The Wonder Stuff

Liverpool Academy 2, Wednesday 6th October 2004

The Wonderstuff ride again the staple of that indie disco are back as a full-time touring outfit with an album to promote, the bristling ‘Escape from Rubbish Island’.

Shorn of drummer Martin Gilks and Martin ‘Fiddly’ Bell the band are now down to two of the original line up - main-man and mouthpiece Mile Hunt and guitarist Malcolm Treece. They are augmented by Miles’ compadre in the Miles Hunt Club drummer Andreas Karu and bassist Mark McCarthy, whom Miles has described as the first serious contender for the sadly late and lamented Bass-thing’s role.

No keyboards or fiddle player for this tour, so that meant a return to the tunes of the ‘Eight Legged Groove Machine’ and ‘Hup’ era.

The hardcore of fans who came out for this trip on a cold October Wednesday were probably not too fussed at the omissions of songs such as ‘Dizzy’ and ‘Size of Cow’ these were the hardcore, the fans were rewarded to a smattering of rarely heard classics and forgotten b-sides to warm the souls on this autumn evening.

Miles’ was his usual crowd baiting best and any rumours of his mellowing were dispelled with a couple of diatribes at the current state of popular music…bands such as Coldplay were in Miles’ line of vision.

The new material complimented the older ‘Hup’ era material with tunes such as ‘Don’t Let Me Down, Gently’ sung with as much gusto by the thirty-something audience as it was by the band themselves. It is fair to say the crowd were suitably rewarded with a set of sing-along classics that harked back to days when the hair was longer and the t-shirts were a little less figure hugging.

The NME may not want to know these days but as long as they are producing tunes such as ‘Bile Chant’ and the audience are coming to the gigs. The Wonderstuff will be a welcome addition to a bill near you.