| Shriekback | |
| Landscape: | yes |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Kentish Town, London, England |
| Current Members: | Barry Andrews Carl Marsh Martyn Barker |
| Past Members: | Dave Allen Mike Cozzi Wendy Partridge Sarah Partridge Lu Edmonds Mark Raudva Kevin 'Doc' Sullivan |
Shriekback are an English rock band formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and the League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of Gang of Four (bass guitar), with Carl Marsh, formerly of Out on Blue Six (guitars/vocals) soon added to the line-up. The band's early music was a funk-influenced version of new wave and post-punk, later moving towards art rock and always featuring "insidiously weird vocals".[1]
The band enjoyed some success on the dance chart on its original Y Records label and had a string of hits on the UK Indie Chart, while its first album, Care (1983), was picked up by Warner in the United States.[2] The band left Y for Arista Records for Jam Science (1984), also recruiting the drummer Martyn Barker. The album reached number 85 on the UK Albums Chart and "Hand on my Heart" was a number 52 UK single.[2] The 1985 album Oil and Gold was recorded on Arista (released by Island Records in the US).[3] Marsh left Shriekback during the recording of Oil and Gold and was replaced on guitar by Mike Cozzi, with Andrews taking over lead vocals. Shriekback also left Arista and signed to Island Records for whom they recorded Big Night Music (1986),[4] after which Allen left to rejoin Gang of Four, and Shriekback remained a collaborative centred on Andrews. Allen also went on to play in King Swamp and The Elastic Purejoy. Marsh was also in the band Happyhead.
After another album in 1988, Go Bang!, the band split up.[4] Andrews continued working on other projects before re-forming Shriekback in 1992, although after the single "The Bastard Sons of Enoch" and album Sacred City, there were no further releases until Naked Apes and Pond Life (2000). Both Allen and Marsh returned to the studio to contribute to the recording of the 2003 release Having a Moment. After Having a Moment, Andrews recorded three albums for Malicious Damage (Killing Joke's original label) under the Shriekback name.
Shriekback are still actively producing music and released the studio album, Why Anything? Why This?, in May 2018. The same line-up of Andrews, Barker and Marsh self-released a 15th studio album, Some Kinds of Light, on 6 December 2019. 1000 Books and Bowlahoola followed in 2021 and 2022.
Other than those listed above, Shriekback members or contributors have included Luc van Acker, Linda Nevill, Emma Burnham, Brian Nevill, Pedro Ortiz, Clare Hirst, Lu Edmonds, Wendy and Sarah Partridge (from Electric Guitars), Steve Halliwell, Eve Moon, Ivan Julian, Mike Cozzi and Jessica Palin/Jose Fina Cupido.[5]
The film director Michael Mann was a fan of the band and used several Shriekback songs in his films Manhunter and Band of the Hand and in his television series Miami Vice. Music composed by Shriekback is used as the theme song for the Squaring the Strange podcast hosted by Benjamin Radford and Pascual Romero. They selected it because of their fondness for music from the 1980s.[6]
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Indie Chart[10] | UK Singles Chart | U.S. Dance/Club | U.S. Modern Rock | AUS[11] | |||||
| 1982 | Tench | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| "Sexthinkone" | - | - | - | - | - | - | Tench (EP) | ||
| "My Spine Is the Bassline" | 15 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1983 | "Lined Up" | 3 | 89 | 35[12] | - | 42 | - | Care | |
| "Lined Up (Remix)" | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| "Working on the Ground" | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1984 | "Hand on My Heart" | - | 52 | 22 | - | - | - | Jam Science | |
| "Mercy Dash" | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| Knowledge, Power, Truth and Sex EP | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| 1985 | "Nemesis" | - | 94 | - | - | - | 18 | Oil and Gold | |
| "Fish Below the Ice" | - | 88 | - | - | - | - | |||
| 1986 | "Gunning for the Buddha" | - | - | - | - | - | - | Big Night Music | |
| Running on the Rocks | - | - | - | - | - | 30 | |||
| 1988 | "Intoxication" | - | - | - | 6 | - | - | Go Bang | |
| "Shark Walk" | - | - | - | 19 | - | - | |||
| "Get Down Tonight" | - | - | 20 | - | - | 19 | |||
| The Peel Sessions EP | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1992 | "The Bastard Sons of Enoch" | - | - | - | - | - | - | Sacred City | |