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Inspiral Carpets

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Inspiral Carpets is an English rock band from Oldham, near Manchester. The guitarist Graham Lambert and the singer Stephen Holt, friends from school, started the group in 1983 as a garage and punk band. In 1986 the fourteen-year-old drummer Craig Gill joined, and later the keyboard player Clint Boon. When Holt left, he was replaced by Tom Hingley. With Hingley, Gill, Lambert, Boon and the bassist Martyn Walsh the band had its most successful line-up.

Music and breakthrough

The band became known in the late 1980s in the Madchester scene, together with the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. The DJ John Peel often played the Planecrash EP (1988) and asked the band for a session. Because their distributor went bankrupt, they started their own label, Cow Records. They then signed to Mute and had success with This Is How It Feels and the debut album Life (1990). There followed The Beast Inside (1991), Revenge of the Goldfish (1992) and Devil Hopping (1994), with Saturn 5 and I Want You, which they recorded with Mark E. Smith. In 1995 the group broke up. Later they reunited a few times, and in 2014 the album Inspiral Carpets appeared.

Influence

The band's sound revolved around Clint Boon's organ and distorted guitars, with influences from the psychedelic rock of the 1960s. One of the band's roadies would later become more famous than the group itself: Noel Gallagher worked for them as a drum technician before he went on to play with Oasis.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to This Is How It Feels (1990). Notice Clint Boon's organ, which is almost as important as the guitar, and how that organ brings back the atmosphere of the 1960s.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: ArtistsMadchester