Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself (also known as
PWEI or
the Poppies) was a band formed in
Stourbridge,
England with band members from
Birmingham,
Coventry and the
Black Country.
An early version of the band formed in 1981 under the name From Eden; members included
Clint Mansell, Adam Mole, Chris Fradgley, Malcolm Treece and
Miles Hunt (Treece and Hunt went on to form
The Wonder Stuff). After changing their name to Wild and Wandering for a while and recruiting Richard March and Graham Crabb (Graham being the only respondant to replace the 'piss poor' Miles Hunt on drums), they eventually became Pop Will Eat Itself in 1986, taking the name from a quote in an NME article about band Jamie Wednesday (later to become better known as
Carter USM).
The band honed their songwriting skills with a string of catchy two-minute pop songs released on EPs both as Wild and Wandering and Pop Will Eat Itself. With the help of DJ
John Peel, these EPs saw some airplay and enjoyed some popularity among university students. After the band feared they had accomplished all they could with their sound, they found new influences in
hip hop acts such as the
Beastie Boys,
Run DMC and
Public Enemy. Graham soon dropped the drum sticks for a mic and was replaced by a drum machine called "Dr. Nightmare." Their style continued to develop with classics such as "There Is No Love Between Us Anymore' and the anthemic "Def Con One". As a result, PWEI were signed to major label
RCA and they achieved top 40 hits with "Can U Dig It?" and "Wise Up! Sucker" off the album
This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This!RCA's larger studio budget allowed the band to develop its potential further, and they released 3 successful albums on that label. The first two (
…This is This! and
Cure for Sanity) were recorded with the aid of legendary producer Flood, known for his work with
Nine Inch Nails,
U2 and many other popular 90s groups.
Cure for Sanity was perhaps PWEI's most experimental album, with a more electronic sound than previous efforts. RCA, meanwhile, was more interested chart success and so wanted the band to cut the lengthy instrumentals from their songs.
On 1992's
The Looks or The Lifestyle, the band recruited a live drummer to complement their standard array of loops and pre-programmed drums and brought back some live guitars. The record was their most commercial and polished work to date, and was arguably the Poppies' high point, featuring top 20 hits like 'Karmadrome' and 'Bulletproof.' The single 'Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!' registered as the band's biggest hit in January 1993. By this point, RCA had already grown tired of PWEI's stubborness and dropped them before the single was even released (the song went on to peak at 9 in the UK singles chart). Because of this, the band became the first ever to perform on
Top of the Pops without being on a record label. The
British National Party had recently caused an uproar in
Tower Hamlets by winning a council seat, and it looked possible that the UK would see a revival in far right politics. In response to this,
The Looks or the Lifestyle introduced a hitherto understated political angle, as the album inlay used the "red arrow" emblem of the
Anti Nazi League and offered the organisation's address.
Getting dropped from RCA turned out to be a blessing for the Poppies, as the label agreed to write off the massive debts that the band had accumulated in studio fees in return for PWEI's back catalogue. After a minor bidding war, the Poppies decided to sign to Infectious Records, a label recently started by friend Korda Marshell (who had signed them to RCA in the first place but had since left the label) that offered them the artistic freedom they required.
PWEI maintained their stubbornly "cartoon like" image, despite producing thoughtful and often surprisingly dark tracks (for instance "Wake Up! Time To Die!", "88 Seconds", and "Mother").
PWEI's political stance became more explicit with the release of the single "Ich Bin Ein Auslander." A collaboration with Asian group Fun-Da-Mental, the song was scathing attack on the far right and the apathy that seemed to greet its resurgence. A different version of this song later appeared as the opening track on the 1994 album,
Dos Dedos Mis Amigos.
By this time the band had toned down its garish public persona and veered off in a new and more
industrial-based direction with the aid of long time fan
Trent Reznor. Many fans were upset that the 'Is everybody happy?!' pogoing Poppies were gone and put off by the new direction, but the band found new popularity after signing with Reznor's
Nothing Records in the US and touring with
Nine Inch Nails, as well as having their songs used on the Playstation game 'Loaded'.
The following year the band released the Dos Dedos remix album
Two Fingers My Friends which featured remixes by
The Orb,
Apollo 440,
Renegade Soundwave and many more. It was about this time that Graham Crabb left the band and they recruited 'The Buzzard' of Yeah! God (who had recorded 'wild guitar' on previous albums but was never a full time member) and Clint took over full vocal duties. The band continued down the industrial route and were still recording and touring until 1996, even recording a collaboration with
Orbital. Unfortunately, the band took a break before finishing production of their next album with Trent Reznor, and while not officially splitting, failed to complete the work citing boredom and musical differences. One track from this period was released, a cover of
Gary Numan's "Friends," and provides some indication of the band's direction at the time.
