Shriekback/Artminx

I can't precisely remember when I first heard Shriekback. I do recall quite clearly that my friend, Dee, had a poster of theirs on her ceiling in our halls of residence, promoting either their near hit 'Hand On My Heart' or its parent album, 'Jam Science'. 

I do remember the first time I saw them playing live, though, which was in a cavernous gig supporting Simple Minds, who were on tour playing their dreadful 'Once Upon A Time' album. Simple Minds, my grand passion, the band I wanted to see live more than any other, was a crushing disappointment that night, but the evening was saved by Shriekback.

I can remember being excited by Martyn Barker's intricate yet powerful drumming, Dave Allen's 'ganking' bass, and Barry Andrews' presence at the front, looking like a character from some parallel civilisation, whose dress code was Turkish bazaar plus bling, and, above all, by their brilliant songs. 

I don't remember what they played that evening - although I could take a good guess - but I do know they played 'Nemesis'. They had a little set piece where the song came to a halt as Andrews looked to the crowd for the next line ("with the great big fishes"). There was silence and, mock appalled, Andrews asked "Really? No one?" How badly I wanted to know the answer.

Shriekback were the first band I loved whom I think you could describe as having a punk ethos. Poorly treated by record companies, constantly teetering on the brink of success, always interesting, I bought everything they released from then on: the colourful, larger than life 'Big Night Music', the over-produced 'Go Bang!', and then, possibly my favourite of their albums, 'Sacred City'.

One of my top five gigs was seeing them play at the Astoria on the 'Big Night Music' tour but my most abiding recollection is sitting, huddled on the top deck of the 152 bus to and from Carshalton, listening to 'Jam Science' over and over again on my Sony Walkman as I commuted to and from my holiday job one winter.

Over the last few years, the band has re-issued a lot of old albums, including 'Secrets of the City', a CD-R only website release from maybe fifteen years ago that I missed and had given up on ever owning. Actively re-engaging with fans on Facebook and with a sporadic but interesting blog has led to most of the band reforming, financing a short tour this summer via Kickstarter. Suffice to say I'm going to all of the gigs, which are in Glasgow, Manchester, and London.

Two or three years ago, before the talk of a tour, one of the offers from Barry Andrews was that you could commission a short piece by him, providing only a title, to which he would work. I chose 'Artminx' and he duly provided the piece (with which I was delighted). A few months ago, he got in touch to ask whether 'Artminx' could be included on a compilation of the commissioned work. I said yes, of course.

Funnily enough, we were chatting about this with Tony and Emma, last night - the commissioning, not the compilation (which I'd forgotten about) - and then, this morning, out of the blue, the album, 'The Elated World', arrived in the post! I hadn't told the Minx about it so she was totally surprised, which made it even better.