The Charlatans (UK band)

The Charlatans
The Charlatans playing at the Eolica festival July 2007, Tenerife.
Background information
Origin	West Midlands/Northwich, England
Genres	Alternative rock, Madchester, Britpop, indie rock
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Dead Dead Good Records (Own Label), Situation Two/Beggars Banquet, Universal, Sanctuary, BMG Japan (Japan)
Website	http://www.thecharlatans.net/
Members	Martin Blunt Tim Burgess Mark Collins Tony Rogers
Past members	Jon Brookes Rob Collins Baz Ketley Jon Day

The Charlatans (known in the United States as The Charlatans UK) are an English indie rock band. The band's line-up currently comprises lead vocalist Tim Burgess, guitarist Mark Collins, bassist Martin Blunt and keyboardist Tony Rogers.^[1]

Former members of the band include vocalist Baz Ketley (1989); guitarist Jon Day (Jonathan Baker) (1989–1991); keyboardist Rob Collins (1989–1996), who died in a car accident during recording of their fifth album; and drummer Jon Brookes (1989-2013), who died after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2010.

In the UK, all of the band's twelve studio albums have charted in the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, three of them being number ones. They have also achieved seventeen Top 30 singles and four Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart.

History

Formation (1988–1989)

The band were originally formed in the West Midlands by bassist Martin Blunt, who recruited fellow West Midlanders Rob Collins (keyboards), Jon Brookes (drums), Jon Day (Jonathan Baker) (guitar) and singer/guitarist Baz Ketley (who later left the band to be replaced by Tim Burgess).

Although the Charlatans would later become popularly associated with the Madchester scene, the band's early demos recorded in 1988 in Birmingham and Dudley already evidenced the sound that the band ultimately became famous for, dominated by Collins's Hammond organ but underpinned by the driving rhythm section of Blunt's powerful running bass and Brookes's drumming.^[2] With their sound – fusing 1960s soul, R&B and garage rock – inherited from Blunt's earlier 1982 band Makin' Time, the band saw themselves firmly in the West Midlands tradition of hard-edged soul and R&B that included Birmingham bands The Spencer Davis Group and early Dexys Midnight Runners.^[3]

Although the name The Charlatans was already being used when the original members of the band were still located in the West Midlands, many sources state that they formed in Northwich, Cheshire.^[4] This is because the band relocated to the home town of new lead singer Tim Burgess (who was born in Salford, but lived in Northwich from an early age) before the 1990 release of The Charlatans' debut single "Indian Rope", on the band's own Dead Dead Good Records label. Thus based on the definition of hometown used by Guinness World Records the band was formed in Northwich, and consequently Northwich is recorded as their home town in such publications as British Hit Singles & Albums - although the founding members are actually from Walsall.

Early years (1990–1993)

The Charlatans during their early days

The debut single "Indian Rope" proved to be an indie hit and the group soon found a major label in Beggars Banquet offshoot Situation Two in time for the release of "The Only One I Know", which reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart.^[5] A further single "Then" and their debut album Some Friendly were released later that year. Around this time The Charlatans were forced to add UK to their name for an American tour due to competing claims by a 1960s rock band also known as The Charlatans.^[1]

Baker left the band after 1991's "Over Rising" single to be replaced by Mark Collins (no relation to Rob). The band brought in producer Flood for their second album Between 10th and 11th (named after the address of the New York Marquee, the site of the group's first US concert). Released in early 1992, the album failed to reach the Top 20 in the UK Albums Chart,^[5] but the Top 20 success of lead single "Weirdo" and a double weekend of gigs ('Daytripper') in Blackpool and Brighton together with Ride would keep them in the public eye.^[5][6]

The band suffered a major setback later that year, when Rob Collins was charged with armed robbery after a friend had robbed an off licence while he was waiting in the car outside.^[1] Collins claimed to have no foreknowledge of the robbery until he heard a gunshot inside the shop and his friend exited, although he later admitted that he should not have picked up his friend after he had realised what he had done. In court he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of "assisting an offender after an offence" and served four months in prison.^[1]

