― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Monday, 13 November 2006 23:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 00:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 23:05 (seventeen years ago) link
the more i listen to/think about/marvel at earl brutus, the more i think they might, all things considered, be my favourite band ever.
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 00:01 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah these guys are pretty bloody brilliant
― Just got offed, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 00:03 (sixteen years ago) link
"are" ... YES, LET'S KEEP THE FLAME BURNING and hope for that unlikely reformation.
― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:05 (sixteen years ago) link
quite rightly, they got placed into the Guardian 1000 Albums list didn't they ..
flame on.
― mark e, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:09 (sixteen years ago) link
which album? having heard both i'm veering slightly towards "Tonight..." but it's close. i think "your majesty..." the TRACK is possibly their best song.
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link
"Earl Brutus Your Majesty We Are Here (1996) Though it was released at the height of Britpop, this debut from Earl Brutus had more in common with conceptual Britart. The music provided glam-rock thunder, the personnel provided glamour - two guys at the front, just drinking - and the lyrics gave the enterprise a surprising lightness of touch. "
― mark e, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:47 (sixteen years ago) link
"second class war" is the one track i'd use to convince any unbeliever. which reminds me ... need to do a CD of "that stuff you listen to" for mrs F's 70-something aunt. SCW will categorically be on there.
didn't see the guardian list and don't want to bring myself to care about it :)
xpost: okay, nice try, but ... y'know, facts?
the personnel provided glamour
this is irony, right?
two guys at the front, just drinking
one guy -- and not until later, either. shin-yu wasn't in the band (IIRC) at that time.
― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:49 (sixteen years ago) link
actually, 'navyhead' and 'black speedway' take some beating. as do 'edelweiss' and '99p'. and 'male wife'. hmm.
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:51 (sixteen years ago) link
New recruits to the Earl Brutus cause, hooray!
― Tom D., Thursday, 6 December 2007 10:19 (sixteen years ago) link
favourite memory involved them playing the new bands stage at glastonbury in 98/99 (a muddy year) or so in a slot before julian lennon. times overrun, and yoko ono turns up in the photographers pit early, just in time for earl brutus to be finishing up their set. to this day i'll never forget the sight of her in her white designer mac outfit and wellies gamely yet confusedly jiggling about as the singer of earl brutus is unwittingly wobbling everywhere and showering her in lager.
― matt h, Thursday, 6 December 2007 14:00 (sixteen years ago) link
yoko went to see julian lennon?!
― energy flash gordon, Thursday, 6 December 2007 23:29 (sixteen years ago) link
yoko WENT TO GLASTONBURY to see julian lennon?!?!
earl brutus drinking lager !?!?!?
― mark e, Friday, 7 December 2007 09:27 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.plantingseedsrecords.com/news.html
i don't know what to say
― Just got offed, Thursday, 12 June 2008 21:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Fuck.
Here was me thinking it was a re union post.
Fuck/Shit Piss/Off
That is brutal news
― Fer Ark, Thursday, 12 June 2008 21:57 (fifteen years ago) link
god!
― Mark G, Friday, 13 June 2008 06:52 (fifteen years ago) link
damn. like louis, i'm speechless
― mark e, Friday, 13 June 2008 08:07 (fifteen years ago) link
OK, right, I wasn't going to talk about this until it was officially announced but it seems to have leaked out. Nick died on Sunday night. He was drummer with Clock DVA, Gun Club, World of Twist, Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat (not a bad CV) and, of course, singer and frontman with Earl Brutus. More importantly, he was a wonderful man, a total one-off and a real mensch. So long Nick, hope to see you next time around.
― Tom D., Friday, 13 June 2008 08:38 (fifteen years ago) link
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/2572785667_30ffd59be8.jpg?v=0
― Tom D., Friday, 13 June 2008 08:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh man I used to know him when he was in Freeheat, seemed like a lovely guy, very friendly and open. RIP
― Matt #2, Friday, 13 June 2008 08:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Universal Plan - Earl Brutus
"I get up. Go to work. Eat my lunch. Come home. Cure cancer. That's it. It's a beautiful world"
fucking brilliant band, if only he had kept to his own plan.
― mark e, Friday, 13 June 2008 12:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Good appreciation on Quietus: http://www.thequietus.com/2008/06/nick-sanderson-an-obituary-an-appreciation/
― Neil S, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 17:52 (fifteen years ago) link
I had no idea really who this guy was until I read his obit here in the Independent. Didn't realise there was a connection between EB and Clock DVA - what a great band they were. Tom, I'm sorry to hear you lost a pal.
This is a delightful story that LJ will like:
Sanderson's interests were broad, including ornithology, Manchester United and British history. I remember him describing a birdwatching trip to see some hawfinches in Norfolk. He didn't find the birds, instead ending up drunk in the dark and falling down some coastal bluffs. His clothes torn, his face scratched, he knocked on the door of some remote cottage. Surprisingly perhaps, the stranger who answered let Sanderson in. The pair then spent the rest of the night in high-spirited revelry.
