McCarthy (band)


McCarthy were a British indie pop band, formed in Barking, Greater London, England in 1984 by schoolmates Malcolm Eden and Tim Gane with John Williamson and Gary Baker. Lætitia Sadier later joined the band on vocals for their final studio album.
They mixed a melodic style, dominated by Gane's 12-string guitar playing, with Eden's overtly political lyrics, often satirical in tone, which reflected the band's far-left leanings.

History

Malcolm Eden, Tim Gane and John Williamson met at Barking Abbey Comprehensive School. Gane was originally a drummer, but was initially taught to play guitar by Eden, who also taught Williamson to play bass. Eden and Gane were fans of punk groups such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Buzzcocks, and they covered their songs in small gigs as teenagers. Baker joined in 1984, and with the new line-up deciding on the name McCarthy, they released a self-financed first single, "In Purgatory" in 1985. The band were signed by the Pink Label, releasing two further singles "Red Sleeping Beauty" and "Frans Hals". The band had a track included on the NME C86 album.
Their debut album I Am a Wallet was released in 1987. DJ John Peel featured the album in a BBC Radio 1 session. Because of Eden's Marxist political views, the band were frequently brought up with other left-wing acts like Billy Bragg and The Redskins. I Am a Wallet has since been described by Nicky Wire as "the most perfect record, a Communist manifesto with tunes", and was rated by James Dean Bradfield as his top British album of all time.
Two further singles were issued in early 1988, followed by the album, The Enraged Will Inherit the Earth.
A year later, they released a third album Banking, Violence and the Inner Life Today, with Lætitia Sadier on vocals. Eden stated that there was no need to continue with the band, believing that their creativity peaked with the album. The band's final show was at the London School of Economics in 1990.
The band had two songs in John Peel's Festive Fifty: "Frans Hals" in 1987, and "Should the Bible Be Banned" in 1988.
After their disbandment, Gane and Sadier immediately formed Stereolab, while Eden formed the short-lived Herzfeld. Baker went on to a career in radiography, before going on to work for The Guardian. Williamson went on to work for music publisher BMG and Domino Records.

Influence

McCarthy were a major early influence on Manic Street Preachers who covered three of their songs: "We Are All Bourgeois Now" appeared as a hidden track on their Know Your Enemy album; "Charles Windsor" appeared as a b-side on their Life Becoming a Landslide EP; and "Red Sleeping Beauty" appeared on their single "Autumnsong".
Nicky Wire has commented on the band and specifically the album I Am a Wallet: "McCarthy - the great lost band of the '80s they redesigned my idea of politics and pop, it could be intelligent, it could be beautiful. They were frail, tragic, romantic idealists. The songs soothed your body but exercised your brain. They were my education, my information and they are partly to blame for the realisation of the Manic Street Preachers. I still fall in love with this album every six months, it makes me feel guilty because it's so good".

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.

Studio albums

  1. "A Child Soon In Chains"
  2. "Frans Hals"
  3. "An MP Speaks"
  4. "Antinature"
  1. "The Wicked Palace Revolution"
  2. "The Vision Of Peregrine Worsthorne"
  3. "The Well of Loneliness"
  4. "Monetaries"
  1. "Charles Windsor"
  2. "The Funeral"
  3. "Should The Bible Be Banned"
  4. "This Nelson Rockefeller"
  1. "The Myth Of The North-South Divide"
  2. "I'm Not A Patriot But..."
  3. "Keep An Open Mind Or Else"
  4. "The Lion Will Lie Down With The Lamb"