Dave
Cooke - Vocals, Guitar
Steven Morricone - Bass, Keyboards, Vocals
Paul Morricone - Drums, Vocals
Following the many successes and disasters of one of Leeds’ finest ever pop groups LANDSPEED LOUNGERS (who had a few minor indie hits such as ‘Paul’ & ‘Blackout Boy’), gawky yet boyish singer/songsmith, Dave Cooke left the group to take stock of his life. Dave decided that a steady career as a Ceramic Artist specialising in sculpting life-size penguins was not enough to assuage his hunger for the absurd, so after a short period of time with his head in the clouds, Dave emerged triumphantly sporting a large, ungainly papier-mache aeroplane head-piece and a freshly twanged guitar in his hand. He declared himself ‘BEING 747’
The next few months were spent lulling acoustic and folk-night audiences into a false sense of security before bamboozling them with unpredictable, choppy melodies and twisted-persepectives on everyday matter, whether they be profound, mundane or downright surreal. All of which were delivered with Dave’s unmistakable baritone through the mouthpiece of his giant prosthetic aeroplane head.
Such eccentricity was bound to attract attention from the like-minded. And so, in the middle of 2001, Dave was approached by siblings Steven & Paul Morricone from well-established art rock behemoth, THE SCARAMANGA SIX, who offered to add a bit of muscle to the proceedings. Paul assumed the unfamiliar role of drummer, whilst Steven tackled the other roles of organ & bass - preferably at the same time. All three members embarked on a voyage of the utterly awkward, each constantly challenging themselves with their array of new-found toys. The now dynamic and completely un-acoustic BEING 747 were ready to take off with the aim to astound, confuse and bemuse through the medium of pop music.
Within a short period of time, enough starkly original material was accrued to convince the Morricone brothers to get together with their own group and a couple of other pop outsiders around the West Yorkshire area to form a collective known as WRATH RECORDS at the start of 2002. All bands were united by the same direct, yet avant-garde pop aesthetic and an outlet was established for all to work on and release their own irksome records.
Being 747’s dreamy debut EP ‘Weathergirl’ was released in the spring of 2002 on Wrath Records to a generally disbelieving press. How could something so beautiful, well-crafted and pre-meditated come from some tiny DIY label in Leeds? Dave Cooke was perceived as some kind of ‘Smoking jacketed Noel Coward of Indiedom’, despite his collection of comfortable sweaters. A fair amount of plays on various national, local and web-based radio stations later and Being 747 had made their mark.
A year and a half later, and after sharing the live bill with legendary and rising oddball outfits alike such as THE FALL, CINERAMA, BOBBY CONN, CHRIS T-T, the much-anticipated debut album 'Fun And Games' was released, detailing amongst other things the trials and tribulations of the music industry and everyday social realism with a huge dollop of eloquence & cynicism. Whilst flitting about between the musical genres of IndiePop, No-Wave, Alt-Country, and Garage Rockabilly like some kind of rampant moth, this album also explored a variety of instrumentation and arrangement from the minimal and spacious to the downright lavish.
Nowadays, Being 747 can be found sporting white lab coats and safety goggles as they prepare to release their second album 'Health and Safety'. They are also writing a third concept album based entirely on a musical adaptation of David Attenborough's 'Life On Earth' - a musical journey through the history of evolution.
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Jan 2005 The
Girl Who Fell Asleep Whilst Watching Her Life Flash Before Her Eyes
- CD Ep
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Dec 2004 Fun
and Games - CD Album
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February
2002 |
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