Inspiral Carpets
are an alternative rock band from Oldham in Greater Manchester, England formed by Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt in 1983. [1] The band is named after a clothing shop on their Oldham estate. Their sound is based around psychedelic keyboards and guitars.
|
INSPIRAL CARPETS TICKETS
|
History
1983-1995
Schoolfriends Lambert and Holt recruited drummer Craig Gill, and formed Inspiral Carpets in 1983, originally as a garage punk band.
After various other members had come and gone, by 1987 the line-up included bassist David Swift and organist
Clint Boon (whose
Ashton-under-Lyne studio the band had been using for rehearsals).
[2] The band released two albums worth of demos in the 1980s,
Waiting for Ours
and
Songs of Shallow Intensity
, including songs that would later be re-recorded.
They came to prominence, alongside bands like
Stone Roses and
Happy Mondays, in the '
Madchester' scene of the late 1980s. After a
flexi-disc featuring
Garage Full Of Flowers
given free with
Manchester's
Debris magazine in 1987, followed by the
Cow
cassette, their first release proper, the 1988
Planecrash
EP on the Playtime label received much airplay from
Radio 1 DJ
John Peel, who asked the band to record a session for his show.
At the time of their initial success, the band earned some notoriety for their squiggly-eyed cow '
Cool as Fuck' T-shirts; a student at Oxford Polytechnic was prosecuted on obscenity charges for wearing one. They reworked their single "Find Out Why" as the theme tune to the
8:15 from Manchester
.
As their popularity grew, Playtime's distributor
Red Rhino Records went bust, leading the band to form their own label, Cow Records in March 1989, the labels' first release being the
Trainsurfing
EP.
In the same year, Holt and Swift departed to form
The Rainkings, with the band recruiting
Too Much Texas singer Tom Hingley and Martin "Bungle" Walsh of The Next Step to replace them.
After a handful of singles on their own label, the last of which, "Move", came close to the UK top 40, they signed a deal with
Mute Records, and immediately had their first top 40 chart success in the UK with "
This Is How It Feels", which is a song about
unemployment and touches on themes of domestic violence. The single reached #14 in the singles chart, and debut album
Life
reached #2 in the album chart, both in 1990.
The following year's
The Beast Inside
was less well-received by critics,
but still achieved a top 5 album chart placing. The "Caravan" and "Please be Cruel" singles only reached #30 and #50 respectively, and an attempt to crack the American market largely failed.
The band did, however, gain a strong following in Portugal, Germany, and Argentina, with the band's 1992 album
Revenge of the Goldfish
becoming their most successful in those countries.
The album peaked at number 17 in the UK, and spawned four UK hit singles. The next album,
Devil Hopping
(1993), failed to even chart in the UK, but the following year saw the band's fortunes improve, with "Saturn 5" and "I Want You" giving them top 20 hits, the latter a collaboration with
Mark E. Smith.
Next single "Uniform" stalled at #51 and in 1995, after the release of a
Singles
collection, the band were dropped by Mute, and split up soon after.
Post-split activities
Hingley formed a new band,
The Lovers, along with Jerry Kelly of
The Lotus Eaters (the band later featured Steve and Paul Hanley of
The Fall), while Boon formed
The Clint Boon Experience, releasing a string of singles on his own Artful label.
Gill also formed a new band, Hustler, while Walsh moved into production, largely working on techno-dance music.
Two of the band's roadies went on to greater things; Van driver Mark Walsh joined
The Charlatans in 1991, while guitar technician
Noel Gallagher joined
Oasis.
Reformation
They re-formed with in 2003, releasing a new single "Come Back Tomorrow" (recorded in 1995), a couple of sold-out tours and a number of new compilation records, most notably the
Cool As
box set. They have toured sporadically since, reuniting yet again in 2007 to tour in support of an
iTunes only compilation of their b-sides and rarities. They have already announced dates for 2008 and have announced that their own Cow Records label is to be revived.
Early line-up
- Stephen Holt - vocals
- Graham Lambert - guitars
- Mark Hughes-bass
- Dave Swift-bass
- Clint Boon - keyboards, vocals
- Craig Gill - drums
Height of success through to present day
- Tom Hingley - vocals (born Thomas Hingley, on 9 July 1965, in Abingdon)
- Graham Lambert - guitar - (born Graham Paul Lambert, on 10 July 1964, in Chadderton, Oldham)
- Martyn Walsh - bass - (born Martyn John Walsh, on 3 July 1968, in Rusholme, Manchester)
- Clint Boon - Farfisa organ, backing vocals (born Clinton David Boon, on 28 June 1959, in Oldham)
- Craig Gill - drums - (born Craig Douglas Gill on 5 December 1971, in Salford)
Guitarist Graham Lambert states in an interview on the
Cool As box set that the band had tried numerous bass players before settling on Martyn Walsh, who was their thirteenth bass player.
Discography
Studio albums
- dung 4
(1989) Cow (cassette)
- Life
(1990) Mute (UK Albums Chart #2)
- The Beast Inside
(1991) Mute (UK Albums Chart #5)
- Revenge Of The Goldfish
(1992) Mute (UK Albums Chart #17)
- Devil Hopping
(1994) Mute (UK Albums Chart #10)
Compilations
- The Singles
(1995) Mute (UK Albums Chart #17)
- Radio 1 Sessions
(1996) Strange Fruit (UK Album Chart N/A)
- Cool As
(2003) Mute (UK Albums Chart #65)
- Greatest Hits
(2003) Mute (UK Album Chart N/A)
- Keep the Circle
(2007) (iTunes only download)
Video
- 21.7.90
(1990) BMG/Cow (VHS)
- Inspiral Carpets The Singles
(1995) Mute (VHS)
- Live at Brixton Academy
(2003) Mute (DVD)
Singles
| Year
| Title
| Chart positions
| Album
|
| UK Singles Chart
| US Modern Rock
|
| 1988
| Planecrash
EP
| N/A
| N/A
| N/A*
|
| 1989
| Trainsurfing
EP
| N/A
| N/A
|
| "Joe"
| N/A
| N/A
|
| "Find Out Why"
| 90
| N/A
|
| "Move"
| 49
| N/A
| Life
*
|
| 1990
| "Commercial Reign"
| N/A
| 27
|
| 1990*
| "This Is How It Feels"
| 14
| 22
| Life
|
| 1990
| "She Comes in the Fall"
| 27
| N/A
|
| "Island Head EP"
| 21
| N/A
| N/A
|
| 1991
| "Caravan"
| 30
| 15
| Beast Inside
|
| "Please be Cruel"
| 50
| N/A
|
| 1992
| "Dragging Me Down"
| 12
| N/A
| Revenge of the Goldfish
|
| "Two Worlds Collide"
| 32
| 8
|
| "Generations"
| 28
| N/A
|
| "Bitches Brew"
| 36
| N/A
|
| 1993
| "How it Should Be"
| 49
| N/A
| N/A
|
| 1994
| "Saturn 5"
| 20
| N/A
| Devil Hopping
|
| "I Want You"
| 18
| N/A
|
| "Uniform"
| 51
| N/A
|
| 1995
| "Joe"
| 37
| N/A
| The Singles
|
| 2003
| "Come Back Tomorrow"
| 43
| N/A
| Cool As
|
* Commercial Reign
did not appear on the UK release of Life
. This is How it Feels
was released in 1991 in the US.
Audio sample
below =
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
References
- Thompson, Dave (2000) ''Alternative Rock'', Miller Freeman, ISBN 0-87930-607-6, p.425-427
- Larkin, Colin: "The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music", 2002, Guinness Publishing, ISBN 1-85112-5679-4