Shriekback
Encyclopedia
Shriekback are an English
rock
band
, formed in 1981 in Kentish Town
by Barry Andrews
, formerly of XTC
and League of Gentlemen
(keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen
, formerly of the Gang of Four
(bass), with Carl Marsh, formerly of Out On Blue Six (guitars/vocals) soon added to the line-up. They were joined by Martyn Barker
on drums in 1983. Other members included: Luc Van Acker
, Linda Nevill, Emma Burnham, Brian Nevill, Pedro Ortiz, Clare Hirst, Lu Edmunds
, Wendy and Sara Partridge (from Electric Guitars
), Steve Halliwell, Eve Moon, Ivan Julian
, Mike Cozzi, and Jessica Palin/Jose Fina Cupido.
, and Dave Allen
, expanding to a trio with the addition of Carl Marsh. They enjoyed some success on the dance chart on their original Y Records
label, and had a string of hits on the UK Indie Chart
, while their debut album, Care (1983) was picked up by Warners
in the United States. They left Y for Arista Records
for 1984's Jam Science
, also recruiting drummer Martyn Baker. The album reached number 85 on the UK Albums Chart
, and the single "Hand on my Heart" charted in the Top 60 in the UK. Finding little success, they switched to Island Records
for the 1985 album Oil & Gold
; Marsh left during the recording of the album, to be replaced by Mike Cozzi. After the follow-up, Big Night Music
, Allen left to rejoin Gang of Four, and Shriekback remained a collaborative centred around Andrews. Allen would also go on to play in King Swamp
and The Elastic Purejoy
. Marsh was also in the band Happyhead.
After a further album in 1988, Go Bang!, the band split up. Andrews continued working on other projects before re-forming Shriekback in 1992, although after the single "The Bastard Sons of Enoch" and album Sacred City, there would be no further releases until 2000's Naked Apes & Pond Life album.
Both Allen and Marsh returned to the studio to contribute to the recording of Shriekback's 2003 release Having a Moment
. Since Having a Moment, Andrews has recorded three albums for Malicious Damage (Killing Joke's original label) under the Shriekback moniker. Film
director
Michael Mann
was a fan
of Shriekback, and used several of their songs in his films Manhunter
and Band of the Hand
, and in his television series Miami Vice
.
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...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
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...
, formed in 1981 in Kentish Town
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...
by Barry Andrews
Barry Andrews (musician)
Barry Andrews is a vocalist and keyboardist. He is a former member of the bands XTC and League of Gentlemen with Robert Fripp, and was co-founder of Shriekback. He has collaborated with Brian Eno on several projects, most recently guesting on keyboards for the 2005 album Another Day On Earth...
, formerly of XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
and League of Gentlemen
League of Gentlemen (band)
The League of Gentlemen was a band active during March–December 1980 that featured guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson fame. Other members included bass guitarist Sara Lee , keyboardist Barry Andrews and percussionist Johnny Toobad, replaced late in the band's tenure by Kevin Wilkinson...
(keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen
Dave Allen (producer/bassist)
Dave Allen was the bass guitarist for the post-punk band, Gang of Four. In 1981, he left Gang of Four to found Shriekback....
, formerly of the Gang of Four
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...
(bass), with Carl Marsh, formerly of Out On Blue Six (guitars/vocals) soon added to the line-up. They were joined by Martyn Barker
Martyn Barker
Martyn Barker is an English drummer, best known as the drummer for Shriekback. He has also been a member of King Swamp, and worked with Paula Rae Gibson, Billy Bragg and Beth Gibbons, Rustin Man and Juldah Camara & Justin Adams....
on drums in 1983. Other members included: Luc Van Acker
Luc Van Acker
Luc van Acker is a musician from Tienen, Belgium. He began writing and releasing solo material in 1982, and worked with a few other bands and with Anna Domino over the next few years. Then in 1985, he met Richard 23 of Front 242 at the DNA Club in Brussels, Belgium, and thereby became a founding...
, Linda Nevill, Emma Burnham, Brian Nevill, Pedro Ortiz, Clare Hirst, Lu Edmunds
Lu Edmunds
Robert "Lu" Edmonds is an English rock and folk musician. Edmonds was educated at Ampleforth College....
, Wendy and Sara Partridge (from Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars were formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport and Richard Hall who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Saunders , Matt Salt and Dick Truscott , they also later added two backing singers: Sara and Wendy...
), Steve Halliwell, Eve Moon, Ivan Julian
Ivan Julian
Ivan Julian is a guitarist and bassist, founding member of the seminal Punk/New Wave group Richard Hell and the Voidoids, The Outsets and Lovelies.He has performed with the Isley Brothers, The Clash, Matthew Sweet, and Shriekback....