Mid-nineties fame (1994–1997)

Their third album Up To Our Hips (1994) reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart.^[5]

In 1995 the release of the band's self-titled fourth album saw them become major UK stars again, topping the UK albums chart and spawning the Top 20 single "Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over".^[5]

Keyboard player Rob Collins was killed in a car crash on 22 July 1996, during the recording of the band's fifth album Tellin' Stories. The Charlatans decided to continue, drafting in the Primal Scream and former Felt keyboardist Martin Duffy until a permanent replacement for Collins could be found, particularly for The Charlatans' support slot at Oasis' Knebworth concerts in mid-1996. Tellin' Stories was released in 1997, featuring contributions from both Rob Collins and Duffy. The group had their biggest UK hits to date in the singles "One to Another", "North Country Boy" and "How High".^[5]

Line-up and label changes (1997–2004)

After the release of the career-spanning compilation Melting Pot the band's contract with Beggars Banquet was up, and they signed to Universal Records.^[1] Relations with the Beggars label remained strong however, and the band helped put together the B-sides collection Songs From The Other Side and the DVD Just Lookin' 1990 - 1997, which showcased all their promotional videos and a selection of live recordings from that era.

Us And Us Only was the start of a new era for The Charlatans. Their first release for Universal saw new keyboard player Tony Rogers make his Charlatans album debut,^[1] having previously toured in support of Tellin' Stories and contributing to B-sides "Keep It to Yourself" and "Clean Up Kid" from the "How High" single. The band took on a slightly country sound, heavily influenced by Burgess's love of Bob Dylan.

The soul influenced Wonderland followed in 2001, beforeUp At The Lake was released in 2004.

The Sanctuary years (2005–2007)

The band released their ninth full-length album on 10 April 2006, their first for new label Sanctuary Records. Titled Simpatico, the reggae and dub tinged album was produced by Jim Lowe, and included fan favourite "NYC (There's No Need to Stop)" and first single "Blackened Blue Eyes".^[7] The single charted at number 28, whilst the album reached the top 10 in its first week of release, before dropping out of the charts shortly after.^[5]

Their follow-up to Simpatico was the career-spanning singles compilation entitled Forever: The Singles which was released on CD and DVD on 13 November 2006. It was preceded by the re-recorded song (remixed by Youth) "You're So Pretty We're So Pretty", which originally appeared on their 2001 album Wonderland.

The band played a number of high-profile supporting gigs in mid-2007, including for The Who and The Rolling Stones at venues including Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stadium in London, as well as the Bingley Music Live event, Nass Festival 2007 and at Delamere Forest in Cheshire. A recording of Live At Delamere Forest was released as a five-part download for a limited time via their official website.

Cooking Vinyl, nostalgic performances and Brookes's illness (2008–2012)

The band contributed the song "Blank Heart, Blank Mind" to a Love Music, Hate Racism compilation CD which came free with the October 2007 issue of the NME. Later the same month, the new single "You Cross My Path" was released as a free download exclusively through the XFM website. A second single "Oh! Vanity" emerged in March 2008, as The Charlatans teamed up with XFM once again, becoming the first UK band to release an album (their tenth studio album You Cross My Path) as a free download via a radio station. The album also received a physical CD/LP release on the Cooking Vinyl label on 19 May 2008, which coincided with a full UK tour.

Their eleventh studio album, Who We Touch, was released on 6 September 2010 on Cooking Vinyl Records, and included the single "Love Is Ending". The album charted at No. 21 in the UK Albums Chart. 2010 also saw the twentieth anniversary of the band's debut album Some Friendly, which they played live at Primavera Sound Festival 2010.^[8]

On 15 September 2010, drummer Jon Brookes collapsed during a performance in Philadelphia. The remaining US tour dates were postponed, as Brookes was diagnosed with a brain tumour^[9] and was flown back to the UK for an operation and course of radiation and chemotherapy treatment. The Verve's Peter Salisbury acted as a stand-in drummer for the remainder of the Charlatans UK dates. Brookes returned to the stage for the band's Christmas and New Year Eve's gigs in 2010.

