The Shrubs were an English

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 music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 group, formed in Watford

Watford

Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...

 in 1985, releasing three albums before splitting up in 1989.

History

Future Shrubs singer Nick Hobbs had previously managed Henry Cow

Henry Cow

Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...

 and after living in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 for a year joined Swedish band Kraeldjursanstalten. When that band split up he relocated to London and looked for a new band. After being sacked from Stump

Stump (band)

Stump were an Anglo-Irish indie/experimental/rock group featuring former Microdisney members Mick Lynch and Rob McKahey , along with Kev Hopper and Chris Salmon . They formed in London in 1983...

 for "being too serious", Hobbs formed his own band, taking inspiration from Captain Beefheart

Captain Beefheart

Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...

, Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group from Cleveland, Ohio.Père Ubu may also refer to:* Ubu, the enigmatic central figure of a series of French plays by Alfred Jarry, including Ubu Roi, and subsequent plays Ubu Cocu and Ubu Enchaîné...

, The Fall, and The Ex, initially as The Kevin Staples Band, but changing name to The Shrubs before first release Full Steam Into The Brainstorm, a 6-track 12" EP in July 1986 on the Ron Johnson

Ron Johnson Records

Ron Johnson Records was an UK independent record label based in Long Eaton operating between 1983 and 1988. The label contributed five tracks to the NME's C86 compilation. Run by Dave Parsons, the label released records by artists such as Big Flame, The Shrubs, A Witness, The Great Leap Forward,...

 label. Bassist Phil Roberts

Phil Roberts

Phillip Stanley "Phil" Roberts is a Welsh former professional footballer whose four club career spanned three decades. Born in Cardiff, Roberts won six Wales Under 23 caps whilst with his first club Bristol Rovers...

 left shortly afterwards to join Marc Riley

Marc Riley

Marc Riley is a British musician, alternative rock critic and radio DJ on BBC 6 Music. Formerly a member of The Fall, he had his own record label, In-Tape, and also worked as a record plugger...

 in The Creepers

The Creepers

The Creepers were an English rock music group, formed in Manchester in 1982, originally as Marc Riley & The Creepers. After being dismissed from The Fall by Mark E. Smith, Marc Riley formed his own record label with Jim Khambatta, and his own band. The first single "Favourite Sister" was...

, to be replaced by Steve Brockway, and subsequently by Mark Grebby, who had been the bass player for original Ron Johnson artistes Splat!

Shrubs contributed Bullfighters Bones to the NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

's famous C86

C86 (music)

C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...

 album.

A further 12", Blackmailer followed towards the end of the year, with debut album Take Me Aside For A Midnight Harangue hitting the shops in July 1987. With the collapse of the Ron Johnson label and the indie distribution network The Cartel, several hundred copies of "Harangue" were incinerated, much to Hobbs' annoyance. Shrubs signed with the Hertfordshire-based Public Domain label for a studio/live 12", Another Age, and second and final album Vessels Of The Heart, both in 1988, after which the band split. Hobbs went on to form Mecca, who toured the former Soviet Union with Nitzer Ebb and others, and subsequently Infidel, along with current Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group from Cleveland, Ohio.Père Ubu may also refer to:* Ubu, the enigmatic central figure of a series of French plays by Alfred Jarry, including Ubu Roi, and subsequent plays Ubu Cocu and Ubu Enchaîné...

 guitarist Keith Moliné

Keith Moliné

Keith Moliné is currently the guitarist for Pere Ubu. He has also performed with David Thomas and Two Pale Boys, Infidel, and They Came from the Stars I Saw Them. He uses a unique midi-guitar setup that allows him to produce numerous overlapping instrument voicings within the context of "live"...

 and Nico's former drummer Graham Dowdall (a.k.a. Dids), at the same time carrying on in artist management. He carries on making music solo and with different groups under the name of Nikolai Galen.

The band recorded two sessions for 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...

's BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

show, the first in June 1986 and the second in August 1987.

Singles

• "Full Steam Into The Brainstorm" (Jul 1986, Ron Johnson, ZRON10 [12"])
• "Blackmailer" (Dec 1986, Ron Johnson, ZRON17 [12"])

Albums

• Take Me Aside for a Midnight Harangue (Jun 1987, Ron Johnson, ZRON23 [LP])
• "Another Age/live tracks" (Sep 1988, Public Domain, DOM001 [12" mini-LP])
• Vessels of The Heart (Nov 1988, Public Domain, DOM002 [LP])