What is this feeling?........ Speedy

Can you mix power pop with clever lyrics and trumpets?

In 1996 you could and you could make it sound like the best thing to ever float into your ear.  Today I am going to write about a band that started its journey in the middle of the Britpop movement but did not reach the heady heights of the other bands surrounding them.

I would like to introduce…… Speedy

So its 1996 and we are roughly midway through the whole Britpop thing and a band emerges from nowhere to release one almighty Britpop anthems. In my opinion they were the greatest lost Britpop band, well not lost as such as myself and many, many others found them and held on tight awaiting their debut album. What’s the sound of Britpop? Blur, Oasis, Pulp? Well no actually to me Speedy captured the spirit of the whole thing and made a sound that resonated through the entire movement. They had the crunching guitars, clever lyrics, trumpets oh! And they had a female drummer Bronwen Stone who I fancied the hell out of!

So signing to Arista in 1996 they would go on to release a string of classic singles including Time For You, Anytime Anyplace Nowhere, A Day In The Life Of Riley, Time For You and the classic Boy Wonder. I remember seeing the band on a kids show performing Boy wonder and it was one of those rare moments when you knew the song instantly even though it’s the first time you’ve heard it. It’s a fantastic slice of pure pop on its purest form and a perfect example of what Britpop was about in its song writing and its delivery.  But alas as most things Britpop the band were dropped before they had a chance to release their debut album even though it had been recorded. The band slowly faded away around the later part of the 1990’s until…….

They seem to be back, well sort of.

The band have finally been able to release their debut album and it’s found its way on to iTunes.  The band played the Sheffield Leadmill at the beginning of April this year to support the release of the album and have no further plans to reform.

So get yourself over to ITunes and purchase a piece of Britpop that never was (But should have been). In this album you will find a band who were never truly let to shine and band who were at the top of their game even before that started. Some bands stumble through life writing mediocre music with albums full of filler but in Speedy you find a band who had a knack of writing hit’s that were never meant to be.

Some bands have luck and some have talent, have a guess where Speedy are placed.

News from Nowhere

Download the album from iTunes

Boy Wonder

Anytime, Anyplace, Nowhere

Get ready for the judge in me ……..Embrace

To say this band was a minor sensation is like saying the Britpop explosion was a small movement somewhere in the early 1990’s. Despite what was written about them at the time and what you might read on the internet this band was Big and was the epitome of Britpop and band who has gone through everything to be at the top of their game.

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to introduce Embrace.

Hailing from West Yorkshire the in 1993 the band would go onto produce 5 studio albums, 23 singles and gather a huge following of fans from all over the world. I first heard them through their early EP’s around 1997 when I used to visit a local record shop where on that day they were playing the Fireworks EP in all its glory.  I was hooked from the very first play and bought the 12” vinyl even before the song had reached the 2:00 minute mark. The band had a sound that for me set them apart from the other bands of the era as they had such a sweeping, open sound that felt so much bigger from a five piece band.  So as some people might have seen on this blog I rarely make references to Oasis as I was not a massive fan of the band apart from their debut album but Embrace always was referenced as an Oasis copy and this to me is an injustice. Oasis was the poster child of the Britpop movement for some but Embrace was the face for me and my mates and many other kids of the 1990’s. I always used to say “Oasis didn’t invent guitar music ya know!” when Embrace was pigeonholed with the likes of oasis and the other so called Dad rock of time time. Unlike Oasis and Co these boys could write a tune with lyrics that meant something, not knocking Oasis as they wrote some cracking tunes in their early part of the career but Embrace wrote songs that I could relate to.

