The Popguns are an English indie rock band, which played a part in the British Indie pop scene. Originally from Brighton, East Sussex, they formed in 1986 by vocalist Wendy Morgan, guitarists Simon Pickles and Greg Dixon plus bassist Pat Walkington and were joined by Shaun Charman, the former drummer for The Wedding Present in 1988.
Their first release, "Where Do You Go?", came in the form of a split flexi disc (with How Many Beans Make Five?) given away free with an issue of a local zine in 1988. The next year this was followed by the single "Landslide", (released by Medium Cool Records), which reached number 20 on the UK Indie Chart. The singles "Waiting for the Winter" (1989) and "Someone You Love" (1990) featured on their debut album, Eugenie (also 1990), released by the record label Midnight Music. The single "Still a World Away", preceded second album Snog, which was followed by the EPs XXX and Crazy (all released in 1991).
Charman left, leaving the group on a brief hiatus which saw them lose a significant amount of their media coverage. The single "Star" saw them debut for their new label, 3rd Stone, who released their third album, Love Junky (1995), which also contained the 1995 single, "Get Out". The final album of their early years, A Plus de Cent (1996) - which features the French language version of their last single, "Harley Davidson" - was released by Tall Poppy Records.
2012 saw the band resume live performances with six gigs in that year and a further two in 2013. At least four new songs were included in these performances. A three-track 7" single, "Lovejunky", was released in late 2014, followed by a new album, Pop Fiction, on Matinée Recordings. Soundblab ranked the album at Number 2 on their Top 10 Releases of 2014. Another single, "Still Waiting For The Winter" was also taken from "Pop Fiction". The band have continued to tour and record new material, and released the single "So Long" in May 2017, followed by the album "Sugar Kisses".
Links to Peel[]
Peel had a copy of the band's flexi-disc, which they first released and shared with a group called How Many Beans Make Five? in 1988. Their track weren't played by the DJ, instead playing How Many Beans Make Five?'s side on his 07 November 1988 show. However, their full debut single, Landslide, was picked up by Peel and later on reached number 46 in the 1989 Festive Fifty. The band did two sessions for his show in 1990 and also gave thanks to JP on their record sleeve when they released their debut album, Snog, in 1991.
In an 2014 interview with the A Layer Of Chips blogsite, guitarist, Simon acknowledged the role of Peel when describing his fondest memories:
"Going out on our first mini-tour after we’d done a Peel Session and people in strange towns were singing back our songs from the crowd. I remember playing Warwick University (I think) and people were singing along to 'Bye Bye Baby' which had its first play on Peel a few days earlier and was not out on record yet." [1]
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- Peel's Era
- 1989 Festive Fifty: Landslide #46
- Post Peel
- 2023 Festive Fifty: Caesar #12
Sessions[]
THE POPGUNS John Peel 9th January 1990
1. Recorded: 1990-01-09. First Broadcast: 23 January 1990. Repeated: 21 February 1990
- Someone You Love / Bye Bye Baby / Put Me Thru It / Where Do You Go
2. Recorded: 1990-09-04. First Broadcast: 30 September 1990. Repeated: 08 December 1990
- Going Under / I'm Spoiling Everything / Those Other Things / A World Away (It's Grim Up North)
Other Shows Played[]
- 1989
Popguns - Landslide (Official Video)
- 03 April 1989: Landslide (12") Medium Cool
- 11 April 1989 (Radio Bremen): Landslide (12") Medium Cool
- 13 April 1989: Landslide (12") Medium Cool
- 18 April 1989: Landslide (12") Medium Cool
- 21 April 1989 (BFBS): 'Landslide (12")' (Medium Cool)
- 19 October 1989: Because He Wanted To (12" - Waiting For The Winter) Midnight Music
- 02 November 1989: Because He Wanted To (12" - Waiting For The Winter) Midnight Music
- 14 November 1989: Because He Wanted To (12" - Waiting For The Winter) Midnight Music
- 25 November 1989 (BFBS): 'Because He Wanted To (12"-Waiting For The Winter)' (Midnight Music)
- 19 December 1989: Because He Wanted To (12" - Waiting For The Winter) Midnight Music
- 20 December 1989: 'Landslide (7/12 inch)' (Medium Cool) FF #46
- 1990
- 07 March 1990: Someone You Love (12") Midnight Music
- 22 March 1990: Someone You Love (12") Midnight Music
- 03 April 1990: Someone You Love (12") Midnight Music
- 12 April 1990: Someone You Love (12") Midnight Music
- 12 May 1990 (BFBS): 'Someone You Love (12")' (Midnight Music)
- 23 August 1990: Because He Wanted To (LP - Eugenie) Midnight Music
- 28 August 1990: Don't Smile (LP - Eugenie) Midnight Music
- 03 September 1990: Leave It Alone (LP - Eugenie) Midnight Music
- 07 September 1990 (BFBS): Don't Smile (LP - Eugenie) Midnight Music
- 11 September 1990: Down On Your Knees (album - Eugenie) Midnight Music
- 14 September 1990 (BFBS): Don't Smile (LP - Eugenie) Midnight Music
- 21 September 1990 (BFBS): Because He Wanted To (LP - Eugenie) Midnight Music
- 1991
- 09 March 1991: Still A World Away (12") Midnight Music
- 23 March 1991 (BFBS): 'Still A World Away (12")' (Midnight Music)
- 06 April 1991: Still A World Away (single) Midnight Music
- 21 April 1991: Put Me Through It (album - Snog) Midnight Music
- 28 April 1991: Bye Bye Baby (album - Snog) Midnight Music
- 03 May 1991 (BFBS): 'In My Head (LP-Snog)' (Midnight Music)
- 13 May 1991 (BBC World Service): In My Head (LP - Snog) Midnight Music
- 18 May 1991: Put Me Through It (album - Snog) Midnight Music
- 25 May 1991 (BBC World Service): In My Head (LP - Snog) Midnight Music
- 31 May 1991 (BFBS): 'Gone (LP-Snog)' (Midnight Music)
- 14 July 1991: Bye Bye Baby (LP - Alvin Lives (In Leeds)) Midnight Music
- 02 August 1991 (BFBS): Living In Sin (12" - XXX ep) Midnight Music
- 19 October 1991: 'Gesture (12"-Crazy)' (Midnight Music)
- 1992
- 25 April 1992: 'Lightning (Various Artists LP - (Various Artists LP - (Over A Century Of Vivisection And Anti-Vivisection) How Much Longer)' (Anti-Vivisection Agency) (just a small snippet of this track as John sorts out a technical problem.)