So there I was, scrolling through the list of bands on the hard-drive of the laptop looking for the next entry for the Scottish Songs series after Wake The President, and I see the name Warm Jets, a band of whom I have absolutely no recollection.
I appear to have two of their tracks on the hard drive, both courtesy of them being part of compilation CDs that were released back in the 90s. One was called Fresh, and looking it up on Discogs, it turns out it was given away with the June 1998 edition of Select magazine. The other was called Shine 9, which I do recall was a relatively long-running series of 2 x CDs compilations which was a sort of indie version of the NOW That’s What I Call Music releases that sold in their millions to the masses.
I’ve just looked up Shine on t’internet, and indeed my recollection is just about spot-on as there were ten volumes all told, released between April 1995 and August 1998 (along with two ‘Best Of Shine’ efforts), by the Polygram label. If my arithmetic is correct, there were 322 songs across the ten volumes – I don’t have the time or inclination to see if any songs were ever repeated across different discs, but I can tell you that Oasis featured on the first nine volumes of Shine (with nine different song titles), and that any band who was remotely linked to the Britpop phenomena appears at least once.
Warm Jets, as well as being on Shine 9, also were part of the last in the series, Shine 10.
So who were Warm Jets? I must have listened to both the songs on the hard drive at least once when I picked up both CDs, but there is a complete blank in my mind. Here’s the basics courtesy of wiki:-
Warm Jets were a British indie pop band, who had two UK top 40 singles and a top 40 album in 1998. The group’s name derives from Brian Eno’s 1973 album, Here Come the Warm Jets.
The band was formed in 1995 by Louis Jones, Paul Noble (formerly of Eat) and Ed Grimshaw, and signed to This Way Up records in early 1996. They recruited former Pale Saints, Parachute Men and Rialto member Colleen Browne on bass guitar 1995–1997. She was replaced by Aki Shibahara.
After the release of their debut EP Autopia the band received positive press and played prestigious support slots and festival appearances, including an arena tour with Blur. The band appeared on NME’s annual tour of up-and-coming bands in early 1998.
Their only album, Future Signs, was released in 1998. The band had top forty hits in Britain with “Never Never” and “Hurricane”.
Still means absolutely nothing.
Maybe giving a listen to the tunes might help:-
mp3: Warm Jets – Desert Cats (From Fresh)
mp3: Warm Jets – Hurricane (From Shine, Vol.9)
The former certainly nods in the direction, musically, of Super Furry Animals, but it lacks the warmth, humour and genius of the Welsh wizards.
The latter, which cracked the UK Top 40 in April 1998 is, classic landfill-indie. It reminds me a lot of a hit single by Feeder that Mrs JC was quite fond of, but I couldn’t stand. I’ve just asked her – seems it was called Buck Rogers.
So there you are. Warm Jets. A debut appearance on this blog and, unless there’s a mention from a guest contributor who has more affection for them than I have, their last.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 