The Wonder Stuff
Encyclopedia
The Wonder Stuff are a British
alternative rock
band
, originally based in Stourbridge
, West Midlands
, in the Black Country
, England.
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
, 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 drums
.
The Wonder Stuff were formed on 19 March 1986. They entered the studio in September that year to record a self-financed first EP
A Wonderful Day. After signing with Polydor Records
for £80,000 in 1987, the group released a series of singles including "Unbearable", "Give Give Give, Me More More More", "A Wish Away" and "It's Yer Money I'm After Baby" (their first Top 40 entry) which were featured on their debut album
The Eight Legged Groove Machine
in August 1988 (UK
#18). The group then embarked on their first headlining nineteen date 'Groovers On Manoeuvres' UK tour. They released "Who Wants To Be The Disco King?" in March 1989, and appeared at Reading
and Glastonbury
festivals
, and tours of Europe and the United States
.
and banjo
instrumentalist. Bell had contributed the fiddle and banjo parts, notably on tracks "Golden Green" (the second single), "Unfaithful" and "Cartoon Boyfriend". Several shows during the band's 1989 tour featured local band Ned's Atomic Dustbin
as an opening act.
Jones left the band in December 1989 moving to the US
.
A single, "Circlesquare" was released shortly after, and just before Paul Clifford replaced Jones on the bass
in the spring of 1990. This led to a string of live outings for the renewed line-up in mid 1990. With only one single release in 1990 and no album yet ready they put out "Eleven Appalling Promos", a home video which showed Hunt, Treece and Gilks doing a commentary between each song. In December after receiving a Brit Award nomination the group opted not to play Wembley Arena
, but instead, answering a fan's letter, played at a school in South Elmsall
.
in June 1991 (UK #3). After this release, they held their first headlining stadium show at Walsall
's Bescot Stadium
which attracted 18,000 fans, before the group embarked on a world tour taking in the UK, Europe and the US. For the tour, the band was augmented by keyboardist Peter Whittaker.
Just after the third single from the album, "Sleep Alone" in September, the group scored a commercial success when they covered Tommy Roe
's "Dizzy
" with Vic Reeves
in 1991, reaching the top of the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November and raising the band's profile. The band carried on touring into 1992 releasing single "Welcome to the Cheap Seats
" (UK #8) in February, which was also to be the title of their rockumentary released on video that spring and filmed over eighteen months on the road with the band. More dates were added in 1992, with a further tour of the States on their own and supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees, plus an appearance on David Letterman
, a further UK tour and a headlining slot at the 1992 Reading Festival.
appearing in October 1993 (UK #4). Another single "Full of Life (Happy Now)" came out just before Christmas while the band toured Europe before going to the States in February 1994. A third single "Hot Love Now" (UK #19) was released in time for the UK tour in March, and by the time the 'Idiot Manoeuvers' tour came to an end it had been the longest tour they ever undertook with seventy eight dates since the albums release.
They performed the final contracted show on 15 July 1994 at a headlining performance at the Phoenix Festival
near Stratford-on-Avon in front of an audience of 30,000. In September, an 18 song compilation If The Beatles Had Read Hunter....The Singles (UK #8), a re-issue of the "Unbearable" single (UK #16), and a video of their farewell performance from July were released. The Live In Manchester album (recorded in November 1991) was released in July 1995 after the group had disbanded.
's 120 Minutes
show. He then put together another band, Vent 414, whose debut album was released in October 1996, and featured ex-Senseless Things
Morgan Nicholls on bass and later Clash and Eat drummer Peter Howard. After being dropped by Polydor prior to the release of the second album, Hunt went to work as a solo artist touring the US with Malc Treece which saw the release of two albums - Miles Across America, an album of new material, Wonder Stuff tracks and Vent 414 material all reworked for the acoustic guitar with the live acoustic album By The Time I Got To Jersey following in late 1998. A full studio album was later released, Hairy On The Inside (again featuring Treece and another fellow Wonder Stuff member Martin Bell) in April 1999, and The Miles Hunt Club in April 2002.
Meanwhile Treece, Clifford and Gilks formed Weknowwhereyoulive, with Ange Dolittle from Eat
. They gigged extensively throughout 1995 and 1996 releasing two EPs but then split up.
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.
