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60 Ft. Dolls

 
Artist: 60 Ft. Dolls
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60 Ft. Dolls

Group Members:

Mike Cole, Carl Bevan, Richard John Parfitt

Similar Artists:

Embrace, Northern Uproar, Reef, Travis, The Cast, Oasis, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Dodgy, Foo Fighters, Tilt, Lagwagon, The Boo Radleys, Buzzcocks, Big Audio Dynamite

Influenced By:

The Stooges, The Who, The Sex Pistols, MC5, The Jam, Mott the Hoople, The Clash, Maxine Brown
  • Formed: 1993
  • Disbanded: 1998
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "The Big 3," "Joya Magica"

Biography

The Welsh band 60 Ft. Dolls smacked themselves into the mid-'90s post-grunge surge and enjoyed moderate success in the U.K. They never fully got off the ground enough to mold something more defining. Hailing from the working-class suburb of Newport, Wales, Richard Parfitt (vocals/guitar) and Mike Cole (bass) met on the dole, striking up a friendship over music. Both shared an interest for the Who, the Clash, and the Jam, as well as a fondness for Motown, so the two opted to musically tinker around. Six months of playing around was a little shaky, but with the addition of drummer Carl Beven in 1993, 60 Ft. Dolls was complete. Beven, who is the son of Rockin' Reverend Ray Beven, was a jazz and soul enthusiast and cited John Bonham and Keith Moon as influences. His style was a perfect mold to the punk-influenced trio, and together they built a rowdy following around Wales. "Happy Shopper" marked their debut single in 1994, and follow-ups such as "Pig Valentine" and "Stay" pushed them into the press. A year later, the 60 Ft. Dolls found themselves opening for Veruca Salt on the New Musical Express Brat Bus tour and a deal with DGC soon surfaced. The Big 3 was their proper studio full-length, issued on the U.K. label Indolent in 1996 and on DGC in the U.S. in 1997. Festival gigs across Europe consumed the 60 Ft. Dolls for the remainder of the year as well as small shows in North America. A second album Joya Magica was released in 1998 shortly before the 60 Ft. Dolls were dropped by Indolent. A year later, the band split. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: 60 Ft. Dolls
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
60 Ft. Dolls
Origin Newport, South Wales, UK
Genres Hard rock, Britrock
Years active 1993–1998
Labels Indolent (UK)
DGC (US)
Former members
Carl Bevan
Mike Cole
Richard Parfitt

60 Ft. Dolls were a British rock trio active in the 1990s.[1]

They were formed in Newport in 1992 by Richard J. Parfitt and Michael Cole, who met through Donna Matthews (later of Elastica),[2] who was at the time, dating Cole and working part-time in the same pizza restaurant as Parfitt[3]. After problems finding the right drummer, they eventually took on pastor's son Carl Bevan.[4] Initially influenced by touring American hardcore bands that played in Newport (and in particular, prominent local venue T. J.'s),[5] the Dolls played noisy yet melodic rock, described by the NME as "grunge mod...proto-pub metal blues of the first order".[6] In 1993, Huw Williams of the Pooh Sticks became their manager [7] and released the debut single "Happy Shopper", named after a British convenience store chain, on his own Townhill label.[8]

After supports with Oasis, Elastica and Dinosaur Jr., 60 Ft. Dolls released their second single "White Knuckle Ride" on Rough Trade Records and then "Pig Valentine" on the RCA imprint Indolent Records. These early singles were championed heavily by BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, and as a consequence were picked up by influential American DJ Rodney Bingenheimer of KROQ. This resulted in the band signing a deal with Geffen Records in the USA. The New York Times listed "Pig Valentine" among its 1996 singles of the year.[9] The band broke into the UK Top 40 with their third single "Talk to Me" (Indolent, 1996). This was followed by their debut album, The Big 3, which was called "[a]s close to soar-away rock perfection as it's possible to imagine" by the NME[10] and "[p]ure, unadulterated, no nonsense, emotional, tuneful, impassioned, purposeful, hedonistic rock 'n' roll"[11] by Melody Maker. The album was included in Mojo's 2003 retrospective feature "Top 12 Britpop albums of the 90s", which called it "a devilishly evocative document of the period".[12]

The band toured extensively in the UK, Japan and Europe, including several summer festival appearances as well as opening for The Sex Pistols at their 1996 Finsbury Park reunion gig.[13] But they were dogged by alcohol problems, and after an exhaustive three tours of the USA in 1997, never toured again.[14] They released their second album, Joya Magica, in late 1998 and split soon after.[15]

