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...
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