Syd Arthur

Syd Arthur are devotees of a sound - sons and heirs of those Canterbury psychedelic and progressive rockers whose improvisational approach made the avant-garde accessible. Winners of the Canterbury Best Local Band competition they eventually adopted the fitting name Syd Arthur — the “Syd” bit because of Barrett and “Arthur” with its intimations of the Kinks’ album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). There are traces of folk and world music in their sound, as well as some of the intricacies of jazz and the rhythms of dance — which the band themselves call “psychedelic funk rock”.