Felt (band)

Felt
	General information
Genre (s)	Indie rock , post punk , twee pop
founding	1979
resolution	1989
occupation
Vocals , guitar , keyboard	Lawrence Hayward
Guitar , electric guitar	Maurice Deebank (1980–1985) ; Tony Willé (1986–1988) ; Neil Scott (1987–1988); John Mohan (1989) ; Richard Left (1989)
Drums	Nick Gilbert (1980) ; Tony Race (1981) ; Gary Ainge (1981-1989)
Electric bass	Nick Gilbert (1981–1982) ; Mick Lloyd (1982–1983) ; Marco Thomas (1984–1988) ; Mick Bund (1988–1989) ; Robert Young (1989)
Keyboard	Martin Duffy (1985-1989)

Felt was a British post-punk alternative band from Birmingham .

history

Felt was founded in 1979 by Lawrence Hayward, initially as a solo project, to publish his self-recorded and produced single Index . Since the single was a success, Hayward decided to found a band in 1980 and took Maurice Deebank on lead guitar and Nick Gilbert on drums as band members. Deebank was a classically trained guitarist and had already recorded a demo with the lyrically gifted Hayward in 1978, which included early versions of the songs Something Sends Me to Sleep , Cathedral and Birdmen . The breakthrough came in 1980 when Mark E. Smith of The Fall invited the band to support a show in Manchester . Smith had sympathy for Nick Gilbert and particularly appreciated his production Newtrition . The band gave their first concert with The Fall at the Cyprus Tavern in Manchester. Smith then asked Felt to support The Fall at the legendary Marquee Club in London. In London, Felt came into contact with Mike Always from Cherry Red Records , who offered the band a contract for Index because of the good reviews in the music press .

Something Sends Me to Sleep was first released on the Cherry Red label in 1981. The version of the song on the A-side was recorded in the Cargo studio in Rochdale , the second version on the B-side was the original recording by Hayward and Deebank with Tony Race on drums. Hayward decided to release the original demo version of the song as well, as he thought it was better than the cargo version. In March 1982, the debut EP Crumbling The Antiseptic Beauty was released , which had little commercial success, but received good reviews from the independent music press. In the song credits, Hayward omitted his last name and became known as Lawrence .

After the release of the debut EP, the band experienced personnel changes: Tony Race left the group and was replaced on drums by Gary Ainge. Nick Gilbert, who had switched from drums to electric bass, got out after falling out with Hayward over his control over the songwriting. Bassist Mick Lloyd joined the band for him. In 1983 Felt released the single My Face Is On Fire , followed by the single Penelope Tree , named after a 1960s automobile , which became a commercial chart success and gained the band some attention. In Penelope Tree , a scheme for numerous later felt songs appeared for the first time, in which a clean guitar sound is combined with Hayward's weird vocal rhythm.

The Splendor Of Fear followed in November 1983. The album contained simple melodic pop songs with Hayward's new focus on poetic lyricism. The album helped bring Felt back into the limelight and reached position 6 on the indie charts in 1984. The tracks Red Indians , The World is as Soft as Lace, and Mexican Bandits were widely heard on the radio. The relationship between Deebank and Hayward became more and more tense, however, because their musical ideas differed and Deebank and Gilbert did not want to submit to Hayward's leadership without contradiction. Deebank therefore decided to use his own song material, which he had to withhold from Felt, as a solo project. In 1984 Deebank finally released his solo album Inner Thought Zone on the Cherry Red label .

The previous releases were based on the rule of having two singles followed by a six-song EP, because Hayward saw the EP as a reflective interlude between the singles, which should correspond to Warhol's mass production of pop art. Hayward has always been fascinated by New York City in the 1960s and 1970s with its personalities and bands, including Andy Warhol , The Velvet Underground , New York Dolls and Television . With The Strange Idols Pattern And Other Short Stories , published in October 1984, Hayward broke his rule, because this was a real long player with 10 songs, which was only preceded by the single Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow . The music had also changed from simple two-chord pieces with a subdued mood to open and complex pop songs.

