Half Man Half Biscuit | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Birkenhead, Merseyside, England |
Genres | Indie rock, post-punk |
Years active | 1984–1986, 1990–present |
Labels | Probe Plus, R. M. Qualtrough |
Members |
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Past members |
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Website | www |
Half Man Half Biscuit are an English rock band, formed in 1984 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Crossley, drummer Carl Henry, and guitarist Karl Benson.
Half Man Half Biscuit were formed by two friends from Birkenhead, Neil Crossley and singer, guitarist and songwriter Nigel Blackwell who was (in his own words) at the time "still robbing cars and playing football like normal people do". [1] In 1979, Blackwell was editing a football fanzine (Left For Wakeley Gage ); he met Crossley when he went to see the latter's band play. [2] In 1984, when Half Man Half Biscuit were formed, Crossley moved to bass and the two were joined by Nigel's brother Simon Blackwell (lead guitar) and his friend Paul Wright (drums), both previously with a group called Attempted Moustache, presumably named after the album by Loudon Wainwright III. [3] The quartet started to rehearse in the Liverpool-based Vulcan Studios, where they soon turned a five-piece, with David Lloyd now on keyboards. [1]
Their debut album, 1985's Back in the DHSS , topped the UK Indie Chart and reached number 60 in the UK Albums Chart. [3] [4] Its title was a play on The Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." and also a reference to the DHSS, the government department that dealt with the unemployed, Nigel Blackwell having been on unemployment benefits since 1979. [5] The band's first single, "The Trumpton Riots", topped the UK Indies Singles Chart in 1986, and they went on to perform at Glastonbury Festival. [4] The second single, "Dickie Davies Eyes", also topped the indie chart. [4] In late 1986, the band split up, giving as reason "musical similarities". [6] The album Back Again in the DHSS, containing previously issued, unreleased and live tracks, followed.
The band reformed in 1990, with a performance at the Reading Festival following, and a new single, "Let's Not", issued before the year was out, followed in 1991 by a collaboration with Margi Clarke on a version of Edith Piaf's "No Regrets". Half Man Half Biscuit were championed by DJ John Peel, [7] [8] [9] for whom they recorded twelve sessions, and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return. The third album was McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt, released in October 1991. By the time This Leaden Pall was released in 1993, Wright and Lloyd had left the band, with Carl Alty joining on drums. Simon Blackwell left the following year, with Ian S. Jackson joining. Jackson (who later joined Rooney) and Alty (who joined Joyrider) departed in 1996, to be replaced by Ken Hancock (guitar) and Carl Henry (drums).
Half Man Half Biscuit turned down the chance to appear on The Tube , as Tranmere Rovers were playing that night, even though Channel Four offered to fly them by helicopter to the game. [10] Blackwell has been a fan of the team since "sometime after the Coventry City cup win in 1968". [11]
The band's styles parody popular genres, while their lyrics allude to UK popular culture and geography. Blackwell often refers to Wirral and to North Wales, often in the context of hillwalking in Snowdonia; he also appears fond of Shropshire, East Anglia, The West Country, and Oxfordshire. British or international football, Sylvia Plath, Thomas Hardy, and the Bible are referenced in his lyrics.
As the 1990s progressed, Blackwell's love of blues and folk became more apparent. Bassist Crossley's tastes include late 1970s and early 1980s new wave or post-punk bands, and during live sets HMHB have performed covers of acts as diverse as Joy Division, Magazine, Tim Buckley, The Beach Boys, Tommy James and the Shondells, and Ike and Tina Turner.
In 2001, Blackwell provided the voiceover for a BP television advert. [12]
In April 2010, the band's song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from their 2005 album Achtung Bono was the subject of a Facebook campaign to get it to No. 6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of the indie-supporting radio station BBC 6 Music. [13] [14] The song reached No. 56 [15] on 11 April 2010: this was their first UK Singles Chart appearance. It also reached No. 3 in the Official Independent Singles chart the same week, and was No. 1 in the HMV UK Digital Downloads Top 40 Tracks on 16 April, knocking Ultravox's song "Vienna" off the top spot – itself part of a separate Facebook campaign the previous week.
Victoria Loop has played live several times with the band on tenor horn, cornet, and bass guitar. She is affectionately known as 'The 5th Biscuit'. [16]
Ken Hancock played his last gig with the band in summer 2017, and was replaced at the end of the year by Karl Benson.
