Line-up

Headliner
Inspiral Carpets Last time in London: 6 months ago

Venue

London Barfly

49 Chalk Farm Rd, NW1 8AN, London, UK

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Inspiral Carpets biography

Alternative rockers, Inspiral Carpets are from Oldham, Manchester, UK. They were formed in 1983, and gained commercial success with the release of “This is How it Feels “ in March 1990.

Inspiral Carpets started gaining a following at a similar time to The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays in the late 1980s. They released heir debut in 1988, entitled “Planecrash” on Playtime Records. The EP received a lot of airplay from Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who personally invited the band back to play a session at his show.

In March 1989, the band decided to form their own label called Cow Records, and then released the “Trainsurfing EP”, from this EP they released a handful of singles, with the song “Move” just missing the UK top 40. They signed a record deal with Mute Records and had their first top 40 success with “This is How it Feels”, which reached number 14 in the singles chart. It was part of their debut album “Life” which made it to number 2 in the album chart in 1990.

In 1991 the band released “The Beast Inside” and achieved the number 5 spot on the albums chart. By this point in their career they were building a following in Portugal, Germany and Argentina. In 1992, the band released “Revenge of the Goldfish” which charted in those particular countries. It made it to number 17 in the UK and managed an impressive four singles in the UK Chart.

They released an album in 1994 entitled “Devil Hopping” which managed to reach number 10 in the album chart. As of 1995, Inspiral Carpets took a hiatus.

Following their long hiatus of almost 18 years, the band came back with an eponymous album on October 20th 2014, which reached number 63 in the UK Albums charts.

Live reviews

Perhaps they’re best remembered now for being the band that kind of gave Noel Gallagher his break in music - he toured the world with them as a roadie in the years leading up to the formation of Oasis - but there’s plenty else to be noted about Inspiral Carpets, even if it’s just that they’re one of the few bands to have had their keyboard player be their de facto frontman. With the band’s singer changing several times down the years, Clint Boon served as their official mouthpiece; coining the phrase ‘cool as fuck’ that appeared on their iconic t-shirts through their late-eighties, early-nineties heyday, he came to embody the swagger that was the epitome of the Inspirals sound. After reforming in 2003 with Tom Hingley on vocals, the band have since settled their differences with original singer Stephen Holt, who is now very much in the fold. They tour from time to time, retaining a cult fanbase in the UK - especially in their native Manchester - and play hit-heavy sets that include the likes of ‘This Is How It Feels’ and ‘Dragging Me Down’. Expect new dates soon, with Inspiral Carpets - their first new album in twenty years - slated for a September release.

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