The band recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, in 1996 and 1998, and appear in the top 125 Peel sessions of all time.[16]

Mike Cole once played guitar for Newport's The Darling Buds but was asked to leave after just three gigs. He was also asked to stand in for Paul McGuigan on Oasis' 1996 tour of the USA, but declined.[17]

Carl Bevan's father, Pastor Ray Bevan, heads one of the biggest evangelical churches in the UK and once sang guest vocals on the Dolls' "Let The Spirit Move You", a 12" white label-only release, limited to one thousand copies and mixed by Wubble-U.[18]

Welsh pop-soul singer Duffy credits Richard Parfitt with "changing her life"[19] and setting her on the road to fame after he hooked her up with manager Jeanette Lee.[20][21]

The track "Hair", written by Mike Cole about his then-girlfriend Donna Matthews, was placed Number 7 in Mojo's "100 Most Miserable Indie Songs of All Time" feature.[22]

The Dolls were included, with Catatonia and others, in a House of Commons Early Day Motion, extolling the virtues of Newport's rock and roll credentials.[23]

Discography

Albums

  • The Big 3 (Indolent, 1996/Geffen, 1997) UK: #36 [24]
  • Joya Magica (Indolent/Geffen, 1998)

EPs

  • Supernatural Joy EP (Geffen, 1996)
  • Hair EP (Indolent, 1996)

Singles

  • "Happy Shopper" (Townhill, 1994)
  • "White Knuckle Ride" (Rough Trade, 1995)
  • "Pig Valentine" (Indolent, 1995)
  • "Talk to Me" (Indolent, 1996) UK: #37 [24]
  • "Stay" (Indolent, 1996) UK: #48 [24]
  • "Happy Shopper" (re-recording) (Indolent, 1996)UK: #38 [24]
  • "Alison's Room" (Indolent, 1998) UK: #61 [24]

Compilation appearances

  • "London Breeds" on I Was a Teenage Gwent Boy (Frug Records, 1994)
  • "Dr Rat" on Club Spangle (Spangle Records, 1995)
  • "British Racing Green" on For Immediate Use (Raw, 1995)
  • "The Universal" on Long Ago and Worlds Apart (Nippon Crown, 1995)
  • "Number 1 Pure Alcohol" on Home Truths (Echo, 1995)
  • "Happy Shopper" on Indie Top 20, Volume 21 (Beechwood Music, 1996)
  • "Talk to Me" on Indie Top 20, Volume 23 Beechwood Music, 1996)
  • "Pony Ride" on London Calling 1 (London Calling, 1996)
  • "Talk to Me" on Mad for It (Telstar, 1996)
  • "Stay" on The Best Album in The World Ever! Vol. 3 (Circa Records, 1996)
  • "Stay" on The Magnificent Seven cassette (Melody Maker covermount, 1996)
  • "Baby Says Yeah" on John Peel's Sounds Of The Suburbs (Shifty Disco 1999)
  • "Talk to Me" on Shine 5 (Universal Music TV, 1996)

References

  1. ^ Wilson, MacKenzie. "((( 60 Ft. Dolls > Overview )))". allmusic.com. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fjfexqegldde~T1. Retrieved 2008-05-16. 
  2. ^ I-D, November 1995)
  3. ^ NME 30th August 1994
  4. ^ NME, p.10, May 13, 1995
  5. ^ The Independent section 2, p. 7, 21st December, 1995
  6. ^ NME, April, 1995
  7. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/60ft_dolls
  8. ^ Select, September 1994
  9. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4DC1239F937A35752C0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=al
  10. ^ NME, November 30, 1996
  11. ^ Melody Maker, December 1996
  12. ^ Mojo, p.82, April 2003
  13. ^ http://www.discogs.com/artist/60ft+Dolls
  14. ^ Select, May 1997
  15. ^ Q, July 1998
  16. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/sessions/top125/
  17. ^ The Chart Show, January 20, 1996
  18. ^ http://www.discogs.com/release/1239557
  19. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/08/17/st_duffy.xml&page=1
  20. ^ http://www.channel4.com/music/features/D/duffy-syrup-and-honey-video.html
  21. ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/duffy/9535
  22. ^ Mojo, p.94, June 2004
  23. ^ The Observer, November 24, 1996
  24. ^ a b c d e 60ft Dolls at chartstats.com chartstats.com

External links


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