In The Beginning...
Mar 1986 to Sept 1988
Oct 1988 to Dec 1989
Jan 1990 to Apr 1991
May 1991 to Jan 1992
Feb 1992 to Aug 1993
Sept. 1993 to Feb 1994
Mar 1994 to Nov 1994
Dec 1994 to Dec 1999
Jan 2000 to Dec 2000
Jan 2001 to Dec 2003
Jan 2004 to Dec 2004
Jan 2005 to Dec 2005
Jan 2006 to Apr 2006
May 2006 to Oct 2006
Nov 2006 to
Sept 2008
Oct 2008 to Sept 2009
Oct 2009 to Dec 2010
Jan 2011 to Dec 2011
Jan 2012 to Feb 2015
In
Memoriam
Rob
Jones
Martin
Gilks |
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As the group
entered the new Millennium, interest in the
group had picked up as a result of Miles and
Malc having toured the UK and America performing
a selection of songs they had written and recorded
in the past. In April 2000, Miles took part
in an internet chat on the MegaStar website
where, amongst other questions, he was asked
if there were any plans to release an compilation
album of the Stuffies' B-side tracks. He replied
that, coincidentally, the group had only recently
been having discussions with the Universal Music
Group (who now owned Polydor Records) and although
he would not give a firm commitment that a release
would be forthcoming, it was not totally ruled
out as Universal were still entitled to one
further album as part of the group's original
six-album deal when they signed with the Polydor
label back in 1986.
In mid-June
it was reported on the PushBar website, from
'a reliable source', that The Wonder Stuff would
be reforming to appear alongside Neds Atomic
Dustbin for a special concert to be held in
the grounds of Dudley Castle to celebrate the
30th Anniversary of legendary Midlands club
JB's. These claims were later repeated
in the NME but were quickly refuted by Miles'
record company at the time, GIG Records, who
stated that only Miles had been approached to
perform at the event and even this could not
100% confirmed at the time.
Shortly after,
more rumours began circulating about the group
reforming until the NME's July 12th issue broke
the news that fans had been waiting for - the
group were to briefly reform for a handful of
UK live dates in December 2000. The announcement
didn't go quite as planned however as the group
were originally intending to make the official
announcement on July 14th - which would be exactly
six years to the day since their final performance
at the Phoenix Festival. The group unveiled
their new official website designed by Martin
Bell and hoped to keep it maintained with the
latest news and information.
THE WONDER STUFF are to reform for
a series of London shows this Christmas,
their first in six years, nme.com
can exclusively reveal.
The band, which is expected to feature
the original members of The Wonder
Stuff with the obvious exception
of late bassist Rob 'Bass Thing'
Jones, who was replaced by Paul
Clifford in 1990, three years before
his death - have revealed details
of a show at the London Kentish
Town Forum for December 12.
Tickets go on sale on this Friday
(July 14), priced £15. It is anticipated
that if the show sells well, the
band will play at least one more
gig in December.
The Wonder Stuff originally split
after their appearance at the 1994
Phoenix Festival. Following their
demise, various members formed other
bands, including Vent 414 and weknowwhereyoulive,
but none were as successful as The
Wonder Stuff, who scored a string
of hits, including 'The Size Of
A Cow' and the 1991 number one 'Dizzy'
in tandem with comedians Vic Reeves
and Bob Mortimer. Vocalist Miles
Hunt also had a brief career as
a presenter on the music channel
MTV.
Rumours that the band would reform
have been circulating the music
industry for a number of months.
It was originally claimed that the
band's comeback gig would be at
the 30th birthday party of the Midlands
venue Dudley JB's. However, that
rumour proved to be untrue, with
Miles Hunt instead playing a solo
acoustic show at the event alongside
Terrorvision and a reformed Ned's
Atomic Dustbin.
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The first date
of the reformation tour was booked for December
12th. No initial promotion was made for the
concert aside from announcements on their website
and word-of-mouth advertising yet the concert
sold out within weeks of tickets going onsale.
As excitement
and demand grew for the new live dates, Miles,
Malc, and Martin's Gilks and Bell starting auditions
for a new member as Paul Clifford would not
be reprising his role as bassist within the
reformed group. At the beginning of October,
it was announced that Stuart Quinell, formerly
with Vent 414 support group Understand, had
been offered the role and when Miles announced
the news on the group's messageboard he said,
"tonight is our fourth rehearsal and we're sounding
like we never went away".
As the groups'
popularity increased, the TWS-Online website
(the fore-runner to this very site)
exclusively reported in August that in
addition to further dates were being added
to the already-soldout show in December,
Polydor would also be releasing re-mastered
editions of the original four studio albums in November. The new releases would
also contain a selection of the additional tracks
which had been previously featured on singles
from each era. To tie the group's recording
career up, they were also going to release a
new compilation album,
'Love Bites
and Bruises', featured the remainder of the
additional single tracks that were now included
on the re-mastered albums in addition to a number
of unreleased demos and live recordings. The
compilation also featured a new track, 'Trim
Your Sails', originally an instrumental track
which Miles had discovered whilst planning tracks
for the album. Having written new lyrics for
the track, he and Malc had gone into the recording
studio in September to lay them down alongside
the instrumental track.
Wonder Stuff reanimated for one
week!
