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Quite possibly the most
rock n' roll rollercoaster d'you wanna go faster ride there ever was -
and it hasn't even finished yet! Screaming in to the scene of '92 with
"Mondo
Akimbo A-Go-Go", Wildhearts main man Ginger
started as he meant to go on by fucking shit up from the very beginning.
In the first instance it was by recording a genre defying set ('Beatles
meets Metallica' is the preferred description), second it was kicking up
an almighty fuss over certain reviewers opinions of the records
production. A re-release of the e.p. was sanctioned with extra
tracks and a brand new shiny 'anti-dance mix' which rocketed critics
reservations to pieces and placed the Wildhearts well on their way into
rock n' rolls elite echelon.
Drummer Bam (ex Dogs
D'Amour, now of Bubble) left and Stidi took up
the reins for the recording of the first album proper, "Earth
vs. The Wildhearts" but left in time to eventually form The
Jellys and for Ritch Battersby to join for the "Caffeine
Bomb" e.p. (starting his tenure in the band in fine style with
a raucous Top Of The Pops appearance for aforementioned record, dressed
along with the rest of the band in really bad gold lamé suits and some
really quite horrendous but massively comical make-up.) Brace yourself
if you're easily confused...
Guitarist CJ (who went
on to form Honeycrack and The
Jellys before returning to the present day line-up) left/ was fired
in summer '94 to be momentarily replaced by Devin Townsend (2 dates!)
and then come 1995, Mark Keds (ex Senseless Things then Jolt and now
Trip Fontaine) joined for the grand total of the "Just
In Lust" e.p. which was the second single lifted from the grand
and moody "p.h.u.q"
album.
"p.h.u.q.",
officially the second long player was actually preceded by the mighty
fan club only "Fishing For Luckies" the previous Christmas.
Come late October of 1995, the band were finally able to tour in support
of "p.h.u.q."
after securing the services of Jef Streatfield (now Plan
A mainman) on guitar only to stand by a decision to split (East West
decided to drop 3rd single "In Lilly's Garden", and tried to
release "Fishing
For More Luckies" whilst Radio 1 had already refused to
playlist "Just
In Lust" because it was 'too heavy' - and it all proved
to be so much more bullshit than you could expect anyone to deal with.)
To all intents and
purposes the band did actually split but a farewell tour of Japan
convinced then that splitting was going to be a bad idea. With new
conviction, a quartet of heads full of ideas and a re-discovered
positivity the band ditched East West to record new tracks for a
mainstream re-release of "Fishing
For Luckies" on the group's own Round Records in the spring of
1996.
It would be more than a
year before new material which surfaced in the form of "Endless
Nameless", an album which split the bands fan base in half
towards the end of the summer of '97.Critically acclaimed yet touted as
commercial suicide all 'round, it was one hell of a swansong, an
absolute headfuck of an album, apparently drug-fuelled to an insane
degree. It was to be the bands last official release before a sudden
break-up on the grounds that carrying on would catapult the band further
into what had already turned into a life/death state of affairs.
The band did reform on
two occasions for festival dates in Japan but it wasn't until this first
year of the third millennium that any concrete reformation was on the
cards. Signed to Infernal, truly independent and out on a limb with the
classic "Earth vs..." line-up, the band released 'The
Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed' closely followed by 'Coupled With' (in
true 'Fishing For Luckies' stylee). A CD of tracks from both releases
'Riff After Riff' made it on to US shelves via Gearhead records and The
Wildhearts were invited to support the suddenly massive Darkness on
their UK tour with Random Jon Poole as the new explosive bassist.
A series of festival dates followed culminating in the headline slot at
the Rock In The Castle event in Scarborough in 2005 (supported by
Terrorvision).
Now, after another lineup change (the return of Ritch Battersby to skin
bashing duty and Scott Sorry, ex Amen, on bass) the band are back and
doing it the only way they know how - a little unbalanced, completely
crazyily and always, always as the best.
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