Mega City Four were a British pop-grunge/crusty band who were popular in the UK in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Mega City Four consisted of guitarist/vocalist Wiz, his brother and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Danny Brown, bassist/vocalist Gerry Bryant and drummer Chris Jones. The group "earned a reputation across the globe as an exciting live band" .

Wiz and Bryant were in band together at school called Stallion, who performed two shows together before Wiz decided he wanted to form a new band with Bryant and Danny Brown, named Capricorn, after the brothers shared star sign.

Mega City Four were formed in 1987 and the band's career started with performing gigs around their local town of Farnborough before making their vinyl debut in September 1987 with “Miles Apart”/“Running In Darkness”. The single led to a round of gigs with fellow punk-influenced bands like Senseless Things and Snuff.

“Miles Apart” and “Running” were reissued (separately) in 1988 on independent label Decoy, along with the more melodic “Distant Relatives”, though it was 1989’s “Less Than Senseless” that made the critics sit up. A healthy following latched on to these, supported the band's 1989 debut album Tranzophobia.

The band continued to tour extensively around the UK, across Europe and over to North America, working with bands including Les Thugs, Midway Still, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine and Doughboys, amongst many others. The band's second studio album, Who Cares Wins (1990), was followed by a compilation of their early 7" singles, called Terribly Sorry Bob (1991). The band subsequently moved to a major record label to record two further studio albums, Sebastopol Rd. (1992) and Magic Bullets (1994). After falling out with their record label, they moved to Fire Records to record their final studio album, Soulscraper (1996). In addition to their studio albums, the band also released a live LP, a Peel Sessions disc, and an impressive number of singles. Martin Roach, British music journalist wrote a biography of the band, released in 1993.

The band had been together for over a decade when they broke up in early 1996. Wiz, moved to Montreal and joined Canadian alternative rock band Doughboys

Wiz and Bryant continued playing together in Serpico after the demise of Mega City Four. After Serpico Wiz went on to form Ipanema who were still playing and recording until late 2006.

Having just returned from a tour of the United States, Wiz collapsed at a band rehearsal. It was announced on December 7, 2006 that Wiz had died at St Georges Hospital, Tooting, South London from a blood clot on the brain on December 6, 2006.

Discography

Singles

• Miles Apart/ Running in Darkness (March 1988)
• Clear Blue Sky (November 1988)
• Less Than Senseless (March 1989)
• Awkward Kid (October 1989)
• Finish E.P. (1989)
• Words That Say (September 1991)
• Stop (January 1992)
• Stop - Live Single (January 1992)
• Shivering Sand (May 1992) - no.35 UK Singles chart
• Shivering Sand - Live Single (May 1992)
• Iron Sky (1993)
• Wallflower (1993)
• Wallflower - Live Single (1993)
• Skidding (199?)
• Superstar / Chrysanth (199?)
• Android Dreams (199?)

Albums

• Tranzophobia (June 1989)
• Who Cares Wins (October 1990)
• Terribly Sorry Bob (April 1991)
• Sebastopol Rd. (February 1992)
• Inspiringly Titled - The Live Album (Spring 1992)
• Magic Bullets (1994)
• Peel Sessions (1993)
• Soulscraper (1996)

Footnotes

1. Mega City Four singer dies (HTML). uncut.co.uk (2006-12-08). Retrieved on 2006-06-08.
2. Condolences for Wiz - Mega City Four (HTML). furtive-mts.com (2006-12-07). Retrieved on 2006-06-07.

External links

• Unofficial Mega City Four Site
• myspace page for Mega City Four
• myspace page for Wiz
• myspace page for Ipanema
• myspace page for a Wiz Tribute