Ozric Tentacles

Ozric Tentacles are a British instrumental rock band, active since 1984 within the progressive field, with offshoots into space rock and psychedelic music.

The classic lineup came together for the first time on 21 June 1984 at the Stonehenge Free Festival, during which the band's name was coined, chosen from a list of fanciful names for a hypothetical brand of psychedelic breakfast cereal. Throughout the Eighties they played an almost uncountable number of live shows, especially at British music festivals, where they would typically sell their self-produced tapes in person.

Their first recording officially released by a record label was "Pungent Effulgent" in 1989. Until then, none of their work had seen official distribution. The following album, "Erpland", saw the birth of Erp, a fictional character who would later appear on most of the band's album covers. The album "Strangeitude" (1991) included the track "Sploosh!", which was also used as the soundtrack for an advertising campaign for the German car brand BMW. "Sploosh!" remains the only single the band has ever released. Upon its release, the 1993 album "Jurassic Shift" entered the British top ten.

Over the years, Ozric Tentacles have gone through numerous lineup changes, with the one constant being founder Ed Wynne (guitar and keyboards). His charismatic right-hand man and longtime companion John Egan, aka Champignon (flute), left the band in 2005 after more than twenty years together, along with fellow departee Christopher Lenox-Smith, aka Seaweed (keyboards), to found the Dream Machine project. Seaweed was no stranger to side projects, having long been a permanent member not only of Ozric Tentacles but also of Eat Static and Zub Zub, and having collaborated over the years with numerous musicians, including Marco Lippe of the Italian band Twenty Four Hours, on the album "Armi d'istruzione di massa". Among the bands born out of the group's members, also worth noting are Nodens Ictus and Moksha.

On their tours in recent years, they've enlisted keyboard and synth help from Harry Waters, son and current effects man of Roger Waters (former bassist, singer and creative mastermind of Pink Floyd).

The current lineup of Ozric Tentacles consists of Ed Wynne (guitars, synth and bass), Silas Wynne (modular synth and keyboards) and Brandi Wynne (bass), plus Saskia Maxwell (flute), Tim Wallander (drums) and Paul Hankin (percussion).