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Menswear (band)

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Menswear
Johnny Dean of Menswear in 2013
Johnny Dean of Menswear in 2013
Background information
OriginCamden Town, London, England
Genres
Years active1994–1998, 2013–2015
LabelsLaurel, Polydor
Past membersJohnny Dean
Chris Gentry
Simon White
Stuart Black
Matt Everitt
Darren "Tud" Tudgay
Todd Parmenter
Paul Fletcher

Menswear (sometimes styled Menswe@r) were an English indie rock band formed in 1994 in Camden, London.[1] The band released a number of singles and an album, Nuisance, on the short-lived London Records subsidiary Laurel. A second album followed, which was released only in Japan; the group broke up in 1998.

In 2013, frontman Johnny Dean briefly reformed the band without any of the original members.

History

[edit]

Formation and overnight success (1994–1996)

[edit]

The beginnings of the band were a feature in a Select article about a supposed London mod revival led by Graham Coxon. Two individuals closely associated with the burgeoning Britpop scene, Chris Gentry and Johnny Dean, made references to a "top new unsigned band" (Menswear), an act which did not yet exist.[2] They later appeared on the cover of Melody Maker before they had released any material.[citation needed] Their dress sense was Mod (tight-fitting suits etc.) whilst their music was influenced by both Blur's second album Modern Life Is Rubbish and Elastica.[3] Gentry and Dean had a single song - called "Daydreamer" - but soon recruited friend Simon White, who contributed "I'll Manage Somehow" to add to the setlist necessary for their upcoming debut gig at a Britpop-oriented club on Regent Street called Smashing. The music press reviewed their performance enthusiastically, with NME comparing them to a "Tarantino film... totally derivative but totally brilliant", increasing the record labels' interest.[2]

After a frantic race between record companies, they signed to London Records for £90,000 and a lucrative 18.5% gross revenues after just their fifth gig.[2] Shortly afterwards, they signed a £500,000 publishing deal despite having just seven songs in their repertoire - working out at around £70,000 per song.[3][2]

They appeared on Top of the Pops a week before their first single had even been released.[4] Their first single was "I'll Manage Somehow". Their second single "Daydreamer" peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart, but saw the band accused of plagiarising Wire; AllMusic describes the track as sounding "more like Wire than Elastica, only funnier, even if it may be unintentional".[1][4][5] In 2013, Dean complained about accusations of copying Elastica, stating that "Daydreamer is ripping off Wire. Not Elastica. And we were not sued by Wire like Elastica were, because Daydreamer is influenced by Wire, rather than plagiarising them. I was actually introduced to Wire by Graham Coxon, not Elastica.[6] However, in 2024 in response to a video uploaded by comedian [[Limmy] he admitted that the band "were actually ripping off Elastica ripping off Wire by the way. Not Bowie. That was Suede innit?".[7]

The band released their debut album Nuisance in 1995, described by AllMusic as "the perfect product from a band that is better known for being seen than being heard".[5] Menswear did, however, play at the Glastonbury Festival in June 1995 at the peak of Britpop's popularity and were second on the bill to Pulp at the Heineken Festival in Leeds in July that year. Similar to other bands of the Britpop era, such as Oasis, the album made use of familiar riffs from 1960s and 1970s British rock, such as on the tracks "Stardust" and "Stardust (Reprise)" which tapped the intro from the Rolling Stones' song "Gimme Shelter".

Including "Stardust", a total of five singles were released from the Nuisance album; the last, "Being Brave" (released in early 1996), gave the band their first and only top ten hit.[1] However, drummer Matt Everitt would soon leave Menswear due to personality differences with the other members, a decision that Dean would later call one of his biggest regrets because "Matt was always the sensible one, and it was the first sign to the record company that we were beginning to lose it, which I agree with."[8]

A non-album single, "We Love You", was released in late 1996 and stalled at number 22 on the UK charts and marked a change in the band's musical direction.

