Bogshed were an
Indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
band formed in
Hebden Bridge
Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England. It is west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden Water. The town is the largest ...
, West Yorkshire, England, in 1985 by Phil Hartley (vocals), Mark McQuaid (guitar), Mike Bryson (bass) and Tristan King (drums).
They released two albums, two EPs and two singles before splitting up in 1987.
Bogshed were noted for their caustic lyrics that reflected an "everyday lunacy" and their primitive
Captain Beefheart influenced music, described in 2022 as "the musical equivalent of poisoning the water hole".
[Marsden, Rhodri.]
‘Between hilarity and severity’: how Bogshed transfixed a cult audience
. ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 15 November 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022
Career
The band formed in early 1984 and comprised Phil Hartley (vocals), Mark McQuaid (guitar), Mike Bryson (bass guitar), and Tris King (drums).
[Henderson, Dave (1986) "Bog Shed: Toilet Humour", '']Sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'', 11 January 1986, p. 6-7 Bryson also produced the cover art for the band's releases.
The name came from a misheard line in a song, with Hartley explaining "I like the way that the mouth moves when you say Bog Shed".
They were helped initially by
The Membranes
The Membranes are an English post-punk band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1977, the initial line-up being John Robb (bass guitar), Mark Tilton (guitar), Martyn Critchley (vocals) and Martin Kelly (drums).Larkin, Colin: ''The Guinness Wh ...
, leading to several performances in London, and the band's first release was the ''Let Them Eat Bogshed''
EP on
John Robb's Vinyl Drip label in 1985.
By the time of this release, the band had already played around 35 concerts and, according to Hartley, written between 80 and 100 songs.
Not really sounding like anyone before or since, they had much in common with some of the bands on the ''
Ron Johnson
Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American accountant, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. S ...
'' label. Bryson explained their approach to songwriting: "We start out being totally out of order and out of key and we turn things like that into a pop song. Most people try to do it the other way round."
They released two albums and several singles as well as recording five
Peel Sessions
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
, before splitting in 1987. Two of these sessions, from 1986, were issued on the ''Tried and Tested Public Speaker'' EP in January 1987, described by Liz Evans in ''Underground'' as "a mixture of throbbing, jogging rhythm and a bleating voice which rolls those words around and spits them out with plenty of spleen and bile".
[Evans, Liz (1987) "Bogshed ''Tried and Tested Public Speaker''", ''Underground'', April 1987, p. 18]
Bogshed appeared on ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
''s ''
C86
''C86'' is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine '' NME'' in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based music g ...
'' compilation. The term ''shambling'' was coined by
John Peel to describe their sound although the term later became more commonly used to describe bands such as
The Pastels
The Pastels are an indie rock group from Glasgow formed in 1981. They were a key act of the Scottish and British independent music scenes of the 1980s, and are specifically credited for the development of an independent and confident music scen ...
.
Post Bogshed
Phil Hartley recorded a solo Peel Session in 1988. He died on 11 October 2006.
[Canty, Ian.]
Bogshed – an appreciation of wonk genius
. Louder than War
''Louder Than War'' is a music and culture website and magazine focusing on mainly alternative arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication that was started by journalist John Robb in 2010 and is now ru ...
. Retrieved 4 December 2022 Tris King died of brain cancer on 21 December 2008.
Bryson recorded under the name of Forkeyes. A split mini-album 'Vier Mit Vier', with tracks by electronic musician Marcus H (Soiled) and Forkeyes was released in 2012 on Elm Lodge Records. He died in November 2022.
A boxset - ''Bog-Set'' - consisting of all their commercially released tracks plus Peel Sessions and various out-takes from Melodic Records is scheduled for release in December 2022.
Discography
(chart placings shown are from the
UK Independent Chart
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...
)
[Lazell, Barry:"Indie Hits 1980-1989", 1997, Cherry Red Books, ]
Singles
*''Let Them Eat Bogshed'' EP (1985, Vinyl Drip) No. 8
# "Panties Please"
# "Spencer Travis"
# "Fat Lad Exam Failure"
# "Slave Girls"
# "City Girls"
# "Hand Me Down Father"
*"Morning Sir" (1986, Shelfish) No. 2
# "Morning Sir"
#"The Story of Bogshed"
*''Tried and Tested Public Speaker (The Peel Session)'' EP (1987, Shelfish) No. 13
# "Tried And Tested Public Speaker"
# "Champion Love Shoes"
# "Little Grafter"
# "Morning Sir"
# "Fastest Legs"
# "Adventure Of Dog"
*"Excellent Girl" (1987, Shelfish) No. 30
# "Excellent Girl"
# "True Rope"
*"Stop Revolving" (1988, Shelfish) (only a few copies were released)
Albums
*''Step On It'' (1986, Shelfish) No. 4
*''Brutal'' (1987, Shelfish) No. 20
References
Sources
*
Robb, John. ''Death to Trad Rock''. Cherry Red Books, 2010.
* Tassell, Nige. ''Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids? An Indie Odyssey''. London: Nine Eight, 2023.
External links
Bog-Shed Fan SiteMike Bryson music project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogshed
English indie rock groups