In early 2004, Hunt was informed that Gilks and Bell would no longer work with him, and thus The Wonder Stuff (in the eyes of Gilks and Bell) were defunct. As a result, Quinell and Whittaker were informed the band had split, and 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 Treece.
The Wonder Stuff's first new album for over a decade, Escape From Rubbish Island, was to be released in September 2004 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 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 iTunes
or Napster
. The band toured in March 2006 to support the record and in conjunction with their 20th anniversary.
In April 2006, original Wonder Stuff drummer Martin Gilks was killed in a motorcycle accident in London.
In 2006, Miles Hunt's acoustic shows 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 on 8 December at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.
The band went on a temporary hiatus for 2007 due to the imminent fatherhood of Treece. However, Hunt (with violinist Erica Nockalls and drummer Andres Karu) recorded a solo album Not An Exit, and Hunt / Nockalls toured the record in the UK, Australia and North America.
In June 2007, Universal 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. The group released their own live album (The Wonder Stuff Live) in October 2007 taken from tracks recorded at venues and festivals around the UK in 2006. This album was the first official release of tracks performed under the new line-up and featured tracks taken from all of the group's previous albums.
The Wonder Stuff headlined on the Avalon Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2009.
In 2010 the group performed at Guilfest and also Ireland's Feile Festival as well as working on some new material for likely release in 2011.
The band's drummer since the reformation, Andres Karu, left the band in November 2010 to pursue his interest in film. A replacement was found in the form of Fuzz Townshend, an old friend who used to be the drummer in another notable Black Country band, Pop Will Eat Itself
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, originally based in Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, in the Black Country
Black Country
The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
, England.
Origins
The original line-up was Miles HuntMiles Hunt
Miles Hunt is the singer / guitarist and songwriter for the Stourbridge, England-based Alternative Rock band The Wonder Stuff.- Early life :His father was a union official for the TGWU...
vocals, guitar (whose uncle Bill Hunt was keyboard player with Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
), Malcolm Treece guitar, vocals, Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones (died July 1993) and Martin Gilks
Martin Gilks
Martin Richard Gilks was an English musician. He was a founder member and original drummer for The Wonder Stuff, based in Stourbridge ....
, drums (died April 2006). The group originated from an earlier collaboration with group members of Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band, originally formed in Stourbridge in 1986, with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a Grebo act, their style changed to incorporate sample driven indie and industrial rock...
, called 'From Eden', which had Miles Hunt on the drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
.
The Wonder Stuff were formed on 19 March 1986. They entered the studio in September that year to record a self-financed first EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
A Wonderful Day. After signing with Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
for £80,000 in 1987, the group released a series of singles including "Unbearable", "Give Give Give, Me More More More", "A Wish Away" and "It's Yer Money I'm After Baby" (their first Top 40 entry) which were featured on their debut 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...
The Eight Legged Groove Machine
The Eight Legged Groove Machine
The Eight Legged Groove Machine is the debut album from The Wonder Stuff from August 1988- Track listing :# "Red Berry Joy Town"# "No, For The 13th Time"# "It's Yer Money I'm After, Baby"# "Rue The Day"# "Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More"...
in August 1988 (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...
#18). The group then embarked on their first headlining nineteen date 'Groovers On Manoeuvres' UK tour. They released "Who Wants To Be The Disco King?" in March 1989, and appeared at Reading
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
and Glastonbury
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
festivals
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, and tours of Europe and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
'Hup'
"Don't Let Me Down Gently" became their first Top 20 hit in September 1989, which preceded the release of the album Hup in October (UK #5). Another twenty four UK tour followed. The album also saw the introduction of new band member Martin Bell, a violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
instrumentalist. Bell had contributed the fiddle and banjo parts, notably on tracks "Golden Green" (the second single), "Unfaithful" and "Cartoon Boyfriend". Several shows during the band's 1989 tour featured local band Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Ned's Atomic Dustbin are an English rock band formed in Stourbridge in West Midlands in November 1987. The band took their name from an episode of The Goon Show. The band were unusual for using two bass players in their lineup: Alex Griffin played melody lines high up on one bass, and Mat Cheslin...
as an opening act.
Jones left the band in December 1989 moving to the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
A single, "Circlesquare" was released shortly after, and just before Paul Clifford replaced Jones on the bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
in the spring of 1990. This led to a string of live outings for the renewed line-up in mid 1990. With only one single release in 1990 and no album yet ready they put out "Eleven Appalling Promos", a home video which showed Hunt, Treece and Gilks doing a commentary between each song. In December after receiving a Brit Award nomination the group opted not to play Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...
