Perfect Blue Sky is the collaboration between Swedish black metal guitarist Pontus "PNA" Andersson (Netherbird) and Australian alternative rock vocalist Jane Kitto.[4] Combining their influences as songwriters, their sound is a hybrid between the 1970s psychedelic classic rock and 1990s grunge eras.
Perfect Blue Sky | |
|---|---|
 Perfect Blue Sky in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Stockholm, Sweden; Current location Newquay, England |
| Genres | Alternative, psychedelic, classic rock |
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Labels | Right Recordings,[1]/Nova Universal,[2] Scarecrow[3] |
| Members | Jane Kitto Pontus Andersson ("PNA") Frank Bessard Danny Oakhill |
| Website | perfectbluesky |
History (2014–present)
editAndersson and Kitto formed Perfect Blue Sky in 2014 with a premier performance at Finland's Puistoblues festival[5] and a live performance on Radio Rock,[6] as well as other shows in Sweden. They featured well known US musicians Dave Getz (drums) and Peter Albin (bass) of Big Brother and the Holding Company and Danny Oakhill (keyboards) from Australia to launch the band on both their live shows and the studio recordings.
In April 2015, they went on a second tour in the outback of Australia's Northern Territory[7] with Oakhill and newcomer Allen Murphy (Yothu Yindi, Village People)[8] on drums, and performed at the Nightcliff Sea Breeze Festival[9] and the Humpty Doo Hotel, as well as made a live appearance on Darwin's ABC radio.
They have since performed in alternative line-ups throughout Scandinavia, France and the UK together with French drummer Frank Bessard, US drummer Bil Bryant (Machine Gun), Swedish bassist Weine Johansson,[10] French percussionist Stephane Bébert[11] and drummer Frank Bessard as well as a duo.
Their first single "Give You My Love" was released on 12 May 2017 by UK label Right Recordings/Nova Universal. The single is taken from the album The Eye of Tilos,[12] released on 19 May 2017. The album features Jerry Donahue (guitarist for Fotheringay and Fairport Convention) and drummer Dave Getz (Big Brother and the Holding Company). Also in the line-up is Frenchman Frank Bessard (Mr. lab!, Joe Satriani, Stanley Clarke) on drums, Australian keyboardist Danny Oakhill, and British viola player Lewis Parsons.
Perfect Blue Sky completed their first UK live radio tour including BBC Essex,[13] BBC Oxford,[14] BBC Lancashire,[15] Metro Radio, Total Rock Radio and Phoenix FM[16] in May 2017.
Astronaut, the band's follow-up single for 2017, was released on 20 October and well-received onto various UK radio playlists, and supported by acoustic duo's mini-tour in November. Perfect Blue Sky appeared once again live on various radio programmes; BBC Bristol,[17] BBC Cumbria,[18] BBC Merseyside,[19] BBC Humberside[20] and BBC Lancashire,[21] and made an interview and performance for the Children in Need 2017 campaign with BBC Lancashire presenter John Gillmore.[22] Perfect Blue Sky also made live appearances with Alan Robson on his 'NightOwls' programme at Metro Radio in Newcastle as well as 103 The Eye and Phoenix FM.[23] Whilst on tour, they supported John O'Leary (Savoy Brown) and SugarKane, among others. Whilst on tour in November 2017, Andersson and Kitto also joined alongside UK representative Darren Weale of Pro Music Agency and consequently moved their base to the UK.
In December 2017, Perfect Blue Sky supported Swedish rock band Sator at Söder Teatern in Stockholm,[24] and in March 2018, they toured throughout Finland with yet another constellation of the band's line-up; this time with Marko Ahonen on drums and Salomon Kosunen on keyboards via Finnish booking agency Gogo Rodeo.[25] In May, Perfect Blue Sky performed with the band's main drummer Frank Bessard at the Mailaul Festival Tartu, Estonia.[26] During the festival they also hosted a series of workshops at Heino Eller Tartu Music College. Perfect Blue Sky released three singles consecutively 2018, "Fiction Man", "Wasteland" and "Winds Ransom", from their album The Eye of Tilos.
