The Sundays
Encyclopedia
The Sundays were an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band. The band formed in the late 1980s and released three album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s in the 1990s.

Career

The band's beginnings came with the meeting of Harriet Wheeler
Harriet Wheeler
Harriet Wheeler is the lead singer of the 1980s/1990s alternative rock band, The Sundays.-Early years:Wheeler grew up in Sonning Common, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the daughter of an architect and a teacher. She was enrolled as an English literature student at Bristol University when she...

 and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 David Gavurin at university. Wheeler had played gigs
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

 with 'Cruel Shoes' an early incarnation of the band Jim Jiminee
Jim Jiminee
Jim Jiminee was an Indie Pop band in the late 1980s in England. While active they released 1 LP and 3 EP vinyl records.-History:Jim Jiminee was founded in September 1986, releasing their first EP "Do It on Thursday" in 1987 with Cat & Mouse Records...

. The duo soon augmented the band with bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 Paul Brindley and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 Patrick Hannan.

The Sundays secured a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...

 with Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...

. Their debut single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 was "Can't Be Sure
Can't Be Sure
"Can't Be Sure" was the 1989 debut single by the British alternative pop group The Sundays. It was the first single to be released from their album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, which appeared a year later. The B-side was "I Kicked a Boy", which also appeared on the album...

". Their first album, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic is the first album by The Sundays. It was released in the United Kingdom on Rough Trade Records, and in the United States on Geffen Records...

was released in 1990, along with their next single "Here's Where the Story Ends
Here's Where the Story Ends
"Here's Where the Story Ends" is a song by English alternative rock band The Sundays, released as the second single from their debut album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.Although it was the Sundays' biggest hit internationally, topping the U.S...

". The album was a UK Top 5 hit.

With Rough Trade's financial troubles and the band's decision to manage themselves, The Sundays' next single, "Goodbye" did not emerge until 1992. Their next album, Blind arrived the same year, reaching the UK Top 15. Their cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

' "Wild Horses" appeared on the US release of Blind and on the soundtrack for the popular television show, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The band toured in support of these recordings.

In 1997 their third album, Static & Silence was followed by the release of their most successful single to date, "Summertime", which made the UK Top 15. The album itself reached the UK Top 10. However, the band has been on a lengthy hiatus since those releases, with Wheeler and Gavurin focusing on raising their two children.

1988: Formation

Vocalist Harriet Wheeler
Harriet Wheeler
Harriet Wheeler is the lead singer of the 1980s/1990s alternative rock band, The Sundays.-Early years:Wheeler grew up in Sonning Common, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the daughter of an architect and a teacher. She was enrolled as an English literature student at Bristol University when she...

 and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 David Gavurin met as students at Bristol University in the mid-1980s. Wheeler was from Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

, the daughter of an architect and a teacher, and studied English literature. Gavurin was from Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...

 and actively pursued a degree in the romance languages, particularly French and Spanish. The two fell in love and began living together. Following graduation they wrote music in their free time while collecting unemployment benefits. Except for Wheeler's vocal duties in a band called Jim Jiminee
Jim Jiminee
Jim Jiminee was an Indie Pop band in the late 1980s in England. While active they released 1 LP and 3 EP vinyl records.-History:Jim Jiminee was founded in September 1986, releasing their first EP "Do It on Thursday" in 1987 with Cat & Mouse Records...

, the couple had no musical background. Commenting on his desire to compose, Gauverin said "It was something I'd always wanted to do, although I never wanted to be in a band when I was younger, like many kids do. It just dawned on me gradually." Wheeler displayed similar feelings: "There was never a time I wanted to be incredibly famous, or in a pop group," she said. "It just seemed a great thing to do to spend time working on something that's your own."

After the couple completed several songs–and migrated to London–they enlisted the support of bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan, who had also attended Bristol University. The band chose the name "The Sundays" as it was the only one everyone could agree upon. Demo tapes
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

 were sent out to several London clubs after the group felt energized by their efforts; Gavurin stated in a Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

interview that "...by the end of the year we were thinking, 'Hang on a minute, some of this [music] is good!'" Responses to the tape were enthusiastic and an employee at Vertigo Club offered the band an opening slot for an upcoming show in August 1988. "By chance there were three reviewers from the top music papers there," said Wheeler. "They were supposed to review the main band, but instead they wrote about us." The group subsequently became centerpiece in a record label bidding war
Bid price
A bid price is the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay for a good. It is usually referred to simply as the "bid."In bid and ask, the bid price stands in contrast to the ask price or "offer", and the difference between the two is called the bid/ask spread.An unsolicited bid or purchase...