, but instead, answering a fan's letter, played at a school in South Elmsall
South Elmsall
South Elmsall pronounced "south em-sull" is a small town and civil parish to the east of Hemsworth in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It is on the B6422 and B6474 ....
.
'Never Loved Elvis' and chart success 1990-1992
The third album was started in late 1990 and completed early the following year. The first single from the new album was "The Size of a Cow" in March 1991, their first Top 10 hit reaching #5, and was swiftly followed by "Caught in My Shadow" (UK #18) in May, before releasing the third album Never Loved ElvisNever Loved Elvis
Never Loved Elvis is the third album by The Wonder Stuff released in June 1991.Guest musicians on the album include Kirsty MacColl and Linda McRae....
in June 1991 (UK #3). After this release, they held their first headlining stadium show at Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
's Bescot Stadium
Bescot Stadium
Bescot Stadium, also known as the Banks's Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is the home ground of Walsall Football Club. It was built in 1989-90 by GMI Construction with a reported build cost of £4.5m...
which attracted 18,000 fans, before the group embarked on a world tour taking in the UK, Europe and the US. For the tour, the band was augmented by keyboardist Peter Whittaker.
Just after the third single from the album, "Sleep Alone" in September, the group scored a commercial success when they covered Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe is an American pop music singer-songwriter.Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" and "Dizzy" , critic Bill Dahl wrote that Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late 1960s, but Roe cut some pretty decent rockers along the way, especially early in his...
's "Dizzy
Dizzy (song)
"Dizzy" is a song originally recorded by Tommy Roe which was a worldwide hit single in 1969.Written by Roe and Freddy Weller, "Dizzy" was a major hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching number one on the U.S...
" with Vic Reeves
Vic Reeves
James Roderick Moir , better known by the stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer . He is known for his surreal and non sequitur sense of humour....
in 1991, reaching the top of the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November and raising the band's profile. The band carried on touring into 1992 releasing single "Welcome to the Cheap Seats
Welcome to the Cheap Seats
"Welcome to the Cheap Seats" was a single by The Wonder Stuff, from the 1991 album Never Loved Elvis. It was released as a single in 1992, and peaked at #8 on the pop charts in the United Kingdom. It features backing vocals by Kirsty MacColl...
" (UK #8) in February, which was also to be the title of their rockumentary released on video that spring and filmed over eighteen months on the road with the band. More dates were added in 1992, with a further tour of the States on their own and supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees, plus an appearance on David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
, a further UK tour and a headlining slot at the 1992 Reading Festival.
'Construction for the Modern Idiot' 1993-1994
After previewing their new material at a few European summer festivals, a new single "On the Ropes" (UK #10) was released in September 1993 followed by Construction for the Modern IdiotConstruction for the Modern Idiot
Construction For The Modern Idiot is The Wonder Stuff's fourth album from October 1993, and their last studio album before their split on 15 July 1994....
appearing in October 1993 (UK #4). Another single "Full of Life (Happy Now)" came out just before Christmas while the band toured Europe before going to the States in February 1994. A third single "Hot Love Now" (UK #19) was released in time for the UK tour in March, and by the time the 'Idiot Manoeuvers' tour came to an end it had been the longest tour they ever undertook with seventy eight dates since the albums release.
Band split (1994)
A planned tour in May of the Far East and Australian territories was cancelled. The band made no public announcement at this time. The group announced the split in June by a newsletter to members of their fanclub.They performed the final contracted show on 15 July 1994 at a headlining performance at the Phoenix Festival
Phoenix Festival
The Phoenix Festival was set up by Vince Power of the Mean Fiddler Music Group in 1993 as an alternative to the established Glastonbury and Reading Festivals...
near Stratford-on-Avon in front of an audience of 30,000. In September, an 18 song compilation If The Beatles Had Read Hunter....The Singles (UK #8), a re-issue of the "Unbearable" single (UK #16), and a video of their farewell performance from July were released. The Live In Manchester album (recorded in November 1991) was released in July 1995 after the group had disbanded.
Solo projects (1994-2000)
During the split between 1994 and 2000, Hunt was involved in several projects including the hosting of MTV EuropeMTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...
