| Name |
Sweet Billy Pilgrim |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
English |
| Date of Birth |
|
| Place of Birth |
Aylesbury, England |
| Famous for |
singing |
The original three members met whilst at school, Elsenburg and Bishop are from Wingrave and Hamer from Wendover, both near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. American born Carpenter joined the band in 2010.
Sweet Billy Pilgrim formed in 2003 after their previous band, Cordisto, came to an end. The band are named after the main character in Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse 5.After repeated rejections from both major and independent record labels, Elsenburg bought a Power Book, they installed Logic, and the band began to record themselves. Due to financial restraints, the early Sweet Billy Pilgrim recordings up until 2012s "Crown and Treaty" were (apart from the acoustic drums) produced in a garden shed using a laptop and one quite good microphone. The band feel this has had a positive influence on their sound.
Their first release "Experience", was distributed amongst fans and was followed up by the Stars Spill Out of Cups EP. Released on their own label (Luxor Purchase) and featuring hand-stamped artwork, it contains three songs "Stars Spill Out of Cups", "God In The Details", and "Atlantis". The band also gave away a recording called "Forget to Breathe" as an .mp3.As of 2012, they have gone on to release three albums.
We Just Did What Happened and No One Came was released in 2005 and awarded four stars by Mojo magazine, and The Sunday Times called it, "a rather special debut", making the track "Stars Spill Out of Cups" one of their songs of the year.
Twice Born Men was released in 2009 and was awarded 5 stars and made CD of the Week by The Sunday Times, later that year it made The Sunday Times' top 100 albums of 2009 list. The album was also awarded 4 stars by Mojo and Uncut, and was made a Mercury Prize album of the year for 2009.
Crown and Treaty was released on 30th April 2012. Critical response was very positive, with all major UK national papers awarding the record 4 or 5 stars out of 5. It was awarded 5 Stars and Instant Classic by Mojo and 4 stars by Q magazine. The majority of the recording for this album took place at Elsenburg's cottage, with the exception of the acoustic drums which were recorded at Earth Terminal studios. Crown and Treaty was self released on their own label (Luxor Purchase) much like the early recordings, but distributed through EMI label services.
