Shriekback are an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band formed in 1981 in

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...

by Barry Andrews, formerly of

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing ...

and

the League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a British surreal comedy horror series that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives ...

(keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...

(bass guitar), with Carl Marsh, formerly of Out on Blue Six (guitars/vocals) soon added to the line-up. The band's early music was a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

-influenced version of new wave and

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

, later moving towards

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

and always featuring "insidiously weird vocals".

History

The band enjoyed some success on the dance chart on its original Y Records label and had a string of hits on the

UK Indie 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 ...

, while its first album, ''

Care Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (England) West Midlands, Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency team, a team of doctors & ...

'' (1983), was picked up by Warner in the United States.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, The band left Y for

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

for '' Jam Science'' (1984), also recruiting the drummer Martyn Barker. The album reached number 85 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and "Hand on my Heart" was a number 52 UK single. The 1985 album '' Oil and Gold'' was recorded on Arista (released by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

in the US). Marsh left Shriekback during the recording of ''Oil and Gold'' and was replaced on guitar by Mike Cozzi, with Andrews taking over lead vocals. Shriekback also left Arista and signed to Island Records for whom they recorded '' Big Night Music'' (1986), after which Allen left to rejoin Gang of Four, and Shriekback remained a collaborative centred on Andrews. Allen also went on to play in King Swamp and The Elastic Purejoy. Marsh was also in the band Happyhead. After another album in 1988, '' Go Bang!'', the band split up. Andrews continued working on other projects before re-forming Shriekback in 1992, although after the single "The Bastard Sons of Enoch" and album '' Sacred City'', there were no further releases until '' Naked Apes and Pond Life'' (2000). Both Allen and Marsh returned to the studio to contribute to the recording of the 2003 release '' Having a Moment''. After ''Having a Moment'', Andrews recorded three albums for Malicious Damage (

Killing Joke Killing Joke were an English rock music, rock band formed in Notting Hill, London, in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Killing Joke ...

's original label) under the Shriekback name. Shriekback are still actively producing music and released the studio album, ''Why Anything? Why This?'', in May 2018. The same line-up of Andrews, Barker and Marsh self-released a 15th studio album, ''Some Kinds of Light'', on 6 December 2019. ''1000 Books'', ''Bowlahoola'', and ''MONUMENT'' followed in 2021, 2022, and 2025 respectively.

Members

Other than those listed above, Shriekback members or contributors have included Luc van Acker, Linda Nevill, Emma Burnham, Brian Nevill, Pedro Ortiz, Clare Hirst, Lu Edmonds, Wendy and Sarah Partridge (from

Electric Guitars Electric Guitars were an English band formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport (vocals, lyrics) and Richard Hall (bass, vocals) who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Sander ...

), Steve Halliwell, Eve Moon,

Ivan Julian Ivan Julian (born June 26, 1955) is a guitarist, singer-songwriter, and founding member of Richard Hell and the Voidoids and Lovelies. He has also performed with The Isley Brothers, The Clash, Matthew Sweet, The Bongos, Richard Barone, and Shr ...

, Mike Cozzi and Jessica Palin/Jose Fina Cupido.

In other media

The film director

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas. He has received a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four ...

is a fan of the band and used several Shriekback songs in his films '' Manhunter'' and '' Band of the Hand'' and in his television series ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...

''. Music composed by Shriekback is used as the theme song for the '' Squaring the Strange''

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

hosted by Benjamin Radford and Pascual Romero. They selected it because of their fondness for music from the 1980s.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

Tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a freshwater, fresh- and brackish water, brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Great Britain, Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far ...

'' (1982) * ''

'' (1983), Y (UK Indie No. 7) * '' Jam Science'' (1984), Arista ( UK No. 85) * '' Oil and Gold'' (1985), Arista * '' Big Night Music'' (1986), Island * '' Go Bang!'' (1988), Island * '' Sacred City'' (1992), World Domination/Capitol * '' Naked Apes and Pond Life'' (2000), Mauve/Mushroom * ''Having a Moment'' (2003) * ''Cormorant'' (2005) * ''Glory Bumps'' (2007) * ''Life in the Loading Bay'' (December 2010) * ''Without Real String or Fish'' (March 2015) * ''Why Anything? Why This?'' (May 2018) * ''Some Kinds of Light'' (December 2019) * ''1000 Books'' (December 2021) * ''Bowlahoola'' (November 2022) * ''MONUMENT'' (March 2025)

Compilations and live albums

* ''The Infinite (The Best of Shriekback)'' (1984), Kaz * ''Evolution – Best of Shriekback Vol. 2'' (1988), Kaz * ''The Dancing Years'' (1990), Island * ''Natural History – The Very Best of Shriekback'' (1994), Essential * ''Priests and Kannibals: The Best of Shriekback'' (1994), Arista * ''The Y Records Years'' (2000), Sanctuary * ''Aberrations 81–84'' (2001), Weatherbox * ''Vicissitudes'' (2002) (Shriekback.com Internet-only release) * ''2 Live Shows'' (2002) * ''Live at Hatfield'' (2002) * ''Secrets of the City'' (2002) (Shriekback.com Internet-only release) * ''Island of the Hopeful Monsters'' (2015) * ''Live at Park West, Chicago '87'' (2016) * ''Peel Sessions and Singularities'' (2016) * ''Big Live Band 2017'' (2017) * ''The Elated World'' (2017) (album of commissioned songs)

Singles and EPs

Video albums

* ''Jungle of the Senses'' (1987) Island Visual Arts

References

External links

Shriekback homepageThe Shriekback Pages
* Shriekback ''AllMusic'' *
Shriekback
''Trouser Press'' * Shriekback's Billboard hitsbr>Malicious Damage RecordsInformation about the Shriekback tracks used in Michael Mann's ''Manhunter''
* {{Authority control English post-punk music groups English new wave musical groups British rock music supergroups New wave supergroups Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups disestablished in 1989 Musical groups reestablished in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Musical groups reestablished in 1999 Rock music groups from the London Borough of Camden Arista Records artists Island Records artists Capitol Records artists English art rock groups