With songs like One Big Family with it’s in yer face bass line and distorted wah-wah hiding behind the heavy drum beat we would find a chorus that would be sung at full volume at every indie venue on a Friday night. From the rock heavy songs like One Big Family and Last Gas we would find a more gentle open side of the bad in songs like The Good Will Out and my personal favourite Fireworks. Music that has been stripped back to the bare essentials always gets me interested and here we find a band in their comfort zone writing arena filling ballads and its where I think Embrace shines. Just like a good album should their debut A Good Will Out builds up from the opening intro to the huge single Come Back To What You Know to the touching That’s All Changed Forever to the title track The Good Will Out. Now this is the way to end an album, like the Stone Roses before them with I Am The Resurrection we find the band produce a song that would be played as an outro at every indie clubs closing hours. From the openly meaningful lyrics to the softly played trumpets the song builds and builds to a crescendo of La, La, La’s at the 4:08. I think I may have found the perfect Britpop album and in my eyes a perfect album in its own write.

With their second album Drawn From Memory we find the band at the top of their game but with the Britpop movement now gone the future was unclear for the band. Even though the new album was sitting at number 8 in the UK album charts the sales were slow and like other bands of the era it seemed that guitar music was being dropped left right and centre. With the release of their third album and Britpop pretty much dead we find the band being dropped by their record label in 2002 and things seemed over.

But like they say “you can’t keep a good dog down”……….

In September 2004 they released the album Out Of Nothing and earned them the title of the Comeback kings of Britpop and would go on to release a song that would once again project them into the limelight once more. The single was Gravity and was originally written by Chris Martin from Coldplay who became friends with lead singer Danny McNamara when Coldplay had supported Embrace a few years earlier. The song would go top 10 in the single UK charts and would make the album reach Number 1 in the album chart. This would repeat for the bands fifth album This New Day and produce the bands biggest single Nature’s Law and the band would be at the top of their game.

So it’s now 2014 and with their new self-titled album just released it's looking good for all Embrace fans around the world. There are some bands who shine and fade away and there’s bands who give up at the first hurdle. But Embrace have been constantly battling through everything the music business can throw at a band and have come out the other end victorious.

Do something good today and go out and purchase one of the best back catalogues from the halls of British music and I guarantee you that you will fall in love just like I did back in that record shop in 1997.

Gravity

Fireworks

Last Gas

Everything must pass the change is ……. Cast

So when Lee Maver's from the La's sang the immortal words “Everything must pass the change is cast” who knew that it would lead to the birth of one of the biggest bands of the Britpop era.  It’s true that I mostly write about the less popular bands of the Britpop explosion but I cannot pass up writing about one of the iconic bands from that moment in time.

So a year after he left the La’s John power set up his new band Cast in 1992 and after a few line-up changes and support slots they signed to Polydor in late 1994 just in time for the British music scene to explode. If you look back now at the band when they first hit the charts they had four incredible singles taken from their debut album, each will impose a vision of those fantastic days in the early 90’s. The first single taken form their debut album would be Finetime and would set the sound for the band over their first two albums and would storm the charts to the heady heights of number 17. Least we not forget how hard it was for a band to reach anywhere in the top 40 but with the British music scene starting to change and bands rebel against the grunge movement of America it was a prospect that would shake the charts and put bands in the top 10.  Finetime is a one of a handful of songs that mean Britpop when you first hear it thump through the speakers with its chest punching beat and distorted guitar combined with John Powers’ scally vocal. This song meant the world to me and to this day still does, it had everything an indie song of the early 90’s should possess. The single to follow this would be a song that was kicking around when Power was in the La’s and would be the song that shoved the band into the limelight. Alright was the single and it would be forever featured on every Britpop complication album ever released and it’s no wonder why as it was one of the catchiest songs of the era. Two more singles would be released from the album that would seal the deal in finding a new audience for the band with Sandstorm and the soundtrack to a broken heart Walkaway.

After releasing the Single Flying the band had reached the top 10 in the Uk charts and would be ready to release their second album Mother Nature Calls in early 1997. Shaking the sound of All Change they embraced the rockier element that would be found in some of the bands of the era. Reaching the top 10 in the album charts it would include the three top ten singles Guiding Star, Free Me and Live The Dream and finally the last single to be released from the album I’m So Lonely. So with Britpop fading and the British music scene imploding we find Cast releasing their third album Magic hour. With a sound that mixed beats and samples with the traditional indie fare it was moving away from the sound of their debut and as a result of the dying scene the album was not promoted as much as it should have been.

