Heron - Biography
Formed as a trio in England in 1967, Heron was one of the burgeoning folk groups in an era defined by genre. Taking their cues from The Incredible String Band and Bob Dylan, the three-piece of vocalist Tony Pook, singer/guitarist Roy Apps and guitarist Robert Collins began playing the famous Dolphin folk club in Maidenhead. They eventually added Martin Haywood and refocused their sound as a vocal group with a strong acoustic foundation. After signing a deal to Essex Music by Gus Dudgeon, Heron added GT Moore and keyboardist Steve Jones and became staples on the scene in the late-1960s, before signing a deal with Pye’s imprint, Dawn. They would record two albums for the label—both of them noteworthy for being recorded outdoors—and play off and on together for the next three decades.
The band’s first album on the progressive Dawn label—Heron (1970)—was a financial failure, though it was very much cut in the cloth of their successful contemporaries, such as Magna Carta and Fairport Convention. The album still had a place in music history for being recorded al fresco, in a field near the Thames.
Dawn made a bold move to follow Heron up the next year with a double album for the price of a one—the aptly titled Twice As Nice & Half The Price (1971 Dawn). Recorded again outdoors—this time in a garden in Devonshire—the strategy nevertheless led to the inevitable dismantling of the band’s earliest iterations. The latter album brought in session musicians—Mike Finesilver and Terry Gittings—to round out the sound in an attempt to keep up with the growing folk-rock scene of the early-1970s.
It has been said that the reason for Heron recording outdoors was they were far too shy to record in a proper studio. Therefore, Dawn Records brought the recording gear where Heron would feel comfortable—into the fields of Berkshire. On the band’s first two records, recorded in a single take as a live set, one can hear buzzing insects, birdsong, drug-induced mutterings between songs and serene breezes that befit the lyrical content about nature. British folk singer Mike Cooper also makes a guest appearance singing harmonies, a favor the band would later return by appearing on backing vocals for tracks of his on Cooper Records.
Though they didn’t release any more albums in the ’70s and everyone went their separate ways, Heron did do a series of shows towards the latter part of the decade with Terry Clarke. In 1983 they put out a cassette only Open Up The Road on Steve Jones label, Relaxx Records, which was recorded at Maidenhead in Berkshire. They reconvened again in the early-1990s and released Hystorical (1991 Relaxx Records), which was recorded at Wargrave in Berkshire and featured Terry Clarke. Next came River Of Fortune (1997 Relaxx Records), which Heron tabbed their comeback album, and finally Black Dog (2005 Relaxx Records), named after the place they recorded in Devonshire.
Over the years Heron’s sound has changed, both in production and within the songwriting. Into the 1990s and the aughts they fall closer to the singer/songwriter template than the hippie folk of their origins. Though they have reunited sporadically for the last few decades, Heron have managed to stay active playing the occasional gig going back to the early-’80s, while also having been featured on numerous folk compilations in the 2000s.
Compilations featuring Heron include Gather In The Mushrooms (2004 Castle Music), Anthems In Eden (2006 Castle Music) and Scarborough Fair: The Best of English Folk (2006 Sanctuary Records). Roy Apps has gone on to have a solo career as a singer and guitarist of the band. There is a film about Heron and their show at the Bridport Arts Centre in Dorset called First Finale (2006 Relaxx Records). Relaxx also put out a collection of old demos and practice tapes called Odznenz in 2008.