In 1984 Felt went on tour with the Cocteau Twins , then with top acts from the legendary 4AD label. During the first tour, Robin Guthrie from the Cocteau Twins approached the band and offered to produce their next recordings. Deebank had composed two songs that he wanted to record with Felt. Hayward added rhythm guitars and lyrics and Guthrie produced the recordings. The result was the single Primitive Painters with Cathedral as the b-side, which became the biggest single success in the band's career in August 1985. Elizabeth Fraser , lead singer for the Cocteau Twins, also contributed and sang the backing vocals on both songs. Primitive Painters would have been an even greater commercial success if the Cherry Red label had better marketed the productions. The album followed in September 1985 Ignite the Seven Cannons , which Guthrie had also produced. Felt fans were not satisfied with the album, however, as the band, under the control of the Cocteau Twins, did not build on the sound of the previous albums.

After the release of Ignite the Seven Cannons , Deebank left the group. Hayward had already found another qualified musician to replace him: Martin Duffy, who had contributed to the keyboard for Ignite the Seven Cannons , now became a full member. While Felt was giving a few concerts to promote the album, Cherry Red was preparing the release of the compilation Gold Mine Trash , which came out in 1987. That year the album Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death came out , but no longer on Cherry Red, but on Creation Records . The album featured ten short instrumentals, each under two minutes. Hayward's decision to release a purely instrumental album was a daring one and prevented commercial success, but fans and critics received the album benevolently, as Duffy's' 60s keyboard sound went well with Hayward's guitar.

In October 1986, Creation released the follow-up album Forever Breathes The Lonely Word , which contained the best melodies and lyrics the band had ever produced. The song All the People I Like Are Those That Are Dead was played frequently on the radio and is now one of the felt classics. Forever Breathes the Lonely Word , later hailed as one of the best pop albums of the decade, did not become the hoped-for chart success. During this time Lawrence developed his plan to produce ten albums and ten singles with Felt in ten years, only to break up the band afterwards. In 1987 a 6-song EP came out with Poem of the River . In 1988 two long players followed on the Creation label: The Pictorial Jackson Review and Train Above The City , which only contained instrumental pieces by Martin Duffy on keyboard and Gary Ainge on drums. Hayward only contributed the title names of the individual numbers.

The band's tenth and final album was Me and a Monkey on the Moon , which was released in November 1989. The Servants' John Mohan joined Felt on lead guitar. The album was characterized by melodic compositions by Lawrence Hayward as well as by virtuoso music contributions by Mohan, Duffy and Ainge. Mike Always's El label took over distribution as Creation was unable to get it out before Hayward's self-chosen deadline. His plan of ten released singles was thwarted by the record companies Cherry Red and Creation, as both brought additional singles onto the market. Lawrence Hayward founded the band Denim in 1992 and later Go Kart Mozart .

Discography

Albums

1984: The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories (Cherry Red)
1985: Ignite the Seven Cannons (Cherry Red)
1986: Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death (Creation Records)
1986: Forever Breathes the Lonely Word (Creation Records)
1988: The Pictorial Jackson Review (Creation Records)
1988: Train Above the City (Creation Records)
1989: Me and a Monkey on the Moon (Cherry Red)

EPs

1982: Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty (Cherry Red)
1984: The Splendor of Fear (Cherry Red)
1987: Poem of the River (Creation Records)

Singles

1979: Index (Shanghai Records)
1981: Something Sends Me to Sleep (Cherry Red)
1982: My Face Is on Fire (Cherry Red)
1983: Penelope Tree (Cherry Red)
1984: Mexican Bandits (Cherry Red)
1984: Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow (Cherry Red)
1985: Primitive Painters (Cherry Red)
1986: Ballad of the Band (Creation Records)
1986: Rain of Crystal Spiers (Creation Records)
1987: The Final Resting of the Ark (Creation Records)
1988: Space Blues (Creation Records)
1989: Get out of My Mirror (Cherry Red)
1992: Primitive Painters (Cherry Red)

Compilations

1984: Felt (Virgin)
1987: Gold Mine Trash (Cherry Red)
1990: Bubblegum Perfume (Creation Records)
1992: Absolute Classic Masterpieces (Cherry Red)
1993: Absolute Classic Masterpieces Volume II (Creation Records)
2003: Stains on a Decade (Cherry Red)