Formed in 2003, Sweet Billy Pilgrim are an English experimental rock/art band, comprised of singer, guitarist and songwriter Tim Elsenburg, bassist/banjo player Anthony Bishop, guitarist and singer Jana Carpenter and drummer/percussionist Alistair Hamer. They have so far released 2 EP’s and 3 full-length albums.
In July 2009, Tim was busy with his day job when his mobile rang. Kneeling on the floor of a broken-down toilet with one hand down a U-bend, he fished his phone out of his back pocket and answered a call telling him that his band’s second album Twice Born Men had just been nominated for a Mercury Music Prize. On that day, his life changed.
Released on David Sylvian’s label, Samadhisound, Twice Born Men had been critically acclaimed upon release, but with that surprise announcement, suddenly there was a platform to gain wider exposure than they’d ever dared dream.
A partnership with EMI followed along with a new wave of press interest and an appearance on Channel 4’s The IT Crowd, as well as the nationally televised Mercury Music Prize ceremony, meaning that Sweet Billy Pilgrim’s select fanbase started to swell.
The band’s follow-up album, Crown And Treaty, self-released on their label Luxor Purchase in 2012, also received great critical acclaim, with all major UK national papers awarding the record four or five stars out of five. It was awarded five stars and Instant Classic by Mojo and was given away as a free download with the magazine in 2013. Ambitious, literate, dramatic, heartfelt, beautiful, artistic and capable of moving you to tears, it is the sound of a band taking a quantum leap forward, throwing every ounce of their belief, passion and dreams into the creation of a truly special body of work.
With this album’s release Sweet Billy Pilgrim are moving on to a bright new future.