hypersongs

Inspiral Carpets

The Oldham organ-and-guitar band of the Madchester years, whose 1990 album Life holds "This Is How It Feels".

From The Furs to Cow Records

Graham Lambert ran line-ups under the name The Furs from 1980 to 1983, and with his school friend Stephen Holt formed Inspiral Carpets in Oldham in 1983 as a garage and punk-inspired band; Holt sang on the first two independent singles. Craig Gill joined on drums in 1986 aged 14, and Clint Boon joined on keyboards in 1987, the band rehearsing at his studio in Ashton-under-Lyne. Bass players came and went until Martyn Walsh, described by Wikipedia as the thirteenth, arrived in 1989 along with the singer Tom Hingley, who had been in Too Much Texas. In 1987 they put out a flexi-disc, Garage Full of Flowers, with the Manchester magazine Debris, and in 1988 the Planecrash EP drew airplay from John Peel.

In March 1989, after their distributor Red Rhino went bankrupt, they formed their own Cow Records, whose first release was the Trainsurfing EP. They signed to Mute while keeping the Cow imprint. Life (1990) reached 2 in the UK; The Beast Inside followed in 1991, Revenge of the Goldfish (1992) reached 17, and Devil Hopping (1994) reached 10, with "Saturn 5" and "I Want You", featuring Mark E. Smith, both in the top 20. After the 1995 compilation Singles they were dropped by Mute and split.

Reunions

After the split Hingley formed Tom Hingley and the Lovers, Boon the Clint Boon Experience, Gill went on to Hustler and Proud Mary, and Walsh moved into production. The band reunited in 2003 and 2007, toured as Return of the Cow in 2008, and in 2012 played a Holt-fronted UK tour and Old Trafford cricket ground on September 10. A self-titled album on Cherry Red in October 2014 was their first in twenty years and includes "Let You Down" with John Cooper Clarke. Hingley's departure came out in February 2011 and Holt rejoined in August 2011; Wikipedia records that Boon disputed Hingley's claim the band had split, and that Hingley later said he was fired.

Craig Gill died on November 20, 2016, aged 44, and friends campaigned for "Saturn 5" to be Christmas number one that year. A reunion was announced in October 2022, with a UK tour in March and April 2023 and a singles compilation on March 17, 2023; Oscar Boon, Clint Boon's son, joined on bass from March 23, 2023, Walsh was confirmed to rejoin on October 28, 2024, and Lambert announced a break from live performance on March 20, 2026. Wikipedia carries a claim, marked citation needed, that Noel Gallagher roadied for them before Oasis, and Gill's Proud Mary signed to Gallagher's Big Brother label.

Albums

Songs

Sources

  1. Inspiral Carpets, Wikipedia
  2. About, Inspiral Carpets
  3. Life (Inspiral Carpets album), Wikipedia
  4. Life at 30, Even the Stars (2020-04-23)