Miss Black America Promo for 'Miss Black America' single SD
'Miss Black America’ by MBA, #11 in the 2002 Festive Fifty.
Miss Black America (MBA) were a punk-influenced rock band based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The original line-up consisted of Seymour Glass (voice/guitar), Mike Smith (bass) and Neil Baldwin (drums). MBA's self-financed début single, the Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP, sold out within weeks of release when John Peel pushed the band on BBC Radio One. Second single Don't Speak My Mind (taken from the 2000 demo "EP") was also championed by Peel and attracted the attention of Bedford-based Integrity Records, who signed the band to a one-album deal. Key to the band's increased popularity during this time, in addition to national airplay, was support from many UK music fanzines and music websites … (read more at Wikipedia)
Links to Peel[]
Peel was a keen early supporter of Miss Black America, a local Bury St Edmunds band, and his playing of their initial releases helped win them widespread attention. On 29 May 2001 he mentioned that he would have gone to see them in the town the previous evening, but didn't go because he didn't know where the venue was. He did manage to see the band play in Bury St Edmunds on 1 July 2001:
"They were good, but it was one of those situations where most of the people in the audience knew them, and they knew most of the people in the audience, so there was a lot of kind of in-jokey stuff going on, which was just fine but you felt that they'd probably work better in a place where they didn't know everybody and everybody didn't know them and they'd have to be more kind of slightly elusive, cos they need to be I think really." (04 July 2001)
Although ‘Talk Hard’ reached #3 in the 2002 Festive Fifty, there were personnel changes by the time the band played at the Eurosonic festival in Groningen in early 2003 at the invitation of Peel and they subsequently struggled to regain momentum.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- 2001 Festive Fifty: Human Punk #14
- 2001 Festive Fifty: Don't Speak My Mind #42
- 2002 Festive Fifty: Talk Hard #3
- 2002 Festive Fifty: Miss Black America #11
- 2002 Festive Fifty: Infinite Chinese Box #45
Sessions[]
Two sessions. Released on Smile, You’re On Fire: BBC Sessions 2001-2002 (2020, streaming and download only, repeatfanzine.bandcamp.com).
1.Recorded: 2001-06-27. First broadcast 18 July 2001.
- Miss Black America / Personal Politics / Roadkill / Talk Hard
2. Recorded: 2002-05-29. First broadcast 03 July 2002.
- Liquid Silk / Smile You're On Fire / Car Crash For A Soul / The White Noise Inc
Live[]
- 31 October 2002: (live at Nottingham Boat Club for One Live)
- Infinite Chinese Box
- Miss Black America
- Car Crash For A Soul
- Talk Hard
- Human Punk
- Strobe
- Personal Politics
- The White Noise Inc
- 16 January 2003 (live set from Eurosonic 2003 at Groningen)
- Strobe
- Beautiful Velocity
- Talk Hard
- Reborn
- Miss Black America
- Dot Dot Dot
Other Shows Played[]
(The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive. Please add further details if known.)
- 2001
- 29 May 2001: Human Punk (EP: Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat
- 05 June 2001: Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP) Repeat
- 07 June 2001 (Radio Eins): Human Punk (EP: Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat
- 17 June 2001 (BBC World Service): Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat
- 20 June 2001: Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP) Repeat
- 21 June 2001 (Radio Eins): Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP) Repeat
- 28 June 2001: Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat (Peel is going to try and see Miss Black America live at the weekend.)