Hope he got to see the hawfinches in the end, God knows I've tried and those are some bad bitches to nail down.
― NickB, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 21:46 (fifteen years ago) link
(dude gets bonus points from me for being a red BTW)
― NickB, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 21:47 (fifteen years ago) link
:(
― Raw Patrick, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 23:46 (fifteen years ago) link
i mean a birdwatching football fan who wrote awesome fucking music
― Just got offed, Thursday, 19 June 2008 05:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Cheers for posting that Quietus thing, Nick, that was a good piece
― Tom D., Thursday, 19 June 2008 09:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Eh, no worries, but that was actually Neil that posted that.
― NickB, Thursday, 19 June 2008 09:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh man, so it was, sorry Neil!
― Tom D., Thursday, 19 June 2008 09:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Nae bother, glad it was enjoyed.
― Neil S, Thursday, 19 June 2008 10:09 (fifteen years ago) link
Blimey, World of Twist are a cursed band - first Tony Ogden, now Nick Sanderson.
Bloody cancer :-((((
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 19 June 2008 10:11 (fifteen years ago) link
good write up by bob stanley in this months mojo re Tonight .. as a lost classic, along with a nice obit by ian harrison (who also sorted out the excellent piece over on quietus). interesting point about an artist using Earl Brutus as the foundation of a new exhibition.
― mark e, Thursday, 3 July 2008 08:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, it seems to have been written before, which is a shame.
― Mark G, Thursday, 3 July 2008 08:58 (fifteen years ago) link
Never really got used to that second Earl Brutus album; it was too much of a Lexicon to the first's Beauty Stab.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 3 July 2008 09:01 (fifteen years ago) link
fucking, fucking hell. and there was i hoping the thread revive might have been a reunion or something :(
RIP, nick. you rocked my fucking world in all manner of ways.
there are many days i think earl brutus might just have been the greatest band of all time. unsurprisingly, this is going to be one of them.
and tom, yes, my sympathies: it's obviously something else entirely to lose a guy you knew.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 3 July 2008 10:22 (fifteen years ago) link
i just spent an hour or so wandering about glasgow in the rain listening to "your majesty". what a blindingly fucking good band. i'm incredibly saddened by this news (i didn't realise the initial thread revive was so long ago; the first i'd heard of any of this was this morning).
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 3 July 2008 14:48 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah. i listened to both albums for a few days solidly after i heard, and cant deny i was a very depressing experience given that i had always hoped that they would reform and i'd be in the front row with a great big mutha'fuggin' grin. but sadly this will never be the case now. a blindingly fucking good band indeed.
― mark e, Thursday, 3 July 2008 14:55 (fifteen years ago) link
They have always begged the question: Why don't more bands dress like sailors in the Royal Navy?
They looked fucking fantastic.
― PhilK, Thursday, 3 July 2008 19:41 (fifteen years ago) link
One of the most refreshing live bands I've ever seen. Did I howl? I always had the biggest shit eating grin. Genuinely fucking crazy on stage were the Brutus - 'old enough to know better' made them more rewarding
Bar 'Navyhead' which was usually blasted only when well oiled, I didn't really play them at home that often.
After hearing the horrible news, it dawned on me that I must have seen Earl Brutus as much as any other band.In one or two venues but in their hey day (fuck yeah) they just sort of arrived at Festivals - usually first or second on on , on the third stage. Still pissed from the night before.
― Fer Ark, Thursday, 3 July 2008 20:19 (fifteen years ago) link
Having given both a lot of listens, I'd say the two albums are very close but Tonight is the, erm, special one. Would be interested to read the obits/write-ups. As I said above, Nick seemed like one of the genuine heroes and even a wasteful young'un like myself will miss him. ;-)
― Just got offed, Thursday, 3 July 2008 23:49 (fifteen years ago) link
Train driver in eyeliner
A tribute concert for Nick Sanderson featuring Jesus & Mary Chain, Black Box Recorder, British Sea Power & Earl Brutus DJs.
The Jesus & Mary Chain are set to headline a one-off show in commemoration of musician & railwayman Nick Sanderson who sadly passed away on June 8th of this year.
The show, to take place at The Forum in London on October 27th 2008, will also feature sets from Black Box Recorder, British Sea Power and a DJ set from Jim Fry & Gordon King of Sanderson’s final group, Earl Brutus.
Tickets for the show are priced at £20 and are available via www.kentishtownforum.com. All proceeds from the show will go to Nick’s immediate family.
Born Sheffield, South Yorkshire 22nd April 1961, Nick was a talented musician with an infectious passion for everything from Manchester United, the British rail system, British history to ornithology.
Nick started out as drummer with Sheffield post-punk group Clock DVA in the early Eighties before a stint with The Gun Club. A founding member of Manchester’s World of Twist, Nick also went on to regularly drum for Jesus & Mary Chain, for whom he played on their 1998 album Munki.
Yet it was to be Earl Brutus, the band he formed with Gordon King of World Of Twist and Jim Fry, who he knew from his Clock DVA days, which gave a voice to Nick’s acute sense of the minutiae of British culture.
