These Animal Men were an English band active in the 1990s, as part of the

New Wave of New Wave The new wave of new wave (NWONW) was a term coined by music journalists to describe a subgenre of the British alternative rock scene in the early 1990s, in which bands displayed post-punk and new wave influences, particularly from bands such as ...

, and released two albums before splitting up in 1998.

History

These Animal Men

These Animal Men formed in Brighton in 1989, signing to

Hut Records VC Recordings trading as Hut Records was a British record label brand which was started in 1990 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Records. Despite being wholly owned by a major label, it was classed as an independent label for the purposes ...

, an offshoot of

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

in 1993. They gained some press coverage with their first few singles, which featured drug references in both the sleeve artwork and the song

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

. Their first album '' (Come on, Join) The High Society'', released on 24 September 1994, was described by the

music press Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, particularly the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', as being part of the

, (alongside contemporaries

S*M*A*S*H Smash (normally typeset as S*M*A*S*H) are an English punk rock trio, who enjoyed brief notoriety in the early 1990s in the UK. S*M*A*S*H was formed by Ed Borrie (vocals, guitar), Salvatore Alessi (credited as Salv) (bass), and Rob Hague (drum ...

with whom they released the joint album, "Wheelers, Dealers, Christine Keelers"). During the three years after the release of their first album, their only output was an EP, ''Taxi for These Animal Men''. They released their second album, ''Accident & Emergency'', on 14 April 1997. Despite reported difficulties encountered during

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

, including the firing of Hussey, ''Accident & Emergency'' received some critical acclaim, but little commercial success. In 1998, the band broke up.

Post-break up

Later in 1998, Boag, Hewings, Warnock and Hague formed "Mo Solid Gold" with a new singer, K, taking over vocals from Boag and Hewings. The output, influenced by Northern soul, was the 2001 album ''Brand New Testament'' released on EMI/Chrysalis Records. Singles for the tracks "David's Soul," "Personal Saviour," "Safe from Harm," and the self-titled "Mo Solid Gold" followed. The group broke up less than a year later. In 2007, Hewings and Boag formed the band The Orphans with drummer Kev (later replaced by Paul Emons) and producer and keyboardist Tim Howarth. The Orphans released their first album ''Muff'', a blend of glam, punk and garage rock, in 2008 on the Hail Mary label. The Orphans continued to perform live, changed the spelling of their name to "Thee Orphans," and released their second album, ''Average Kinda Savage''. In January 2013, they broke up. On 11 September 2015, These Animal Men reunited to play a one-off sold-out gig at Heaven in London, alongside S*M*A*S*H, in support of the documentary ''Flawed is Beautiful'', which covered the career of both bands.

Discography

Albums

* '' (Come on, Join) The High Society'' (1994) - UK No. 62 * ''Accident & Emergency'' (1997) - UK No. 192

Extended plays

* ''Too Sussed?'' (1994) - UK No. 39 * ''Taxi for These Animal Men'' (1995) - UK No. 64

Singles

* "Wheelers, Dealers, Christine Keelers" (split release with

) (1993) * "Speed King" (1994) - UK No. 95 * "You're Not My Babylon" (1994) - UK No. 77 * "This Is the Sound of Youth" (1994) - UK No. 72 * "Life Support Machine" (1997) - UK No. 62 * "Light Emitting Electrical Wave" (1997) - UK No. 72

Demo

* ''Are You Inexperienced? E.P.'' (1993)

Band members

*Alexander Boag - vocals, guitar *Julian Hewings (aka Hooligan) - backing vocals, guitar *Patrick Murray - bass *Steve Hussey (until 1996) - drums *

Craig Warnock Craig Warnock (born 22 February 1970 in Hammersmith, London) is an English actor. Warnock's best known role is that of Kevin in Terry Gilliam's ''Time Bandits''. Warnock has acted in ''To the Lighthouse'', an adaptation of the novel by Virgin ...

(from 1996) - keyboard *Rob Hague (from 1996) - drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:These Animal Men Britpop groups English indie rock groups Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1998