With fourteen top 40 singles and four top ten albums in almost forty years, the Inspiral Carpets were built to last. The reformed classic jukebox band continue their musical journey, selling out tours and underlining their undying popularity whilst creating a platform for a rumoured new album to add to their set, which is dotted with inventive big songs built around their signature Farfisa and perfect harmonies that always brings the house down.
Their hit singles underlined their electric, eclectic creativity from the punk rock rushes of Joe to the melancholic kitchen sink dramas turned into huge hits like the glorious This Is How It Feels. Then there are the soaring choruses of Saturn 5 or the thrilling pop/noise of I Want You with the late and great Mark E. Smith lending his classic snark sneer to the song.
Far from being one trick ponies, the Inspirals brought a musical sophistication and a poetic language to much loved sixties garage rock and updated it into every decade they have existed in. Their albums gave them even more space to stretch out, starting with their debut 1990 Life, which catches the mood of that great musical year, followed up by the adventurous stretching out on 1991’s Beast Inside and 1992’s Revenge Of The Goldfish and then their final top 10 album of their first phase, 1994’s Devil Hopping which saw them somehow make sense in the middle of Britpop which they had already paved the way for without sounding out of place and out of time.
In the late eighties, the Inspiral Carpets were a key part of the crucial three Manchester bands that changed the musical landscape in the UK. Along with the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays, they were the cornerstones in a new indie psychedelia that played out in many different ways. Madchester reshaped the cultural, sartorial and sonic landscape of Brit indie and would then be reinvented as Britpop – the mid nineties scene dominated by Oasis, the band formed by their roadie – a young Noel Gallagher whose on the road education from the Inspirals was crucial to him.
With their roots going back into punk and then shaped by the weird and wonderful post-punk underground, the Inspirals were as enthralled by the sixties garage rock Nuggets albums as they were by late night John Peel sessions. Their early gigs saw a shifting lineup and a dedication to psyche with lava lamp light shows and melodies and the electric rush of garage rock to match.
They organised themselves on stage into a great live band and off the stage into a cottage industry with their brilliant merch masterstrokes like the ‘cool as fuck’ T-shirt, and a long way from jumping on the baggy bandwagon, they were the pioneers of the new northern scene and the first band to break out of the city’s next wave of bands after the Smiths.
Whilst other legends were finding their way, they were grabbing four Peel sessions and touring the UK. They did the spadework for this new kind of Manchester with their lysergic tinged songs built around great hooks and becoming instant pop classics. The Inspirals always knew how to write a killer chorus, and when everything went supernova, they peppered the charts with hits.
In fact, they had some of their biggest hits in the early nineties before retiring the band and entering various well respected roles on the music scene before the urge of playing again overtook them. They first reformed in 2011 with original singer Stephen Holt that saw a return to their punkier roots. Three years later, they released a new eponymous comeback album before the tragic passing of drummer Craig Gill in 2016 saw them knock it on the head, as guitarist Graham Lambert explains.
‘After Craig passed we were all broken. We could not play as a band. For years I walked past my guitars at home thinking that used to be my thing and for some time I envisaged never playing them again’.
Therefore it was a surprise to hear in 2023 that the band had decided to reform again which was greeted with an adulation that surprised Clint Boon.
‘When we made the decision, in the autumn of 2022, to get the Inspirals back on the road, none of us could have imagined the incredible reception we would get, not just in the UK, but in all the other countries we were lucky to visit. It’s heart-warming to know that our music still resonates with people of all ages after all these years.
The 2023/24 chapter of the Inspirals was, for me, one of our finest moments in the band’s history. Having convinced myself that we’d never record or tour again after Craig’s death, I appreciated things more than ever this time around. I think we all did. Having Oscar along on bass was an absolute joy and Kev’s drumming is a revelation. Without Oscar, Kev and Jake Fletcher, I believe this reunion might not have gone so well.’
The new line up played 50 plus sold out shows and key festival slots with one of the high points being Albert Hall in Manchester where Craig’s son Levon Gill drummed on Commercial Rain during the encore. They also headlined Shiiine Festival for the second time in 2023 to celebrate the just released The Complete Singles double vinyl album. 2024 saw more headline shows and a huge sold out tour with fellow travellers the Happy Mondays and Stereo MCS which included 3 sell out shows at the legendary Glasgow Barrowlands. They also played the wonderfully named Devils Arse Cave in Castleton as well as Bedford, Lytham and Beautiful Days Festivals.
Now back as a serious full time band, next year sees even bigger shows and the great news that the band’s bassist Martyn Walsh is back in the fold. ’It’s great to have Martyn back, I’ve missed him: he’s charmingly funny’ smiles Graham before Clint adds, ‘It’s great that Martyn’s getting back on board, and I’m convinced the next part of our story will be monumental’
Original vocalist who returned in 2011, Stephen Holt:
‘I’m really excited about the next chapter for the band. Having Martyn back is brilliant, it’s like finding your favourite pair of slippers that have been missing for a while. I’m sure our fans will be really excited as well and will really look forward to more gigs and new tunes as much as we are’.
The bassist is thrilled to back in the band that he was such a key part of, “Guess who’s back? Back again…” I’m re-energised, and raring to get back onstage and in the recording studio once more. For me, the past few years have had their fair share of upset and uncertainty but there was one constant – the songs need to be heard! Huge thanks to Oscar and Jake for playing the songs impeccably in my absence, and to Kev…Welcome to the Engine Room!
With their much loved back catalogue and new songs ready to go, 2025 will see the Inspiral carpets in rude health as their guitarist explains, ‘We are looking at another year of Greatest Hits shows but with new material on the way. The last two years has reminded me what our songs mean to people and we love playing those songs and can’t wait to play the odd new tune as well.’
