Reef

rock

Although all of REEF have west country connections, especially to the Glastonbury area of Somerset, England, it wasn't until they all independently moved to London that the band was formed. In 1993 while Gary and Jack were looking for band members, Kenwyn had met up with Dominic Greensmith in London and discussed forming a band. So, the foursome got together, got a house in West London and started to jam. After recording a couple of tracks, the band spent much of 1994 touring and building up a fan base. They signed to S2, an off-shoot of Sony and supplied them with Naked which was used in a TV advert for the Sony Minidisc in which a record company executive hears the track on Minidisc, throws it out of the window disapprovingly, but a young man outside picks it up, listens to it and likes it (demonstrating the format's durability). It would have been very easy for Reef to cash in on this and release Naked, although they would probably have gone the way of Stiltskin and been a one-hit-wonder. Instead, they took their time and a few months later, released Good Feeling, then Naked and then a non-album track Weird. All of these singles were top 20. In 1995 Reef released their now Gold debut album Replenish. We wanted our first album, ‘Replenish’, to be a really honest statement. Four people playing in a room and getting something that’s totally their own. It was recorded in the most basic way possible. Minimal room sounds. Up until recently, all I used for effects was a...