Break-up and personal projects (1997–2013)

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The band parted company with Laurel in 1997, after delivering their country-rock-tinged second album Hay Tiempo!. The record was released in Japan in 1998, but did not get a release anywhere else in the world.[9] They played their last live show at London's Camden Palace the same year. Hints at causes towards the breakup have been mentioned in Johnny Dean's blog.[10]

Stuart Black formed a new band, Messiah, that lasted until 2000. Guitarist Chris Gentry went on to play with the band, Vatican DC. Simon White played as a touring and studio musician for various artists including Finley Quaye. After leaving in 1996, drummer Matt Everitt later joined The Montrose Avenue,[1] and is now on staff at radio station 6Music.[11] Drummer Todd Parmenter left the band to play in his main band Heck. He went on to play with Lungleg, The Beal, Evan Dando and The Beatings. Stuart Black is now in the band Bella Echoes with former Messiah member Barnsey.

Lead singer Johnny Dean was finally diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2008 and has started campaigning on behalf of the National Autistic Society.[12] In recent interviews Dean has expressed the torment he experienced before his diagnosis and his desire to raise awareness of the Autistic syndrome spectrum. On Friday 7 June 2013 Dean made his first sold out live appearance in 15 years with the Nuis@nce Band performing the songs of David Bowie which raised thousands of pounds for The National Autistic Society in London.[13][14][15]

Reunion (2013–2016)

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In 2013, frontman Johnny Dean reformed the band with himself as the only original member involved. Dean was backed by members of The Nuisance Band.[16] The band played their first show in 15 years on 16 August 2013 in aid of the mental health charity PMA Sport's Academy and #TimeToChange campaign.[17][18]

On 26 March 2014, the new lineup of Menswear performed their first beadline gig at London's Bush Hall, debuting the new single "Crash '14". The single was released on 26 May that year via Nuisance Recordings & POST/POP Records on limited edition 7" single and cassette as well as download.

Menswear played as part of the lineup at the Shiiine On Weekender festival (6–9 November 2015), playing alongside acts such as Happy Mondays, Peter Hook, The Wedding Present, 808 State and The Orb. This was to be the last gig the revamped line-up played, celebrating 20 years since the release of debut album Nuisance. In May 2016, Dean praised the then-current lineup of the band stating that "they’re good boys and so far working with them has been very pleasant indeed. A lot of fun actually. It’s strange, because that’s new to me. Menswear rehearsals could be trying at best. I would spend quite a lot of time listening to various members bicker with each other. Quite often these altercations arose because one or two members didn’t want to rehearse standing up. Absolutely true. Other problems involved the guitarist’s constantly turning up".[19] However, in August 2016 Dean announced via the band's Twitter account that they were splitting up.

In 2020, Dean disowned the new lineup of Menswear, claiming "I was manipulated into something I wasn’t comfortable with by people who were being opportunistic. I thought it’d be fun, but it looked weird, as I’m not that same person."[8]

Dean has since started a new band, Fxxk Explosion.[20]

The Menswear Collection (2020)

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On 3 June 2020, Menswear announced the 23 October release of The Menswear Collection, a 4-CD box set spanning their entire career. Its contents include remastered versions of both Nuisance and ¡Hay Tiempo! (released for the first time outside of Japan), plus b-sides, demos and other rarities. As a precursor to the box set, the band also released “Wait for the Sun” from ¡Hay Tiempo! as a digital single.[8]

Regarding how he felt about the box set, Johnny Dean remarked, "Strange, as I wouldn’t have put the words ‘Menswear’ and ‘box set’ together. But I'm happy about it, because it'll surprise people how much music we actually recorded. I thought all those demos for ¡Hay Tiempo! were lost in an attic in Camden somewhere, but London Records had kept them all, even though they belonged to us." Dean also said although the original line-up of Menswear were all friends again, it would be unlikely for them to reform due to everyone having proper jobs, and that "that first Menswear album was about sounding like a teenage meltdown. It looks very different doing that in your ’40s."[8]

