The Wild Bunch were an English sound system and loose collective of musicians and DJs based in the St Paul's, Montpelier and Bishopston districts of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England, named after

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic ''The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institute ...

's 1969 Western film.

History

The group started to perform in 1982 as a sound system on the Bristol scene, with Grant Marshall and Miles Johnson as the main two DJs. In 1984, they invited the young graffiti artist known as 3D (aka

Robert Del Naja Robert Del Naja (; born 21 January 1965), also known as 3D, is a British artist, musician, singer and songwriter. He emerged as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective the Wild Bunch, and later as a founding member and sole consi ...

) to join them, and he soon became one of their MCs, writing lyrics to rap with them. Other rappers joined the collective, such as Willy Wee and later in 1987 Tricky. As pioneers of sound system culture they played all-nighters, clubs and abandoned warehouses. In 1986, they played St Paul's Carnival and signed to

4th & B'way Records 4th & B'way Records (pronounced and spelled out completely as Fourth and Broadway Records in the UK) is a US-based subsidiary of Island Records that specialised in street-oriented music such as hip hop. Established in 1984, it was the flagshi ...

on Island Records imprint.

Success and disintegration (1985–1989)

In 1985, the single ''Tearin Down The Avenue'' was recorded and in May 1986 the group toured Japan. After the tour DJ Milo left to work in Japan. The group would perform

sound clash A sound clash is a musical competition where crew members from opposing sound systems pit their skills against each other. Sound clashes take place in a variety of venues, both indoors and outdoors, and primarily feature reggae and dancehall music. ...

es against other sound systems, on new year's eve 1987 they clashed with

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

at St Barnabas crypt, Bristol. In 1988, ''Friends & Countrymen'' was released. However, by this time

Grant Marshall Grant W. Marshall (born June 9, 1973) is a Canadian former ice hockey right winger who currently works on behalf of the Devils Alumni Association. He played for the Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils of the NHL. He last pl ...

and

Andrew Vowles Andrew Lee Isaac Vowles, also known as Mushroom, is an English musician, known for being a founding member of the trip hop/abstract art collective Massive Attack, along with Robert Del Naja (3D), Adrian Thaws (Tricky) and Grantley Marshall (Dadd ...

had formed

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

. By 1989 the group was defunct.

Post disbanding (1989–present)

DJ Milo has lived and worked going between Japan and New York. In 2013, he performed at St Paul's Carnival.

and

, continued with

and in the early days they often collaborated with

Adrian Thaws Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws (born 27 January 1968), better known by his stage name Tricky, is a British record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Bristol, he began his career as an early member of the band Massive Attack alongside Rob ...

. However, differences between members saw Thaws leave in 1995, Vowles leave in 1998 and Marshall took a break in 2001. Marshall returned to Massive Attack in 2005. Thaws returned to Massive Attack in 2016.

Nellee Hooper Nellee Hooper (born Paul Andrew Hooper on 15 March 1963) is a British record producer, remixer and songwriter known for his work with many major recording artists beginning in the late 1980s. He also debuted as a motion picture music composer w ...

, who moved to London after the group's dissolution and worked as a producer and remixer for a number of major artists, including

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, U2,

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...

Garbage Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste produc ...

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

and others. He won the 1995

BRIT Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for Best Producer. He was also a member of

. Thaws performed with Massive Attack on their first and second full-length releases, ''

Blue Lines ''Blue Lines'' is the debut studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 8 April 1991 by The Wild Bunch (sound system), Wild Bunch and Virgin Records. The recording was led by members Daddy G, Grantley "Daddy G" Mar ...

'' and ''

Protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

'' respectively, before pursuing a successful solo career. Claude Williams provided vocals on Massive Attack's ''Five Man Army'' released in 1991. In 2010, he was jailed for a series of robberies, for three years, alongside five other men.

Musical style

The Wild Bunch were pioneers of amalgamating a very wide variety of genres. Their shows mixed disparate styles including elements of Hip Hop, punk, R&B and reggae. Further, it was their unique focus on slower rhythms and ambient electronic atmospheres that laid the foundations of

Bristol sound The Bristol underground scene was a cultural movement in Bristol beginning in the early 1980s. The scene was born out of a lack of mainstream clubs catering for the emergence of hip hop music, with street and underground parties a mainstay. Cre ...

, which later developed into the popular

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

genre. They were key members of the

Bristol underground scene The Bristol underground scene was a cultural movement in Bristol beginning in the early 1980s. The scene was born out of a lack of mainstream clubs catering for the emergence of hip hop music, with street and underground parties a mainstay. Cre ...

Members

The Wild Bunch is perhaps best known for having been one of the first prominent British DJ and vocalist collaborations: *

, a.k.a. 3D *

, a.k.a. Daddy G *

* Claude Williams, a.k.a. Willy Wee * Milo Johnson, a.k.a. DJ Milo, (founding member, DJ) *

, a.k.a. Mushroom * Tricky, (part-time member)

Influence

In 2015, musician

James Lavelle James Lavelle (born 22 February 1974) is an English electronic musician, record label owner and curator. He founded the Mo'Wax record label in 1992, and has been the only constant member of UNKLE. He directed the 2014 edition of the Meltdow ...

put The Wild Bunch's ''The Look of Love'' in his top ten British sound system classics that influenced him, calling it 'The record that started it all.' The 2016, BBC documentary ''Unfinished: The Making of Massive Attack'' features the story of The Wild Bunch and the

. In 2019, the story of The Wild Bunch was told extensively in the book ''Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone'' by journalist Melissa Chemam (chapter 4 and 5).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Bunch Culture in Bristol Musical collectives Musical groups from Bristol English hip hop groups Trip hop groups