Half Man Half Biscuit
Encyclopedia
Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English
rock band from Birkenhead
, Merseyside
, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell (lead vocals, guitar), Neil Crossley (bass), Ken Hancock (lead guitar), and Carl Henry (drums). Throughout their career they have been signed to Probe Plus
records.
, guitar
ist and songwriter Nigel Blackwell, (previously with Split Gut and North of Watford) who was (in his own words) at the time "still robbing cars and playing football like normal people do". In 1979 Blackwell was editing a football fanzine (Left For Wakeley Gage); he met Crossley when he went to see the latter's band play. In 1984, when Half Man Half Biscuit were formed, Crossley moved to bass
and the two were joined by Nigel's brother Simon Blackwell (lead guitar) and his friend Paul Wright (drums
), both previously with a group called Attempted Moustache. The quartet started to rehearse in the Liverpool
-based Vulcan Studios, where they soon turned a five-piece, with David Lloyd now on keyboards.
Their debut album, 1985's Back in the DHSS, topped the UK Indie Chart
and reached number 60 in the UK Album Chart. Its title was a play on The Beatles
' "Back in the U.S.S.R." and also a reference to the DHSS, the government department that dealt with the unemployed, Nigel Blackwell having been on unemployment benefits since 1979. The band's first single, "The Trumpton
Riots", topped the British independent chart in 1986, and they went on to perform at Glastonbury Festival
. They were post-punk
, similar to Josef K
or The Fall. The second single, "Dickie Davies Eyes", also topped the indie chart. In late 1986, the band split up, with a collection of radio sessions and unreleased tracks following.
The band reformed in 1990, with a performance at the Reading Festival following, and a new single, "Let's Not" issued before the year was out, followed in 1991 by a collaboration with Margi Clarke
on a version of Edith Piaf
's "No Regrets
". The third album was McIntyre, Treadmore And Davitt, released in October 1991. By the time This Leaden Pall was released in 1993, Wright and Lloyd had left the band, with Carl Alty joining on drums. Simon Blackwell left the following year, with Ian Jackson joining. Jackson and Alty (who joined Joyrider
) departed in 1996, to be replaced by Ken Hancock (guitar) and Carl Henry (drums), this line-up remaining to this day. Since reforming, the band have produced an album every two or three years.
Half Man Half Biscuit were championed by DJ John Peel
, for whom they recorded twelve sessions and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return.
References to Half Man Half Biscuit can be found on episodes of Brookside
, Hollyoaks
and Byker Grove
, as well as an episode of Football Focus
and the BBC serial Elidor.
The band played live more infrequently. Half Man Half Biscuit turned down the chance to appear on The Tube
, as Tranmere Rovers were playing that night, even though Channel Four offered to fly them by helicopter
to the game.
The band's styles parody popular genres, while their lyrics allude to UK popular culture
and geography
(Blackwell often refers to North Wales
, often in the context of hillwalking
in Snowdonia
; he also appears fond of Shropshire
, East Anglia
, The West Country, and Oxfordshire
) and British or international football. Sylvia Plath
, Thomas Hardy
, and the Bible
are referenced in his lyrics.
As the 1990s progressed, Blackwell's love of blues and folk became more apparent. In 2002, Andy Kershaw
dubbed them "the most authentic English folk group since the Clash
". Bassist Crossley's tastes include late 1970s and early 1980s new wave
or post-punk
bands, and during live sets HMHB have performed covers
of acts as diverse as Joy Division
, Magazine
, Tim Buckley
, The Beach Boys
, Tommy James and the Shondells and Ike and Tina Turner.
Blackwell has also referred to fictional bands who appear on the sleeves of HMHB records and in songs - an essay on "Evil Gazebo" (and that band's relationship to "Pankhurst") appears on the liner of Trouble Over Bridgwater and both bands are mentioned in one of that album's songs. Assorted fake acts have also been mentioned in HMHB songs such as the fictional Focus
tribute band "I Can't Believe It's Not Focus".
In 2001, Blackwell provided the voiceover
for a BP
television advert.
The band's first release since 2005, CSI:Ambleside
, appeared on April 28, 2008. In GUAR (Give Us An R, Tranmere Rovers fanzine) interview in 2009, answering the "Occupation" question, Blackwell said: "Monorail Operator at Chester Zoo".
