The Wonder Stuff
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The Wonder Stuff |
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| The Wonder Stuff | |
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| Origin | |
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| Years active | |
| Members | Miles Hunt (vocals/guitars) Malcolm Treece (guitars/vocals) Andres Karu (drums) Mark McCarthy (bass) Erica Nockalls (fiddle) |
| Past members | Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones (bass) Martin Gilks (drums) Paul Clifford (bass) Martin Bell (fiddle/ banjo) Stuart Quinell (bass) Luke Johnson (drums) |
| Website(s) | www.thewonderstuff.co.uk |
The Wonder Stuff are a band originally
based in
Contents
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The original line-up was Miles Hunt vocals, guitar
(whose uncle Bill Hunt was keyboard player with Wizzard),
Malcolm Treece guitar, vocals, Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones (died July
1993) and Martin Gilks the drums (died
April 2006). The group originated from an earlier collaboration with
group members of Pop Will Eat Itself,
called From Eden, which had Miles Hunt on the
The Wonder Stuff were formed in March 1986, and soon built up a huge following and entering the studio in September that year to record a self financed first ep "A Wonderful Day". After signing with Polydor in 1987, the group released a series of snarling, witty pop singles. "Unbearable", "Give Give Give, Me More More More", "A Wish Away" and "It's Yer Money Im After Baby" (their first top 40 entry) all featured on their debut long player "The Eight Legged Groove Machine" in August 1988 (UK #18) and getting a rare 9 out of 10 in the NME. The group then headed off on their first headlining 19 date "Groovers On Manouvres" UK tour. By wanting to keep in with the tradition of releasing singles that were not on albums (as The Clash, The Jam & The Smiths did before them they released "Who Wants To Be The Disco King?" in March 1989, and after apearances at Reading and Glastonbury, and tours of Europe and the States they immediately got to work on the second album.
"Don't Let Me Down, Gently" became their first top 20 hit in
September 1989, which preceded "Hup" released in October (UK #5)
another 24 date UK tour followed. The album also saw the introduction
of new band member Martin Bell, an accomplished
Following internal disagreements within the group, The Bass Thing left in December 1989, heading straight for America as soon as the group had played the final night of a sellout 3 night residence at Birmingham's Aston Villa Leisure Centre.
A single was "Circlesquare" released shortly after before Paul
Clifford replaced Rob Jones on the
The third album was started in late 1990 and completed early
the following year. The first single from the new album was "
Just after the third single from the album "
After previewing their new material at a few European summer
festivals, a new single "
There was much tension and disquiet within the group again though and, prior to their performance at the Gloucester Leisure Centre, the members held a meeting where it was agreed that the band would split. Everyone felt that the group was pulling into different directions, and although they had demoed new songs in 1994 they did feel that after four albums and eight years together the time was right to do something else. A final planned tour in May of the Far East was cancelled.
After four albums and seventeen singles they initially split
on
During the split between 1994 and 2000, Miles Hunt was
involved in several projects including the hosting of
Meanwhile Malc Treece, Paul Clifford and Martin Gilks formed
After numerous industry rumours and countless requests from promoters, the NME announced in July 2000, exactly six years after their last performance, that The Wonder Stuff were reforming. Miles Hunt, Malcolm Treece, Martin Gilks, Martin Bell and Peter Whittaker together with new bassist Stuart Quinell were reforming to undertake a one off concert at London's Forum in December of that year. This soon became five sold out nights, preceeded by two nights in Dudley (at the site of their first ever gig), as demand to see the band increased. The group's previous four studio albums were reissued with bonus tracks and a compilation of b.sides, demos and live tracks, "Love Bites & Bruises" was released in November.
More live performances continued into 2001 with the release of a live album "Cursed With Insincerity" in June, and more concerts came in 2002. A DVD release "Construction For The Modern Vidiot" in May 2003 featured highlights from the 2000 to 2002 shows and then a further tour was announced in December 2003. Despite reforming, shows were generally infrequent as some members had full time employment commitments. In total the 2000-2003 reformation saw 25 performances.
The band had been considering recording a new album since the reformation - however disagreements within the group had occured regarding royalties and songwriting credits. Tensions within the band had also risen since the relative high ticket prices of the December 2003 shows, which at £25 were considered by some members of the band to be too high. Poor sales of tickets - presumably due to high prices - on these final shows caused the cancellation of more than one date on this tour.
In early 2004, Miles Hunt was informed that Martin Gilks and Martin Bell would no longer work with him, and thus The Wonder Stuff (in the eyes of Gilks and Bell) were defunct. As a result, Stuart Quinell and Peter Whitaker were informed the band had split, and Miles Hunt began work on a new record with Mark McCarthy (ex-Radical Dance Faction) and Luke Johnson (ex-Amen and son of one-time Wonder Stuff manager, Les Johnson). Sessions for this new solo record were later joined by Malcolm Treece, and thus, a new lineup of The Wonder Stuff was born. The decision was controversial with some fans and former members of the band.
In late 2004 it was revealed that The Wonder Stuff's first new album for over a decade, "Escape From Rubbish Island", was to be released in September that year with "Better Get Ready For A Fist Fight" and the title track becoming singles. Andres Karu (formerly of The Miles Hunt Club) replaced Luke Johnson on drums. The band toured the UK and US extensively in 2004 and 2005 and were joined by violinist Erica Nockalls in March 2005.
This line-up continued into 2006 for the release of their new
album "Suspended By Stars" in March and the single "Blah Blah La Di
Dah" which was only available either on the album or through most music
download services including
In April 2006, original Wonder Stuff drummer Martin Gilks was killed in a motorcycle accident in London. Later that year, Martin was voted the best British drummer of all time in a radio poll conducted by BBC 6 Music for the Stuart Maconie show.
Summer 2006 was occupied with some solo Miles Hunt acoustic shows (which were recorded for a live album, titled "Interloper" and released in October 2006). The Wonder Stuff also began mixing an as-yet untitled live record documenting the March 2006 tour and played several UK outdoor shows. The band finished the year by touring the UK again, performing their final date for the forseeable future on December 8th at Shepards Bush Empire.
The band went on a temporary hiatus for 2007 due to the imminent fatherhood of Malcolm Treece. However, Miles Hunt (with violinist Eric Nockalls and drummer Andres Karu) recorded a solo album "Not An Exit", and Miles / Erica have been touring the record in the UK. Dates in Australia and North America are due for the remainder of 2007.
In June 2007, Universal finally released a new double album of The Wonder Stuff's BBC recordings compiled from session appearances and concert recordings recorded and broadcast by the BBC between 1987 and 1994. There is, as yet, no release date confirmed for the live album recorded in March 2006.
The Wonder Stuff plan to regroup at the end of the year to work on their next album scheduled for release in Spring 2008.
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