REMEMBERING MARION

Today’s piece is adapted from a post over at the old place back in August 2008.  Apologies to ctel.  He dislikes this lot almost as much as he dislikes The Fall.

Back in the mid 90s, it seems that every A&R man in the country was hell-bent on finding the next Blur or Oasis, and just about every guitar-orientated band was offered some sort of record deal. There are dozens of bands from the Britpop-era who, having shone very brightly at first with the inevitable two-page colour spread in the NME and/or Melody Maker and/or Select and/or Vox, would crack the Top 20 with a half-decent single.

Some bands – the likes of Ash, Stereophonics and Supergrass spring to mind – would go on to enjoy reasonable careers over the course of a few years. Most bands however, soon faded back into obscurity, usually because they never had the talent or material to progress beyond the initial burst.

But given that they had a charismatic frontman, a guitarist who many reckoned was as talented as any of his generation, and the support and backing of the likes of Radiohead, Morrissey and Johnny Marr, it is hard to fathom why Marion never had any meaningful career.

Again, it was Jacques the Kipper who brought this lot to my attention via the inclusion of their debut single Violent Men on a compilation tape. It interested me enough to catch them live at King Tut’s in Glasgow not long after – I’m sure it would have been the autumn of 1994. Now I know it’s easy to get all nostalgic about these sorts of things and creep into hyperbole….but the fact remains that the first Marion gig I got along to was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen at King Tut’s.

I remember coming away convinced I’d seen the 90s equivalent of The Smiths, largely on the back of the way singer Jaime Harding and guitarist Phil Cunningham had captivated the audience with astonishing and intense performances, with a set that consisted of songs that fell into two distinct camps – instant pop classics that would sound great on the radio or instant bedsit classics that would soundtrack many a students’ life.

But it just didn’t happen. A succession of singles released throughout 1995 made next to no impression. To their credit, the band never gave up and just kept on with tour after tour after tour in an effort to gain a bigger fan base. The hard work did eventually pay off, with a couple of Top 30 hits coming around in early 1996.

The debut album ended up selling reasonably well, and fans/admirers sat back and waited for the new material to emerge.

And waited, And waited. And waited.

The expectations around the new songs were especially high, as it had been revealed that Johnny Marr was recording with Marion, but it took until March 1998 before the first fruits of these labours appeared. By now the Britpop train had hit the buffers. The bands that had survived had been those who kept on releasing new singles and LPs at regular intervals thus staying in the public spotlight. And besides, this fella called Marr was now seen as nowt special being very much as the day before yesterday’s man….

The March 1998 single wasn’t a hit. Relationships between the band and label, which were never great to begin with, hit an all-time low with the decision to hold back the second LP.  So Marion were back on the road with nothing to promote and with no natural audience. By early 1999 it was all over….

I reckon they are truly the great lost band of the Britpop era.  Phil Cunningham has since shown how highly talented (and regarded) he is when he was asked to join New Order at the beginning of this decade.

Jaime Harding? Well, he was long a dedicated apostle of the clichéd lifestyle of a rock’n’roll star. After the band disbanded, he continued to make music with friends, then bummed around Eastern Europe for a few years, before coming home to make-up with Phil and reform Marion at the beginning of 2006.

It didn’t however, all go to plan.  Some initial live shows promised much but then Jaime was hospitalised as the effects of years of drugs misuse eventually caught up him; he fell very fell seriously ill with a blood condition that required him to have life-saving open-heart surgery at the age of 31.

Things were put on hold till late 2011 at which point a serious effort was made at reforming, including new songs and a series of love shows leading to a short tour in the Spring of 2012.  It would seem however, that the spark didn’t fully re-ignite as the band’s own website would indicate that outwith a few Jaime Harding solo shows in 2013, there’s been next to no activity.  Sad proof that not all efforts by bands to reform 20 years on work out and lead to belated riches.

mp3 : Marion – Violent Men
mp3 : Marion – Sleep
mp3 : Marion – Toys For Boys
mp3 : Marion – Miyako Hideaway

Enjoy