Speedy (band)

Band members Philip Watson (Vocals), Bronwen Stone (Drums), Moony Wainwright (Bass), Paul Turner (Keyboards) and Richard Sutcliffe (Guitar) (who replaced Tracey Plant) had previously performed under the name Blammo! between 1988 and 1994. In this guise they issued five singles; three on Heywood based label Imaginary Records who also had Cud and The Mock Turtles on their roster.[1] The band was invited to support The Beautiful South on three tours, which allowed them to perform in front of several thousand people at London Wembley Arena.

Their first performance under the Speedy moniker was at the Spud Club on Sunday 3 April 1994.[2][3] The following year, their track Sporting Life (produced by Danny Shackleton) was included on a limited edition 7" single. The Saturday Night Special: Silence is Golden EP was released by Leadmill Records,[4] which was an imprint of the famous Sheffield venue of the same name. The notes on the back cover commented that The Leadmill had been voted the number one live venue/club in the UK in the 1994 Melody Maker music poll.

Signed to Arista Records imprint Boilerhouse!, the band's first 'mainstream' success came in late 1996 with the release of single Boy Wonder, which reached No. 2 on the Indie Chart. Receiving nationwide airplay on Radio 1, it also entered the official UK Singles Chart at No. 56 on 9 November 1996, but fell out of the Top 75 after just one week.[5] Boy Wonder also made it onto Polygram's Shine 7 various artists compilation album (Track 16), the Indie equivalent of the Now That's What I Call Music! series. Television exposure followed, including an appearance on the BBC Saturday lunchtime sports programme Football Focus.

But, despite this early success, and support from Radio 1 DJ Zoë Ball , who secured the band two appearances on the Saturday morning TV show Live and Kicking, which she presented with Jamie Theakston, subsequent singles Anytime Anyplace Nowhere, Time for You and Going Home failed to chart. Whilst an album was recorded, Speedy and Arista parted company before its release.[6][7][8] The band continued to perform live, playing Music in the Sun in 1997, alongside Longpigs and Babybird,[9] but the band members eventually went their separate ways in 1998.

Some 15 years later enterprising former fan and renowned crime writer Nick Quantrill, managed to get hold of the audio files to Speedy's long lost album News From Nowhere.[10] He passed them on to a new blogging site Britpop Revival and started a chain of events that would culminate in the band's first live shows in over 17 years.

On 30 November 2012 The Britpop Revival Radio Show on Phonic FM revealed that the unreleased album would be made available for streaming from Saturday 15 December 2012.[11] Then, on 20 January 2013, singer Philip Watson was interviewed on the show and asked what he thought about the album resurfacing after 15 years on the shelf, he said: "I'm flattered that people have somehow found, like and now want to share this album. Also slightly embarrassed. But only slightly. It's alright."

The music on the album falls somewhere between Pulp and Blur. Big tunes with chirpy choruses coupled with wry observational lyrics addressing love, life on the dole and summer holiday sex; together with darker themes such as domestic violence, teenage pregnancy and juvenile crime.

In February 2014 the people behind indie label Alcopop! Records and the 1p Album Club blog announced the launch of a new venture called The Lost Music Club. The label would dig out albums that were recorded but never released, and make them available to the public. The press release announced that first release was to be "from cult 1990s Sheffield band Speedy who, despite scoring a Radio 1 Single of the Week and gigging relentlessly in the mid-90s, saw their debut album, originally scheduled for a 1997 release, permanently shelved."[12]

So after a 17-year hiatus the band reformed for two shows in April 2014 to mark the eventual release of their album "News from Nowhere".[13] The shows took place on Friday 4 April 2014 at London Birthdays in Dalston, and on Saturday 5 April 2015 at the band's spiritual home The Leadmill in Sheffield.[14] [15] And with that the band returned to their day jobs.

The album News From Nowhere was finally released on Monday 7 April 2015.[16] On the same day, Sarah Lay reviewing the album for Louder Than War, the music website established by award-winning journalist, TV and radio presenter John Robb concluded: A lost classic? Maybe not. But a gem from the analogue age that certainly didn't deserve to be unheard for so long – well worth a listen for lovers of underdogs or the Britpop sound, for ’90s throwbacks or anyone who just wants to get their ears around some raucous indiepop.[17]

Singer Philip Watson is an architect and Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds.

Drummer Bronwen Stone is an archaeologist. For many years she ran Antics on Ecclesall Road in Sheffield