Senseless Things
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The Senseless Things were a successful indie punk band who were popular in the UK in the early 1990s.
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[edit] Career
The Senseless Things formed in 1987 in Twickenham, London. The band consisted of Mark Keds on guitar and vocals, Ben Harding on guitar and vocals, Cass Browne on drums and Morgan Nicholls on bass guitar. The early band's sound was characterised by a Ramones-like barrage of fast melodic pop - punk singles and energetic stage shows. The early singles were collected on the 1988 compilation Postcard CV on the Way Cool record label which could be compared to The Undertones and The Buzzcocks. In 1989 a remixed version of early single "Too Much Kissing" became a UK Singles Chart hit. The band had a very loyal following of characteristically very young stagediving and moshing teenage fans who were referred to in the music press as "Pop Kids".
In 1991 the band signed to Epic Records and released their debut album First of Too Many, featuring artwork by Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett who was a friend of the band. The album was well received and saw the band experimenting with other musical styles including some acoustic songs. The band enjoyed a run of reasonably successful chart singles and sold out club tours. In 1992 the band undertook a long and intensive tour of America with Blur.
The next album, 1993's Empire of the Senseless (named after the Kathy Acker novel), showed some darker grunge influences. The lead single "Homophobic Asshole" was an angry and passionate song, although it was not a large hit. The following singles "Hold it Down" and "Primary Instinct" were reasonable successes.
The band's final album was 1995's Taking Care of Business backed with controversial single "Christian Killer" (renamed "Christine Keeler" for the album). The album flopped and the band split in 1995 after one final tour.
[edit] After the band split
In 1995 Mark Keds briefly joined The Wildhearts before forming his own band Jolt in 1996. Ben Harding formed the new band 3 colours red who were the most successful of all ex members of the Senseless Things new bands. Morgan Nicholls briefly joined The Wonder Stuff vocalist Miles Hunt in Vent 414 before rejoining Cass Browne in Delakota in 1998. Morgan used to play bass and other instruments for The Streets, but more recently he has played live with Muse filling in at V festival 2004 when bassist Chris Wolstenholme broke his wrist, he now appears live regularly with the band playing keyboard. Browne currently plays drums for Gorillaz.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Postcard CV 1988
- First of Too Many 1991
- Empire of the Senseless 1993
- Peel Sessions 1994
- Taking Care of Business 1995