The name was meant to conjure up "a pub that's quite a rough sort of place, but with a nice carvery on Sunday lunchtimes" and they marvelously continued to be at odds with all prevailing trends courtesy of a musical blend that fell somewhere between Kraftwerk and the terrace-stomp of classic glam-rock and a keen lyrical absurdity that often championed the un-celebrated while deriding the vacuous.
Having originally come from a railway family, Nick was to finally become a train driver on the London to Brighton line following the demise of Earl Brutus.
For further information contact:
Steve Phillips Coalition PR 0208 987 0123St✧✧✧@coalitiongr✧✧✧.c✧.u✧
― Tom D is a rattly old puffin, who remembers ILX in the days when... (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 September 2008 14:06 (fifteen years ago) link
jim reid talks about nick and about the gig; also some amusing mary chain interview footage from back in the day.
― easy, lionel (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 12 October 2008 12:31 (fifteen years ago) link
3 and a half years since I started this thread and I STILL haven't heard this.
Did it ever surface?
― Sven Hassel Schmuck, Sunday, 12 October 2008 20:16 (fifteen years ago) link
if it did, i've not heard it either :)
― easy, lionel (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 12 October 2008 20:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Still sounds like the best thing ever...(when i play it in my head)
― Sven Hassel Schmuck, Sunday, 12 October 2008 20:30 (fifteen years ago) link
Another Quietus article on the Brutus and Nick Sanderson, this time with their manager's thoughts. Wish I'd bought tickets to the gig now.
― Neil S, Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Jim Fry giving a talk on music photography at The Apple Store, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Thursday 12th March 2009 at 6.30pm.
Then afterwards DJing at McSorley’s, Jamaica Street.
Be there and be square.
― Free the Northampton 1 (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 13:36 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music-theatre/2016/02/earl-brutus-greatest-british-band-1990s
― djh, Wednesday, 3 February 2016 19:23 (eight years ago) link
despite the fact it was written by someone who has history with the band, i loved reading that article.
i realise i am biased, but, the tracks on the extra cds are absolutely fantastic.
― mark e, Thursday, 4 February 2016 21:32 (eight years ago) link
Are you biased?
― djh, Thursday, 4 February 2016 22:58 (eight years ago) link
yes.
look at the studio pic earlier in this thread (unless i have missed some subtle point !)
― mark e, Thursday, 4 February 2016 23:31 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-s3o-sbxYs
― Thomas of Britain (Tom D.), Friday, 19 February 2016 17:00 (eight years ago) link
Anybody else having issues playing the first CD of the Your Majesty reissue? Wondering if it's down to that faux spray-paint finish. I feel like I should complain, but then again, seems to be in the spirit of Earl Brutus (i.e. a prank, like the Durutti Column sandpaper sleeve.) Caveat emptor!
― henry s, Sunday, 6 March 2016 21:47 (eight years ago) link
sorry henry, but mine played ok.i'd contact 3loop directly http://www.3loopmusic.com/contact-us/would like to think they will help you out.
― mark e, Tuesday, 8 March 2016 10:03 (eight years ago) link
playing the extra discs now as the digital lookup process worked for each extra disc.
bloody hell, this was a band for which even the throwaway b-sides were worthy.
― mark e, Thursday, 19 May 2016 21:00 (seven years ago) link
I was just playing my vinyl of Tonight You Are The Special One earlier today. Pretty good band aren't they? It comes with a download code that I'm yet to use, wonder if it has all the bonus material as well?
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 19 May 2016 21:31 (seven years ago) link
i hope so, as the extra stuff is fantastic. get it fixed up KP !
― mark e, Thursday, 19 May 2016 21:42 (seven years ago) link
the 1998 hagiographies are pukescent but even worse is the absence of Tonight You Are The Special One from literally all of them
― imago, Wednesday, 14 February 2018 16:02 (six years ago) link
Mouldy old radio play from Jim Fry and Luke Haines.
https://soundcloud.com/user-988845513/test-driving-the-new-prius-full-radio-play
― Waterloo Subset (Tom D.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 15:07 (three years ago) link
Collection of covers inc Saint Etienne:
https://industrialcoast.bigcartel.com/product/v-a-traindriver-in-eyeliner
― djh, Wednesday, 7 April 2021 21:37 (three years ago) link
I think this is one of the best one of these I've ever read. I'd expect nothing less from Jim though.
https://thequietus.com/articles/32053-james-fry-earl-brutus-bakers-dozen
― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Wednesday, 14 September 2022 22:26 (one year ago) link
‘Put Your Love In Me’, which is one of their best songs, is more like an album track than something you’d expect to hear on a greatest hits. You don’t hear that one on the radio but it’s one of their best singles.
It's one of the best singles by anyone ever, glad to see it mentioned. Great list throughout.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 14 September 2022 23:29 (one year ago) link
yeah, this was a cracking read.as tom says, to be expected from jim.
― mark e, Thursday, 15 September 2022 14:36 (one year ago) link