Midnight Floats

Spinning Stone

Train To Moscow

'We all go back to the Sea' was written by Steve to celebrate the transnational element of the LEADER funded Nature Tourism Project led by Durham Heritage Coast Partnership (UK) and The Water and Air Association of Eastern Uusimaa (Finland). It is a meditation on our lives in the natural environment and the influence that one brings to bear on the other. The song also celebrates the triumphal return of flora and fauna to the once industry-blasted shoreline, and the denes and fields of the East Durham Coast.

We all go back to the Sea

There were times I recall when I could not see the light at all 
As it fell through the clouds to the beach;
For the moon couldn’t shine on the blasted sand, the black and grime 
That kept the sea out of reach.

And so the Kittiwake’s call was lost to a mine stone shore:
We rise with the swell of the tide, and we all go back to the sea,  
We fly where the Cormorants cry, and we all go back to the sea. 

The Dabberlocks on Featherbed Rocks,
The Dolphins from Doggar to the Tyne;  
And the Brittle Stars in rock pool jars,  
For children to wonder at the brine.  

And see the tide has turned as the Skylark meadows sigh:  
We rise with the swell of the tide, and we all go back to the sea, 
We stand like the stone and the sand, and we all go back to the sea. 

From the hillside to the stream, from the river to the dene
We are all coming home in our way. 
And so the Sanderling song will move through here once more:  

We rise with the swell of the tide and we all go back to the sea,  
We go where the Rock Rose grows and we all go back to the sea.  
We rise with the swell of the tide, and we all go back to the sea,  
We fly where the Cormorants cry, and we all go back to the sea.


The song was recorded on location in Porvoo (Finland) and in studios around East Durham (UK). Over 60 musicians and singers were involved in the recording project and the song's outdoor performance in May 2013 as part of the Low Tide Day Festival.

With special thanks to: Sue Amos for choral arrangement; Katherine Ottosson and the Chester-le-Street Civic Choir; the Coastal Community Choir; Nick Phillips, studio engineer; Michael Wilkinson, Bass Guitar & studio engineer; Peter Phillips, Drums & Percussion; Sanne Tschirpke on  vocals, Pitkähuilu & Puusarvi; Sue Percival; Adam Widdicombe, Electric Guitars & studio engineer; Georgina Percival, guitar; Hannah Phillips, Bronwyn Davies, Rhiannon Phillips, Jasmine Davies, Sue Phillips, Catherine Lordan, Tero Myllyvyrta and Freja Myllyvyrta vocals; Doug Brown, design; Dr Heather Sugden for lyrical inspiration, Jeff Corrighan for a steady hand and all the members of the UK team; Louise Johnson & Nicola Thompson at East Durham Leader; Gail Craig, Louise Harrington & Niall Benson at Durham Heritage Coast; Tero Myllyvyrta & Juha Niemi at Itä-Uudenmaan ja Porvoonjoen vesien-ja ilmansuojeluyhdistys ry; Gina Forsström, Tiina Kurki & Gunilla Holmberg and the team at Maaseudun kehittämisyhdistys SILMU ry.

‘We all go back to the Sea’ is a Bella Production: words and music by Steve Percival © 2013 GB3T81300006 


We all go back to the Sea

Our encore for the annual shindig in Durham - O'Neill's Irish Bar, 19th December 1999. Happy Christmas!

The Sugarwood Christmas Mash-up

A track from Sugarwood's 'December 95' release, recorded on analogue at Uncle Sam's in Newcastle, UK.

Satellite (Sugarwood)

A song from the 'December 95' tape, recorded at Uncle Sam's in Newcastle, UK. 

Wonderful/Beautiful (Sugarwood)

This is the third of four songs from the ep 'December 95'. It was recorded at Uncle Sam's in Newcastle, UK, and released as a cassette. 

War of Words (Sugarwood)

A song from the four track cassette 'December 95' with musicians Steve Percival (vocals, guitar), Doug Brown (guitar, vocals), Mick Byrne (keys, vocals), Pete Phillips (drums) and Pete Fraser (bass). 

Absolution (Sugarwood)

Caught By You (Steve)

A song from Sugarwood's second album 'Smoke'. Recorded at Uncle Sam's in Newcastle, UK, and engineered by Andy Carpenter. The album also included three live tracks taken from an industry showcase at the Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, London.

Summer Will Fall (Sugarwood)

The second track on Sugarwood's debut album 'Catch a breeze and fly'. 

Finchale Road (Sugarwood)

Opening track from Sugarwood's second album, Smoke - our first (and last) attempt at a punky rock single!

One Green Eye (Sugarwood)

A live recording (courtesy of Baxter the Bootlegger) from the Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, London on 16th September 1999.

This was eventually recorded as 'Little Girl Blue' on the final 'Devils & Sunlight' album, produced by Kim Fowley and recorded at Northern Recording Studios, Consett, UK.

