Biography
Ian Skelly functions as founding member, drummer, resident artist, and central creative force in the Coral, the Merseyside indie rock band inclined toward psychedelia that achieved its breakthrough during the early 2000s, yet he sustains an equally active musical life beyond that primary commitment. The younger brother of the Coral’s lead vocalist James, he delivers vocals in a gentler register that channels the whimsy, wonder, and darkness characteristic of Ray Davies, Michael Head, and the Beach Boys. After five of the Coral’s first six albums reached the U.K. Top Ten, the group entered hiatus in 2010, an interval that immediately opened new avenues for Skelly through solo projects, production duties, prominent guest appearances, and the creation of Serpent Power as a vehicle for his more unconventional impulses.
Born in 1982 on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, Skelly studied at Hilbre High School in West Kirby, an establishment whose distinguished former pupils include actor Daniel Craig and Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Chris Boardman. The Coral originated in 1996 jam sessions between Skelly and schoolfriend Paul Duffy; by the time of their debut single “Shadows Fall” in 2001 the lineup had become a sextet. Early support dates alongside the Music, Oasis, and Pulp helped circulate their name ahead of the 2002 self-titled debut album, which entered the U.K. Top Five and attained platinum certification. Butterfly House, issued in 2010 and produced by John Leckie, became the first Coral album to omit Bill Ryder-Jones, and the resulting minor division within the band precipitated their hiatus.
In January 2011 Skelly appeared on “Open Your Wings/Interlude,” a track from the sole album by David McDonnell’s alt-folk project the Sand Band. He subsequently began compiling a solo collection drawn from ten years of eight-track cassette recordings. Far removed from the polished studio sound of the Coral’s releases, his debut album Cut from a Star, issued in December 2012, evoked the detailed yet lo-fi analog psych-pop of the Olivia Tremor Control. Every member of the Coral participated, together with his sister Fiona and Niamh Rowe of the folk-rock group the Sundowners. All of those contributors except the Coral’s Lee Southall joined the live band—augmented by Phil and Danny Murphy of the Levons—that accompanied Skelly on tour in early 2013. That June saw the release of Love Undercover, the soul- and R&B-oriented solo debut by his elder brother billed as James Skelly & the Intenders, on which Ian served as co-producer. The Sundowners’ self-titled 2015 debut also received co-production from Skelly and features his percussion; later the same year he supplied drums for Church of Miami, the electronic solo album by the Zutons’ Dave McCabe.
Serpent Power released its self-titled debut in 2015, a duo project formed with Paul Molloy that offered a slightly more eccentric extension of Skelly’s neo-psych approach. Molloy, formerly a touring member of the Stands and guitarist on the Zutons’ You Can Do Anything, joined the Coral as a full member by 2016 and appears on that year’s comeback album Distance Inbetween. Skelly also contributed percussion to Blossoms’ self-titled debut in 2016, a role he repeated on the Stockport band’s next three albums. After Serpent Power issued its second album Electric Looneyland in December 2017, Skelly finished a second lo-fi solo record early the following year, yet he discarded the results and instead recorded in Berlin with his friend Philip McKinnell; those sessions produced his sophomore album Drifter’s Skyline, released in July 2020 and marked by country influences. A month later his drums appeared on Molloy’s solo debut The Fifth Dandelion, and later in 2020 he added percussion to a remix of Paul Weller’s “More” included on an EP of On Sunset reworkings.
Amid an active period for the Coral that encompassed the 2021 double-concept album Coral Island and the two 2023 releases Sea of Mirrors and Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show, Skelly still found time to play drums on Miles Kane’s fifth album One Man Band. In March 2024 he released his third solo album Lotus and the Butterfly on Pete Wilkinson’s AV8 label; the record adopted a clearer, less hazy production approach than his earlier work and aligned closely in tone with the late-period Coral albums that preceded it.
Born in 1982 on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, Skelly studied at Hilbre High School in West Kirby, an establishment whose distinguished former pupils include actor Daniel Craig and Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Chris Boardman. The Coral originated in 1996 jam sessions between Skelly and schoolfriend Paul Duffy; by the time of their debut single “Shadows Fall” in 2001 the lineup had become a sextet. Early support dates alongside the Music, Oasis, and Pulp helped circulate their name ahead of the 2002 self-titled debut album, which entered the U.K. Top Five and attained platinum certification. Butterfly House, issued in 2010 and produced by John Leckie, became the first Coral album to omit Bill Ryder-Jones, and the resulting minor division within the band precipitated their hiatus.
In January 2011 Skelly appeared on “Open Your Wings/Interlude,” a track from the sole album by David McDonnell’s alt-folk project the Sand Band. He subsequently began compiling a solo collection drawn from ten years of eight-track cassette recordings. Far removed from the polished studio sound of the Coral’s releases, his debut album Cut from a Star, issued in December 2012, evoked the detailed yet lo-fi analog psych-pop of the Olivia Tremor Control. Every member of the Coral participated, together with his sister Fiona and Niamh Rowe of the folk-rock group the Sundowners. All of those contributors except the Coral’s Lee Southall joined the live band—augmented by Phil and Danny Murphy of the Levons—that accompanied Skelly on tour in early 2013. That June saw the release of Love Undercover, the soul- and R&B-oriented solo debut by his elder brother billed as James Skelly & the Intenders, on which Ian served as co-producer. The Sundowners’ self-titled 2015 debut also received co-production from Skelly and features his percussion; later the same year he supplied drums for Church of Miami, the electronic solo album by the Zutons’ Dave McCabe.
Serpent Power released its self-titled debut in 2015, a duo project formed with Paul Molloy that offered a slightly more eccentric extension of Skelly’s neo-psych approach. Molloy, formerly a touring member of the Stands and guitarist on the Zutons’ You Can Do Anything, joined the Coral as a full member by 2016 and appears on that year’s comeback album Distance Inbetween. Skelly also contributed percussion to Blossoms’ self-titled debut in 2016, a role he repeated on the Stockport band’s next three albums. After Serpent Power issued its second album Electric Looneyland in December 2017, Skelly finished a second lo-fi solo record early the following year, yet he discarded the results and instead recorded in Berlin with his friend Philip McKinnell; those sessions produced his sophomore album Drifter’s Skyline, released in July 2020 and marked by country influences. A month later his drums appeared on Molloy’s solo debut The Fifth Dandelion, and later in 2020 he added percussion to a remix of Paul Weller’s “More” included on an EP of On Sunset reworkings.
Amid an active period for the Coral that encompassed the 2021 double-concept album Coral Island and the two 2023 releases Sea of Mirrors and Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show, Skelly still found time to play drums on Miles Kane’s fifth album One Man Band. In March 2024 he released his third solo album Lotus and the Butterfly on Pete Wilkinson’s AV8 label; the record adopted a clearer, less hazy production approach than his earlier work and aligned closely in tone with the late-period Coral albums that preceded it.
Albums
Singles
Live
