The Darling Buds

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The Darling Buds
Origin	Newport, Wales, UK
Genre(s)	Punk, Indie, Twee pop
Years active	1986–1993
Label(s)	Native Records Epic Records
Members
Andrea Lewis Harley Farr Chris McDonogh Bloss (1986-1990) Jimmy Hughes (1990-1993)

The Darling Buds was an indie band from Newport, South Wales. The band formed in 1986 and was named after the HE Bates novel The Darling Buds of May – a title taken in turn, from the third line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May".

1 Career
2 Members
3 New Buds
4 Discography
- 4.1 Albums
- 4.2 Singles
5 Audio sample
6 External links

[edit] Career

Influenced by the catchy simple sound of the early Beatles, the band created very melodic, hook-driven, short-duration singles. They were considered part of the short lived "Blonde" movement (indie rock band fronted by blonde female singer with all other members being dark-haired males) along with the likes of The Primitives and Transvision Vamp but also referenced the C86 scene of a few years earlier.

The Darling Buds was formed in Cardiff, UK in 1986 by the then 19-year-old Andrea Lewis. Their debut single, "If I Said", was released on February 1987 and was well received. The group re-released the single on an established label, Native, receiving radio play on John Peel's Radio 1 show. Signing with Sony in 1988, several singles preceded their critically acclaimed 1989 debut LP, Pop Said.... The album ultimately reached the top 30 UK album chart and the band appeared on the cover of Melody Maker twice (24 September 1988 and 18 February 1989). In 1990 the original drummer, Bloss, left the band and was replaced by Jimmy Hughes from Black. Their second album, Crawdaddy, more sophisticated than their first, was not as well received. Pressing forward with their new style, the group followed with their third and final album in 1992, entitled Erotica, a few weeks before Madonna's album of the same name. The album contained the US single "Long Day In The Universe" which was featured on the soundtrack for the Mike Myers movie "So I Married an Axe Murderer". Although they toured the United States in support of the album for a year, the members of the Darling Buds grew increasingly frustrated by their lack of commercial success and disbanded.

Since disbanding Andrea Lewis moved on to acting, touring with a Cardiff theater company, later hosting The Slate for BBC Wales. In 1998 and 1999 she cohosted a Welsh Saturday morning radio show, The Weekenders, with Gareth Jones. Chris McDonogh now works at Le Mons studio in Newport.

[edit] Members

Andrea Lewis - Vocalist
Harley Farr - Guitarist
Chris McDonogh - Bassist
Blos - Drummer (1986-1990)
Jon Lee - Drummer (1992- two of the b-sides on "Sure Thing", then shortly formed "Reel" who went on to become Feeder with singer/songwriter Grant Nicholas)
Jimmy Hughes - Drummer (1990-1993)
Matt Gray - Guitarist (1992-1993)
Dennis McCarthy - Drummer (1993)

[edit] New Buds

Currently there exists an English band with the same name. Actor Jamie Campbell Bower is the lead singer. The band has nothing to do with the original Buds.