The Farm (band)

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The Farm are a band from Liverpool, England. They were popular through the early 1990s. Their album Spartacus stormed to number one in the UK albums chart when it was released in April 1991. The band are seen to be influenced by the Madchester movement.

Contents

[edit] History

The Farm was unofficially called Soul of Socialism in the early 1980s. This band was comprised of Peter Hooton, Steve Grimes, John Melvin and Andy McVann who was killed in a 1986 car chase, running away from the police. The band evolved out of an earlier group called the Excitements, initially including Phil (stinker) on bass, Neil (Cad) Campbell on drums, as well as Steve Grimes on guitar. They became the Farm after Martin Dunbar (vocals) left and Peter Hooton joined. The name came from a friend's Farm where they used to practice. In the 1980s they released a single, "Hearts and Minds", produced by Graham "Suggs" McPherson, lead vocalist with Madness. In 1986, after McVann's death, Melvin quit the band, to pursue a varied career as the director of his own construction firm, but he eventually returned to music in 1990 under the guise of "Mr Smith", a two piece band that would tour frequently, but not release anything of note. After the departure of Melvin and the death of McVann, Hooton promptly brought in a new line-up. They released four Indie singles but failed to earn themselves a big break until 1990.

In 1989, the band had been given a cameo role in the movie The Final Frame, starring Graham McPherson of Madness fame. They were signed up on the back of this and hired McPherson as their producer. Their first single under new management was "Stepping Stone", a dance re-make of The Monkees' "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", a 1966 single which in its day reached #20 in the U.S. Billboard charts.

They were soon featured in The Face, an influential pop culture magazine in the UK, and their promotion of "No alla violenza" anti-hooligan t-shirts during the Italia 90 helped raise their profile further.

The Farm's first song to reach the upper end of the UK singles chart was "Groovy Train", which reached the Top Five in September 1990. Later that year, they released their most famous song, "All Together Now" which was a huge hit.

It was on the crest of this wave that their album Spartacus reached #1 in the UK. However, this wave broke very quickly, and their first major-label single (on Sony), "Love See No Colour" (1992), was not particularly successful, which led to a split from producers Pete Heller and Terry Farley, and the band joined up with Mark Saunders, the man who had produced Erasure and The Cure. They released a cover of Human League's "Don't You Want Me", but this only reached the Top Twenty.

The band were down, but not quite out. In 1994, they released the album Hullabaloo, on the record label Sire, followed by their last major single release. Despite being a group largely supporting Liverpool F.C., they released a single to accompany the presence of their cross-city rivals, Everton, in the 1995 FA Cup Final.

Their most recent release was "All Together Now (strike three)", as the official anthem of the England National Football Team at Euro 2004. It was released on May 31, 2004, having been remixed with the help of DJ Spoony.

[edit] Line-up

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

  • "Don't Let Me Down", 22 April 1991
  • "Mind", 12 August 1991
  • "Don't You Want Me", 1992
  • "Rising Sun", 1992
  • "Love See No Colour", 1992
  • "Messiah", 1994
  • "Comfort", 1994
  • "All Together Now" (Everton FA Cup Final Version), May 1995
  • "All Together Now" (England Euro 2004 Version), May 2004
  • "Starteam" (England World Cup 2006 Version) June 2006
Year Title Chart Positions Album
US Modern Rock
1990 "Stepping Stone"
-
??
1991 "All Together Now"
#7
 Spartacus
1991 "Groovy Train"
#15
 Spartacus

[edit] Albums

[edit] External links

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