Mega City Four – In Session – 1993 – Past Daily Soundbooth

Mega City Four – John Peel Session – September 19, 1993 – BBC Radio 1 –

Mega City Four to start the week. Recorded in session for John Peel and broadcast over BBC Radio 1 on September 19, 1993.

The long-running alternative rock band the Mega City Four had been together for over a decade when they broke up in early 1996. Formed in the mid-’80s in Farnborough, England, the band consisted of guitarist/vocalist Wiz, bassist/vocalist Gerry Bryant, rhythm guitarist/vocalist Danny Brown, and drummer Chris Jones. Aside from the studio LPs Tranzophobia (1989), Who Cares Wins (1990), Terribly Sorry Bob (1991), Sebastopol Rd. (1992), Magic Bullets (1994), and Soulscraper (1996), the band also tallied a live LP, a Peel Sessions disc, and an impressive number of singles. After breaking up, Wiz and Bryant continued playing together in Serpico.

The band toured extensively in the UK, Europe and North America during the 80s and 90s, working with bands including Les Thugs, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine and Doughboys, amongst many others. The band’s second studio album, Who Cares Wins, was released in 1990. Extensive touring across Europe began again, with the band performing in the Reading Festival that year. Who Cares Wins was followed by a compilation album of their early 7″ singles, called Terribly Sorry Bob (1991). The band subsequently moved to a major record label to record two further studio albums, Sebastopol Rd. (1992) (recorded by Jessica Corcoran at London’s Greenhouse Recording Studios) and Magic Bullets (1993). This album produced the singles “Wallflower” and “Iron Sky”, which both placed 69 and 48 in the UK Singles Chart respectively. After falling out with their record label, they moved to Fire Records to record their final studio album, Soulscraper (1996). In addition to their studio albums, the band also released a live album, a Peel Sessions disc, and a number of singles. The British music journalist, Martin Roach, wrote a biography of the band, Mega City Four: Tall Stories and Creepy Crawlies, published in 1993.

The band had been together for over a decade when they broke up in early 1996. Wiz moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada and joined Canadian alternative rock band, Doughboys. Wiz and Bryant continued playing together in a group Wiz formed called Serpico after the demise of Mega City Four. After Serpico, Wiz went on to form Ipanema, who were still playing and recording until late 2006.

Having just returned from a tour of the United States, Wiz collapsed at a band rehearsal. It was announced on 7 December 2006 that Wiz had died at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, South London from a blood clot on the brain on 6 December.

As a reminder of their landmark period, crank this session from 1993 up and get ready for the week.

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