The Sundays were an English alternative rock group formed in the late 1980s who released three albums in the 1990s. The band's beginnings came with the meeting of Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin at university. Wheeler had played gigs with 'Cruel Shoes' an early incarnation of the band Jim Jiminee. The duo soon augmented the band with bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan. The Sundays secured a recording contract with Rough Trade Records. Their debut single was "Can't Be Sure". Their first album, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic was released in 1990, along with their next single "Here's Where the Story Ends". The album was a UK Top 5 hit.
With Rough Trade's financial troubles and the band's decision to manage themselves, The Sundays' next single, "Goodbye", did not emerge until 1992. Their next album, Blind, arrived the same year, reaching the UK Top 15. The "Goodbye" B-side, a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses", also appeared on the US release of Blind as well as in the movie Fear (1996) and on the 1999 soundtrack album for the popular television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The band toured in support of these recordings.
In 1997 their third album, Static & Silence was followed by the release of their most successful single to date, "Summertime", which made the UK Top 15. The album itself reached the UK Top 10. However, the band has been on a lengthy hiatus since those releases, with Wheeler and Gavurin focusing on raising their two children.
Links To Peel
The group performed three songs for Peel's session in 1989. These songs would later turn up on their debut album, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Their place in Peel show folklore was sealed by their Festive Fifty number one in 1989 with their song Can't Be Sure.
Festive Fifty Entries
- 1989 Festive Fifty: Can't Be Sure #1
- 1990 Festive Fifty: Here's Where The Story Ends #36
- 2000 Festive Fifty (all-time): Can't Be Sure #47
Sessions
One session [1]. 'Skin & Bones' released on Summertime 1997, 2xCDS (Parlophone – CDR 6475)
1. Recorded: 1989-02-28. First broadcast: 06 March 1989. Repeated: 21 March 1989
- I Won / My Finest Hour / Skin And Bones
Other Shows Played
The list below was compiled only from the database of this site. Please add more information if known.
- 1989
- 25 January 1989: I Kicked A Boy (12" - Can't Be Sure) Rough Trade
- 30 January 1989: Can't Be Sure (single) Rough Trade RT218
- 31 January 1989 (Radio Bremen): Can't Be Sure (12") Rough Trade
- 31 January 1989 (Radio Bremen): I Kicked A Boy (12" - Can't Be Sure) Rough Trade
- 01 February 1989: I Kicked A Boy (12" - Can't Be Sure) Rough Trade
- 03 February 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 098 (BFBS)): Can't Be Sure (7") Rough Trade (JP: 'I think they should do very well. So does everybody else, in fact.')
- 07 February 1989: Don't Tell Your Mother (b/w 12" - Can't-Be-Sure) Rough Trade RTT 218
- 10 February 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 099 (BFBS)): Don't Tell Your Mother (12" - Can't Be Sure) Rough Trade
- 29 August 1989: I Kicked A Boy (single – Can’t Be Sure b-side) Rough Trade
- 24 December 1989 (BBC Radio East Anglia): Here's Where The Story Ends (LP - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 11 December 1989: I Won (7" flexi) The Catalogue CAT076 (Given away with this and other magazines Nov/Dec) (John misannounces the track as 'I Won't')
- 28 December 1989: Can't Be Sure (7 inch) Rough Trade FF#1
- 1990
- RF Sessions 10: Hideous Towns (LP - Reading Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- RF Sessions 10: A Certain Someone (LP - Reading Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 01 January 1990: Here's Where The Story Ends (LP - Reading Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 02 January 1990: Hideous Towns (album - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 02 January 1990: A Certain Someone (album - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 04 January 1990: You're Not The Only One I Know (LP - Reading Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 04 January 1990: My Finest Hour (LP - Reading Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade ROUGH 148
- 09 January 1990: Joy (LP - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- January 1990 (BBC World Service): Skin And Bones (LP - Reading, Writing & Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 11 January 1990: Here's Where The Story Ends (LP - Reading Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade ROUGH 148
- 24 January 1990: I Won (LP - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- Peel 129 (BFBS): Here's Where The Story Ends (LP - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- Peel 133 (BFBS): 'I Won (LP-Reading, Writing And Arithmetic)' (Rough Trade)
- 23 December 1990: Here's Where The Story Ends (LP - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade FF#36
- 1999
- 31 August 1999: Can't Be Sure (LP - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade
- 2000
- 04 January 2000: Can't Be Sure (LP - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic) Rough Trade AT-FF#47