The Candyskins

The Candyskins
The Candyskins at Truck Festival 2009
Background information
Origin	Oxford, England
Genre(s)	Britpop
Years active	1989 – 1998 ; 2009 -
Label(s)	Stuff Records, Geffen, Ultimate Records
Members
Nick Cope Mark Cope Nick Burton Brett Gordon John Halliday Karl Shale

The Candyskins are a rock band formed in 1989 in Oxford, England and though early members of the 'Oxford Scene', enjoyed limited commercial success compared to their contemporaries Radiohead and Supergrass. They were also considered by the British music press as one of the seminal early bands of the Brit Pop era^[1]. The band recorded four studio albums over a period of eight years.

History

After the successful release of the "Submarine Song" in 1990, the band went into the studio to produce their first full length album Space I'm In with original bass and banjo player Richard (Mini) Brown. Growing antagonism between Brown and the band during a year of supporting acts such as The Damned, Mock Turtles and Jools Holland led to a miserable (although the best-selling album of the Candyskins) recording experience for all.^{[citation needed]} The album featured three singles: "Submarine Song", "She Blew Me Away" and "You Are Here". Brown was subsequently dismissed and credited only as an additional musician in order to avoid payment for the bass work on the album and singles.^{[citation needed]}

After a year of touring and the replacement of a stand-in bass player with Karl Shale, the band released their second album Fun? on Geffen Records in 1993. Characteristically the band attempted to cultivate the U.S. success of Space I'm In with an ironic album featuring songs about football and gardening. The poor selling record began an elongated legal dispute between the record company and the band, reportedly due to disagreements over songwriting royalties^[1].

The album Sunday Morning Fever was released on Ultimate in the UK in 1997, and saw the band enjoy their biggest chart success with "Monday Morning", making it into the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The record company went bankrupt and the band were left in limbo during the recording of their last album Death of a Minor TV Celebrity. The album did not do as well as their previous effort despite featuring the single "Feed It" which was one of the central songs on the soundtrack to the movie The Waterboy starring Adam Sandler.

Break-up

The band broke up in 1998 and members now primarily pursue other projects in the music industry.

Reformed

The band have re-united on several occasions since their break-up, fueling rumours that they may one day reform. Notable public performances include,

Farewell gig on New Year's Eve, 2001 at The Zodiac.

Last night party of The Zodiac in Oxford on 17 May 2007. The event was filmed for a documentary about the history of the Oxford music scene. Over two thousand people attended the sold-out show. The also played at the Carling Academy, Oxford, in what was The Zodiac, on the 8 August 2008.

Nick Cope on stage.

Truck Festival on the 26th July 2009 on a bill that included old Oxford friends Supergrass, amongst others. [1]

Other projects

Mark Cope now has a new band Nine Stone Cowboy, and has released the single "Jesus Doesn't Like Me".

Line-up

• Nick Cope - Vocals
• Nick Burton - Guitar
• Mark Cope - Guitar
• Brett Gordon - Bass
• John Halliday - Drums

Trivia

Nick and Mark Cope are the sons of actor Kenneth Cope.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References