Fudge Tunnel were an English rock band formed in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

by Alex Newport, David Ryley and Adrian Parkin. They were known for straddling

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extre ...

and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

History

After two singles on Pigboy/

Vinyl Solution Vinyl Solution was a record label of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the offshoot of an independent London-based record store based at 231 Portobello Road (now known as Intoxica Records). The label signed many unconventional acts in a number of unc ...

Records ("Fudge Tunnel" in 1989, "The Sweet Sound of Excess" in 1990), they signed to Nottingham's

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...

. Their debut album was '' Hate Songs in E Minor'', which attracted a large amount of press interest, after the original album artwork was confiscated by the Nottingham Vice Squad. Fudge Tunnel's reputation was built around their massive guitar sound and ironic sense of humour, and were popular with the British music press - at least at first. The band's first release was "Single of the Week" in ''

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 ...

'' magazine in January 1990, with ''NME'' declaring "Absolutely and totally the best single ever to be released in 1990. Total nine guitar attack-rock". The band undertook several European tours in 1991 and 1992 including support slots with Fugazi, Silverfish and

The Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground… hoturned out a series of independent records filled with ...

, as well as support slots with

Swervedriver Swervedriver are an English alternative rock band formed in Oxford in 1989 around core members Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge. Between 1989 and 1998, the band released four studio albums and numerous EPs and singles despite a considerable ...

Godflesh Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Gre ...

, and regular performances at popular London venues The Camden Falcon and

Camden Underworld Camden Underworld is a music venue in Camden Town, London, England. The venue is a part of the World's End pub, situated in the basement of the building. It has a capacity of 500 people. History Over the years The Underworld has become th ...

. Two more albums were to follow in 1993 (''Creep Diets'') and 1994 (''The Complicated Futility of Ignorance''). Newport also was active with

Nailbomb Nailbomb was a heavy metal band formed in 1994 as a side project by Brazilian musician Max Cavalera of Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy and Soulfly, and English musician Alex Newport of Fudge Tunnel. The band recorded one studio album, '' Point ...

, a collaboration with

Max Cavalera Massimiliano Antonio "Max" Cavalera (; born August 4, 1969) is a Brazilian musician. He co-founded the heavy metal band Sepultura in 1984 with his brother Igor Cavalera, and was the band's lead singer and rhythm guitarist until his departure i ...

(

Sepultura Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. the band was a major force in the groove metal, thra ...

), who released one studio album and one live album of their

Dynamo Open Air Festival Dynamo Open Air is a festival in the Netherlands held (almost) every year between 1986 and 2005. It was reborn in 2008 as Dynamo Outdoor and in 2015 as Dynamo Metal Fest. History Originally held to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Dynamo ...

performance. After the release of their third studio album, the band split up. David Ryley ran his label BGR Records for a while. Adrian Parkin played with Tubesurfer until 1996 when they too split up, and then returned to being a

quantity surveyor A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in the UK and Ce ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

. Alex Newport went on to pursue a successful career as a producer/mixer and now lives and runs his own studio in New York. He has produced albums by

At the Drive-In At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 1994. The band's most recent line-up consisted of Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals), Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, vocals), Paul Hinojos (bass), Tony Hajjar (dru ...

The Mars Volta The Mars Volta is an American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership for ...

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Louise Bartle ( ...

City and Colour Dallas Michael John Albert Green (born September 29, 1980) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who records under the name City and Colour. He is also known for his contributions as a singer, rhythm guitarist and songwr ...

, and many others. He also formed the band Theory of Ruin, who released one album, ''Counter Culture Nosebleed'' and the ''Frontline Poster Child'' EP, both on Escape Artist Records and currently is playing in Red Love with Matt Tong.

Discography

Singles and EPs

* "Fudge Tunnel" (Pigboy/Vinyl Solution, 1989) * "The Sweet Sound of Excess" (Pigboy/Vinyl Solution, 1990) * "Teeth" (Earache/Relativity, 1992) * "The Joy of Irony" (Earache, 1994)

Albums

* '' Hate Songs in E Minor'' (Earache/Relativity, 1991) * ''Creep Diets'' (Earache/Columbia, 1993, MOSH64) * '' The Complicated Futility of Ignorance'' (Earache, 1994)

Compilation albums

* "Fudgecake" (Pigboy/Vinyl solution/Cargo, 1992) * ''Grey - Dining Hall Classics'' (Sony, 1993) * ''In a Word'' (Earache, 1994) * ''Whore - Various Artists Play Wire'' (WMO, 1996)

References

External links

* Fudge Tunnel biography on AMGbr>Alex Newport's websiteAlex Newport's recording studio
{{Authority control English rock music groups English grunge groups Sludge metal musical groups British musical trios Earache Records artists Political music groups British alternative metal musical groups English noise rock groups Musical groups from Nottingham