Madchester and the baggy movement was over
............................... or was it?
Not for bands like The Space Monkeys it wasn't.
They were even signed to the doomed Factory records and for a while a handful
of bands came out of the Britpop movement that were referred to as
Post-Madchester. They digged the Madchester dance scene and loved the
acid house movement of the late 80's and this was reflected in the bands
overall sound. Drum machines with Fat Baggy beats, synths and distorted guitars
made up the general sound of The Space monkeys and that's just fine for me!.
Forming in Manchester in around 1995 they signed
to the doomed Factory Records they would go on to release a handful of singles
and one official album. For a short time, the band kept the Madchester
torch alight with their baggy, Hip Hop and acid house sounding guitar tunes.
Debut single Keep On Tripping On is a fantastic
post baggy single for 1996. When other bands were singing about very
British things that involved the use of lots of trumpets we find the Space
monkeys playing like it was still 1991 and loved up to the max. This was
the only single that was not released on their debut album The Daddy Of Them
All and was a cross between Flowered Up, Northside, The Dylan’s and The World
Of Twist. For their next release we find the band releasing the bass
heavy Blowing Down The Stylus with its big beats and lead guitar swirling
around like a drunk Hammond that fell off the back of an early Charlatans
single. Acid House Killed Rock And Roll would be the bands third release
with early 90's rave influences. With its synths and double beats, a
plenty, we find the band releasing a very drum and bass heavy single with the
guitars turned up to full distortion, many a pill was dropped to this tune I
bet ya! The last
single taken from the album is heavily drug referenced Sugar Cane and
I still think to this day that if this single was released a few
months before it would have been a massive summer smash. Full to
the brim with cultural references for the time and a chorus
that would have not been out of place at any indie disco of the 90's.
The release of the debut album The Daddy Of Them
All had all the early singles apart form Keep Tripping on which would have been
out of place in the slightest. If you were a fan of the bands singles,
then the album was what you were hoping for. Sitting slap bang in the
middle of Britpop which was just getting over the Madchester scene a couple of
years before we find one of the best bands to come out of Manchester in the
late 1990's. The band would tour with the likes of Smash Mouth, Third Eye
Blind and record a follow up album but due to Factory Records going out of
business the album was unreleased and the band disbanded in 2000.
The follow up album was called Escape From The
20th Century and would eventually find a release in late 2013 and in 2015 we
find the band reforming to play a selection of shows across the UK.
As of writing this we find the band playing the
Shiiine On Weekender in November along with a host of bands from the 1990's
which looks like a 90's indie kids ultimate line up.
So if you have never heard of the band before
make sure you go and buy both albums from the usual outlets and you will find a
long lost hidden jem of a band. The Daddy Of Them All is a blissful look back
at a time when British music meant something to be proud of. A band twisting a
magical blend of Madchester and the British sounds of the Britpop scene of the
90's and a band that for me will never be forgotten.
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