Daniel Dylan Wray’s tour of the Sheffield music underground, from Pink Grease and Comsat Angels to the better known territory of Human League and Heaven 17. Including indie classics Longpigs, The Long Blondes and Pulp’s diaspora, alongside newer members of Sheffield’s ‘POP’ MUSIC fraternity 96 BACK, ALL GIRLS ARSON CLUB AND OTIS MENSAH. Sheffield, how very cool you are. WHERE TO NEXT?
Words & curation by Daniel Dylan Wray, cover (Cabaret Voltaire + Park Hill) by Mick Clarke, as ever
I moved to Sheffield in 2004. It was the height of the indie resurgence - or the new rock revolution as NME coined it - and the Arctic Monkeys were on their upward trajectory into the stratosphere. I saw the young spotty teenagers thrash it out in an upstairs room that held a 100 or so called the Fez Club; however, for me, there was a much more interesting Sheffield band that I found myself gravitating towards: the Mute Records-signed Pink Grease. The band was a riotous mix of New York Dolls trash glam and shimmering new wave pop. Caked in make-up, playing crazy homemade synths, honking on saxophones and turning stages into instant chaos. They were the most fun band in the city and seeing them at local club shows such as Razor Stiletto would always result in sweaty and semi naked antics. A genuine bunch of misfits and oddballs, they also acted as portal into the innovative, experimental and often esoteric underground happenings of the city.
As the city became a worldwide focus when the Arctic Monkeys released the fastest selling UK debut album of all time, it was what was festering underneath the fanfare and hype that appealed to me the most. This allowed me to begin exploring the rich history of the city’s underground and alternative scenes. Sheffield has always had musical moments of huge, chart-conquering success (Pulp, Def Leppard, ABC, Human League etc.) but there’s always been a swell of beneath-the-surface magic going on to coincide too.
It was Pink Grease again that introduced me to the post-punk outfit I’m So Hollow via their cover of Touch, which in turn led me to discover the seminal 1980 compilation album Bouquet of Steel whilst rummaging the overflowing racks at Record Collector. It featured a wealth of local post-punk talent such as Artery and the Comsat Angels that sent me deeper into a 1970’s wormhole. The ‘70’s was a pivotal decade for the city; alongside the pioneering sounds of the industrial electronic outfit Cabaret Voltaire and the synth pop icons the Human League, there were also countless other bands that captured a sense of experimentation and momentum between post-punk and electronic, such as Clock DVA, Chakk and Hula, whilst the momentum of straight up punk still lit the fire of bands such as the Buzzcocks-esque 2.3. The decade saw the city in a state of flux, it was one that started out full of hope, optimism and a feeling of looking to the future and by the end of the decade the musical output of the city had essentially created the sound of the future - via its electronic output - but the city itself was in steep decline.
Sheffield in the 1980s is a familiar story and one synonymous with hardships and tragedies; the miner’s strikes took its toll on the city and its communities and the Hillsborough disaster saw the city finish the decade with more heartache. However, despite the unrest, unemployment and general decline of the city, even more revolutionary music was being made. Warp records formed in 1989 and with it came a new era of electronic music, as Sheffield once again found itself as the blueprint for new a sound. Early releases by Sheffield artists Sweet Exorcist (‘Testone’), a collaboration between Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H Kirk and local figurehead DJ Parrot, and Forgemasters (‘Track With No Name’) saw the birth of bleep techno. The Sheffield label soon became home to just about every pioneering dance and electronic act from across the country, bringing the likes of Aphex Twin and Autechre to play raves in collapsing industrial buildings in the city.
Warp’s reign continued well into the 1990s but the city also began to gain momentum and steam in the indie world, from the slow burn success to stardom curve of Pulp to the overlooked Britpop outfit Longpigs. As ever, there was always a wonky side to some of the pop music coming out of Sheffield during this era and acts such as I, Monster and The All Seeing I were key contributors of such wonkiness (see the brilliant Tony Christie-featuring ‘Walk Like A Panther’).
Whilst Sheffield may forever be associated with electronic music, in truth there is no distinct sound to the city. Eclecticism has always been at the heart of the city’s movements and outputs and perhaps as it moved into the 2000s, this was truer than ever. The infectious kitchen sink pop of The Long Blondes saw them ram venues like the Harley to absolute bursting point and be deemed the best unsigned band in the city by NME before Rough Trade decided to change that. Their indie pop nestled up alongside the post-rock sprawl of 65Daysofstatic, the folk pop of Slow Club sat alongside Richard Hawley’s crooning and Drenge’s caustic rock, and Toddla T’s mesh of dancehall and grime took over filling dance floors after the boom of bassline, taking on the baton from the likes of Oris Jay.
One of the most interesting things about Sheffield music is that many of the artists that have been around a while end up producing some of their best material later on. Roisin Murphy was the singer of Sheffield outfit Moloko but her recent tracks made with Sheffield producers DJ Parrot (now Crooked Man) and Maurice Fulton have been some of the best tracks she’s ever released. Crooked Man’s solo output, along with his remixes for everyone from Fat White Family and Baxter Dury, also signal a late career boom, whilst Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer’s Eccentronic Research Council gave birth to the riotous garage glam of The Moonlandingz. Some of the bands early shows were carnage, with lead singer Lias Saoudi wrapped in food items and make up, leaving gig venues looking like a brawl at a buffet table had taken place. Honer and Flanagan are also currently producing some potent electro pop via International Teachers Of Pop.
Of course, the youth of the today is also pumping out a diverse and stirring mix of new music. 96 Back released one of the albums of 2019 via the UK’s home to electro CPU Records and has been a resident at the best club in the city, Hope Works. If you like shaggy, scrappy lo-fi indie then the likes of All Girls Arson Club – released by local label and DIY space Delicious Clam - have got you covered, whilst the young rapper and poet Otis Mensah is the city’s current hip hop golden boy.
The playlist here roughly mirrors the order of this piece to gain a better sense of the chronological evolution of the city’s musical output, and there’s also a few artists not mentioned here that feature because if there’s one thing I’ve learnt about the musical history of Sheffield, is that there’s always room for stumbling across something new you never knew existed.
You can explore more about the Sheffield underground scene via Cherry Red’s recent boxset here. Meanwhile, 1996 lost indie classic by Longpigs The Sun Is Often Out has just been re-issued on vinyl, A special edition blue version is available now on Super-Deluxe Edition here
Arctic Monkeys are coming to the artist page soon! Oh, and Def Leppard. Got to love Sheffield’s finest!