RIP Nick Sanderson

I was genuinely upset to hear of the death of former Earl Brutus frontman Nick Sanderson.

While others will remember him for his involvement in a number of other bands – Clock DVA, World Of Twist, Jesus and Mary Chain and Freeheat – I remember him most with his short involvement in the band which was active between 1993 and 1999 and released two albums, Your Majesty .. We Are Here and Tonight You Are The Special One (nothing to do with Chelsea). The latter album was released on Polygram and it’s hard to imagine a major label taking such a risk on such a band these days – a 30-something collection which included a former JoBoxer, Martin Fry out of ABC’s brother and a headbanging Japanese guy whose contribution other than, erm, standing on stage headbanging was so limited he made Bez look like a multi-instrumentalist.

They first came to my attention when the short-lived “we’re XFM, a REAL indie radio station” (copyright 1997-1998) A-listed The SAS And The Glam That Goes With It. In the early days of the UK version of MTV2 (circa 1999), viewers could choose an hour’s worth of videos on their website and I managed to get Come Taste My Mind a rare TV showing, which I recorded for posterity and subsequently YouTubed here:

I was lucky enough to see them live about 10 years ago a the Electric Palace in Camden supporting Kenickie, with a friend who clearly hated them. I was pretty much mesmerised by the whole set – probably the best support slot I’ve had the good fortune not to ignore.

The bastion of all world knowledge that is Wikipedia describes them as a hybrid of glam rock, Kraftwerk and the Fall, and I can’t really argue with that.

No firm news of how and when it happened but his last record label, Planting Seeds, reports that it was in the last couple of days, and posters on JAMC message boards suggested it was cancer.

Thursday 12 June 2008, 878 views