Line up: Leon Meya (vocals and bass), Paul Kelly (guitar), Jeff Fletcher (guitar), Keith Chadwick (drums)

Northern Uproar were formed in 1995 by four teenage lads from Heald Green, Manchester. Leon, P.K., Jeff and Keith were heavily influenced by Guns'n'Roses, The Stone Roses, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Oasis. Together as Northern Uproar they were able to produce a unique noisy exciting, fast-tempo, punky rock (described as The Clash meets Oasis) which earned them a contract with Heavenly Recordings.

Still only teenagers, the excitement surrounding the band was possibly a little too expectant. Northern Uproar's debut single, "Rollercoaster", failed to reach the Top 40 in 1995 (it actually went to Number 41!), however the follow up, "From A Window", provided them with their biggest hit four months later (UK No.17). The local media was also taken by the scramble of interest and the band appeared on Granada's Tonight programme on a few occasions. Northern Uproar, with their 'Manc and proud of it' attitude had made it to the Big Time!

The single "Living It Up", climbed to a respectable Number 24 in the UK charts and heralded the release of their 1996 debut album. The self-titled "Northern Uproar" managed to reach Number 22 in the UK and spawned the further singles, "Town" (which failed to go any higher than No.48 despite its pure brilliance!) and "Any Way You Look" (UK no.36).

Northern Uproar, still only in their early twenties, returned in 1998 with the single, "A Girl I Once Knew", which gained interest for their brilliant "Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today" album. The 'b' side of the single was the track, "Soldier Boy", which chronicled the ignored demand placed on Leon to serve his National Service in the Spanish Army (he was brought up by his Spanish father there before moving to Heald Green at the age of 5). "Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today" saw a differing approach to Northern Uproar's sound. Moreorless gone was the punky rock loud guitar tracks, replaced by almost Stone Roses or Verve-esque melodic soulful tunes.

The single "Goodbye" followed and was ironically Northern Uproar's farewell (not that they knew it at the time!). In June 1998, they were dropped by Heavenly Recordings despite returning to their Manchester studio to record the third album.

They recruited 3 more band members, re-named the band 'Bardo Plane' and sold their recording studio to ease their worsening financial situation. By June 1999, a new record deal was nowhere to be found and it was inevitable the band decided to call it a day.

Northern Uproar, like the brilliant Space Monkeys, with hindsight appear to have signed to the wrong Record Label (in the Space Monkeys case it was Factory). It is only a matter of time before the Space Monkeys re-sign to one of the majors, however unfortunately Northern Uproar appear to have given up hope and will go down in Manchester rock history as one of those 'nearly' bands.

If only...