The internet is an amazing thing. You can find all kinds of long lost and barely needed information (and photos) about Headmen gigs, but try and find out when the mighty Thrum were formed and you'll be searching in vain.
What we do know is that they were Glaswegian (probably), had a female lead singer called Monica Queen who, as you'll hear on the attached mp3, has a haunting voice that deserved greater success and that courtesy of the Ready Steady Go website, that if you
...imagine a band with Tammy Wynette on vocals and Neil Young on guitar. That’s the deal with Glasgow’s country rockers, Thrum.All I can remember about Thrum is that I saw them in early 1994 - and I've pinned this down courtesy of a Manchester Academy website and a bit of good, honest, hard thinking.
I remember that me and a bunch of friends won two pairs of tickets to any gig at the Manchester University Student Union or Academy; a big prize in those days. I went to see Thrum support somebody - and there's a good chance it was the Sultans of Ping - with my mate Daisy, and my other mate Stu went to a Megadog (proto-rave-hippy-bollocks club nights, you took loads of cheap speed and danced to Transglobal Underground and the like; they were great).
The only other thing I've managed to glean about the band is that Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley were big fans. I have this on good authority; specifically a genuine sighting of Ms Hurley and Mr Grant standing at the side of the stage as the band played at the 1994 Phoenix festival (now, whatever happened to that festival?)
So here you go, the wonderful Thrum - So Glad for your delight and delectation.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy some cheap amphetamines and dig out my Drum Club - "Live in Iceland" CD.
Glorious. They played this song on The Word once, and I remember this because the singer had nice knockers.
ReplyDeleteShe sings on a Belle & Sebastian single too... Lazy Line Painter Jane.
for more monica queen you should go to www.myspace.com/monicaqueen for more thrum go to www.myspace.com/thrummmm
ReplyDeleteMonica is still performing with her husband Johnny and they're very good. Playing the Edinburgh festival on Sunday.
ReplyDeletebtw Midway Still did come back. They reformed for the Wiz memorial concert back in May (or so I believe).
http://www.you-here.com/midway/main.html
Monica Queen infamously sang lead female vocals on Belle & Sebastian's early EP Lazy Line Painter Jane, and footage of her can be found on the Fans Only DVD (as well as the DVD of one of the recent singles)
ReplyDeleteI still remember seeing what may have been the last official Thrumm gig of the 90's at the Cathouse on brommielaw (part of the ten-day weekend) - Need to rake under the stairs and find that gate-fold album - or did my maw throw it out?
ReplyDeleteThrum were great, I saw them about 3 times in Glasgow. They did a cracking cover of a Kylie song (might have been I Should Be So Lucky?). Once wandered upstairs into King Tut's early, and sat and watched them soundcheck before anyone else had turned up.
ReplyDeleteI liked Thrum too. As well as appearing on The Word, I recall seeing them on a BBC2 show presented by Eddi Reader circa August '94.
ReplyDeleteBack in those days, if a band didn't come from Scotland I wasn't interested! I liked Teenage Fanclub, Pastels, Eugenius, 18 Wheeler, Telstar Ponies, Whiteout, Perspex Whiteout etc. I turned my nose up at English bands with the exception of Denim! Nowadays my horizons have broadened and I'm catching up on what I missed out on. Thanks for helping me fill in some of the gaps & keep up the good work.
Thanks also for introducing me to those clips on YouTube of the Indie Charts from the ITV Chart Show!