- 28 June 2001 (Radio Eins): Human Punk (EP: Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat
- 05 July 2001: Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat
- 17 July 2001: Scream For Me (Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP) Repeat
- 31 July 2001: Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat
- 19 August 2001 (BBC World Service): Human Punk (EP - Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP) Repeat
- 06 November 2001: Don’t Speak My Mind (split 7" with Antihero - Split) Dental Sounds
- 11 November 2001 (BBC World Service): Don’t Speak My Mind (split 7" with Antihero - Split) Dental Sounds
- 15 November 2001 (Radio Eins): Don’t Speak My Mind (split 7" with Antihero - Split) Dental Sounds
- 21 November 2001: Don’t Speak My Mind (split 7" with Antihero - Split) Dental Sounds
- 25 December 2001: Don’t Speak My Mind (split 7" with Antihero - Split) Dental Sounds FF#42
- 27 December 2001: Human Punk (EP: Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist) Repeat FF#14
- 2002
- 09 January 2002: Infinite Chinese Box (Integrity)
- January 2002 (FSK): Infinite Chinese Box (CD Single) Integrity
- 17 January 2002: Infinite Chinese Box (Integrity)
- 24 January 2002: Infinite Chinese Box (Integrity)
- 05 February 2002: Infinite Chinese Box (Integrity)
- 10 February 2002 (BBC World Service): Infinite Chinese Box (7") Integrity
- 23 April 2002: Talk Hard (single) Integrity
- 01 May 2002: Talk Hard (single) Integrity
- 08 May 2002: Five By Five (EP 'Talk Hard') Integrity
- 09 May 2002 (Radio Eins): Talk Hard (CD Single) Integrity
- 16 May 2002 (Radio Mafia): Talk Hard (Integrity)
- 23 May 2002 (Radio Eins): 5 X 5 (EP - Talk Hard) Integrity
- 28 May 2002: Talk Hard (single) Integrity
- 12 June 2002: Talk Hard (Cd Single) Integrity
- 02 July 2002: 5x5 (CD Single - Talk Hard) Integrity
- 06 August 2002: Miss Black America (CD Single) Integrity
- 24 August 2002 (BBC World Service): Miss Black America (CD Single) Integrity
- 04 September 2002: Miss Black America (CD Single) Integrity
- 11 September 2002: Personal Politics (LP – God Bless Miss Black America) Integrity
- 17 September 2002: Strobe (album - God Bless Miss Black America) Integrity
- 26 September 2002 (Radio Eins): Personal Politics (album - God Bless Miss Black America) Integrity
- 09 October 2002: Personal Politics (LP - God Bless Miss Black America) Integrity
- 11 October 2002 (BBC World Service): Strobe (album - God Bless Miss Black America) Integrity
- 17 October 2002 (Radio Eins): Personal Politics (album - God Bless Miss Black America) Integrity
- 26 October 2002 (BBC World Service): Personal Politics (LP - God Bless Miss Black America) Integrity
- 03 December 2002: (JP states that Miss Black America have broken up and thus will not be going to Groningen. Then finds out they haven't and they will.)
- 26 December 2002: Infinite Chinese Box (CD Single) Integrity FF#45
- 26 December 2002: Miss Black America (LP-Miss Black America) Integrity FF#11
- 26 December 2002: Talk Hard (CD Single) Integrity FF#3
- 2003
- 03 September 2003: Drowning By Numbers (7") Repeat
- 09 December 2003: Beautiful Velocity (7") Repeat
- 11 December 2003 (Radio Eins): Beautiful Velocity (7") Repeat
- 2004
- 02 January 2004 (BBC World Service): Beautiful Velocity (7") Repeat
- 06 January 2004: Beautiful Velocity (7") Repeat
- 21 January 2004: Beautiful Velocity (Single: Beautiful Velocity) Repeat
- 03 March 2004: Drowning By Numbers (Album, Comp.: Fear Of A Black Kennett) Repeat
See Also[]
- June 2001 (Peel's Record Box)
- July 2001 (Peel's Record Box)
- November 2001 (Peel's Record Box)
- January 2002 (Peel's Record Box)
- March 2002 / April 2002 (Peel's Record Box)
- May 2002 (Peel's Record Box)
- June 2002 (Peel's Record Box)
- August 2002 (Peel's Record Box)
- October 2002 (Peel's Record Box)
- September 2003 (Peel's Record Box)
- Gigography 2001
- Gigography 2002