Swindon Music

The Off Chance are my new favourite thing. A duo that consists of Nick Hughes and Ricky O'Sullivan previously of The 211 fame, they are genuinely not like anything you will have heard locally or nationally before. A repertoire that consists of 6 and 12 string guitar, mandolin, banjo and drums can only be a good thing in my eyes. But these two are far from being a novelty act; beautiful lyrics, catchy melodies and a brilliant powerful voice (that has come on miles from the days of The 211) brings everything together in a neat and tidy Mumford & Sons/Holloways esque folky little package. Their recordings are as tight as rude joke I could make and it will be hugely interesting to see how they recreate that live, especially if plans to add a Double Bass and Accordion to the line-up go ahead. The duo looks set to take the festival set by storm and if you've got an ounce of intelligence in you you'll learn the words now cause you're gunna be singing them all summer.

If you're interested in finding out more, PM your address and I'll get a demo CD out in the post for you.

nothing online?

Not as of yet but will be around March time I'm told. Will happily pop a cd in the post for you if you wish

Lovely Review from Dave Franklin;

I remember when folk music was a dirty word. Those were the days when you could hide in your own little world, feel like a pariah to the rest of the musical world and hide in the dark corner of pubs with like minded people and talk in hushed tones of Nick Drake and Jethro Tull, autoharps and tie-died shirts. And then it all changed. People like Seth Lakeman and Eliza Carthy brought traditional sounds to new ears, then we found bands like Mumford and Sons repackaging the whole damn genre making it cool and accessible and with hardly a cardigan in sight.

The Off Chance are the natural product of such a movement. Having turned their back on their modish indie past , Nick Hughes and Rick O’Sullivan have moved into greener pastures, armed this time with the full range of folk instrumental weaponry, and the result is pretty impressive. Folk music with a very accessible radio friendly feel, gloriously up beat vibes and wonderful vocal layers; that can’t be bad. Alongside the rich guitar textures, joyful mandolins give voice, harmonica’s breeze through, but more than anything you find that the tunes themselves get stuck in your head and a day or so later you find yourself humming melodies that you didn’t realise you knew.

In my mind I can imagine the sun going down behind a festival stage somewhere and these songs floating on the warm air over the crowd. Given a bit of time, this band could very easily provide the sound track to your summer.

The Off Chance have now been confirmed as playing the Summer of Love and Music Festival this July.