The band recorded a radio session for Marc Riley's 6 Music show in August 2010, performing four new songs - "Tommy Walsh's Eco-House", "R.S.V.P.", "Left Lyrics in Practice Room", and "L'enfer c'est les autres". All four are included on the new album 90 Bisodol (Crimond)
, which was released in September 2011.
campaign to get it to #6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of indie station BBC 6 Music
. The song reached #56 on 11 April 2010, however, this was the first UK Top 75 chart appearance for the band in their history. It also reached #3 in the Official Independent Singles chart the same week and was #1 in the HMV UK Digital Downloads Top 40 Tracks on Friday 16 April, knocking Ultravox's Vienna off the top - itself part of a separate Facebook campaign the previous week.
has described Half Man Half Biscuit as "England's greatest folk band" and "the most authentic British folk band since The Clash
", and John Peel
has called them a "national treasure". James Dodd on Bido Lito! praised (as many others did) Blackwell's "uncanny way of chronicling two of his greatest passions in life: television and small-town England". Eliza Carthy
praised the band for their "pathos disguised with wit and sarcasm", describing Blackwell as a "genius".
Charting album tracks
Misc.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rock band from Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell (lead vocals, guitar), Neil Crossley (bass), Ken Hancock (lead guitar), and Carl Henry (drums). Throughout their career they have been signed to Probe Plus
Probe plus
Probe Plus is a record label based in Liverpool, England. It was founded by Geoff Davies, an enthusiastic promoter of small, unsigned bands, who describes the label as "Music to drive you to drink"....
records.
History
Half Man Half Biscuit were formed by two friends from Birkenhead, Neil Crossley (previously with a local punk band Venom) and singerSinging
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist and songwriter Nigel Blackwell, (previously with Split Gut and North of Watford) who was (in his own words) at the time "still robbing cars and playing football like normal people do". In 1979 Blackwell was editing a football fanzine (Left For Wakeley Gage); he met Crossley when he went to see the latter's band play. In 1984, when Half Man Half Biscuit were formed, Crossley moved to bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and the two were joined by Nigel's brother Simon Blackwell (lead guitar) and his friend Paul Wright (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
), both previously with a group called Attempted Moustache. The quartet started to rehearse in the Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
-based Vulcan Studios, where they soon turned a five-piece, with David Lloyd now on keyboards.
Their debut album, 1985's Back in the DHSS, topped the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
and reached number 60 in the UK Album Chart. Its title was a play on The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Back in the U.S.S.R." and also a reference to the DHSS, the government department that dealt with the unemployed, Nigel Blackwell having been on unemployment benefits since 1979. The band's first single, "The Trumpton
Trumpton
Trumpton is a stop-motion children's television show from the producers of Camberwick Green first shown on the BBC in the 1960s. The third and final series in the sequence was Chigley....
Riots", topped the British independent chart in 1986, and they went on to perform at Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
. They were post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
, similar to Josef K
Josef K (band)
Josef K were a Scottish post-punk band, active between 1979 and 1982, who released singles on the Postcard Records label. The band was named after the protagonist of Franz Kafka's novel The Trial...
or The Fall. The second single, "Dickie Davies Eyes", also topped the indie chart. In late 1986, the band split up, with a collection of radio sessions and unreleased tracks following.
The band reformed in 1990, with a performance at the Reading Festival following, and a new single, "Let's Not" issued before the year was out, followed in 1991 by a collaboration with Margi Clarke
Margi Clarke
Margi Clarke is a British actress . She was born in Liverpool and raised in Kirkby , and is known for her Scouse accent and platinum-blonde hair.-Early career:...
on a version of Edith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
's "No Regrets
Non, je ne regrette rien
"Non, je ne regrette rien" , meaning "No, I'm not sorry for anything", is a French song composed by Charles Dumont, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire. It was written in 1956, and is best known through its 1960 recording by Édith Piaf....
". The third album was McIntyre, Treadmore And Davitt, released in October 1991. By the time This Leaden Pall was released in 1993, Wright and Lloyd had left the band, with Carl Alty joining on drums. Simon Blackwell left the following year, with Ian Jackson joining. Jackson and Alty (who joined Joyrider
Joyrider (band)
Joyrider were a rock band from Portadown, Northern Ireland. The band consisted of Phil Woolsey , Cliff Mitchell , Simon Haddock and Buc Hamill / Carl Alty...
) departed in 1996, to be replaced by Ken Hancock (guitar) and Carl Henry (drums), this line-up remaining to this day. Since reforming, the band have produced an album every two or three years.
Half Man Half Biscuit were championed by DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, for whom they recorded twelve sessions and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return.
References to Half Man Half Biscuit can be found on episodes of Brookside
Brookside
Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
, Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
and Byker Grove
Byker Grove
Byker Grove was a British television series which aired between 1989 and 2006 and was created by Adele Rose. The show was broadcast at 5.10pm after Newsround on CBBC on BBC One...
, as well as an episode of Football Focus
Football Focus
Football Focus is a BBC television show, broadcast on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes, covering football, presented from the 2009/2010 season by Dan Walker...
and the BBC serial Elidor.
