1993. By most accounts, he became more and more disenchanted with pop music and wanted to go in a more experimental direction with minimal drums and ambient sounds. He also seemed to have lost all joy for touring and live performance.

Pale Saints added former Heartthrobs bassist Colleen Browne in 1993. They then wrote and recorded the EP Fine Friend, which was produced by Hugh Jones and released in mid 1994. Following these sessions, they returned to the studio to complete the fall 1994 album Slow Buildings, also produced by Jones. This album was generally less appreciated by critics and fans alike, who seemed to miss the unique qualities which Ian Masters brought to the band.

The group toured Europe and the United States in late fall of 1994. Their final studio recording was a version of "Jersey Girl" for the Tom Waits tribute album Step Right Up. Meriel Barham departed in September of 1995 and the band eventually called it quits in 1996.

Contents 1 Discography 1.1 Albums 1.2 Compilation album 1.3 Singles/EPs/demos 1.4 Video 1.5 Compilation albums with various artists 2 Members' activity after Pale Saints 3 Photos 4 External links

Discography

Albums

• 1990: The Comforts of Madness
• 1992: In Ribbons
• 1994: Slow Buildings

Compilation album

• 1990: Mrs. Dolphin (Japanese release containing "Barging into the Presence of God" and the "Half-Life" EPs with the tracks "Colours and Shapes" and "A Deeper Sleep for Steven")

Singles/EPs/demos

• 1988: Children Break
• 1989: Barging into the Presence of God
• 1990: Half-Life (12" contains a bonus spoken-word track "Colour of the Sky")
• 1991: Kinky Love
• 1991: Flesh Balloon
• 1991: Porpoise
• 1992: Throwing Back the Apple
• 1994: Fine Friend
• 1994: Fine Friend (US promo including "One Blue Hill" live acoustic @ KCRW)

Video

• 1993: Blue Flower

Compilation albums with various artists

• 1988: Diamonds and Porcupines - "She Rides the Waves" (demo version)
• 1990: Gigantic! 2 - "A Deeper Sleep for Steven"
• 1990: Indie Top 20 Vol. VIII - "Sight of You"
• 1990: Music for the 90's: Vol 2 - "Time Thief" (edit)
• 1990: Peel Session - "Time Thief"
• 1991: Indie Top 20 Vol XI - "Half-Life, Remembered"
• 1992: ...and dog bones, too - "Neverending Night"
• 1992: Lilliput - "Throwing Back The Apple", "Featherframe", "A Thousand Stars Burst Open" (Tintwhistle Brass Band version)
• 1992: Precious - "Kinky Love"
• 1993: 4AD Presents The 13 Year Itch - "One Blue Hill" (demo)
• 1994: All Virgos Are Mad - "Fine Friend"
• 1995: No Balls - "One Blue Hill"
• 1995: Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits - "Jersey Girl"
• 1997: Joyride - "1000 Stars Burst Open"
• 1997: Shoe Pie - "A Thousand Stars Burst Open"
• 2005:1980 Forward - "Sight of You"

Members' activity after Pale Saints

Ian Masters continues to create music, often of an experimental nature. His first project after Pale Saints was Spoonfed Hybrid with Chris Trout, their self-titled debut album, produced by the band and Duncan Wheat was released in 1993, their second album, Hibernation Shock was released in 1996. Ian and Chris shared vocal and songwriting duties, and played all the instruments.

In 1994 he teamed up with His Name Is Alive auteur Warren Defever and they began to release music as ESP Summer. In the fall of 1998, Ian released a 7" under the name Friendly Science Orchestra entitled Miniature Album,which became an NME 'Single of the Week'. As of 2005, Masters lives in Japan. His current projects, including Wingdisk with Mark Tranmer of Gnac and The Montgolfier Brothers, can be viewed on his website, The Institute of Spoons.

The rest of the Pale Saints members disbanded in 1996 after Slow Buildings was released, and was not a commercial success. The members all went on to other bands after they split.

In April of 1998, Colleen Browne said: "I can tell you that Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper are still in Leeds and are currently in a band called Lorimer with their friend Phil Pettler, who was once in Leeds-based band Edsel Auctioneer. I had stints in London-based bands Rialto (eastwest) and The Warm Jets (Island Records) and am currently in an unsigned band called White Hotel with drummer Jean-Marc Butty, who played with PJ Harvey for 3 years during the To Bring You My Love period and singer/songwriter/guitarist Ken Low who has played on some Barry Adamson (once of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) albums."

After Lorimer, Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper continued working together and went on to form Leeds band The Terminals. Although Graeme has since left, Chris remains in The Terminals today and the band released a single in December 2006 called Dictator on Double Dragon Records.

Meriel Barham has gone on to record melodic electronica under the name Kuchen. She has released two albums on the Karaoke Kalk label: Kids with Sticks in 2001 and the collaboration Kuchen Meets Mapstation in 2003 with Stefan Schneider of To Rococo Rot (who also records as Mapstation).

Photos

External links

• Colours and Shapes - Unofficial Pale Saints site
• The Institute of Spoons - Ian Masters site.
• The Terminals - Chris Cooper & Graeme Naysmith's current band.
• White Hotel - Colleen Browne's current band.
• [1] - Colleen Browne's current band.
• Kuchen - Meriel Barham's current project.

• Eyesore Discography
• Pale Saints Lyrics