, Mike Cozzi, and Jessica Palin/Jose Fina Cupido.
History and member changes
Shriekback was originally formed in 1981 by Barry AndrewsBarry Andrews (musician)
Barry Andrews is a vocalist and keyboardist. He is a former member of the bands XTC and League of Gentlemen with Robert Fripp, and was co-founder of Shriekback. He has collaborated with Brian Eno on several projects, most recently guesting on keyboards for the 2005 album Another Day On Earth...
, and Dave Allen
Dave Allen (producer/bassist)
Dave Allen was the bass guitarist for the post-punk band, Gang of Four. In 1981, he left Gang of Four to found Shriekback....
, expanding to a trio with the addition of Carl Marsh. They enjoyed some success on the dance chart on their original Y Records
Y Records
Y Records was an independent record label set up in 1980 by Dick O’Dell in the United Kingdom, and distributed by Rough Trade.-History:Artists included The Slits, Shriekback and a number of groups that were associated with the Bristol Indie Bands from the late 1970s: The Pop Group, Glaxo Babies,...
label, and had a string of hits on the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
, while their debut album, Care (1983) was picked up by Warners
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
in the United States. They left Y for Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
for 1984's Jam Science
Jam Science
Jam Science is the second album by English pop group Shriekback. It was released in two versions in 1984, and has not been reissued on CD.The first edition, issued on Y Records in early 1984, was the final release by the label...
, also recruiting drummer Martyn Baker. The album reached number 85 on the UK Albums Chart
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...
, and the single "Hand on my Heart" charted in the Top 60 in the UK. Finding little success, they switched to Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
for the 1985 album Oil & Gold
Oil & Gold
Oil & Gold, the third full-length Shriekback album, is widely considered the band's highest moment. Released in 1985 on Island Records after the failure of 1984's Jam Science on Arista Records, Oil & Gold saw the band metamorphose from contemplative to rocking...
; Marsh left during the recording of the album, to be replaced by Mike Cozzi. After the follow-up, Big Night Music
Big Night Music
Big Night Music was the fourth full-length Shriekback album, released in 1986. Barry Andrews dominates the writing and performing on the album, with remaining original member Dave Allen fading into the background. Allen would leave the band following this release...
, Allen left to rejoin Gang of Four, and Shriekback remained a collaborative centred around Andrews. Allen would also go on to play in King Swamp
King Swamp
King Swamp was a British rock band, consisting of Walter Wray , Dave Allen , Steve Halliwell , Dominic Miller , and Martyn Barker . The band was formed in 1988 in London, after Allen and Barker had parted ways with Shriekback and recruited Wray as frontman...
and The Elastic Purejoy
The Elastic Purejoy
The Elastic Purejoy was Dave Allen's own band on the label he founded, World Domination Recordings. Their sound can be characterized as bass-driven, progressive indie rock and pop.After their first release, Allen's name appeared on the records' packaging...
. Marsh was also in the band Happyhead.
After a further album in 1988, Go Bang!, the band split up. Andrews continued working on other projects before re-forming Shriekback in 1992, although after the single "The Bastard Sons of Enoch" and album Sacred City, there would be no further releases until 2000's Naked Apes & Pond Life album.
Both Allen and Marsh returned to the studio to contribute to the recording of Shriekback's 2003 release Having a Moment
Having a Moment
Having a Moment, self-released in 2003, saw the original Shriekback trio of Barry Andrews, Carl Marsh, and Dave Allen return to the studio with longtime collaborators Martyn Barker and Lu Edmonds...
. Since Having a Moment, Andrews has recorded three albums for Malicious Damage (Killing Joke's original label) under the Shriekback moniker. Film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Michael Mann
Michael Mann (film director)
Michael Kenneth Mann is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. For his work, he has received nominations from international organizations and juries, including those at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cannes and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
was a fan
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
of Shriekback, and used several of their songs in his films Manhunter
Manhunter (film)
Manhunter is a 1986 American thriller film based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon. Written and directed by Michael Mann, it stars William Petersen as Will Graham and features Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecktor...
and Band of the Hand
Band of the Hand
Band of the Hand is an American 1986 crime film directed by Paul Michael Glaser.The film turned into a theatrical release after it failed as a television pilot....
, and in his television series Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
.
Studio albums
- TenchTench (EP)Tench is the first Shriekback album, an EP released in 1982. It spawned one single: "Sexthinkone".-Track listing:#"Sexthinkone"#"A Kind Of Fascination"#"All The Greek Boys "#"Accretions"#"Moth Loop"#"Here Comes My Hand: Clap"...
(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...