Andy Kershaw has described Half Man Half Biscuit as "One of England’s most amazing bands” [17] and "the most authentic British folk band since The Clash". James Dodd on Bido Lito! praised (as many others did) Blackwell's "uncanny way of chronicling two of his greatest passions in life: television and small-town England". [18] Eliza Carthy praised the band for their "pathos disguised with wit and sarcasm", describing Blackwell as a "genius". [19] Journalist Ben Myers has described Blackwell's lyrics as "the antithesis of most rock songs, and iconoclastic in their total avoidance of cliche". [20]
Geoff Davies of Probe Plus recalled that after hearing a test pressing of Back in the D.H.S.S, John Peel said "Geoff, what's this, I've just played the first side of this, what is it, tell me, it's just fantastic and all". [9] Other famous Peel quotes about the band include "I've said it before, a national treasure, there's no question about it. When I die, I want them to be buried with me." (14 August 1996) and "In a decently ordered society, members of Half Man Half Biscuit would be routinely carried shoulder high through the streets of every city they visited" (10 July 1997). [21]
According to music writer Paul Du Noyer:
English writer Julie Burchill has praised their "supremely clever and amazingly catchy", and described the band as "punk with a sense of humour and a sense of perspective". [23]
References to Half Man Half Biscuit can be found on episodes of EastEnders , [24] Brookside , Hollyoaks , Men Behaving Badly and Byker Grove , as well as an episode of Football Focus and the BBC serial Elidor. The cricket commentator David 'Bumble' Lloyd often makes reference to songs and lyrics in commentaries, often completely lost on other commentators working with him. [25]
The Department of Health and Social Security was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services.
Nightingales are a British post-punk/alternative rock band, formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England, by four members of Birmingham's punk group The Prefects. They had been part of The Clash's 'White Riot Tour', recorded a couple of Peel Sessions, released a 45 on Rough Trade and, years after splitting up, had a retrospective CD released by US indie label Acute Records.
PragVEC was a post-punk band from London formed in 1978. The band name was a contraction of the two words "pragmatism" and "vector", chosen at random.
Dean Friedman is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar, and harmonica.
Achtung Bono is the tenth album by UK indie rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released in 2005.
Back in the DHSS is the first album released by the UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit (HMHB), in 1985.
McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt was released in 1991 by British rock band Half Man Half Biscuit as their third original album. It was the first album released after the band had reformed in 1990.
This Leaden Pall is the fourth album by the English rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released in 1993.
Four Lads Who Shook the Wirral is the seventh album by Wirral-based UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit (HMHB), released in June 1998.
Trouble over Bridgwater is the eighth album by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released in 2000. The title is a play on words, based on the Simon and Garfunkel classic, "Bridge over Troubled Water". Bridgwater is a town in Somerset, England, but the similarly named Bridgewater Canal runs nearby the band's home of the Wirral.
Back Again in the DHSS is the second album by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released in 1987.
CSI:Ambleside is the eleventh album by Wirral-based UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit (HMHB), released in April 2008.
"Song to the Siren" is a song written by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett, first released by Buckley on his 1970 album Starsailor. It was also later released on Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology, the album featuring a performance of the song taken from the final episode of The Monkees.
The Trumpton Riots EP is a 1986 12" 45½rpm [sic] vinyl EP by the English indie band, Half Man Half Biscuit. The original release (TRUMP1) comprised the first four tracks listed below. A re-release later that year (TRUMX1) also included the fifth one.
Jegsy Dodd is an English performance poet from Wirral. He first came to prominence in the 1980s with his backing group, The Sons of Harry Cross. The Sons of Harry Cross were Paul Spencer (drums), Ian Jackson (bass) and Ken Hancock (guitar). His current backing band is called The Original Sinners.
90 Bisodol (Crimond) is the twelfth studio album by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit. It was released on 26 September 2011 by Probe Plus.
"Look Dad No Tunes" is a 1999 CD single by Birkenhead indie band Half Man Half Biscuit, released by Probe Plus Records, for whom they have always recorded. It is also the final single or album Half Ma Half Biscust released.
Editor's Recommendation is a 2001 extended play CD by Birkenhead-based indie band Half Man Half Biscuit.
Urge for Offal is the thirteenth album by UK Wirral-based rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released 20 October 2014 on Probe Plus Records. The album reached #68 on the UK album chart.
"Let's Not" is a single released in 1990 on vinyl and CD by the Wirral-based British band Half Man Half Biscuit. It was their first release after reforming as a four-piece, the original band having been a five-piece. It was released as a 7-inch single with "Our Tune" on the B-side, and as a 12-inch single and CD single with the extra track "Ordinary to Enschede".