Biography

The Accidental are a folk band from the United Kingdom, made up of members of The Bicycle Thieves, Tunng and The Memory Band. The band members are Stephen Cracknell of The Memory Band, Sam Genders of Tunng, Hanna Caughlin of The Bicycle Thieves and singer-songwriter Liam Bailey. Other members of The Memory Band and harpist Serafina Steer also contribute. Their debut album, There Were Wolves, was recorded in Cracknell's London apartment with a computer and a pair of microphones, and was released by Thrill Jockey Records in April 2008.

Take the man behind The Memory Band and co-founder of Trunk Records (Stephen Cracknell), the twisted songwriter from Tunng main man (Sam Genders), one half of Fence Collective duo The Bicycle Thieves (Hannah Caughlin) and singer-songwriter Liam Bailey. Put them in front of a PC and add occasional input from guests including harpist Serafina Steer, Lisa Knapp, and various members of The Elysian Quartet and The Memory Band.The outcome is new collective The Accidental and their beguiling debut single Wolves, out through Full Time Hobby on the 31st March. This was swiftly followed by their first album There Were Wolves on the 14th April.

Kindred spirits Cracknell and Genders combined forces via a series of chance encounters and happy accidents that inspired the band's name. The first came at the Green Man festival, where the pair first met and made plans to send CDs back and forth in the post.

Hannah joined the fold via another happy accident, when Domino artist Adem introduced her to Cracknell as a potential housemate. She didn't move in, but she did end up in the band. An old friend of Sam's, Liam joined after turning in an impromptu performance at a joint Tunng/Memory Band gig.

www.theaccidental.co.uk
www.myspace.com/theaccidental

The Accidental biography provided by last.fm.

• www.theaccidental.co.uk

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