Marion are a rock band, originally formed in 1993,
in Macclesfield,
Cheshire.
They became synonmous with the Britpop music scene, appearing on the
legendary Britpop Now BBC television special.
Influenced by local stars like Joy Division, Buzzcocks
and The
Smiths, they were hailed as possible successors to The Smiths
but never achieved the success predicted for them, falling prey to the
so-called "Curse of Morrissey" — Morrissey's
praise and support for young bands were said to be fatal.
Unfortunately, Jaime's well documented drug addiction got in the way of
a very promising career and they split up in 1999.
In 2006 Jaime Harding and Phil Cunningham
recruited a new set of musicians and reformed the band and are
currently working on new material having played their first live gig
together as Marion in over 7 years on 1 April 2006 in Bath. They followed this up with
sold-out shows in Manchester and London in September 2006.
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Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 Early
Days (1991-1995)
- 1.2 This
World and Body-era (1995-1996)
- 1.3 The
Program-era (1997-1999)
- 1.4 The
Wilderness Years (1999-2005)
- 1.5 The
Reformation (2006-present)
- 2 Band
members
- 3 Discography
- 4 References
- 5 External
links
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History
Early Days (1991-1995)
Jaime Harding and Phil Cunningham
played together in various bands (such as Cloud, Push The King and The
Shags), starting in their school days. After leaving school, Jaime was
immediately forced into work by his mother, taking a job in a garage
(hence his receiving credit for providing 'motor insurance' on early
demos). With Tony 'Beard' Grantham joining the band on guitar, Murad
Mousa on drums, and Damien Lawrence on bass, and at the beginning 0f
1993 the band adopted the name Marion, in tribute to Jaime's gran
and set about recording a demo. This demo made it into the hands of
former manager of The Smiths, Joe Moss, who liked
it enough to agree to manage the band.
Gigging relentlessly gained the band a reputation as an
excellent live band, and eventually a single, "Violent
Men", was released on Rough Trade Records. By this
time Julian Phillips had taken over bass duties. They went on to sign
for London
Records in October 1994 and released a succession of singles, "Sleep",
"Toys For Boys" and "Let's All Go Together", while continuing to tour,
and build a fan base via the NME Brats Tour and support slots with Radiohead
and Morrissey
in 1995. They also gained notoriety around this time when "Sleep" was
used in an advert for Citroën cars, and this led to an appearance on Channel 4's The
Word programme, and an appearance on the cover of Melody
Maker in April.
This World and Body-era
(1995-1996)
Marion's first album: This World and Body
In Spring of 1995, Nick Gilbert replaced Julian Phillips on
bass and the band started recording their first album, This
World and Body, with producer Al Clay. They
recorded the album through May and June before playing the Glastonbury
Festival late June (Nick's first gig with the band). It was released
early 1996, and promoted with singles "Sleep"
(re-recorded and reissued) and "Time". The album went top 10, and
touring continued, including trips to Europe, Japan and America.
The Program-era
(1997-1999)
The band largely disappeared from sight in 1997 to record
their second album The Program
with former guitarist of The Smiths, Johnny
Marr. Around this time, cracks began to appear in the band,
in part due to the excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle taking hold.
Additionally, interference from London Records caused further
friction, as they asked for various songs to be re-written
. A single, "Miyako Hideaway", was released in
early 1998, and the band played gigs and festivals in support, even
once again travelling to Japan. However, the album wasn't released till
September that year when it almost apologetically crept onto the
shelves of shops with little or no promotion. Another single,
"Sparkle", was released, but only in Japan.
The band headed to America to start a fresh, and try to gain a
new record deal. Around this time, Tony left the band (late 1998), with
Johnny Regan replacing him. Despite radio airplay for the track "The
Smile", and even some appearances of the video for "Miyako
Hideaway" on MTV,
London
Records and their prospective US label were unable to reach an
agreement that would allow Marion to release and promote The
Program in America. So, in May 1999, the band gave up and
went their separate ways.
The Wilderness Years (1999-2005)
Jaime went on to work with friend Wayne Ward, writing and
demoing tracks, with a view to releasing an E.P. (tentatively title
Sisters) under the name Marion. While numerous tracks were produced
from this collaboration, running from 1999-2005 in various sessions,
involving both Johnny Marr and Joe Moss,
nothing has so far ultimately come of it. Jaime went on to take time
away from the music business, heading off to Eastern Europe for a
prolonged break.
Phil Cunningham continued to play guitar, joining as a touring
guitarist for Electronic and working
with bands Run Run Run and Label (Jaime even joined Label on stage at
one point to run through a couple of Marion tracks - "Sleep"
and "The Only Way"), and went on to join New
Order when Gillian Gilbert left the
band for personal reasons. Tony Grantham has also continued in the
music business, initially in Chalk and most recently, RYNA. Murad has left
the music business, but Nick has continued, working as both a session
bass player and graphic designer.
The Reformation (2006-present)
At the beginning of 2006, Jaime and Phil started working
together again, writing new songs, and planning to put together a band
for a gig in Bath in early April. Bringing in local musicians Jake
Evans on guitar and Che Hargreaves on bass, and recruiting Jack
Mitchell from Haven on drums, they duly
played a show comprising both old and brand new songs. Initially, this
was meant to be a one-off show under the name Marion, with a new name
to be chosen at a later date, but it was ultimately decided to keep
performing under the same name. Further sold out shows were played in
Manchester and London in September and then again in December to even
bigger crowds, with new songs debuted both times. Phil continues to
divide his time between Marion and New Order.
Band members
1993 - 1999
- Jaime Harding — lead singer
- Phil Cunningham
— guitar
- Tony Grantham — guitar (now a member of RYNA)
- Murad Mousa — drums
- Julian Phillips — bass guitar (replaced by Nick Gilbert)
2006 - Current
- Jaime Harding — lead singer
- Phil Cunningham
— guitar
(also now a member of New Order)
- Jake Evans — guitar
- Che Hargreaves — bass guitar
- Jack Mitchell — drums (also in Haven)
Discography
Albums
- This World and Body
- (17
February 1996)
#10 UK
- The Program
- (September 1998) Did not chart
Singles
- "Violent Men" - (June 1994) Did not chart
- "Sleep" - (25
February 1995)
#53 UK
- "Toys For Boys" - (13 May 1995) #57 UK
- "Let's All Go Together" - (21 October
1995 )
#37 UK
- "Time" - (3 February
1996) #29
UK
- "Sleep EP" - (20 March 1996) #17 UK (Reissue)
- "Miyako Hideaway" - (7 March 1998) #45 UK
References
-
Record Collector, No. 198, February 1996
-
Record Collector, No. 198, February 1996
-
Interview with Jaime Harding, 8th February 2006, http://www.marionuk.co.uk/press.html
External links
