Es – whats in a name…

Sometimes, not often by all means, people ask me what does Es mean? The letter S has been prominent in my life, hence my name :D When I first started recording on a four-track around 1991 I used to position all my equipment on a on a soft round carpet I had. I remember the best way to get into the mood was to put on my woolly socks and dim the lights. These woolly socks were knit by my grandma and they sported the initials E.S. on the side. I didn’t think about it until later I realised these must have been my grandfathers woolly socks. My grandmother had made them for him and unknowingly I had inherited them.

After some years I finally got to the moment where I realised that I needed a band name. I didn’t want to use my real name though. All those years sitting down with my legs crossed with a guitar on my lap staring down at my woolly socks I thought that maybe I’ll call myself… woolly socks! Heheh, just kiddin’! I’d call myself Es. I think for the first gig poster I wrote the title with a lower case “e” and a capital “S”. Although I quickly changed it to Es I still see it written like that sometimes. Funny how things stick. In 2002 I released some experimental loops on a compilation and those were titled Experimental Songcycles #1-5. David Keenan from the Wire understood that this was the meaning behind Es and wrote this in the Wire. Since then a lot of people have used that and so have I. It suits the music well. But the true meaning is that it’s my grandpa ;) Last christmas, my mom made me woolly socks with my initials on them. I hope my kids won’t name their band after my initials though :)