So finally in 2001 the band release their final album Beetroot and was sounding like a completely different band altogether. Acoustic, Loops and Flutes was my first thought and I never gave it a chance as I lost all enthusiasm with British music at the time. The band disbanded in 2001 and went their separate ways.

Maybe it was my fault or maybe it was the influx manufactured teen pop that was awash in the charts that would ruin my love of British music at the time.  Now I have had time to reconsider my actions and listening again I find a band who were trying something new and approaching song writing techniques and music making from a different angle and for this I love them. So with the band reunited and touring behind the 2011 release of their album Troubled Times things are looking good. It’s good to know that they are still around playing and making music because without them we wouldn’t have the memories of our beloved Britpop and we wouldn’t have the chances that bands have today.

Finetime

History

Just Another Illusion ....... Hurricane #1

So in 1995/96 the greatest band of the 90s (in my opinion) disbanded after 8 years right in the middle of the Britpop explosion.  The band was called Ride and their lead guitarist and contributing songwriter was the very talented Andy Bell and so as one band dies another is born.

And that’s where we start todays musical journey.

Hurricane #1 were born in the same year that Ride decided to disband and go their separate ways.  Signing to Creation records in 1996, they released the EP Step Into My World which reach the heady heights of 29 in the UK single chart which at the time was still a feat.  To me Step Into My World is a classic Slice of Britpop with references to the many classic British scenes over the past 30. This was the song that I would use to open my set when I was a DJ a local Club for my Britpop night. When the bass hits at the 17 second mark it used to turn heads, but maybe that could of been because I turned it up far too loud!  It was also a classic track to end the set with (you won't find I Am The Resurrection here!) with the massively infectious chorus and ending guitar solo it was hard for the bouncers to kick the last of the punters out!  Releasing two more singles Just Another Illusion and Chain Reaction to good reviews and having gushing reviews about their live performances on their own tour and supporting the band 3 Colours Red things were looking good for the band. In late September 1997 they released their self-titled album Hurricane #1 to very good reviews including Q magazine naming it as one of the best albums of 1997.  It’s been strongly referenced that the sound was not influenced by Oasis but actually inspired by them which you can hear on some tracks.  This may be true but the band was far superior in their song writing (Thanks to Bell) and the pure musicianship displayed by the band and Andy Bells guitar playing. With sounds ranging from 70's wah-wah rock to double beats and songs fringing on the side of shoegazing this album had everything for a guitar music fan of the 90's.

Standout album tracks include Let go Of The Dream with its late night drunken sing-a-long chorus and rolling lead guitar sitting subtly behind the band to Mother Superior with its wah-wah opening to the slightly Oasis sounding vocal baggy beats.  We find the closing track Stand In Line sounding like something Noel Gallagher would kill to have written.  Close your eyes and you would think you were listening to Oasis but with BALLS!

We find their second album Only The Strongest Will Survive to have a slightly more open beefed up sound and the use of drum machines on certain tracks.  Sounding like a band now more open minded to bigger production mechanics than we found on their debut this was maybe a glance of things to come on future albums but alas as with all good things Britpop it was all about to end in tears.

As part of the course in the 90's the NME was involved once again and slated the band to be sell outs because their title track of their second album was used as a song for the new Sun newspapers television advert.  You see the thing with the NME back then (maybe even today, I have refused to read it in over 16 years) is they loved to build up bands just to knock them down.  They started a hate campaign on the band and gave their album 2/10 and described the whole album as sounding like each other band that was around at the time.  This statement is false and to be honest this can be said about any album by any band over the past 50 years. 

Let’s not forget that Musicians like Andy Bell has been making music before the Britpop scene arrived and paved the way for bands to be recognised and get record deals and has influenced THEM to some degree.  Take a listen to the album and you will find outstanding tracks like Rising Sign, Remote Control and the title track Only The Strongest Will Survive all wrapped in to 74 minutes of pure class.

