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Murry The Hump

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(This page is about the Welsh band. For the English band of the same name, see Keys(2). For the American group of the same name, see Keys(3)).
Murry-the-hump

Murry The Hump were a Welsh indie rock and "urban folk" band. They were active from 1999 until 2001. Since then they have continued to release music under the name The Keys (or simply Keys). The band was formed in Aberystwyth, Wales in the late 1990s by singer Matthew Evans, guitarist Gwion Rowlands, bass guitarist Curig Huws, and drummer Bill Coyne, taking their name from the gangster Llewellyn Morris "Murray The Hump" Humphreys.

Early on in the band's career, they competed in a Battle of the Bands contest against Muse. Garnering early interest by way of indie singles "Green Green Grass of Home" (an NME "Single of the Week", and a song about marijuana rather than a cover of the song made famous by Tom Jones) (Blue Dog/V2) and "Thrown Like A Stone" (Shifty Disco).

In 2000 the band signed to Too Pure, whereupon they joined new label mates Hefner on a whistle-stop tour of the UK. The band then began work ontheir debut album, Songs of Ignorance, and performed some of the new material for Radio 1's One Live in Cardiff. Curig was replaced by new bassist Siôn Glyn.

A second single for the label, "Don't Slip Up" and the debut album Songs of Ignorance followed. The band announced that they had split up in September 2001. Evans stated in 2003 "it stopped being fun and we found we had to promote things and that's when things started getting quite tense. "Evans, Rowlands, and Glyn re-remerged in 2002 as The Keys, after asking fans to choose a name for the new band, and were described as "Duane Eddy jamming with the Jesus and Mary Chain". The band released a self-titled debut album in 2003, two EPs in 2009 and their second album as The Keys, Fire Inside, in 2010. A third album, Bitten by Wolves, was released in 2011. The band, now also known simply as Keys, released the albums Ring the Changes in 2014, Bring Me the Head of Jerry Garcia in 2019. and Home Schooling Album in 2020.

Links to Peel[]

Peel discovered the band after Damon Albarn of Blur recommended him their single, Thrown Like A Stone, which JP mentioned on his 21 September 1999 show. The band later did two sessions for Peel's programmes and their song Thrown Like A Stone entered at number 9 in the 1999 Festive Fifty. After the group split and remerged as the Keys in 2002, Peel kept his support of the band's new name and continued playing their material, including having them to do a session for his show. Their song, Strength Of Strings, was one of Peel's singles of the month for June 2003 (Peel's Record Box) and it also entered the 2003 Festive Fifty at number 41.

Festive Fifty Entries[]

Murry The Hump
Keys

Sessions[]

Murry The Hump

1. Recorded: 1999-09-26. First Broadcast: 01 December 1999

  • Cracking Up / One Fine Day / Five / Kebab Or Shag

2. Recorded live from Peel Acres. First Broadcast: 21 December 2000

  • Walking In A Winter Wonderland (sung in Welsh)
Keys

1. Recorded: 2003-07-09. First Broadcast: 09 September 2003. Repeated: 13 November 2003

  • From Tense To Loose To Slack / Girlfriend / Feel A Whole Lot Better / Love Your Sons And Daughters

Live[]

Murry The Hump
  1. Cracking Up
  2. Don't Slip Up
  3. Booze And Cigarettes
  4. Five
  5. Kebab Or Shag
  1. Elle Nico
  2. Pigs On Parade
  3. Thrown Like A Stone
  4. The House That Used To Be A Ship
  5. Five
  6. Booze & Cigarettes
  7. Kebab or Shag?

Other Shows Played[]

Thrown_Like_A_Stone

Thrown Like A Stone

Murry The Hump
The_Keys_-_Strength_Of_Strings

The Keys - Strength Of Strings

Keys

See Also[]

External Links[]

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