Tiny Monroe

Tiny Monroe
Tiny Monroe
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Genres	Indie pop
Years active	1993–1996
Labels	Laurel
Past members	Norma Jean "NJ" Wilow; Alex Culpin; Philip Spalding; Greg Sanford; Richard Davies; Jon Solomon;

Last updated March 07, 2019

Tiny Monroe were an English indie pop band of the 1990s.

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

Indie pop is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.

History

The band was formed in London in 1993 by founder members Norma Jean "NJ" Wilow (vocals), Alex Culpin (bass guitar), Philip Spalding (guitar) and Greg Sanford (drums). The line up was cemented when Richard Davies (guitar) and Jon Solomon (drums) replaced Spalding and Sanford. This was the line up that played at Glastonbury, Reading and T in the Park festivals in 1994, and who recorded the majority of the songs on the album 'Volcanoes'. A final line up appeared post recording of the band's only album 'Volcanoes' comprising NJ Wilow (vocals), Richard Davies (guitar), Garry Becker (bass) and Dan Neumann (drums).^[1] The band quickly attracted press attention from the NME and Melody Maker . The band emerged as part of a perceived wave of female fronted bands influenced by the new wave sounds of the late 70s and early 80s. Other bands to emerge at the same time included Elastica, Sleeper, Echobelly and Salad.

New Musical Express (NME) is a British music journalism website and former magazine that has been published since 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the edition of 14 November 1952. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. During the period 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism, then became closely associated with punk rock through the writings of Julie Burchill, Paul Morley and Tony Parsons. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 1990s, changing from newsprint in 1998.

Melody Maker was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies, and—according to its publisher IPC Media—the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born composer, publisher Lawrence Wright; the first editor was Edgar Jackson. In 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.

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The band released their debut single "VHF855V" (the tile coming from the number plate of NJ's Ford Escort) on their manager Howard Gough's Laurel record label in March 1994, and released their first album Volcanoes in July 1996.^[1]^[2] Their most successful release, the Cream EP reached number 7 in the national indie chart in April 1994, and number 100 in the UK Singles Chart.^[3]

The Ford Escort is a small family car which was manufactured by Ford Europe from 1968 to 2004. The Ford Escort name was also applied to several different small cars produced in North America by Ford between 1981 and 2003.

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-selling singles in the United Kingdom, based upon physical sales, paid-for downloads and streaming. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV, is the UK music industry's recognised official measure of singles and albums popularity because it is the most comprehensive research panel of its kind, today surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums. To be eligible for the chart, a single is currently defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as either a 'single bundle' having no more than four tracks and not lasting longer than 25 minutes or one digital audio track not longer than 15 minutes with a minimum sale price of 40 pence. The rules have changed many times as technology has developed, the most notable being the inclusion of digital downloads in 2005 and streaming in July 2014.

Early support tours with Cranes and Curve were followed by festival appearances at Glastonbury,^[4] Reading and T In The Park in 1994. Other festival appearances included Sweden's Hultsfred Festival and France's RouteRock festival in St. Malo. The band undertook several headline tours and supported the Pretenders, Suede and Radiohead at the invitation of all three groups.

Cranes are a British music group formed in 1985 whose style has been described as "gothic minimalism".

Curve were an English alternative rock and electronica duo from London, formed in 1990 and split in 2005. The band consisted of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia. Halliday also wrote the lyrics of their songs and they both contributed to songwriting. An important collaborator was producer Alan Moulder, who helped them to shape their blend of heavy beats and densely layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's vocals.

Glastonbury Festival is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums recorded at Glastonbury have been released, and the festival receives extensive television and newspaper coverage. Glastonbury is the largest greenfield festival in the world, and is now attended by around 175,000 people, requiring extensive infrastructure in terms of security, transport, water, and electricity supply. The majority of staff are volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for charity organisations.

While in the band, NJ played the role of an alien in the BBC television film The Traveller .^[2]

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London, and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total, 16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed-contract staff are included.

Discography

Album

Volcanoes LP (1996), Laurel

"She"
"Cream Bun"
"Love Of the bottle"
"Open Invitation"
"Snake In The Grass"
"VHF 855V"
"Brittle Bones"
"Secret Place"
"Skin Beach"
"Women In Love"
"Bubble"

Singles

"VHF 855V" (1994), Laurel
Cream EP (1. Cream Bun 2. Jealousy 3. Brittle Bones 4. Sonic Blue) (1994), Laurel
"She" (1. She 2. The Party's Over 3. Really Happy) (1996), Laurel
"Open Invitation" (1. Open Invitation 2. Another Station 3. Mirror) (1996), Laurel

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References

1 2 Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 1031
1 2 Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0231-3, p. 442
↑ "Tiny Monroe", Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 October 2016
↑ Peel, John (1994) "Days of new gold, old gold", The Guardian , 28 June 1994. Retrieved 12 October 2016

External links

Norma Wilow website

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[Strong-1] 1 2 Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 1031

[Larkin-2] 1 2 Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0231-3, p. 442

[3] "Tiny Monroe", Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 October 2016

[4] Peel, John (1994) "Days of new gold, old gold", The Guardian , 28 June 1994. Retrieved 12 October 2016