Discography

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Menswear discography
Studio albums2
Singles7

Studio albums

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List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
UK[1] JPN
Nuisance
  • Released: 24 October 1995[21]
  • Label: Laurel (828 676 2)
  • Format: CD, CS, DL, LP
 11 25
¡Hay Tiempo!
  • Released: October 1998 (Japan only)[22]
  • Label: Polydor (POCP-7329)
  • Format: CD
 — —
"—" denotes a release that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles

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List of singles, showing year released and album name
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK[1]
"I'll Manage Somehow" 1995 49 Nuisance
"Daydreamer" 14
"Stardust" 16
"Sleeping In" 24
"Being Brave" 1996 10
"We Love You" 22 Non-album singles
"Crash '14"[23] 2014 —

[24]

Band members

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  • Johnny Dean (born John Hutchinson Dean, 12 December 1971, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England) - vocals (1994-1998, 2013–2015)
  • Chris Gentry (born 23 February 1977, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England) - guitar (1994-1998)
  • Simon White (born 10 July 1974, Moseley, Birmingham, England) - guitar (1994-1998)
  • Stuart Black (born Stuart Lee Black, 1 April 1974, Walthamstow, London, England) - bass (1994-1998)
  • Todd Parmenter - drums (1994)
  • Matt Everitt (born Matthew Stephen Everitt, 13 Sept 1972, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England) - drums (1994-1996)
  • Darren "Tud" Tudgay - drums (1996-1998)
  • Paul Fletcher - keyboards (1996-1998)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p.865-866
  2. ^ a b c d Harris, John (2003) The Last Party, Harper Perennial, ISBN 0-00-713473-8, p. 207-208
  3. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas "Menswear Biography", AllMusic, Macrovision Corporation
  4. ^ a b Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0231-3, p.273-274
  5. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas "Nuisance Review", AllMusic, Macrovision Corporation
  6. ^ https://www.soundspheremag.com/features/exclusive-interview-johnny-dean-menswer/
  7. ^ https://x.com/MrJohnnyDean/status/1828440309727907893
  8. ^ a b c d Earls, John (3 June 2020). "Menswear look back as they share lost single from new box-set: "My proudest achievement? Getting away with it"". NME. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  9. ^ Damas, Jason "Hay Tiempo! Review", AllMusic, Macrovision Corporation
  10. ^ "Mr Johnny Dean « Shut up!". Mrjohnnydean.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  11. ^ "Matt Everitt Biography". BBC. Archived from the original on 3 November 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  12. ^ Palmer-Violet, Jennifer (2013). Music News "Dean there, done that", 10 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  13. ^ Doyle, Wesley (2013). The Quietus "Moonage Daydreamer: Johnny Dean Interviewed", 7 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  14. ^ Baker, Jamie (2013). Soundsphere "Exclusive Interview: Johnny Dean", 15 May 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  15. ^ Lipski, Luke (2013). Art Rocker "Tonight Matthew, Johnny Dean of Menswe@r is…David Bowie" Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, 5 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  16. ^ "New Menswear line-up to perform comeback charity gig in London tonight (August 16)". Nme.com. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  17. ^ Gosling, Emily (2013). "Time to Talk - Stuart Semple's designs for mental health", 20 August 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  18. ^ "Stuart Semple: Official Homepage - Stuart Semple designs #timetotalk Tattoo". Stuart Semple Official. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  19. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20160314224843/https://mrjohnnydean.wordpress.com/
  20. ^ "Following Suit: Menswe@r's Johnny Dean returns with the arena rock ambition of Fxxk Explosion". Vanyaland.com. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  21. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Nuisance - Menswear - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  22. ^ Jason Damas. "Hay Tiempo! - Menswear - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  23. ^ "iTunes - Music - Crash '14 - Single by Menswear". iTunes. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  24. ^ Betts, Colin (2004) Collins Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004, Collins, ISBN 978-0007179312, p. 540
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