On 28 March 2011 Universal Music re-released a deluxe edition of the band's 1999 album Us & Us Only, featuring a collection of bonus tracks including B-sides, live recordings, radio sessions and rare remixes. In March and April 2011 Tim Burgess and Mark Collins played an acoustic tour of the UK, to coincide with which they released an EP Warm Sounds, which featured six stripped-down and reworked versions of Charlatans tracks including "North Country Boy", "The Only One I Know" and "Smash The System". In December 2011 the band announced they would be performing Tellin' Stories in its entirety at London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo, O2 Apollo Manchester and Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom in June 2012.

Death of Jon Brookes and new album (2013–present)

2013 saw the band return to their Big Mushroom studio to begin working on demos for a new album. In May 2013 the Mountain Picnic Blues DVD was released, a documentary about their Tellin' Stories album from its creation in 1997 to the 15th anniversary of the album.

On 13 August 2013 the band's drummer Jon Brookes succumbed to brain cancer, having undergone several operations and treatment for the condition since his diagnosis in 2010.^[10] The band themselves paid him tribute in a special event, with Pete Salisbury playing in his place and bands such as Beady Eye, The Vaccines and Manic Street Preachers also joining the bill. Proceeds from the night went to The Brain Tumour Charity, of which The Charlatans are now patrons; the charity have set up The Jon Brookes Fund as a lasting tribute to the drummer.^[11]

Tim Burgess confirmed that Brookes's recordings would appear on the band's next album, originally slated for sometime in 2014.^[12] As of December 2014, the band's lead singer Tim Burgess became involved in a Channel 4 documentary where he travels the UK doing small scale gigs in an attempt to raise enough money to fund the recording of the band's next studio album on the International Space Station.

The Charlatans announced details of their twelfth studio album Modern Nature, to be released on the 26th January 2015 on their new label BMG Rights Management. Featuring eleven new tracks (including the recent limited edition 7” Talking In Tones), Modern Nature was produced by The Charlatans and Jim Spencer, and mixed by Craig Silvey. The album features contributions from the band’s temporary drummers Peter Salisbury (of The Verve), Stephen Morris (of New Order) and Gabriel Gurnsey (of Factory Floor), as well as producer Dave Tollan, backing singers Melanie Marshall and Sandra Marvin, strings by Sean O'Hagan and brass courtesy of Jim Paterson from Dexys Midnight Runners.

Discography

Studio albums

• Some Friendly (1990)
• Between 10th and 11th (1992)
• Up to Our Hips (1994)
• The Charlatans (1995)
• Tellin' Stories (1997)
• Us and Us Only (1999)
• Wonderland (2001)
• Up at the Lake (2004)
• Simpatico (2006)
• You Cross My Path (2008)
• Who We Touch (2010)
• Modern Nature (2015)

Band members

Current members

• Martin Blunt – bass (1989–present) (born 11 December 1966)
• Tim Burgess – lead vocals, harmonica (1989–present) (born 30 May 1967)
• Mark Collins – guitar, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals (1991–present) (born 14 August 1965)
• Tony Rogers – keyboards, piano, organ, hammond organ, backing vocals (1997–present) (born 19 April 1966)

Former members

• Jon Brookes – drums and percussion (1989–2013; died 2013) (21 September 1968 - 13 August 2013)
• Rob Collins – keyboards, piano, organ, hammond organ, backing vocals (1989–1996; died 1996) (23 February 1963 - 22 July 1996)
• Baz Ketley – lead vocals, guitar (1989) (born 31 December 1959)
• Jon Day (b. Jonathan Baker) – guitar (1989–1991) (born 17 May 1962)

Session and touring members

• Martin Duffy (musician) – keyboards (1996-1997)
• Peter Salisbury – drums and percussion (2010; 2013; 2015)

References

Bibliography

• Wills, D. The Charlatans : The authorised history, Virgin Books, 1999. ISBN 0-7535-0194-5

External links

• Official website
• The Charlatans Live at Primavera podcast