A staggering number of T-shirts endorsing the band have been produced. Of approximately 100 designs available, the best known is probably one which subverts the familiar "PEPSI" cola logo by replacing the legend "PEPSI" with "PWEI" and the phrase "Sample It, Loop It, Fuck It, Eat It" encircling the design. Other T-shirts feature the outlandish (often space-themed) cartoon characters that appear from time to time on the band's album artwork, from the round headed alien with toy ray gun known as 'Craig' (thought to be named after the band's manager, Craig Jennings), to the jagged toothed, sinister robotic head (complete with futuristic earpiece) that appears to have become the "official" logo for all "PWEI Product". At one stage in the 1990s, it was, possibly apocryphally, observed that PWEI had sold more T-shirts than actual records.
Almost all artwork and coporate identity for the band's record sleeves and merchandising was designed by the now hugely successful Sheffield-based
The Designers Republic. It is considered that much of what would become the design company's metatextual and self-referencing motifs were first carved out on the sleeve of PWEI records, to the point where, unless one had a good understanding of the Designers Republic at the time, it was difficult to decipher which were PWEI icons and logos and which belonged to the Designers Republic.
An example of The Designers Republic's work with PWEI can be found in the Design Museum, London.
Crabb left in 1995 to concentrate on his
ambient side project
Golden Claw Musics. After the rest of the band split in 1996, March and Townshend went on to form
big beat band
Bentley Rhythm Ace. Townsend also released two solo albums and Mansell has written a number of acclaimed film scores, including
Requiem For A Dream,
Pi, and more recently, The
Doom movie soundtrack.
The band reformed to play their first gigs in 8 years, in Nottingham, Birmingham, and London in January 2005. Many thought this would never happen, as the band had apparently lost all the tapes and disks of samples and backing tracks they needed to perform live. When this material was later found in a friend's garden shed, they decided to reform. There are as yet no plans for further gigs, but the possibility still exists. These gigs were renowned for their
Instant Live albums, whereby ten minutes after the completion of each gig, one could buy a double-disc live album of the performance.
The band released a preview of new material called "Sonic Noise Byte" on
November 4,
2005, as a torrent download for members of their official website
pweination. The tracks previewed were as follows:
Captain Plastic, Retro Dreaming, The Demon, Everyday is a World War, Hollow, T+A=$, Gonna Get You Baby, Punk Rock Band, Nosebleeder Turbo, Wasted. No official release date for any full version of this new material has been scheduled.
An announcement on the official website in March 2006 confirmed that Clint and Rich would no longer be involved in the project due to other work commitments, effectively ending the PWEI reformation, though future new PWEI material has not been ruled out entirely. However the remaining band members plan to continue as
Vileevils and have released the tracks "Retro Dreaming" and "Street Fightin" for download via the pweination website.
Albums
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Box Frenzy (1987)
*
Now for a Feast! (1988)
*
This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This! (1989)
*
Cure for Sanity (1990) (expanded reissue in 1991)
*
The Looks or the Lifestyle (1992)
*
Weird's Bar And Grill (Live) (1993)
*
16 Different Flavours of Hell (Best of) (1993)
*
Dos Dedos Mis Amigos (1994)
*
Two Fingers My Friends (1995)
*
Wise Up Suckers (BMG best of) (1996)
*
Radio 1 Sessions 1986 - 1987 (1997)
*
PWEI Product 86-94: The Pop Will Eat Itself Anthology (Anthology) (2002)
EPs
*
2000 Light Ales From Home (1986)
*
The Poppies Say Grrr (1986)
*
Poppiecock (1986)
*
Very Metal Noise Pollution (1989)
*
Amalgamation (1994)
Singles
*
Sweet Sweet Pie (1987)
*
Love Missile F1-11 (1987)
*
Beaver Patrol (1987)
*
There Is No Love Between Us Anymore (1988)
*
Def. Con. One (1988)
*
Can U Dig It? (1989)
*
Wise Up! Sucker (1989)
*
Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina (1990)
*
Dance Of The Mad (1990)
*
X Y & Zee (1991)
*
92F (1991)
*
Karmadrome/Eat Me Drink Me Love Me Kill Me (1992)
*
Bulletproof! (1992)
*
Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies! (1993)
*
R.S.V.P/Familus Horribilus (1993)
*
Ich Bin Ein Auslander (1994)
*
Everything's Cool (1994)
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | | US Modern Rock
| 1988 | "Def. Con. One" | #30 | This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This! |
| 1991 | "X Y & Zee" | #11 | Cure for Sanity |
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Pop Will Eat Itself official site*
Photos from the 2005 Reformation tour*
The Designers Republic
