Adrian Oxaal

Adrian Oxaal (born 20 March 1965) is an American-born English musician and music educator, best known for being the lead guitarist in James from 1997–2002 and 2015–present. He has also played with the bands Sharkboy, Oysterband and Goat.

Biography Early years, and work with Goat Adrian Oxaal was born in California, United States, of mixed Norwegian-American and Guyanese ancestry, however, he grew up in Kingston upon Hull where he learned guitar and cello and befriended his future James colleague Saul Davies when both were members of the City of Hull Youth Symphony Orchestra. Oxaal went on to study music at the University of Sussex in Brighton, where he settled permanently.

Oxaal's heart was not in the world of classical music, and after leaving university he chose to play in bar bands, notably Lenna and the Snakemen, with whom he made 2 albums (Something's Cooking (1988) and No Blow Blues (1989)) – which eventually led to him being asked to play on a demo for a band named Goat (not the Swedish band of the same name) whose music Oxaal would later describe as being "a kind of melodic hard rock." Goat went to sign a deal with Beggars Banquet, although he admitted that it did not really amount to much apart from some studio experience. Sharkboy were nonetheless signed to Nude and went on to support Suede (whose frontman Brett Anderson was a fan) on their first big UK tour. Sharkboy recorded two albums (Matinee and The Valentine Tapes) which were critically well received but sold poorly, and the band folded circa 1995. This became evident on both the Whiplash and Millionaires albums, as well as in the live environment in which Oxaal was noted for his willingness to play "storming" guitar solos from time to time (something never really attempted by either Gott or his own predecessor in James, Paul Gilbertson).

Post-James (work in music education) Following his time in James, Oxaal returned to Brighton and performed a handful of solo bar gigs, seemingly having gone full circle since leaving University. He then moved into music education, having worked as Course Team Leader for the BTEC National Diploma in Contemporary Music at South East Essex College of Arts and Technology in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. He left this post during the summer of 2007, and worked as a music teacher at Bexhill College, East Sussex, followed by a stint at City College, Brighton.

When not touring with James or Oysterband, Oxaal performs solo, either singing to blues guitar, or singing to cello accompaniment, and participates in occasional reunions of Lenna and the Snakemen, which included the recording of a third album (Back And Blue) in 2016. He also plays with Lucky Jim, a pub band comprising Gordon Grahame of The Lost Soul Band on vocals and guitar and Eddie Myer of Turin Brakes on bass. He has also appeared in many stage productions including: Motherland by Vincent Dance Theatre (2013), The Opinion Makers by Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon (2013) and Trumpton Comes Alive!, also with the Foundry Group (2015).

Oysterband Since 2012, Oxaal has toured the UK, Germany, Austria, Canada and Scandinavia with folk rock band Oysterband, mainly playing cello, but also taking over on bass guitar and electric guitar. He played on their 2014 album Diamonds on the Water.

Discography

Lenna and the Snakemen Something's Cooking (Wizard Records, 1988) No Blow Blues (Wizard Records, 1989) Back And Blue (crowdfunded, self-produced, 2016)

Goat As You Like (Beggars Banquet, 1990) BBL 110CD Medication Time (Beggars Banquet, 1991) BEGA 119CD

Sharkboy Matinee (Nude Records,1994) NUDE 2CD The Valentine Tapes (Nude Records, 1995) NUDE 4CD

James Whiplash (1997) Millionaires (1999) Pleased to Meet You (2001) Getting Away With It... Live (2002) Girl at the End of the World (2016) Living in Extraordinary Times (2018) All the Colours of you (2021)

Oysterband Diamonds on the Water (2014)