The band played live more infrequently. Half Man Half Biscuit turned down the chance to appear on The Tube
The Tube (TV series)
The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
, as Tranmere Rovers were playing that night, even though Channel Four offered to fly them by helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
to the game.
The band's styles parody popular genres, while their lyrics allude to UK popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
(Blackwell often refers to North Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, often in the context of hillwalking
Hillwalking
In the British Isles, the terms hillwalking or fellwalking are commonly used to describe the recreational outdoor activity of walking on hills and mountains, often with the intention of visiting their summits...
in Snowdonia
Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...
; he also appears fond of Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, The West Country, and Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
) and British or international football. Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...
, Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, and the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
are referenced in his lyrics.
As the 1990s progressed, Blackwell's love of blues and folk became more apparent. In 2002, Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...
dubbed them "the most authentic English folk group since the Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
". Bassist Crossley's tastes include late 1970s and early 1980s new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
or post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
bands, and during live sets HMHB have performed covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of acts as diverse as Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
, Magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, Tommy James and the Shondells and Ike and Tina Turner.
Blackwell has also referred to fictional bands who appear on the sleeves of HMHB records and in songs - an essay on "Evil Gazebo" (and that band's relationship to "Pankhurst") appears on the liner of Trouble Over Bridgwater and both bands are mentioned in one of that album's songs. Assorted fake acts have also been mentioned in HMHB songs such as the fictional Focus
Focus (band)
Focus is a Dutch rock band which was founded by classically trained organist/flautist Thijs van Leer in 1969, and is most famous for the instrumental pieces "Hocus Pocus" and "Sylvia"...
tribute band "I Can't Believe It's Not Focus".
In 2001, Blackwell provided the voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
for a BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
television advert.
The band's first release since 2005, CSI:Ambleside
CSI:Ambleside
CSI:Ambleside is the eleventh album by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released in April 2008.The "CSI" in the title is a reference to the CSI franchise, whilst Ambleside is a small town in northern England.-Track listing:...
, appeared on April 28, 2008. In GUAR (Give Us An R, Tranmere Rovers fanzine) interview in 2009, answering the "Occupation" question, Blackwell said: "Monorail Operator at Chester Zoo".
The band recorded a radio session for Marc Riley's 6 Music show in August 2010, performing four new songs - "Tommy Walsh's Eco-House", "R.S.V.P.", "Left Lyrics in Practice Room", and "L'enfer c'est les autres". All four are included on the new album 90 Bisodol (Crimond)
90 Bisodol (Crimond)
90 Bisodol is the twelfth album by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released in September 2011.The "Bisodol" in the title is a type of indigestion medication, mentioned in the track "Tommy Walsh's Eco House". Crimond is a village in northeast Scotland, after which a hymn tune is named,...
, which was released in September 2011.
Joy Division Oven Gloves
In April 2010, the band's 2005 song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from Achtung Bono was the subject of a FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
campaign to get it to #6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of indie station BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
. The song reached #56 on 11 April 2010, however, this was the first UK Top 75 chart appearance for the band in their history. It also reached #3 in the Official Independent Singles chart the same week and was #1 in the HMV UK Digital Downloads Top 40 Tracks on Friday 16 April, knocking Ultravox's Vienna off the top - itself part of a separate Facebook campaign the previous week.
Reception
Andy KershawAndy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...
has described Half Man Half Biscuit as "England's greatest folk band" and "the most authentic British folk band since The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
", and John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
has called them a "national treasure". James Dodd on Bido Lito! praised (as many others did) Blackwell's "uncanny way of chronicling two of his greatest passions in life: television and small-town England". Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...
praised the band for their "pathos disguised with wit and sarcasm", describing Blackwell as a "genius".
Discography
Main article - Half Man Half Biscuit discographyHalf Man Half Biscuit discography
- Studio Albums :- Singles and EPs :NB: Joy Division Oven Gloves was the subject of a Facebook campaign to get the song to no. 6 on the singles chart. The track reached 56 on the singles chart....
Albums
|
Singles/EPs
|
Charting album tracks
- "Joy Division Oven Gloves" (2010)(UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#56)
Misc.
- "David Wainwright's Feet"; on the charity album Colours Are BrighterColours Are BrighterColours Are Brighter is a charity record which was released on Rough Trade Records on 16 October 2006, all proceeds going to Save the Children...
(2006)
External links
- Half Man Half Biscuit's official website
- Half Man Half Biscuit at the BBC
- Spike Magazine's review of 2005 album Achtung Bono
- 2001 Guardian interview with Nigel Blackwell
- Exclusive Cult Cargo Interview with Nigel about Birkenhead
- The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project
- Half Man Half Biscuit tracks on YouTube