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The beginning
of 2009 found Miles performing at the
newly-refurbished Town Hall in Birmingham's City
Centre. Miles had been approached during
2008 to appear at the venue following a major
refit but had felt that the venue was not suited
to a group performance by The Wonder Stuff, and
would also not fit into any other touring plans
the group had at the time making it an unviable
option for Andres to come over specially for it.
He also felt that the venue was unsuitable for a
standard acoustic show by himself and Erica so
approached the request with a view to
getting a number of acts together whom he liked
and admired who would suit the serene
surroundings of the Hall and putting on a larger
show where all of the acts could make a
contribution.
 The show
would turn out to be the inaugural debut of
Shared - a project conceived by Miles to bring
together some of the acts who he had previously
worked alongside and also some of those whom he
had admired from afar although the long-term aim
of the project would be to showcase of the
existing and new musical talent which he was
following himself.
The show
featured performances by The Mission's Wayne
Hussey, Nick Heyward (from 80's group Haircut
100), Aztec Camera's frontman Roddy Frame and
Katell Keineg as well as Miles and Erica
themselves. Nemesis, a string quartet
featuring Erica, also featured in the show as
well as performing onstage during Miles and
Erica's set adding a full string backing to some
of the tracks.
During the
coming months, Miles and Erica worked with a
number local artists as part of their 'Shared'
project. The debut
Shared album featuring Miles and Erica alongside
a number of other acts was released in September
2009 as part of an all-day festival held at The
Horseshoe Inn in Shropshire.
In June 2009, Miles and Erica released 'Catching
More Than We Miss', their follow-up to the 'Not
An Exit' album. Now firmly ensconced in the
Shropshire Hills, the album's content was
largely drawn from everyday events which Miles
had sought to document - his experiences and
influences gained at the Horseshoe Inn, a verbal
attack on the media industry as well as the
first duet between himself and Erica on the
track 'Plans In The Sky'.
More of an
acoustic offering than the previous 'Not An
Exit' album the album had a very folky appeal to
it, very reminiscent of some of The Wonder
Stuff's acoustic tracks, again picking up many
very favourable reviews and went on to be Miles'
most successful solo offering.
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With The Wonder Stuff seemingly, for
now, mothballed to occasional
nostalgia shows, Miles Hunt (and
some of the Wonder Stuff alumni) are
forging ahead. In the age of the new
market, where bands are small
businesses instead of employees of
abusive record companies that don’t
know the difference between their
arse and their elbow, Miles Hunt and
Erica Nockalls from The Wonder Stuff
return to recorded duty (aided by
Andres Karu on drums), to create an
album that is clearly from the same
family. If you enjoy The Wonder
Stuff – and you should – this album
is another fine slice of life from
their ongoing story.
As ever, the things that drew me to
the Wonder Stuff to start with
twentysomething years ago are still
here: a sharp wit, lyrical insight,
a passion for life and a vigour,
sitting on top of fine melodic
abilities and a determination to
continue making a racket, because,
after all, there’s nothing else you
can do. At 42, Miles is almost (if
not actually) middle-aged, and there
is little of the typical mid-life
crisis: the themes and content are
kitchen-sink dramas, moments of
life, snatches, fragments of a life
made of kitchens, jumpers, the
juggling of finance and balding and
guts, all of life, the mundane made
to mountains, in some way to cast
our lifelong struggles in the
context of the miniscule drama of
daily life.
Aside from the words, there’s the
music. I hate to use the words
folk-rock: it conjures images of
bland stuff with violins and the
usually terrifying jaunty
raggle-taggle that scuppered mid-era
Waterboys. Here, thankfully, Miles
partner Erica adds flavour to the
style with the added dimension of
being a one-woman string section.
Unlike certain, lesser talents
(Elbow, Oasis, etc) who think adding
an orchestra automatically bestows
gravitas, the music comes here with
the added depth and dimension of a
portable, real string section which
sounds and feels organic, and not
pumped out of a cheap touring Korg
9000. The benefits of the analogue
playing are obvious, the bend and
emphasis of fingers on soft strings
give the strong songs a depth and
dimension. (Erica pops off halfway
through as the voice of sober reason
in ‘Plans In The Sky’ to offset a
moment of mocking self-pity). It’s
all rather fabulous. Miles away from
The Wonder Stuff’s often excitable
wit and cynicism, ‘Catching More
Than We Miss’ is a grown up,
reflective voice that is still in
touch with the inner child.
It’s music with big ideas and a big
idea that is also small enough to
get inside the veins of your soul
and sit there. Older, wiser, and
this is no bad thing, but also true.
And all truth has some beauty in it.
Mark Reed
[sic] magazine |
In October
2009, Miles and
Erica were invited to support The Proclaimers during their UK
tour. Erica also joined
them on-stage for
their performance of Sunshine On Leith.
 A
warm-up show at The Horseshoe Inn, Shropshire,
heralded the beginning of a repeat performance
of the US road trip that Miles, Erica and Wayne
Hussey had undertaken in 2008 when they
travelled around the country often performing
alongside each other. This time around,
the tour would take in a number of European
countries including Germany, Holland and Austria
but the format remained the same with Wayne performing his customary slowed-down
acoustic version of 'On The Ropes' and Miles and
Erica assisting on Mission tracks 'Tower Of
Strength' and 'Like A Child Again' - 'Keep It In
The Family', the track which Miles had
previously performed with Wayne during the 2008
tour having been dropped from Wayne's setlist in
favour of new material he was working on.
