CityLife

Last hurrah for Inspirals?

ONE thing a lot of Manchester bands have always been good at is building a strong brand from the outset.

Whether it be imprinting their moniker in the consciousness of the general public thanks to their distinctive calligraphy (Oasis, James) or making the most of a band member's passion for painting by transferring their sleeve artwork onto reams of white cotton (The Stone Roses).

When contemplating the quandary of how to give their merchandise a USP, The Inspiral Carpets came up with an innovative solution too.

Although as genial frontman of the Madchester veterans Tom Hingley now points out - inspired by their own label Cow Records - the famous 'moo' symbol owed a little to luck as well as judgement.

"Clint (Boon, keyboardist) used to have slides on stage in the early days featuring cows that used to live at the back of his house. He then made a little cartoon cow T-shirt with some tube paint that you ironed on.

"It all got a really positive reaction from the crowd and they soon began mooing - it just took off from there."

Quick to capitalise on the audience's response, Hingley drafted in his then wife and they knocked out some T-shirts in her work room on Sackville Street.

The Oxford ex-pat is keen to point out their 'suck it and see approach' though.

"It wasn't like we sat down for six-hour, Disney-esque marketing meetings - we just threw a lot of muck at the wall and saw what stuck and thankfully 97 per cent of it stuck because it was good, it was creative."

Unique appeal

The quintet's music had its own unique appeal too, as he is quick to add.

"There were a lot of rubbish rap bands down in London at the time that record labels were throwing money at, while the north was a bit down and subdued.

"There may not have been money in Manchester at the time, but there were always ideas, and a psychedelic-influenced band from Oldham in the '80s was always going to be an interesting thing!

"We captured a spirit that was in people, that only happens in so many moons."

After reforming in 2002 after a seven-year break, the five-piece have now hit the road three times in five years, but March's UK tour date is expected to see them bid farewell to their local fans for the foreseeable future.

Last time

"I think this will be the last time you'll see the band out for a while because everyone's doing so well with what they're doing away from it.

"Clint's doing fantastically on Xfm, Graham's (Lambert, guitarist) doing really well working with Simon Moran at SJM, Martyn (Walsh, bassist) is doing some music consultancy around the North West and Craig (Gill, drummer) is DJing - it's time to give it a bit of a rest."

The former Manchester Met English student has a strong work ethic too - a college lecturer by day and solo artist and leader of his long-standing sister band The Lovers by night.

Their new LP is duo out in March and Hingley is delighted with how it's turned out.

"It's called Highlights and we've spent three years recording it, it's a real labour of love and is more of a soul album, it's very melodic and I think it's a really, really good album."

Fresh from an appearance at Versus Cancer, the stellar homecoming show should be a great way for Hingley to mark almost 20 years as the Inspirals' lead singer and he hasn't lost sight about how lucky he's been in the business so long.

"I'm 42 now and I haven't had a proper job, that's amazing really.

"The band are like my brothers, they're all really funny and brilliant at what they do - it's great to be so close all these years on.

"I have actually got four brothers anyway, but they are like my other four!"

The Inspiral Carpets play Academy 1 on Friday, March 14. £20. Call 0161 832 1111 or click here .

YOU can also listen to audio clips from the interview below.