Inspiral Carpets set for appearance at The Apex later this month
A vital component of the infamous Madchester movement, Inspiral Carpets (pictured above) are known for hit singles such as “This is How It Feels”, “Saturn 5”, “She Comes in the Fall”, “Dragging Me Down” and “Joe”, and they are set to appear at The Apex, in Bury St Edmunds, later this month.
At the height of Madchester, in the late-1980s/early-1990s, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets were seen as “the holy triumvirate” by the music press.
In an interview Clint Boon admitted” “The Inspirals were probably the runt of the litter, but history has been very kind to us.”
However, Pitchfork Music has said “the Inspiral Carpets were perhaps the best singles band of the Madchester era, cooking up three-minute tales of tear-jerking psychedelia, in which a neat eye for lyrical detail met intricately arranged vocal harmonies and Clint Boon’s stirring organ melodies.”
Formed in Oldham in 1983, the band is known for using keyboards and distorted guitars in their songs, taking influences from psychedelic rock.
They first appeared on a flexi-disc with “Garage Full of Flowers” that was given free with Manchester’s Debris magazine in 1987. Their first proper release, the “Cow” cassette, soon followed.
The 1988 “Planecrash” EP received airplay from Radio 1 DJ John Peel who asked the band to record a session for his show.
Their first Top-40 chart success in the UK was with “This Is How It Feels”, which reached number 14 on the singles chart and their debut album “Life”, which reached number two on the albums chart in 1990.
Their 1992 album “Revenge of the Goldfish” peaked at number 17 and spawned four hit singles.
The next album, “Devil Hopping” (1994), reached number 10, with “Saturn 5” and “I Want You” (featuring Mark E Smith) becoming top-20 hits.
In March 2023, the band released a singles compilation, featuring all of their hit singles on cd/vinyl from 1988 to 2015, and remixes of those tracks.
Inspiral Carpets play The Apex on Thursday, May 23, at 8pm. See www.theapex.co.uk or ring 01284 758000 for more information or to book tickets.