's 120 Minutes
120 Minutes (UK TV series)
120 Minutes is a show on MTV Two that was broadcast nightly at 1am. In the tradition of the US show of the same name, it showcased music videos from "the newest, most innovative acts in rock, left field and electronic music"....
show. He then put together another band, Vent 414, whose debut album was released in October 1996, and featured ex-Senseless Things
Senseless Things
Senseless Things were a British indie punk band, who were active on the UK festival circuit in the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Career:Senseless Things formed around the musical partnership of songwriter Mark Keds and Morgan Nicholls , who as eleven year old schoolboys in Twickenham, Middlesex put...
Morgan Nicholls on bass and later Clash and Eat drummer Peter Howard. After being dropped by Polydor prior to the release of the second album, Hunt went to work as a solo artist touring the US with Malc Treece which saw the release of two albums - Miles Across America, an album of new material, Wonder Stuff tracks and Vent 414 material all reworked for the acoustic guitar with the live acoustic album By The Time I Got To Jersey following in late 1998. A full studio album was later released, Hairy On The Inside (again featuring Treece and another fellow Wonder Stuff member Martin Bell) in April 1999, and The Miles Hunt Club in April 2002.
Meanwhile Treece, Clifford and Gilks formed Weknowwhereyoulive, with Ange Dolittle from Eat
Eat (band)
Eat were a British alternative rock band who were active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They released two albums on The Cure's label Fiction...
. They gigged extensively throughout 1995 and 1996 releasing two EPs but then split up.
Reformation (2000 onwards)
Hunt, Treece, Gilks, Bell and Whittaker, together with new bassist Stuart Quinell, reformed to undertake a one off concert at London's Forum in December 2000. This soon became five sold out nights, preceded by two nights in Dudley (at the site of their debut gig). 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.
In early 2004, Hunt was informed that Gilks and Bell would no longer work with him, and thus The Wonder Stuff (in the eyes of Gilks and Bell) were defunct. As a result, Quinell and Whittaker were informed the band had split, and Hunt began work on a new record with Mark McCarthy (ex-Radical Dance Faction
Radical Dance Faction
Radical Dance Faction was a band from Berkshire, England.-History:Radical Dance Faction were founded by Chris Bowsher in Hungerford in 1986, and were originally known as 'Military Surplus'. The band experienced many line up changes, with at least eighteen different people having being part of the...
) and Luke Johnson (ex-Amen
Amen (band)
Amen is a hardcore punk-influenced band formed in 1994.The band has an almost constantly rotating lineup, with founder Casey Chaos remaining as the only constant member throughout...
and son of one-time Wonder Stuff manager, Les Johnson). Sessions for this new solo record were later joined by Treece.
The Wonder Stuff's first new album for over a decade, Escape From Rubbish Island, was to be released in September 2004 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 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 iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
or Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
. The band toured in March 2006 to support the record and in conjunction with their 20th anniversary.
In April 2006, original Wonder Stuff drummer Martin Gilks was killed in a motorcycle accident in London.
In 2006, Miles Hunt's acoustic shows 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 on 8 December at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.
The band went on a temporary hiatus for 2007 due to the imminent fatherhood of Treece. However, Hunt (with violinist Erica Nockalls and drummer Andres Karu) recorded a solo album Not An Exit, and Hunt / Nockalls toured the record in the UK, Australia and North America.
In June 2007, Universal released a new double album of The Wonder Stuff's BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
recordings, compiled from session appearances and concert recordings recorded and broadcast by the BBC between 1987 and 1994. The group released their own live album (The Wonder Stuff Live) in October 2007 taken from tracks recorded at venues and festivals around the UK in 2006. This album was the first official release of tracks performed under the new line-up and featured tracks taken from all of the group's previous albums.
The Wonder Stuff headlined on the Avalon Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2009.
In 2010 the group performed at Guilfest and also Ireland's Feile Festival as well as working on some new material for likely release in 2011.
The band's drummer since the reformation, Andres Karu, left the band in November 2010 to pursue his interest in film. A replacement was found in the form of Fuzz Townshend, an old friend who used to be the drummer in another notable Black Country band, Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band, originally formed in Stourbridge in 1986, with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a Grebo act, their style changed to incorporate sample driven indie and industrial rock...
.
Albums
- The Eight Legged Groove MachineThe Eight Legged Groove MachineThe Eight Legged Groove Machine is the debut album from The Wonder Stuff from August 1988- Track listing :# "Red Berry Joy Town"# "No, For The 13th Time"# "It's Yer Money I'm After, Baby"# "Rue The Day"# "Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More"...
