June Frost 1991-1993

Robert Hancock--voice, guitar, mandolin
John Peutherer--bass
Karl Buckley--drums

June Frost 1993-1995

Robert Hancock--voice, guitar, mandolin
Kerry Swatridge--bass
Patrick Parisot--drums
Len Costantini--didgeredoo, percussion
Rick Wirth--violin

June Frost 1995-1998

Robert Hancock--voice, guitar, mandolin
Kerry Swatridge--bass
Patrick Parisot--drums
Sylvain Jeandemange--keyboards, accordian

Over the nine years that the band existed we changed countries, musicians, moods, haircuts, partners and friends. In the end we decided to stop changing and stay the same – finished. It was, however, a fairly wild ride from obscurity to a shadowy existence and then back again.

The first version of June Frost was formed when Robert and Karl (both formerly of the Magic Roundabout) arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1990. After answering an ad in a music shop we met John Peutherer, and at the first rehearsal everything fell into place. (This would be the complete opposite of our future search for a bass-player after John left – auditioning eighteen people before finding Kerry Swatridge) .June Frost performed mainly as a three-piece band in this period, although we did have a succession of backing singers and violinists of fortune.
The fact that we rehearsed in a busy inner-city youth hostel meant that there was always a flow of interested and sometimes interesting people to invite to participate from time to time. During ’91- ’93 we played extensively in Edinburgh, sometimes in Glasgow, and occasionally making it further north.
Then Karl Buckley’s visa expired – he had to leave the UK.

The next version of the band was a direct result of the extended contacts of the Youth Hostel. Robert’s friends Patrick, from France, and Rick, from Germany, had closely followed June Frost up to then. Len (the Australian) had already played with us onstage on a few occasions, the didgeridoo being a great live instrument when played exceptionally well. When Kerry joined the new line-up was complete.

The sum of all these parts meant that no-one was especially satisfied by staying exclusively in Scotland. After touring the remote Shetland Islands in 1994 (the most isolated part of the British Isles) the group embarked on a 30-date tour of Europe, playing in France, Germany and Spain.
In 1995 the first album was recorded in Edinburgh’s Palladium studio by Keith Mitchell (The Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil) and soon after the group set off to mainland Europe again. We set up local distribution points for the c.d, and were invited to play more and more frequently.

For the majority of the band, it made more sense to move to France than to stay in Scotland. June Frost was now full-time, and the vast majority of the contracts came from France and Germany.
Len went home on holiday and never came back. He also suffered from visa problems, but it left the group in a difficult position. We had worked hard to establish a public, and now they wanted us a certain way. It took some time to regenerate the band, and we recorded "Circular" in 1996.The concerts continued, with over 80 gigs in this year.

The strain of living and working together began to wear us down. While the last period of the band was especially difficult, it was also one of the richest musically. All the questions, doubts and fears found their way into the last album 'Wish Me Luck' recorded in 1998. Kerry's melodic bass and Sylvain's talent as a multi-instrumentalist (playing the keyboards, flute, accordion, guitar and working on samples and sequences) gave a new dimension to this collection of intense songs.

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