Smaller were an English
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...
band from Liverpool, active during the 1990s. They had a Top 5 hit in UK Independent Charts with God I hate this town and top 55 UK national hits with "Wasted" and "Is" in 1996 and 1997.
History
The band was formed in the early 1990s by Steven Deary, his brother Peter Digsy Deary ( ex Cook da books ) Jason Riley and Paul Cavanagh.
[Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , p. 391] They were originally known as Small and had built up a strong local fan base due to their regular sellout shows around Liverpool at venues such as The Picket and The Lomax. It was at this point that Steven was introduced to Noel Gallagher for the first time by his cousins The Real People at an Inspiral Carpets show in Birmingham,( Noel and Mark Coyle worked for the Inspirals as guitar tech and sound engineer ) they exchanged demo tapes and met up the next night at the Manchester Academy show professing their love for each other's bands and promising to play support to each other's next hometown shows. supported Oasis at The Boardwalk in Manchester and Oasis supported Smaller at Le Bateau in Liverpool. Soon after Oasis signed to Creation records they invited Smaller to support them on their first major headline tour along with Scottish band Whiteout. Around this time Polydor records made an offer to sign Smaller but they decided to sign to ex Creation records MD Tim Abbots new label Better Records with whom they recorded their debut single "God I Hate This Town"reaching no 5 in the UK independent chart .Work had now started on their debut album Badly Badly with Oasis producer Mark Coyle. The follow up single Stray Dogs and Bin Bags was released with national press, radio 1 interviews, John Peel sessions, TV appearances ( The Big Breakfast, The Chart Show amongst others ) as well as a sellout tour of Japan now booked in after a successful b- sides album release over there. Following their own headline tour of Britain Smaller embarked on an arena tour with Oasis as well as guesting at Oasis Irvine beach show with The Verve.
[Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, 1-84195-335-0, p. 978] They recorded a session for
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
's
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
show in November that year. A second single failed to chart, but they broke into the
UK top 75 with "Wasted" in September 1996.
[Smaller]
, Chart Stats, retrieved 2011-02-20 Their next single, "Is", which featured
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...
on guitar, gave them their biggest hit, reaching number 55 in the UK in March 1997.
[Smaller Featuring Noel Gallagher]
, Chart Stats, retrieved 2011-02-20 The band's debut album, ''Badly Badly'', was released in April 1997, featuring further contributions from Gallagher. A second album was recorded, featuring a guest appearance from
Richard Hawley
Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. After his first band Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school) broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Long ...
, but it remained unreleased.
The band's lyrical themes included relationships, financial problems, and Digsy's experiences with drugs.
[Northern Empire, Carling Academy, tonight]
, ''Liverpool Echo
The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...
'', 4 October 2008, retrieved 2011-02-20
Discography
Albums
*''Badly Badly'' (1997) No. 86
Singles
*"God I Hate This Town" (1995) No. 141
*"Stray Dogs and Bin Bags" (1996) No. 160
*"Wasted" (1996) No. 72
*"Is" (1997) No. 55
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smaller
Alternative rock groups from Liverpool
English alternative rock groups
Britpop groups