, which author Peter Buckley described as a "frenzy". They eventually signed with Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...

 and had a distribution deal signed for the United States with DGC Records
DGC Records
DGC Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and currently operates as an auxiliary label of Interscope Records.-Company history:...

.

1989–1990: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

The Sundays released their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "Can't Be Sure
Can't Be Sure
"Can't Be Sure" was the 1989 debut single by the British alternative pop group The Sundays. It was the first single to be released from their album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, which appeared a year later. The B-side was "I Kicked a Boy", which also appeared on the album...

" in January 1989, which topped British indie charts and received acclaim as one of the best singles of 1989. The group performed four songs in a session with popular disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

. These songs would later turn up on their debut album, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic is the first album by The Sundays. It was released in the United Kingdom on Rough Trade Records, and in the United States on Geffen Records...

. The group worked on their debut for over a year. "A lot of bands who get signed, who have been playing the circuit for years, have 30 songs for the first album," said Gavurin. "But we didn't have enough for our first album, let alone our second. We can't write to deadline. You can't force a whole load of songs out quickly." Responding to whether the band felt pressured when working on the album, Wheeler responded "No, because to start off with, we're far more critical of ourselves than anyone else, and that's more a concern to us than what the press think." Gavurin also commented "The main pressure we felt was with the single, and even then, we thought, well, they're either going to like it or they're not, and there's not much we can do to influence that."

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic was released in April 1990 and became a commercial success, reaching No. four on the UK charts and peaking at No. 39 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 in the United States. It would later go on to sell over a half million copies worldwide. Critical reception was very positive; Rolling Stone writer Ira Robbins referred to it as "an alluring slice of lighter-than-air guitar pop, a collection of uncommonly good songs graced by Harriet Wheeler's wondrous singing." All of the album's singles charted in the UK. Similar success occurred in the United States for "Here's Where The Story Ends
Here's Where the Story Ends
"Here's Where the Story Ends" is a song by English alternative rock band The Sundays, released as the second single from their debut album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.Although it was the Sundays' biggest hit internationally, topping the U.S...

" due to radio play and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 rotation. The Sundays devoted nearly a year to an "exhausting" promotional tour, which encompassed America, Europe, and Japan. The tour was considered successful, though it wasn't without some mishaps; a London show had to be rescheduled due to Wheeler losing her voice and the group experienced some bemusement when a Dallas, Texas show was advertised with the slogan "See The Sundays on Sunday with ice-cream sundaes".

1991–1993: Blind

The band experienced some hardships leading up to the recording of their second album. In 1991 Rough Trade Records went bankrupt, which caused the band to sign with Parlophone Records in the UK. Their debut went out of print
Out of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....

 in the UK and would stay that way until 1996. Constant touring coupled with their decision to manage themselves hampered the group's creative output, which was already slow due to Gavurin and Wheeler, the main songwriters, "being chained by pokiness and perfectionism when it [came] to writing and recording music." Additionally, the band kept a "low public profile" which fueled rumors that the group had disbanded. The Sundays eventually released a new single, "Goodbye", a minor hit, in Autumn 1992. The release came almost three years after their last UK show.

Their next album, entitled Blind was finally released in October 1992. The album experienced commercial success similar to their debut when it peaked at No. 103 on the Billboard 200, and sold nearly a half million copies. Critical reception was also positive, but some critics thought the album lacked the quality songwriting of its predecessor. Despite Blind's initial appeal with audiences, it drifted off the charts by the summer of 1993. The Sundays toured Britain in winter of 1992. The shows were "rapturously received by fans starved of fresh product or gigs." An American tour was greeted with sold out shows. Gavurin explained that they weren't necessarily attempting to promote the new album: "A lot of people didn't see us the first time we played over here, and they want to hear earlier material. So we're playing half and half." In the end the tour was cut short in light of exhaustion and homesickness.

