The June Brides

Biography

During their brief recording career from 1984 to 1986, The June Brides were among the most beloved independent pop groups in their native U.K.  Hailing from Lambeth, the quintet released four singles and one LP; their lone album, There Are Eight Million Stories, stayed at the top of the Independent Albums Chart for a month and remained in the charts for 38 weeks.  The band also appeared on the cover of NME, and was cited by Morrissey as his favourite group of 1985.  Among their scores of gigs, they shared the stage with - among others - The Go-Betweens, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Pastels, and The Mekons.

Following The June Brides' premature demise (owing to persistant record label difficulties and internal fractures rather than a loss of public interest), singer-ongwriter Phil Wilson signed as a solo artist to Creation Records, releasing two fine singles that were a marked departure from his former group's sound.

In recent years, the June Brides and Phil Wilson discographies have become increasingly sought after by indoe pop fans worldwide, and retrospective investigation has revealed these records to have been inspirational to musicians who have gone on to form Belle and Sebastian and Manic Street Preachers.

This spring, Bus Stop will be proud to release a two-CD anthology of the complete June Brides and Phil Wilson studio recordings, including rare and previously unavailable live, demo and radio session tracks, the first time any of this music has been issued in the US.

I produced the Chills, Phil Wilson for Creation, Primal Scream's first album. I really liked him [Phil Wilson]--great songwriter, very nice man, very good man. Interesting stuff, very strange stuff. When I say strange, I just mean that he's got a certain character to it which you can hear how it relates to what everybody else conceives of as standard functional pop music--"this will do the job, right?" And yet it's got this slight angle on things.

 - Mayo Thompson 2000

I first saw The June Brides playing in a squat in the Old Kent Road  opening at one of The Jesus and Mary Chain's first London shows.  The June Brides walked onstage and the singer said 'Hi, we're the Kinks' and went straight into the first song.  For someone to say that in 1984 I thought was fantastic.  They did make great pop records.

- Robert Forster

 

The June Brides came from a post punk generation of musicians who were actually more interested in music than appearing in Heat or Hello magazines.  They were art for arts sake.  Old skool indie and all the better for it.  Phil Wilson was a very good songwriter and probably still is to this day.  They should have been on Creation not bloody Pink Records.  There fault or mine?  Probably me being pedantic at the time.  They were a really good band.

- Alan McGee March 2002

Discography

  • In the Rain/Sunday to Saturday 7" Pink Label (PINKY01)  1984

  • Every Conversation/Disneyland 7" Pink Label (PINKY02)  1984

  • In the Rain/Sunday to Saturday/Every Coversation/Disneyland 12" Pink Label (PINKY09)  1985

  • There Are Eight Million Stories LP Pink Label (PINKY05)  1985

  • No Place Called Home/We Belong 7"/12" In Tape (IT24)  1985 12" includes On the Rocks + Josef's Gone

  • This Town/Cold/Just the Same 12" In Tape (IT30)  1986

  • "I Fall" (live) on Alive in the Living Room compilation LP Creation Records (CRELP001)

  • "Comfort" on Imminent Episode One compilation LP Food Records (Bite1)

  • "No Place Called Home" (live) on Communicate! Live at Thames Poly compilation DLP Thames Poly (TPSU0001)  1985 CD reissue Overground (OVER28)  1992

  • "On the Rocks" on Just A Mish Mash compilation LP In Tape (IT47)

  • "Every Conversation" on Seeds 1: Pop compilation LP Cherry Red Records (BRED74)

  • "Every Conversation" on A Different Kind of Tension compilation LP Pressures of the Real World Records/EMI (PRLP1)

  • "In the Rain" + Television Families" (live) on A Tribute to Tricky Ricky compilation cassette Rouska (RUSK03)

  • "In the Rain" video on Shelter Video compilation

  • "This Town" (acoustic) on Ideal Guest House compilation cassette Shelter (Shelter1)  1986

  • "This Town" (acoustic) on Chemical Imbalance compilation 7" Chemical Imbalance (CI001) given away w/Chemical Imbalance magazine (other artists were Sonic Youth, Broken Talent, and The Chant)

  • "Every Conversation" + "In the Rain" on Beauty compilation LP Pink Label (PINKY15)  1987

  • John Peel Session 12" Strange Fruit Records (SFPS023)  1987

  • For Better or Worse CD Overground Records (OVER40)  1995

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last updated 10/18/2002