The year
ended with a homecoming show for Miles in
Stourbridge, rounding off yet another busy and
eventful period.
2010
2010 saw the
continuation of the 'Never Ending Tour' with new dates being
added on a regular basis which would see both
Miles and Erica travelling the length and
breadth of the country.
In June,
Erica and Miles put the finishing touches to
'Christmas Song' - a new track written and
performed by Erica which would be released later
in the year. Written in homage to the
classics of Mariah Carey and other similar
Christmas tunes, 'Christmas Song' celebrated
all that was good (and not so good!) about the
festive period. All vocals and instruments
were performed by Erica with the exception of
Miles taking on the role of Santa for a brief
vocal partway through - and also later
appearing in a cameo appearance on a video for the single.
Erica once
again performed with The Proclaimers on a couple
of occasions in July at one of their shows in
Shrewsbury and also at the Scotland's 'T In The
Park' festival.
 Having worked
with musician Ray Weatherall (Immaculate Fools'
Dirty Ray) on the Shared album, Miles and Erica
began working with him again for his debut solo
album. With Ray on lead vocals and guitar,
Miles, Erica and local artist Timothy Parkes
became part of Ray's own backing group which
would see them appearing later in the year at
the album launch party for Ray's album and also
performing as part of the group when Ray
supported Miles and Erica during their own
acoustics shows.
An appearance
at The Horseshoe Inn in September was designed
to help raise the profile of their local
drinking venue. Already notarised in their
Catching More Than We Miss track, 'Fill Her Up
And Foot Down', like so many other pubs across
the country the venue was find the economic
downturn very hard going. Sadly, the venue
closed a few weeks later much to the dismay of
many locals and residents in the area - also
bring an end to the many regular music events
and gatherings that had taken place there and
been such an inspiration for the Shared project
and recorded material.
A couple of
days before Miles and Erica were due to perform
at Putney's Half Moon, they announced that the
show was being recorded for release as a live
album early in 2011. Large parts of the
show were also filmed independently and it is
hoped that this footage will also become
available around the time of the album's
eventual release although this would likely be
an Internet-based resource rather than a proper
DVD release.
Wintry weather conditions
across the country forced the pair to
reluctantly cancel two December shows
as they were unable to get to the venue - indeed
it wasn't even possible to get out of their own
driveway although once again they finished the
year with a show in Stourbridge, this time at
the Town Hall venue.
As the year
ended, tourdates for acoustic shows in 2011
began to be added. Miles had made it clear
a few months earlier that he wanted to try to
perform in towns and cities they'd not been to
before and via his Facebook page had asked for suggestions from fans
about possible locations. Initial dates
included locations such as Bournemouth,
Cambridge, Sudbury and Swindon.
2011
The year
began with Miles putting the finished touches to the
second Shared compilation album. The final
tracks were finished off during the middle of
January with the album scheduled for release
around April/May.
 A handful of
dates followed in the first few months of the
year, prior to Miles and Erica returning to the
Wonder Stuff fold for their guest tour slot with
The Levellers during March. The setlist
for one of their early shows, at Cox's Yard in
Stratford-Upon-Avon, was consciously split into
two as they felt that they needed more material
for consideration for inclusion on their
forthcoming live album thus the first half of
the set concentrating on many of the more recent
tracks from Miles and Erica's studio albums
before kicking back and returning to a more
general set later in the show with the standard
inclusion of Wonder Stuff material added.
The live
album was released in June 2011. Having
been recorded from recent live shows, the
album's format was very reminiscent of being at
a live performance but without being part of the
crowd. The live tracks themselves covered
a mix of periods, from Miles' early solo tracks
such as a beautiful reworking of 'Manna From
Heaven' to tracks from Miles and Erica's most
recent Catching More Than We Miss album and then
returning to the Wonder Stuff era with a small
handful of back catalogue classics. The
tracks were interspersed with the usual chat and
banter one would expect to hear when going to
one of their acoustic shows making it as close
as one could get to seeing them performing live
without actually being there.
Present
Day
While this
may seem to have skipped a bit, and given time
I'll endeavour to fill this in slightly more
(!), Miles and Erica have continued to perform
dates throughout the UK and the 'Never Ending
Acoustic Tour' continues on.
With The
Wonder Stuff having released their 'Oh No...'
album in 2012/2013, as well as Erica releasing
her own albums 'Imminent Room' (2013) and 'EN2'
(2014) and also Miles working on 'The Wonder
Stuff Diaries', there has been no further
recorded output by the duo. Rarely a few weeks
go by without them making an appearance
somewhere around the UK and, if anything,
Erica's foray into releasing her own work has
only given her a greater on-stage presence
during their live shows. Having gone from
being coaxed on early performances into
providing backing vocals to tracks such as
'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' and 'Plans In The
Sky', and maybe also as a result of Malc Treece
leaving The Wonder Stuff in 2011 which saw her
and Fuzz providing backing vocals during the
Never Loved Elvis anniversary shows, but she is
now a much stronger on-stage presence.
Dates are
already being added for 2015 and with a wealth
of material behind them, from their own tracks,
The Wonder Stuff tracks and also the occasion
cover version, it is rare for two shows to be
the same. Hopefully a new album will be
forthcoming from them soon...
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