Speedy (band)


Speedy was a five-piece Indie Pop/Britpop band from Sheffield, England, whose songs were known for their witty lyrics, often observing the darker and seedier side of working class life; "kitchen sink narratives" in the words of founder and lead singer Philip Watson. Their debut single on a major label Boy Wonder reached No. 56 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1996, but further chart success eluded them.

Career

Blammo!

Band members Philip Watson, Bronwen Stone, Moony Wainwright, Paul Turner and Richard Sutcliffe had previously performed under the name Blammo! between 1988 and 1994. In this guise they issued five singles; three on Heywood based label Imaginary Records who also had Cud and The Mock Turtles on their roster. The band was invited to support The Beautiful South on three tours, which allowed them to perform in front of several thousand people at London Wembley Arena.

Speedy

Their first performance under the Speedy moniker was at the Spud Club on Sunday 3 April 1994. The following year, their track Sporting Life was included on a limited edition 7" single. The Saturday Night Special: Silence is Golden EP was released by Leadmill Records, which was an imprint of the famous Sheffield venue of the same name. The notes on the back cover commented that The Leadmill had been voted the number one live venue/club in the UK in the 1994 Melody Maker music poll.
Signed to Arista Records imprint Boilerhouse!, the band's first 'mainstream' success came in late 1996 with the release of single Boy Wonder, which reached No. 2 on the Indie Chart. Receiving nationwide airplay on Radio 1, it also entered the official UK Singles Chart at No. 56 on 9 November 1996, but fell out of the Top 75 after just one week. Boy Wonder also made it onto Polygram's Shine 7 various artists compilation album, the Indie equivalent of the Now That's What I Call Music! series. Television exposure followed, including an appearance on the BBC Saturday lunchtime sports programme Football Focus.
But, despite this early success, and support from Radio 1 DJ Zoë Ball, who secured the band two appearances on the Saturday morning TV show Live and Kicking, which she presented with Jamie Theakston, subsequent singles Anytime Anyplace Nowhere, Time for You and Going Home failed to chart. Whilst an album was recorded, Speedy and Arista parted company before its release. The band continued to perform live, playing Music in the Sun in 1997, alongside Longpigs and Babybird, but the band members eventually went their separate ways in 1998.
Some 15 years later enterprising former fan and renowned crime writer Nick Quantrill, managed to get hold of the audio files to Speedy's long lost album News From Nowhere. He passed them on to a new blogging site Britpop Revival and started a chain of events that would culminate in the band's first live shows in over 17 years.
On 30 November 2012 The Britpop Revival Radio Show on Phonic FM revealed that the unreleased album would be made available for streaming from Saturday 15 December 2012. Then, on 20 January 2013, singer Philip Watson was interviewed on the show and asked what he thought about the album resurfacing after 15 years on the shelf, he said: "I'm flattered that people have somehow found, like and now want to share this album. Also slightly embarrassed. But only slightly. It's alright."
The music on the album falls somewhere between Pulp and Blur. Big tunes with chirpy choruses coupled with wry observational lyrics addressing love, life on the dole and summer holiday sex; together with darker themes such as domestic violence, teenage pregnancy and juvenile crime.
In February 2014 the people behind indie label Alcopop! Records and the 1p Album Club blog announced the launch of a new venture called The Lost Music Club. The label would dig out albums that were recorded but never released, and make them available to the public. The press release announced that first release was to be "from cult 1990s Sheffield band Speedy who, despite scoring a Radio 1 Single of the Week and gigging relentlessly in the mid-90s, saw their debut album, originally scheduled for a 1997 release, permanently shelved."
So after a 17-year hiatus the band reformed for two shows in April 2014 to mark the eventual release of their album "News from Nowhere". The shows took place on Friday 4 April 2014 at London Birthdays in Dalston, and on Saturday 5 April 2015 at the band's spiritual home The Leadmill in Sheffield.
And with that the band returned to their day jobs.
The album News From Nowhere was finally released on Monday 7 April 2015. On the same day, Sarah Lay reviewing the album for Louder Than War, the music website established by award-winning journalist, TV and radio presenter John Robb concluded: A lost classic? Maybe not. But a gem from the analogue age that certainly didn’t deserve to be unheard for so long – well worth a listen for lovers of underdogs or the Britpop sound, for ’90s throwbacks or anyone who just wants to get their ears around some raucous indiepop.

Life After Speedy

Singer Philip Watson is an architect and Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds.
Drummer Bronwen Stone is currently a freelance materials archaeologist. For many years she ran Antics Antiques on Eccleshall Road in Sheffield, with partner and print artist John Pedder, the former bassist with Babybird.

Discography

Saturday Girl

A1) Saturday Girl

A2) Slippers

B1) Cherry Street


Pills to Purge Melancholy

A1) News From Nowhere

A2) Best Years

A3) There's Always Suicide

A4) Slippers

B1) Saturday Girl

B2) The Boy Hairdresser

B3) What a Carry On

B4) Almanac of Slack


Anytime, Anyplace... Nowhere

A1) Sporting Life

A2) News from Nowhere

A3) Illustrated Man

B1) Speakeasy

B2) I Like You So Much

B3) How Low?


Saturday Night Special: Silence is Golden EP

7" Vinyl EP

A1) Jet Girl

A2) The Sporting Life

B1) Dolphins

B2) All the Time in the World


Saturday Girl

1) Saturday Girl

2) Slippers


News From Nowhere

1) News From Nowhere

2) Best Years


A Day in the Life

7" Vinyl Single

1) A Day in the Life

2) How Low?


Boy Wonder UK #56

7" Vinyl Single

1) Boy Wonder

2) Shopping Around

CD Digipack

1) Boy Wonder

2) Shopping Around

3) The Illustrated Man


I Like You So Much

7" Vinyl Single Sided Single

1) I Like You So Much

2) Band signatures etched into disc


Anytime Anyplace Nowhere

CD1

1) Anytime Anyplace Nowhere

2) Heard Seen Done Been

3) Sweetalk

4) This is England

CD2

1) Heard Seen Done Been

2) Anytime Anyplace Nowhere

3) Almanac of Slack

4) Boy Wonder

12" Vinyl

1) Anytime Anyplace Nowhere

2) Anytime Anyplace Nowhere

3) Anytime Anyplace Nowhere


Time For You

7" Vinyl Single

1) Time for You

2) Where Were You?

CD1

1) Time for You

2) Where Were You?

3) Sour 16

CD2

1) Time for You

2) Nearly Man

3) Going Home


Going Home

CD1

1) Going Home

2) Dead Sheep

3) Need for Speed

CD2

1) Going Home

2) Whole Wide World

3) Bad Time Girl


News From Nowhere

1) Anytime, Anyplace, Nowhere

2) Boy Wonder

3) Nine O'Clock News

4) The Sporting Life

5) Time for You

6) Going Home

7) I Like You So Much

8) Another Day

9) Heard, Seen, Done, Been

10) Karaoke King

11) Fisto

12) News From Nowhere