Miles Hunt on the five-nights-only
reformation and the upside of solo
life Just around the time Brit-pop
was taking over our senses The Wonder
Stuff decided to split. During the
intervening seven years their singer,
Miles Hunt, an intelligent lyricist
and charismatic frontman, had a
14-month stint presenting MTV Alt-rock
prog 120 Minutes but resigned due
to being "rubbish because I couldn't
interview artists I wasn't personally
interested in." Finding ourselves
walking up the Camden High Street,
not a mile away from Forum where
the band is due to reconvene for
five sold-out nights in mid-December,
he admitted that his TV presenting
career ended when he dozed off during
an interview with Elastica. Luckily
for him, their feisty leader Justine
Frischmann didn’t notice but his
producer did. Honesty and directness
have always been the trademark of
this 34-year-old Midlander who is
still as switched-on and articulate
as in the past. "We were asked many
a time to reform," Hunt explains
casually, "but one of us, usually
me, would find an excuse not to
do it. This year we were offered
five nights and I laughed but I
asked the guys and here we are!
I didn’t want to do it with the
old bass-player [a replacement for
The Bass Thing, viz. Rob Jones,
who passed on in 1993] but this
is it. No album, no reformation,
just a bit of a laugh and fun!"
FREEFORM POP ODYSSEY
In the years that followed the ‘tele-career’
Hunt formed another band, Vent 414,
who made one album before falling
apart. At the time he was still
under contract to Polydor (swallowed
by Universal since) who were providing
fiscal and physical muscle for his
label, For All The Right Reasons
(f.a.t.r.r.). As his relationship
with the label was dying his label's
condition turned terminal. Still,
Universal recently issued a compilation
of early demos, rare tracks, acoustic
radio sessions, live tracks and
previously unreleased songs, entitled
'Love Bites and Bruises'. "Listening
to this and rehearsing with Wonder
Stuff, I’ve been reminded of how
to structure things. I have a band
but I do things myself. It’s also
great to be reminded of the fun
we had… We never had any plans but
just went along with it. We had
a sense of humour and could laugh
at ourselves." How else could they
cover Slade’s ‘Coz I Luv You’ with
a straight face and score their
only Number One with another cover,
Tommy Roe’s ‘Dizzy’, co-vocalised
by comedian Vic Reeves.
UPSIDE OF SOLO... Spring 1999 saw
Hunt release a solo album - after
having seven songs in a play 'The
Artist's Model'and touring America
for four months in the preceding
year - entitled 'Hairy On The Inside',
issued by a small Gig Records label.
While he is recording the follow-up
'Flipping on the Pier' a 'Five Song'
EP has been released as a foretaster.
His solo music is low-fi, an acoustic
journey into the world of emotional
wonderment. "On the first album
I did things very minimally and
it got really dark, sonically, towards
the end but there are also a couple
of jokes. The new one I’m working
on is going to be a bit different
because I’ve found a bass player
and a drummer from London and a
guitar player from New York. He’ll
be coming over in January to help
me finish the album and then my
uncle Bill - who used to be in The
Wizard, ELO and The Move - will
play keyboards. The album should
be ready by the spring." In meantime
he’ll be doing some solo shows.
"I enjoy touring on my own because
I tend to talk a lot and my shows
end up being 40 per cent talking.
I tell what the song is all about
and make sure it’s a funny story!
I love doing it and I’m really pleased
that I enjoy it and can do it. I’ll
always do that even if I was working
with a band."
For five moments in time The Wonder
Stuff will bring back the best and
most fun show this Christmas!
The Wonder Stuff reunion dates:
12,13,14,15,16 Dec, Kentish Town
Forum, London.
‘Love Bites and Bruises’ by The
Wonder Stuff is released 20 November
on Universal.
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As the December
dates approached, two warm-up dates at Dudley's
JB venue were announced which quickly sold out.
Publicity for the forthcoming appearances mainly
concentrated on interviews with Miles, including
articles with Melody Maker, dotmusic and XFM.
Many of the questions revolved around the topic
of why the group had decided to reform and what
their plans were for the future with Miles always
quick to reply that the group had no intentions
to release any new material as they did not
want to re-enter the commercial music market.
He did however hint that the live dates would
be recorded for a future live album/video release
and also that the group were considering some
festival appearances, depending on the workload
of everyone concerned.
On December
9th, the group made their first public appearance
in over six years at JB's in Dudley. Playing
to a capacity crowd, the group stormed through
a greatest hits set containing a mixture of
tracks from their previous singles and album
in addition to including some of the extra tracks
which had originally appeared on the singles
such as 'Song Without An End' and 'Room 512'.
New bass-player Stuart handled the job remarkably
well having a heavier, de-tuned approach to
playing than Clifford had used. It is rumoured
that in one night alone, out of the twenty-three
tracks performed, Stuart re-tuned eighteen times
resulting a minor tendon strain in his hand.
In front of
a packed house for five nights, the group went
on to prove their critics wrong when they appeared
at London's Forum. Vic Reeves appeared onstage
to perform 'Dizzy' with them on the first night
(Dec 12th) but, as usual, forgot the words leaving
Miles and him to run around the stage attacking
each other instead. It was confirmed at the
gigs that a compilation of tracks from the Forum
performances would be released early in the
following year with the group picking their
favourite moments from all of the Dudley and
London shows. However, bootleggers must have
been hard at work as a double CD compilation
of the entire performance of the final night
could be found on stalls at a number of London
markets the following day!
Partway through their Forum residency, Miles,
Martin and Malcolm were booked to take part
in an online webchat for the Megastar website
- the online website for the Daily Star newspaper.
Unfortunately, Miles had been advised earlier
in the day to rest his vocal chords as he had
picked up a throat infection and taking part
in the interview could have jeopardised the
group's appearance at the Forum that night so
the interview was postponed until the following
week. When the interview did take place, the
trio played a couple of acoustic tracks in addition
to talking about their reasons for reforming,
the re-issue of their back catalogue and also
the release of the new rarities album.
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