SoulFade are East Lancashire's most well-known figures, after Hettie Wainthrop, and have a fanatical and cultish fan base which has helped make them what they are - the only band to have performed in solo thru five-piece lineups, the only band to have a single release sell no copies and the only band to have ever entered into a serious rivalry with Shed Seven. Hailing from Blackburn and its surrounding middle-class suburbs, the four-piece have been described by John Peel as "new, so they must be good", and have been the NME's best new band in the world this week on no less that six occasions.
SoulFade played their first gig in 1985, at the time heavily inflenced by The Smiths and Heaven 17. Releasing their first album, Mother Knows Best, two years later in 1987, the band scored an instant top twenty hit with their mix of Smithsian indie sounds and sixth form lyrics. Since then the band have riden the rollercoaster of the UK chart, taking in their punk flop What're You Fooking Looking At? and their critically acclaimed indie masterpiece Where The Son Has Never Shined.
SoulFade play classic indie in the vein of The Smiths that picks you up and drops you down in a heartbeat. They are Blackburn's most successful band of all time, clocking seven weeks in the top forty. SoulFade are Carl Fogarty's favourite band and they have collaborated with Paul Weller, Johnny Marr and Ian from the Lightning Seeds.
From humble beginnings playing local venues to small audiences, SoulFade have grown into a musical behemoth capable of shocking a crowd from forty yards. Armed with a second-hand bass and a questionable grasp of musical convention, the band have acquired fans from as diverse backgrounds as students, schoolchildren and undergraduates, all of whom fanatically support the group no matter what they produce. Best described as original, the SoulFade sound is imitated across the country by aspiring student bands desperate for somewhere simple to begin.
Who the f**k are SoulFade?
SoulFade are...
Matthew J. Taylor - Vocals, guitar, violin, harpsichord, ukelele.
Daniel Ratcliffe - Lyrics, guitar, tantrums, bongos, maracas, drugs, cello, theremin.
Richard Carr - Drums, percussion, piano, banjo, harp, trumpet, kazoo, trombone, French horn, mouth organ, bagpipes.
Philip Johnson - Organ, keyboards, piano, eating, production.
Simon Peacock - bass.