1994–1997: Static and Silence

The band vacationed in Thailand and decided to take a break upon returning to England. It would be five years before another album was released. During this time the only appearance of the band was their cover of "Wild Horses" by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

 appearing in a 1994 American television commercial. Gavurin and Wheeler expressed a desire to settle down. The couple got married and gave birth to a baby daughter named Billie in February 1995. They also built a recording studio in their home, not only to save on the cost of renting a studio, but to expand their creative freedoms.
Their third, and so far, final album, Static & Silence, was released in the fall of 1997 to mixed reviews. Although the band retained much of the same sound that they'd developed on previous albums, they add horns to a number of tracks for Static & Silence. Although the album as a whole was not as successful as Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic, one of the singles from Static & Silence, "Summertime," became their most successful hit to date on the UK charts. However, on the U.S. charts, the single, though it made it to the 10th spot on the U.S. charts, was only The Sundays' third most successful single, lagging significantly behind "Here's Where the Story Ends" (which made it to number 1 on the U.S. charts) and "Love" (which made it to number 2).

Band members

  • Harriet Wheeler
    Harriet Wheeler
    Harriet Wheeler is the lead singer of the 1980s/1990s alternative rock band, The Sundays.-Early years:Wheeler grew up in Sonning Common, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the daughter of an architect and a teacher. She was enrolled as an English literature student at Bristol University when she...

     - Vocalist - born 26 June 1963.
  • David Gavurin - Guitarist - born 4 April 1963.
  • Paul Brindley - Bassist - born 6 November 1963.
  • Patrick (Patch) Hannan - Drummer - born 4 March 1966, Lymington
    Lymington
    Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...

    , Hampshire
    Hampshire
    Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

    .

Albums

Year Details Peak chart positions Certifications
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...


(sales thresholds)
UK
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...


AUS
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...


NZ
U.S.
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...


1990 Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic is the first album by The Sundays. It was released in the United Kingdom on Rough Trade Records, and in the United States on Geffen Records...

  • Released: 15 January 1990
  • Label: Rough Trade
    Rough Trade Records
    Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...

4 40 39
  • BPI
    British Phonographic Industry
    The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

    : Silver
  • RIAA: Gold
  • 1992 Blind
  • Released: 19 October 1992
  • Label: Parlophone
    Parlophone
    Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...

    /Geffen
    Geffen Records
    Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

  • 15 103
  • RIAA: Gold
  • 1997 Static & Silence
  • Released: 23 September 1997
  • Label: Parlophone/Geffen
  • 10 45 33 33
  • BPI: Silver

  • Singles

    Year Single Peak Chart Positions Album
    UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...


    AUS
    ARIA Charts
    The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...


    CAN
    RPM (magazine)
    RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...


    U.S.
    Billboard Hot 100
    The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...


    U.S. Mod
    1989 "Can't Be Sure
    Can't Be Sure
    "Can't Be Sure" was the 1989 debut single by the British alternative pop group The Sundays. It was the first single to be released from their album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, which appeared a year later. The B-side was "I Kicked a Boy", which also appeared on the album...

    "
    45 74 Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
    1990 "Here's Where the Story Ends
    Here's Where the Story Ends
    "Here's Where the Story Ends" is a song by English alternative rock band The Sundays, released as the second single from their debut album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.Although it was the Sundays' biggest hit internationally, topping the U.S...

    "
    1
    1992 "Love" 2 Blind
    "Goodbye" 27 11
    1997 "Summertime" 15 41 48 10 Static and Silence
    "Cry" 43

    B-sides/unreleased songs

    • "I Kicked a Boy" (b-side
      A-side and B-side
      A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

       of "Can't Be Sure", released on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic)
    • "Don't Tell Your Mother" (b-side of "Can't Be Sure", eventually appearing also on DGC
      DGC Records
      DGC Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and currently operates as an auxiliary label of Interscope Records.-Company history:...

       Rarites Vol. 1
      )
    • "Noise" (b-side of "Goodbye")
    • "Wild Horses" (b-side of "Goodbye", appearing also on US copies of Blind)
    • "Here's Where The Story Ends" [Black Session] (b-side of "Wild Horses" - US cassette single)
    • "(The) Turkish" (only performed live, and at almost every concert on the Blind and Static and Silence tours)
    • "Something More" (unreleased)
    • "So Much" (only on the US version of Static and Silence)
    • "Skin & Bones" [live] (b-side of "Summertime")
    • "Here's Where The Story Ends" [live] (b-side of "Summertime")
    • "Nothing Sweet" (b-side of "Summertime")
    • "Gone" (b-side of (b-side of "Summertime")
    • "Can't Be Sure" [demo] (b-side of "Cry")
    • "You're Not The Only One I Know" [demo] (b-side of "Cry")
    • "Through The Dark" (b-side of "Cry")
    • "Life Goes On" (b-side of "Cry")
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