Skeleton (Sugarwood live)

A song written to mark an anniversary and recall an earlier tune. From an ep of demos released in 2008, 'The Tambourine Tapes' and recorded with Nick & Rhiannon Phillips in County Durham, UK.

Celebration Song (Steve)

This is a new song, 'Come on home'. It's track 3 from the new CD EP ~ 'Don't Cry' ~ released to raise funds and awareness for Cardiac Risk in the Young. 
Buy the CD from <A href="http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/dont_cry.htm" rel=nofollow target=_blank>http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/dont_cry.htm</A>



Come on home

A song I wrote from memory, that grew and grew with handclaps, harmonies and harmonica! Thanks to Will Lang at Quayside Studios for great production, and to everyone that played on it including Paul Stevens (Drums), Nick Phillips (Electric Guitars), Michael Wilkinson (Bass and Clarinet), Emma Callaghan (Piano and BVs) and Bruce Madonald Lowes (Harmonica).

Sermons in the Stones

This song was originally written for the 'Song of the Sea' songwriting competition held in 2010 as part of the international Tall Ships Festival - and it won!

It now features on the CD 'Don't Cry' released to raise funds and awareness for UK charity Cardiac Risk in the Young and is available on iTunes or from http://www.freewebstore.org/CRY-online-shop/Dont_Cry_CD/p458025_4607536.aspx


Siren Song

Track 4 from Sugarwood's second album 'Smoke' (2000), recorded at Uncle Sam's in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and engineered by Andy Carpenter.

Control (Sugarwood)

Steve began his musical career busking on the cathedral streets of Durham and ended up recording an album with legendary music biz raconteur Kim Fowley.
 
Along the way he sang and wrote songs for English rock band SUGARWOOD*, toured in Britain and abroad, wrote songs with Ian McCallum (Stiff Little Fingers), played an Illinois Town Fair, recorded at the legendary Northern Recording Studios, received airplay in 12 european countries and the US, played in the US with Lowell Gentry & The Naked Apes, recorded a special for Danish student radio in Copenhagen, made the bill at Sound City (Newcastle) and the international In The City music conference (Liverpool) and helped record an album with young Zulu people from the Kwa Mashu Township of South Africa. He has released several cds of original music and made appearances on regional/international tv/radio.
 
Other musical outings have included The Country Irregulars* (with members of The Coyote Men) and playing bass with Barking Billy & the Scrapyard Dogs*. 

In 2011 Steve won the 'Song for the Sea' songwriting competition, held as part of The Tall Ships Festival. He was also a finalist in the 'The UK Songwriting Contest 2011' Acoustic Category, and received a merit in the 2012 Contest.
 
Steve was asked to write a song for the UK charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), and this was released on an ep to mark CRY's 2011 annual raising awareness week. For more details see www.c-r-y.org.uk

In 2013 Steve was commissioned to compose a song for 'Low Tide Day' in 2013. 'We all go back to the Sea' became a song cycle that celebrates the Durham Heritage Coast and shore. Musicians and singers from across the area came together to record the piece and perform it at the Low Tide Day festival on 25th May 2013 on the East Durham coast. Steve also travelled to Finand to collaborate and record with folk musicians. The final performance included a 45-strong Durham choir, a drummer that played for U2, a folk flute (in commo use in Lapland for over 2000 years) and a youth choir made up of young people from the East Durham UK coastal villages and towns.

Sugarwood 
'5 piece rock band from Durham, North East England. Started out as an acoustic duo acquiring members as they went. Frequently with more than 150 live dates a year between 1997 and 2001, and several cd releases, they could be considered one of the hardest working bands to have come out of the North East. Winning over a massive audience and wooing the music industry at Sound City and In The City 2000. Split in 2001 after a (never released) album project with Producer Kim Fowley.' 
Lifted from www.discogs.com
 

The Country Irregulars
Country punk rock outfit from Newcastle, UK, made up from members of The Coyote Men. Recorded only once at Polestar Studios produced by Rob from 70's North East punk band Penetration. The Country Irregulars went on to support Penetration at their reunion gig, Steve Wynn at The Cluny, Newcastle, and later supported Sweden's seminal garage band, The Nomads, in London.

Barking Billy & the Scrapyard Dogs 
Now well past their 25th anniversary, Barking Billy & the Scrapyard Dogs continue to ply their unique brand of rock n roll around the region with harmonica player Bruce McDonald (The Alligators), Barkin' Billy Lee on vox and a range of North East players,  

Links: 
www.soundcloud.com/stevepercival
www.reverbnation.com/stevepercival
www.myspace.com/stevepercivalmusic
http://www.kimfowley.com/victories/outsidetheusa.htm

stevepercival

Popular tracks