The Wild Bunch

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

The Wild Bunch was an English sound system and a loose collective of musicians and DJs from the Bristol neighbourhoods of St Paul's, Montpelier and Bishopston. The name comes from Sam Peckinpah's 1969 western. The group began in 1982 as a sound system on the Bristol scene, with Grantley Marshall, known as Daddy G, and Miles Johnson, DJ Milo, as the main DJs. In 1984 they asked the young graffiti artist Robert Del Naja, 3D, to join. He became one of the MCs. Later Claude Williams and, in 1987, Adrian Thaws, known as Tricky, among others, joined.

Music and breakthrough

As pioneers of sound system culture they played all night in clubs and in abandoned warehouses. In 1986 they played at the St Paul's Carnival and signed with 4th and B'way, a label of Island Records. That year they toured Japan, after which DJ Milo stayed on to work there. They held sound clashes with other sound systems, including Soul II Soul. In 1985 the single Tearin Down the Avenue was recorded and in 1988 Friends and Countrymen appeared. By then Del Naja, Marshall and Andrew Vowles had already formed Massive Attack, and in 1989 The Wild Bunch no longer existed. Nellee Hooper went to London and became a producer and remixer, for Madonna, U2 and Björk, among others.

Influence

The Wild Bunch mixed hip hop, punk, R&B and reggae in a single performance. Their preference for slower rhythms and ambient, electronic atmospheres laid the foundation for the Bristol sound, which later became trip hop. The collective showed how a sound system with loose DJs and MCs could eventually give rise to an entire scene.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2002The Wild Bunch: Story of a Sound System

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 5: Jazz Festival^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Trip hop GenreMassive Attack emerged from the collective The Wild Bunch.