The Sundays – Live at The Hague – March 2, 1990 – VPRO – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
The Sundays this weekend. In concert from The Hague and recorded by Dutch Radio network VPRO on March 2, 1990.
The Sundays formed in the late 1980s and released three albums in the 1990s.
The band’s beginnings came with the meeting of singer Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin while attending Bristol University. Wheeler had played gigs with Cruel Shoes, an early incarnation of the band Jim Jiminee. The duo soon augmented the band with bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan.
The Sundays secured a recording contract with Rough Trade Records. Their debut single was “Can’t Be Sure”. Their first album, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, was released in 1990, along with their next single “Here’s Where the Story Ends”. The album was a UK Top 5 hit.
With Rough Trade’s financial troubles and the band’s decision to manage themselves, The Sundays’ next single, “Goodbye”, did not emerge until 1992. Their next album, Blind, arrived the same year, reaching the UK Top 15. The single “Love” reached number 2 on the US Modern Rock charts. The band toured in support of these recordings.
In 1997 their third album, Static & Silence, was followed by the release of their most successful single to date, “Summertime”, which made the UK Top 15. The album itself reached the UK Top 10. However, the band has been on a lengthy hiatus since those releases, with Wheeler and Gavurin focusing on raising their two children.
In April 2014, Adam Pitluk, the editor of American Airlines’ magazine American Way, tracked down and conducted an interview with Wheeler and Gavurin in which he put forward the idea of a reunion. They responded “First let’s see if the music we’re currently writing ever sees the light of day, and then we can get on to the enjoyable globe-trotting-meets-concert-planning stage.”
On 10 October 2014, during an interview on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie radio program, David Baddiel described Dave Gavurin as his “oldest mate” and stated that “they [Dave and Harriet] are doing music, but whether they ever put that out there, I’ve no idea. They’re the most paranoid people about actually putting stuff out there.” Fans who have seen the Sundays live will remember hearing one or two tracks that were never released. “Something More” and “Turkish” featured in many of their sets, but the only copies are live bootlegs.
In an interview with the C86 Show Podcast released on August 18th 2020, Patrick Hannan revealed that Harriet and David had “never stopped making music” and that there are a number of tracks that he has played drums on. Patrick stated that these recordings may never be released.
In case you forgot – or would like a reminder – here are The Sundays as they were in 1990, riding the crest of a very high wave.
Enjoy.
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