Ahh! but who cares about musical ranting’s from a musical paper that I wouldn’t wipe my arse on if it was the only paper left  in the world.  What we are here for (hopefully) is the music and that is why im writing this down so people can discover bands that they might not have heard before.

Take a tip from me go and grab yourself a copy of both albums and bliss out to one of the best bands of the 90s........... trust me!.

Gav

I wanna be a Punka too ..... Kenickie

We were Kenickie ... A bunch of fuckwits.


What a fantastic way to disband and go on your merry way. Some of you may know Lauren Laverne from the television and radio fronting all sorts of programmes, but did you know she fronted one of the best loved female fronted bands during the Britpop era?.. No?.... then please read on.


Hailing from Sunderland and naming the band after the namesake in the film Grease, they exploded on to the scene in 1994 and shook up the Britpop sound with punk and Leopard skin!. They would go on to release 2 EP's, 7 singles and 2 studio albums, but would gain a cult following and many a young teenage boy heart.
To me the three minute single is a hard thing to write but Kenickie perfected this with their 1st single Punka. Now certain girl groups of the era would be spouting about "Girl Power" (you know who you are Spice Girls!) when there were women and bands who actually were already doing this for themselves and not banging on about it. I remember at the time getting so angry with groups like The Spice Girls spouting about Girl Power when in fact they were manufactured and moulded by accountants and record producers who wrote for them and told them what to do, say and wear.  Kenickie were actually out there doing it! Writing their own material, playing their own instruments and playing the sweaty Indie clubs to 10 people and a dog!

With Sounds like they played their guitars with razorblades, they were what the British music scene needed in 1994 just as Britpop exploded and blew the shoegazing scene out of the water. A band that other bands look up to the first time in years. The 3 girl and a guy drummer (his name was Pete Gofton and an excellent drummer at that!) was a perfect formula and with a love of Peroxide, animal print, spiky guitars and the pouting....... oh how can we forget the pouting, we had the makings of a band who would invoke what it was to be in a band when you were a teenager.
Like living in a cartoon bubble and with references to British culture they were like a female fronted punk version of Pulp but from Sunderland. Their debut album At the Club was released in May 1994, and thrusted the band into the limelight and smack on the front of the local music mags all angst and angry but looking so pretty!. At the club would include the excellent single Night Life which was released on a limited 7" leopard print vinyl. So in 1998 we were treated to a second album. Get In would give us a very different sounding Kenickie and I would say a more grown up album. Only two singles would be released off the album. The very twee I Would Fix You and the catchy Stay in the Sun. Putting away the guitars for a more synth, twee pop sound the album failed to top the success of their debut despite being a fantastic album in its own right.


So there we have it. A band who shot to the heady hights of the mid 20's of the UK charts right as the Britpop bubble was ready to pop. Its bands like Kenickie that should be around today to show how UK guitar pop should be done. They may be gone but for many of us they will never be forgotten.

Were having a ball ...........60ft Dolls

Whilst tuning in to Radio One's Evening Session which I did every Monday to Friday, Steve Lamacq played a single from one of a new set of bands that were emerging from Wales. The single was Pig Valentine and the band was The 60ft Dolls.  They gave the whole Britpop sound a stripping down with a swagger of rock and a whole load of punk. With sound scapes ranging from Mod and Metal to early 90's Grunge they gave the scene something that was lacking at the time and that was the classic 3 minute pop song, and boy these guys could write some. A whole album chock full in fact, but we will come to that later.
Forming in 1992 in Newport; Wales with connections to Donna Matthews from Elastica, hung out at the local music venue TJ's and listened to the local hardcore bands that played on a weekly basis and they took this and mixed it with rock just at the right time for the British public to take notice. I've spent many a drunken night in the venue TJ's when I lived in Newport and saw many of the ‘greats’ play there and can see why it was an integral part of the band making them what they were.
Being championed by Radio One's Evening Session they even broke the American market being featured in the New York Times’ Best Singles of 1996 and; given the amount of great singles released in that year that was pretty good going.  Being signed to the uber cool Indie label Indolent they released the two singles Talk To Me and Pig Valentine before releasing the storming classic album The Big 3. The album has gone down as a rock classic and would feature all the singles apart from White Knuckle Ride and would re-release and re-record their very first single Happy Shopper.From releasing Indie singles on an unknown label to being signed to Geffen and touring the world in just 4 years is pretty good going by any standards but alas it wasn't to last as most things from that era.They released their last single Alison's Room in 1998 with the following album Joya Magica in the same year and later disbanded.
I saw them a handful of times in the mid Nineties and each time they blew me away. For a 3 piece punk rock outfit hailing from Newport they did what some bands won't do in a life time and a sound that some can never re-create live no matter how hard they try.

