Loop – In Session for John Peel – Recorded August 11, 1987 – broadcast August 19 – BBC Radio 1 –
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Loop in session for John Peel tonight, their first of three sessions the band would do at Radio 1.
Loop were formed in 1986 by Robert Hampson (vocals, guitar), with his then-girlfriend Becky Stewart on drums. Stewart was later replaced by John Wills (The Servants) and Glen Ray, with James Endeacott on guitar. Initially releasing records on Jeff Barrett’s Head label, their first release was 1987’s “16 Dreams”, with debut album Heaven’s End following later that year. The band was then signed up by Chapter 22 Records.
They returned with a more polished sound with the “Collision” single in 1988. A second album Fade Out followed in 1989, reaching No. 51 on the UK album chart. Endeacott left the band in 1988, Scott Dowson joined the following year. They changed labels again to Beggars Banquet subsidiary Situation Two, releasing the “Arc-Lite” single in 1989 and the third and final studio album A Gilded Eternity in 1990.
The band split in 1991, with Hampson briefly joining Godflesh before forming Main with Dowson. Hampson’s Main project was discontinued in 2006 and while he now releases under his own name in 2010 he announced the return of Main, albeit as a collaborative project with other sound artists. Wills and Mackay went on to form The Hair and Skin Trading Company, which last released in 1995. Wills now performs and records as Pumajaw.
Loop recorded three Peel sessions for John Peel (11 August 1987, 14 June 1988 and 21 January 1990). A collection of these sessions entitled Wolf Flow was released in 1992. Following the split Loop’s official studio albums were re-released on their Reactor label. Their sound was influenced by Krautrock and No Wave influences and relied heavily on three chord riffs. Some of the records featured cover versions of Suicide, The Pop Group and Can tracks. The band played at the Reading Festival in 1989.
Hampson’s MySpace pages referred to friendly pressure to again re-release the Loop albums and these were eventually released in November 2008 on the Reactor label.
In November 2014 a new line-up emerged; still led by Hampson (vocal, guitar), the band performed with Hugo Morgan (bass) and Maskell (drums) from The Heads as well as Dan Boyd (guitar). They played at the Garage (London) and in the Netherlands. Their set featured a new song, “Precession”.[15] They also announced they would be playing ATP Iceland 2015[16]
In June 2018, the band played as part of Robert Smith’s curation of the Meltdown festival.
Here’s their first session for Peel – crank it up and get horizontal.
