Public Service Broadcasting is a London-based musical group consisting of four members known mainly by their stage names: J. Willgoose, Esq. on guitar, banjo, other stringed instruments, samples and electronic musical instruments; Wrigglesworth on drums, piano and electronic musical instruments; J F Abraham on flugelhorn, bass guitar, drums and assorted other instruments including a vibraslap; and Mr B on visuals and set design for live performances.[3][4] The band has toured internationally and in 2015 was announced as a nominee in the Vanguard breakthrough category of the fourth annual Progressive Music Awards, staged by Prog magazine,[5] which they won.[6]
At first, the band consisted solely of Willgoose. He made his public debut at The Selkirk pub in Tooting, London, England in August 2009. Shortly afterwards he issued EP One. Teaming up with Wrigglesworth on drums, the band played its first festival in September 2010, Aestival in Suffolk, and work began on a second EP, The War Room, which was released in May 2012. Since then, the band has released four albums, Inform-Educate-Entertain (2013); The Race for Space (2015); Every Valley (2017); and Bright Magic (2021). The Race for Space was supported by two shows at the National Space Centre in Leicester celebrating the album's launch. The album charted just outside the top 10 in 11th place in the UK in its release week and reaching Number 1 in the UK Independent Charts for that week. A follow-up EP was released at the tail end of 2015 (Sputnik/Korolev) which was backed up by a UK tour, climaxing in the band's biggest headline show, a sold-out night at the O2 Academy Brixton, of which a live album was released in 2016.
On 10 March 2017, PSB released a new single titled Progress featuring vocals from Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura with photo shoots showing the band as a three-piece with new member JF Abraham featured on promotional photos. Their third studio album, entitled Every Valley, about the coal mining industry's rise and fall in the Welsh Valleys between the 1950s and 1980s, was released on 7 July 2017. As with The Race for Space, the band had two album launch concerts, this time in Ebbw Vale, where the LP was recorded.
In June 2018, PSB appeared at the BBC Music "Big Weekend", playing at the Titanic QuarterinBelfast. As part of this a series of four new pieces, based on the story of the RMS Titanic, was debuted. These tracks were released as the EP White Star Liner on 26 October 2018.
They performed a "specially commissioned new arrangement" of The Race for Space on 25 July 2019 in a late-night Prom, joined by London Contemporary Voices and the Multi-Story Orchestra, the performance being shown on BBC television the following night.[7]
In December 2020, Willgoose released ambient solo EP A Wonderful Hope under the name Late Night Final. This release on PIAS Recordings[8] is a record which featured soundscape artist Teddy Hunter on the track "The Human Touch".[9][10][11]
On 2 June 2021, PSB debuted the first single, called『People, Let’s Dance』from their fourth studio album "Bright Magic".[12]
On 30 August 2022, PSB played a specially commissioned, album length, piece for Prom 58 called 'This New Noise', with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was commissioned to celebrate 100 years of the BBC. At the time of the performance the band said there were currently no plans to tour the piece, or to release it as a record - but they hinted that this may not be set in stone. The band subsequently announced that there would be a record release on 8 September 2023.
In January 2023 J. Willgoose Esq. created a creator site using the Patreon platform in order to share updates and content with fans. The first track released on this site was "Three Things", which was the first ever Public Service Broadcasting demo.[13]
PSB have plans to release "album number 5" in 2024.
The band mostly plays instrumental music; Willgoose has said that "singing is never going to work. I'm not going to be happy with it, I'm not going to be comfortable playing it to other people."[14] Despite Willgoose's prior reservations about singing, he did later contribute vocals to the duet piece "You + Me" from Every Valley, because the intended vocalist was not available. They take samples from old public information films, archive footage and propaganda material.[15] While writing The War Room the band formed a close relationship with the British Film Institute, using their films in live performances. The BFI find the band helpful in bringing a greater audience to their archives.[3]
"Spitfire" – 26 March 2012[26][27][28][29] which won the BBC Radio 6 Music Rebel Playlist.[30] The song sampled dialogue and sound from the 1942 film "The First of the Few", and the video incorporated footage from the same film.
^In this view of the band, taken on 26 February 2015, during the launch event for The Race for Space, J. Willgoose Esq., who performs on guitar and electronics, is pictured at right, and Wrigglesworth is pictured on drums at left. Live member JF Abraham is pictured at centre on bass guitar and electronics.
^BBC Proms 2019: Public Service Broadcasting. BBC Proms. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019. Cerys Matthews introduces cult London band Public Service Broadcasting who take to the Royal Albert Hall stage for their Proms debut. To mark the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landings, they are joined by the Multi-Story Orchestra to perform a specially commissioned new orchestral arrangement of the band's 2015 studio album The Race for Space.