Some bands just have 'IT' ! and the 60ft Dolls had it in spades.

Take it easy chicken ...... Mansun

The opening track on any album is the opening door to what's lurking inside, within 20 seconds of the first play you can tell what the album will turn into. Albums like Going Blank Again by Ride, Urban Hyms by The Verve and The Stone Roses debut are just some of the albums throughout the 90's that had classic album openers.

Then along come a bunch of lads from Chester who would release one of the all time best debut albums to be released during the 90's even if it would signal the end of Britpop.

The album would be titled Attack Of The The Grey Lantern, the Opening track would be The Chad Who Loved Me and the band would be the very influential Mansun.

So on a technical note I must state that people have stated that Mansun were not a Britpop band, and to some point I agree but just because their debut album came out just as the Britpop bubble burst shouldn't mean they get dismissed as such. They released their debut single Take it Easy Chicken in 1995 just midway through scene and released in all seven singles before they released Lantern in 1997.  Now if you have taken a little peak at my blog at all then you would have read about what my defeniton of Britpop was and is. It's not about the sound as such or even the style that came from it. To me Britpop was about bands coming together for the first time since the sixties and forcing British bands into the public eye once again. All the bands have been influenced by other British artists from generations past and for once Great Britian had something to shout about and be proud of and also for kids like me it was the best time to be alive. 

Ok so back to the band. The first time I heard the band was from the legend Steve Lamacq from Radio 1's evening session.  From what I can recall they played Take it Easy Chicken even though the band had never played a gig but this resulted in the band securing their first record contract with Parlophone.  I personally fell in love with the band when they released their second single Skin up Pin up which I remember fondly with its distorted riffs and drum machine backed up beats all squeezed onto a single white coloured 7" vinyl record.  So even before their debut album the band had released seven singles which five of those were multi track E.p's.  That's some going for a band just getting started also considering that each song could easily be a single and not just an album filler.  The first time I saw them play live was around my birthday in 1995 and I saw them support Echobelly along with Heavy Stereo and it was quite a gig I can tell you.  Playing songs like Flourella, Take it Easy Chicken, Stripper Vicar, Ski Jump Nose and Skin up Pin up they were one of the best support acts that I have seen with such an energetic live presence but with all the charm and swagger of a established rock band. 

So with the massive singles Wide Open Space and She Makes my Nose Bleed being released to an enthusiastic audience the band released their debut album Attack Of The Grey Lantern, knocking Blur off the #1 spot in the album chart.  Fast forward to 1998 with Britpop fading in the memories of the British public and we see bands being dropped from their labels and disbanding and fading into the back of the nations minds. It was a tough time for new British bands to get noticed and established acts to find the strength to find new ways to carry on. We find Mansun releasing their last two albums to critical disappointment and not a commercial success as their debut and as a result the band split in 2003.

With a dedicated fan base always behind the band, the fans managed to get the band's record company to release the complication album titled Kleptomania which included songs from the bands unreleased fourth album mixed with a selection of B sides.

Although no longer around the band still have many fans around the world still playing their music and keeping the name alive.  Not bad for a band who have been banned from entering every Happy Eater and Holiday Inn around the UK. 

Gav