The Carpettes are an English punk rock band from

Houghton-le-Spring Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county. It is s ...

, Tyne and Wear, England, formed in 1977, who released two albums on

Beggars Banquet Records Beggars Banquet Records is a British independent record label. Beggars Banquet started as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. History In 1977, spurred by the prevailing DI ...

and recorded two

Peel session John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

s. They split up in 1981, but reformed in 1996.

History

The band was formed in 1977 by Neil Thompson (vocals, guitar), George Maddison (bass), and Kevin Heard (drums) (all three had played together since 1974 in Brown Sugar),Thompson, Dave " Carpettes Biography,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

The band's first release, the ''Radio Wunderbar'' EP, released on the

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

-based

indie label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

Small Wonder Small Wonder or variants may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Small Wonder'' (TV series), a 1985–1989 American sitcom * '' A Small Wonder'', a 1966 Australian television film * '' Small Wonders'', a 1995 documentary film * ''Small Wond ...

.Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Carpettes", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, The band named their follow-up single "Small Wonder" in the label's honour. They recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show in 1978, however between these two sessions, Kevin Heard was to be replaced by former Young Bucks drummer Tim Wilder.The Carpettes
at the BBC's ''Keeping It Peel'' site In 1979, they signed to

, who issued their debut album, ''Frustration Paradise'', towards the end of that year. A second album followed in 1980, with a final single released in December that year, before the band split up in June 1981 after war drove them apart. The band reunited in 1996 to perform at the first Holidays in the Sun festival, with Thompson and Maddison joined by Thompson's brother Paul. This led to a permanent reunion and the release of a new album in 2002, ''Fair Play to 'Em''. In 2005 Neil Thompson left the band and was replaced with Jimmy Devlin, a member of the Glasgow-based Just Another Dream. A final album was recorded featuring Paul Thompson playing drums on several tracks and another Glaswegian, Jim Cosgrove on the rest of the album. This was released on the Texas-based NDN Record label followed by a tour of Germany. In 2009, Maddison and Devlin collaborated to record three new Carpettes songs, "When I`m Gone", "The Only Way to Be" and a cover of the Tom Waits song "Hold On" which were made available online. In mid 2011, The Carpettes toured the US for the first time supported by Houston-based band The Shadow, led by Henrik Poulsen. They covered 4000 miles and did 12 shows in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix.

Discography

Albums

*''Frustration Paradise'' (1979)

Beggars Banquet ''Beggars Banquet'' is the 7th British and 9th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 6 December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. It was the first Ro ...

*''Fight Amongst Yourselves'' (1980) Beggars Banquet table *''Fair Play to 'Em'' (2002) DIW *''Live at Last – Tokyo 2003'' (2004) Last Years Youth Records *''The Carpettes'' (2005) NDN ;Compilations: *''The Early Years'' (1997) Overground *''The Best of The Carpettes'' (2000) Anagram *''Frustration Paradise''/''Fight Amongst Yourselves'' (2000)

Captain Oi! Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

*''Small Wonders'' (2003) Last Years Youth Records

Singles

*''Radio Wunderbar'' EP (1977)

*"Small Wonder" (1978) Small Wonder *"I Don't Mean It" (1979)

*"Johnny Won't Hurt You" (1980) Beggars Banquet *"Nothing Ever Changes" (1980) Beggars Banquet *"The Last Lone Ranger" (1980) Beggars Banquet *"It Doesn't Matter" (2002) DIW *"No Chance" (2004) Last Years Youth Records *''80's Demos'' EP (2007) SnapsMusic

References

External links

*Green, Jim
Carpettes
, ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpettes, The English punk rock groups British mod revival groups Musical groups from Newcastle upon Tyne