Andersson and Kitto relocated to the south west of England in Newquay, Cornwall during 2019 after having felt inspired by the Atlantic coast and its vibrant music culture. Perfect Blue Sky's first British line-up featured James Frost on drums and bassist Jon Middleton. However, during early 2020 with the onset of COVID-19, most of the band's performances had been cancelled until 2021. In the meantime, the duo have kept up their music presence making occasional on-line acoustic appearances, song projects, recording, and creating music videos in the staircase of their apartment block. As a result, Perfect Blue Sky's first single/video "Oh Pretty One" and " The Silver Ark" were released in June, 2020 and distributed to Spotify and Apple iTunes via Record Union based in Sweden. A subsequent series of singles and videos followed on throughout the year including "Plush" "One Starry Night" "Stymie" "Honest Man". Their most recent single releases in 2021 are "Howl to the moon" (12 March) and Double A sides "Beat of That Drum" "Apple Gaze" (12 February), mastered by British record producer and sound engineer John Cornfield Muse, Oasis.[27]
During 2021 Perfect Blue Sky made several appearances in their home county of Cornwall including The Acorn Theatre Penzance,[28] The Great Estate Festival Scorrier House,[29][30] Newquay Beer Festival and Whiskers in Newquay.
Band members
edit- Jane Kitto – guitar, vocals (2014–present)
- Pontus "PNA" Andersson – guitar, vocals, bass (2014–present)
- Frank Bessard – drums (2016–present)
- Danny Oakhill – keyboards (2014–present)
-
"PNA" Andersson -
Jane Kitto -
Frank Bessard
Past and session members
edit- Lewis Parsons – violin (2016–present)
- Salomon Kosunen – keyboards (2018–present)
- Dave Getz – drums (2014–present)
- Allen Murphy – drums (2015–present)
- Marko Ahonen – drums (2018–present)
- Bil Bryant – drums (2015–present)
- Weine Johansson – bass (2015–present)
- Stephane Bébert – percussion (2016–present)
- Jerry Donahue – guitar (2015-2017)
- Peter Albin – bass (2014-2015)
- James Frost – drums (2020)
- Jon Middleton – bass (2020)
Discography
edit- 2015 – Emerald (CD/LP)
- 2017 – Give You My Love (digital single)
- 2017 – The Eye of Tilos (CD/LP)
- 2017 – Astronaut (digital single)
- 2018 – Fiction Man (digital single)
- 2018 – Wasteland (digital single)
- 2018 – Winds Ransom (digital single)
- 2020 – Silver Ark (digital single)
- 2020 – Oh Pretty One (digital single)
- 2020 - Know my enemy well (digital single)
- 2020 - Mevis and the raven (digital single)
- 2020 - Plush (digital single)
- 2020 - One Starry Night (digital single)
- 2020 - Stymie (digital single)
- 2020 - Honest Man (digital single)
- 2021 - Beat of That Drum (digital single)
- 2021 - Apple Gaze (digital single)
- 2021 - Howl to the moon (digital single)
References
edit- ^ "Perfect Blue Sky". rightrecordings.
- ^ "Digital Music Distribution UK by Novadist". www.novadist.net.
- ^ "Scarecrow Music Group | Recordings". Archived from the original on 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
- ^ "From the North Pole to the Top End". www.ntnews.com.au. February 9, 2017.
- ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
- ^ "Perfect Blue Sky - Bend me your sky live". YouTube.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-10. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "You can't stop the Murphy". www.ntnews.com.au. January 7, 2015.
- ^ "Greg & Ali - Mix 104.9 Darwin |Page 12, Chan:63112884 |RSSing.com"". darwin1087.rssing.com.
- ^ "METALLIAN - Baltimoore". metallian.com.
- ^ "Stéphane Bébert". IMDb.
- ^ "Perfect Blue Sky - Recordings - MusicBrainz". musicbrainz.org.
- ^ "BBC Essex - Tony Fisher, in session: Perfect Blue Sky".
- ^ "BBC Radio Oxford - Nick Piercey, Perfect Blue Sky, half term events & Bill Beverly".
- ^ "BBC Radio Cornwall - David White, 24/05/2017".
- ^ "Perfect Blue Sky - Live Music & Interview". May 31, 2017.
- ^ "BBC Radio Bristol - Claire Cavanagh, 14/11/2017".
- ^ "BBC Radio Cumbria - Gordon Swindlehurst, 16/11/2017".
- ^ "BBC Radio Merseyside - Billy Butler, 16/11/2017".
- ^ "BBC Radio Humberside - James Hoggarth".
- ^ "BBC Radio Lancashire - John Gillmore - Available now".
- ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
- ^ "Perfect Blue Sky are back! LIVE performance & Interview". November 13, 2017.
- ^ "Sator 30 år!". Södra Teatern.
- ^ "Psykedeelisiä kaikuja menneiltä vuosikymmeniltä | Hämeen Sanomat". www.hameensanomat.fi. Archived from the original on 2018-05-17.
- ^ "Mailaulu galerii: Miljardid ja Perfect Blue Sky". ERR. May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Home". perfectbluesky.net.
- ^ "Perfect Blue Sky - the Acorn, Penzance".
- ^ "Home". greatestatefestival.co.uk.
- ^ "Perfect Blue Sky Duo".