Northern Oak was conceived late in 2006 when guitarist Chris Mole invited original drummer Daniel Loughran to jam with him at the formers University hall of residence. After several weeks of somewhat aimless practicing, the duo were joined by keyboardist Elliot Sinclair and assumed some direction, influenced by Sinclair`s love of medieval, classical and folk music and by Loughran and Mole`s love of extreme metal.
Some months later Northern Oak was born, the name decided during a camping trip in the Peak District, where the three, accompanied by future vocalist James Harris, camped on the side of a hill in almost sub-zero temperatures.
Back in Sheffield, more regular practices were arranged- the band began to write and construct songs with a strong folk influence, as well as working on re-interpreting songs that had been composed by Sinclair and Mole before Northern Oak was conceived. In time, female vocalist Lindsey Campbell was recruited to sing on several songs and soon became a full member of the band.
On the 1st of May, 2007, the band performed their first gig at the Under the Boardwalk venue in Sheffield. Based on the promoter`s decision, Northern Oak were elevated to the top of the bill and played their first show to a crowd of 30/40 enthusiastic metalheads who enjoyed a somewhat different show complete with a cover of traditional English folk tune Greensleeves and a display of Morris dancing from several members of the band. Shortly after this show, Northern Oak was joined by another new member - superlative flautist Catie Williams, who added an extra dose of folk to the sound of the band.
Soon afterwards, work began on recording some of the Oak`s material. Feeling confident, the band decided to record a debut album independently, without going to a studio. Recording began in May and continued throughout the rest of the year, finally culminating in January of 2008 when the final vocal tracks were laid down. During this period the band also found time to play another gig at Under the Boardwalk, this time bidding farewell to Loughran, as he was about to move to Bristol and thus leave the band.
As the band worked on getting the album finished and printed, some other line-up shifts occurred - drummer Jesse Harrison and bassist Kimberley Sears were recruited, and soon afterward, Harris left the band to be replaced by a long-time friend of Mole`s, Carl Aspinall. Aspinall, however, was only able to perform one gig with the band before leaving due to being under too much pressure in his university career. After doing another gig with vocals performed by their previous drummer Daniel Loughran and by Mole, the band recruited another vocalist in the form of Martin Collins.
The debut album, ‘Tales From Rivelin’, was finally released and garnered a great degree of positive press, including two rather glowing reviews from Terrorizer magazine and Zero Tolerance magazine. Having played a number of shows to promote the album and spread their name and reputation, Northern Oak began working on new material for the next recorded work and to increase their repertoire of songs. Understandably, due to the number of new members in the band who did not work on ‘Tales From Rivelin’, the new material sounds somewhat different to the old- the band are heading in a much more serious and mature direction, while retaining their naturalistic approach and wistful, ‘Old English’ feel.
By March of 2009, a couple of new songs had been worked on, only for another line-up change to damage the band; drummer Jesse Harrison and bassist Kimberley Sears left the band within a week of each other, leaving Northern Oak without two members shortly before a gig they were booked to play at the Casbah in Sheffield. A stand-in bassist in the form of Paul Sparshott and a stand-in drummer in the form of Russell Dobson were swiftly recruited and the band managed to do the gig, pulling off one of their best shows to a fairly large crowd.
It was not long before the band found a replacement bassist in the form of a long-term friend of theirs, Richard Allan, who immediately began getting to grips with the band`s material. After auditioning a few drummers, the band settled on a friend of Catie’s known as Paul “Wib” Whibberley, also the conga player in the salsa band Cuatro de Diciembre.
Work began on more new songs straight away, and in a short time the band’s setlist had expanded considerably, with new songs such as “Gawain”, “Nivis Canto”, “Silvan Lullaby” and “In These Hills” showing a much more epic and powerful core to the band’s sound. Having completed a decent number of new songs, the band took advantage of the facilities at the Attic Practice Studios to record a live CD of their new material and a couple of older songs. Soon after, discussions with Aled of the Welsh band Annwn led to Northern Oak being invited to join the roster of the independent label Mynydd Du records.
With a slew of gigs booked both in Sheffield and at festivals such as the Gathering of the Clans in Leicestershire and the East Riding Rock Festival in East Yorkshire, and with the support of Mynydd Du, Northern Oak hopes to spread their influence even further afield and to keep working on new material for their second album.