) (1982) Y (UK IndieUK Indie ChartThe UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
#9) - CareCare (album)Care is the first full-length Shriekback album, released in 1983 as a follow-up to the Tench EP. The single "Lined Up" was a minor club hit and reached number 39 on the Australian ARIA charts.- Track listing :...
(1983) Y (UK Indie #7) - Jam ScienceJam ScienceJam Science is the second album by English pop group Shriekback. It was released in two versions in 1984, and has not been reissued on CD.The first edition, issued on Y Records in early 1984, was the final release by the label...
(1984) Arista (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...
#85) - Oil & GoldOil & GoldOil & Gold, the third full-length Shriekback album, is widely considered the band's highest moment. Released in 1985 on Island Records after the failure of 1984's Jam Science on Arista Records, Oil & Gold saw the band metamorphose from contemplative to rocking...
(1985) Arista - Big Night MusicBig Night MusicBig Night Music was the fourth full-length Shriekback album, released in 1986. Barry Andrews dominates the writing and performing on the album, with remaining original member Dave Allen fading into the background. Allen would leave the band following this release...
(1986) Island - Go Bang!Go Bang!Go Bang!, the fifth full-length Shriekback album produced a significant number of Billboard modern rock hits Get Down Tonight, Intoxication and Shark Walk. Released in 1988 after the departure of founding member and iconic bassist, Dave Allen, the album revolves around Barry Andrews...
(1988) Island - The Dancing Years (1990) Island
- Sacred CitySacred CitySacred City, the sixth full-length Shriekback album, looked like the end for the band. Released in 1992 after the failure of 1988's Go Bang!, the album was much more experimental, returning to the original Shriekback sound. Barry Andrews was again joined by founder, Dave Allen, and longtime...
(1992) World Domination/Capitol - Naked Apes and Pond LifeNaked Apes and Pond LifeNaked Apes and Pond Life was the seventh full-length Shriekback album. This 2000 release was a surprise resurfacing for the band, after almost a decade of quiet...
(2000) Mauve/Mushroom - Having a MomentHaving a MomentHaving a Moment, self-released in 2003, saw the original Shriekback trio of Barry Andrews, Carl Marsh, and Dave Allen return to the studio with longtime collaborators Martyn Barker and Lu Edmonds...
(2003) - CormorantCormorant (album)Cormorant is the tenth album from Shriekback, released in 2005. It centers around Barry Andrews with former members of the band, Martyn Barker, Wendy Partridge, and Mark Raudva, Andrews' son, Finn, and fellow XTC alum, Andy Partridge.-Track listing:...
(2005) - Glory BumpsGlory BumpsGlory Bumps is the eleventh full-length album by the long-standing rock band Shriekback.-Track listing:# Hooray For Everything - 4:46# The Bride Stripped Bare - 4:06# Burying the Bunny - 3:40# Bittersweet - 4:09# Amaryllis in the Sprawl - 5:07...
(2007) - Life In The Loading Bay (December 2010)
Compilations
- The Infinite (The Best of Shriekback) (1984) Kaz
- Evolution - Best of Shriekback vol. 2 (1988) Kaz
- The Best of Shriekback (1990) Island
- Natural History - The Very Best of Shriekback (1994) Essential
- Priests and Kannibals: The Best of Shriekback (1994) Arista
- Aberrations 81-84 (2001) Weatherbox
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Indie Chart UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered... |
UK Singles Chart 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 ... |
U.S. United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... Dance/Club |
U.S. Modern Rock | U.S. Mainstream Rock | |||
| 1982 | "Sexthinkone" | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| "My Spine Is the Bassline" | 15 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1983 | "Lined Up" | 3 | - | - | - | - | Care |
| "Working on the Ground" | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| "Lined Up (remix)" | 7 | - | - | - | - | Care | |
| 1984 | "Hand On My Heart" | - | 52 | 22 | - | - | Jam Science |
| "Mercy Dash" | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Knowledge, Power, Truth and Sex EP | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1985 | "Nemesis" | - | - | - | - | - | Oil and Gold |
| "Fish Below the Ice" | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1986 | "Gunning for the Buddha" | - | - | - | - | - | Big Night Music |
| "Running on the Rocks Running on the Rocks Running on the Rock was the second single released from Shriekback's Big Night Music album - released in 1986.-Track listing:#"Running on the Rocks"#"Bludgeoned "#"On A Razor's Edge "#"Hammerheads "... " |
- | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1988 | "Intoxication" | - | - | - | 6 | - | Go Bang! |
| "Shark Walk" | - | - | - | 19 | - | ||
| "Get Down Tonight" | - | - | 20 | - | - | ||
| The Peel Sessions EP | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1992 | "The Bastard Sons of Enoch" | - | - | - | - | - | Sacred City |