(August 1988, UKUK Albums ChartThe 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...
#18) - HupHup (album)Hup is the second album by The Wonder Stuff.The Hup album contains several references to the 1980s BBC sit-com The Young Ones."30 Years In The Bathroom" features the line: 'Now it's time to share the joke that the latch on the bathroom door was broke.' The song name is taken from an exchange...
(October 1989, UK #5) - Never Loved ElvisNever Loved ElvisNever Loved Elvis is the third album by The Wonder Stuff released in June 1991.Guest musicians on the album include Kirsty MacColl and Linda McRae....
(June 1991, UK #3) - Construction for the Modern IdiotConstruction for the Modern IdiotConstruction For The Modern Idiot is The Wonder Stuff's fourth album from October 1993, and their last studio album before their split on 15 July 1994....
(October 1993, UK #4) - Escape From Rubbish Island (September 2004)
- Suspended By StarsSuspended By StarsSuspended By Stars is the sixth album by English alternative rock band The Wonder Stuff.-Track listing:# "Tricks Of The Trade" - 4:03# "Last Second Of The Minute" - 3:27# "We Hold Each Other Up" - 4:51# "Blah Blah Lah Di Dah" - 3:47...
(February 2006) - The Eight Legged Groove Machine: 20th Anniversary Edition (re-recordings of the original debut album with bonus tracks, October 2008)
- Hup: 21st Anniversary Edition (re-recordings of the original album with bonus tracks, 2010)
Compilations and live albums
- If The Beatles Had Read Hunter ... The SinglesIf The Beatles Had Read Hunter ... The SinglesIf The Beatles Had Read Hunter...The Singles is a singles compilation released after The Wonder Stuff's original demise in 1994.The title referred to a quote "that if the writer Hunter S...
(compilationCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, September 1994, UK #8) - Live In Manchester (liveLive albumA live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, July 1995, UK #74) - Love Bites and Bruises (compilation of b-sidesA-side and B-sideA-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...
and unreleased tracks, November 2000) - Cursed With Insincerity (live, June 2001)
- The BBC Sessions (June 2007)
- The Wonder Stuff Live (live, October 2007)
Singles
- "It's Not True" (February 1987)
- "Unbearable" (September 1987)
- "Give Give Give Me More More More" (April 1988) #72 UKUK Singles ChartThe 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 ...
, #17 US Modern RockModern Rock TracksAlternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... - "A Wish Away" (July 1988) #43 UK
- "It's Yer Money I'm After Baby" (September 1988) #40 UK
- "Who Wants To Be The Disco King?" (February 1989) #28 UK
- "Don't Let Me Down Gently" (September 1989) #19 UK, #11 US Modern Rock
- "Golden Green" / "Get Together" (November 1989) #33 UK
- "Radio Ass Kiss" (November 1989) (US Radio release only) #26 US Modern Rock
- "Circlesquare" (May 1990) #20 UK
- "The Size Of A Cow" (March 1991) #5 UK
- "Caught In My Shadow" (May 1991) #18 UK, #8 US Modern Rock
- "Sleep Alone" (August 1991) #43 UK
- "Dizzy" (Vic ReevesVic ReevesJames Roderick Moir , better known by the stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer . He is known for his surreal and non sequitur sense of humour....
and the Wonder Stuff) (October 1991) #1 UK - "Welcome to the Cheap SeatsWelcome to the Cheap Seats"Welcome to the Cheap Seats" was a single by The Wonder Stuff, from the 1991 album Never Loved Elvis. It was released as a single in 1992, and peaked at #8 on the pop charts in the United Kingdom. It features backing vocals by Kirsty MacColl...
" (EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
) (January 1992) #8 UK, #28 US Modern Rock - "On The Ropes" (EP) (September 1993) #10 UK, #17 US Modern Rock
- "Full Of Life (Happy Now)" (November 1993) #28 UK
- "Hot Love Now!" (EP) (March 1994) #19 UK
- "Unbearable" (September 1994) #16 UK
- "Better Get Ready For A Fist Fight" (October 2004)
- "Bile Chant" / "Escape From Rubbish Island" (February 2005)
- "Blah Blah, Lah Di Dah" (January 2006)
- "The Sun Goes Down On Manor Road" (2006)
- "Last Second Of The Minute" (2006)