House Martins

[Kenneth J. Hendrickson]

Has anybody other than me heard of a group called the "House Martins"?
I have only one of their albums, "The People Who Grinned Themselves to
Death", and the music seems to be Christian.

There is a song called "The World's on Fire" in which the church is
chastised for sin, and a song called "Me and the Farmer" in which the
attributes of God are discussed satirically in light of a farmer who
thinks God has it in for him.

Stylistically, they are 60's or 70's popish sounding, with piano, rhythm
guitar, drums, and at least 2 part harmony. I don't know who else to
compare them to, because they do have a somewhat unique sound.

I really like it. Anybody else know of the House Martins?

--
favourite oxymorons: student athlete, military justice, mercy killing
Ken Hendrickson N8DGN/6 k...@usc.edu ...!uunet!usc!pollux!kjh

[Paul Andrew Bennett]

In article <32657@usc> k...@pollux.usc.edu (Kenneth J. Hendrickson) writes:
>Has anybody other than me heard of a group called the "House Martins"?
>I have only one of their albums, "The People Who Grinned Themselves to
>Death", and the music seems to be Christian.

The Housemartins were from over here (UK), although I think they've
split up now. I seem to remember that (like many other "secular" bands,
eg "The Proclaimers"), they never actually stated their beliefs, but gave
pretty strong _hints_ on occasion. I've also got a vague recollection
of one of them having a cross shaved on the side of his head, although
this obviously doesn't prove anything.

>There is a song called "The World's on Fire" in which the church is
>chastised for sin, and a song called "Me and the Farmer" in which the
>attributes of God are discussed satirically in light of a farmer who
>thinks God has it in for him.
>
>Stylistically, they are 60's or 70's popish sounding, with piano, rhythm
>guitar, drums, and at least 2 part harmony. I don't know who else to
>compare them to, because they do have a somewhat unique sound.

Who to compare them to? Tricky. But it leads me to a plug...there's
another British Christian band, "Fat and Frantic" who were described by
an Edinburgh newspaper as sounding like "the Housemartins on speed"
who are trying to infultrate the US market. If you like a wild stage
show, they come with a _very_ high recommendation - please support them
(or at least give them a chance).

>
>I really like it. Anybody else know of the House Martins?
>

I like it, too. Oh, albums. I think there's three, but the only other
definite I know is their last one: "Now that's what I call quite good".
No idea what label or whatever.

>--
>favourite oxymorons: student athlete, military justice, mercy killing
>Ken Hendrickson N8DGN/6 k...@usc.edu ...!uunet!usc!pollux!kjh

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| London SW7 2BZ. | JANET: p...@doc.ic.ac.uk |

[Greg Wiley]

The House Martins are a British band from a city called Hull on the
East Coast. I don't think they deliberately set out to be a
Christian band but naturally their beliefs will play a part in the
song writing. I remember they did a video to a single released in
Britain that was filmed in a Church sanctuary and the band members
had the symbol of the Cross shaved on the side of their heads !
Unfortunately the band has now split up and the lead singer was
doing solo work.
--
/******************************************************************************\
/* * *\
/* Greg Wiley * "You big, fat, idle, ugly, wart !" *\
/* * 'ee said. *\

[CHO]

The House Martins do have a unique sound... Their popularity has
somewhat grown in the last few years... They have now split and
you can find the remnants of the House Martins in a group called
Beautiful South. I should mention that they are in no way seriously
influenced by the Christian. They focus more on corruption and
social and political issues... I do believe one or two of them are
self-proclaimed communists. Oh yes they do love songs, but there
aren't too many secular groups that don't. Not much else to say
about them except that. God Bless. :) -John Cho

[Ian G Batten]

In article <32657@usc> k...@pollux.usc.edu (Kenneth J. Hendrickson) writes:

> Has anybody other than me heard of a group called the "House Martins"?
> I have only one of their albums, "The People Who Grinned Themselves to
> Death", and the music seems to be Christian.

I suspect that Paul Heaton (the main man) would find this very amusing.

> I really like it. Anybody else know of the House Martins?

They've split. Heaton formed ``The Beautiful South'' whose second LP,
``Choke'', came out at the end of last year. Norman Cook formed ``Beats
International'' who had a hit with ``Dub be Good to Me.''

ian