The Charlatans concerts Tour 2024

Biography

For many years, the Charlatans were perceived as the also-rans of Madchester, the group who didn't capture the Zeitgeist like the Stone Roses or the mad genre-bending of Happy Mondays. Of course, they were more traditional than either of their peers. Working from a Stonesy foundation, the Charlatans added dance-oriented rhythms and layers of swirling organs straight out of '60s psychedelia. At first, the group had great promise, and their initial singles, including "The Only One I Know," were hits, but as Madchester and "baggy" faded away, the band began to look like a relic. It was commonly assumed that their third album, 1994's Up to Our Hips, was the end of the line. However, the Charlatans made a remarkable comeback in 1995 with their eponymous fourth album, which found them embracing not only the flourishing Brit-pop movement, but also underground dance and techno, as well as their mainstay of classic rock. The Charlatans debuted at number one, and the guys were hailed as survivors. Unfortunately, few knew how literal that term was -- as they were recording their follow-up album in 1996, organist Rob Collins, who had defined the band's sound, died in a car crash. The Charlatans decided to continue as a quartet, and their subsequent album, Tellin' Stories, debuted at number one in the U.K. upon its 1997 release. They consolidated this success with 1999's Us and Us Only and 2001's Wonderland -- both of which reached number two -- proving they had become one of the great British journeyman bands of the new millennium. At the time of their formation in the West Midlands in 1988, it appeared that the Charlatans were all about transience. Inspired by the emergence of the Stone Roses, Rob Collins (keyboards), Jon Baker (guitar), Martin Blunt (bass), and Jon Brookes (drums) formed the Charlatans, rehearsing with a variety of vocalists before Salford-born Tim Burgess joined as their singer, after the band's relocation to Northwich, Cheshire. The group attempted to land a record contract with no success, so they formed Dead Dead Good Records and released their debut 12" single, "Indian Rope," in January 1990. Collins' dynamic, sweeping Hammond organ distinguished the group from their Madchester scene peers, and the single became a number one hit on the indie charts. By the spring, they'd signed with Beggars Banquet, releasing "The Only One I Know" a few months later. Borrowing heavily from the Stones, jangle pop, and funk, "The Only One I Know" became a monster hit, climbing into the pop Top Ten and becoming the group's signature single. Following another hit single, "Then," the band's debut album, Some Friendly, was released in the fall, debuting at number one. It was a remarkable beginning to their career, so perhaps it was inevitable that bad luck hit early in 1991. As they launched their first American tour, the Charlatans were forced to add "U.K." to their name since a San Francisco garage rock band from the '60s already had a claim on the name. The group returned to Britain, where they played a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Following the gig, Baker announced he was leaving the band. He was replaced by Mark Collins (no relation) yet the group was sidetracked further by Blunt's bout with severe depression. By the time they finally released their second album, Between 10th and 11th, Madchester had become passé, and the album was ignored by the public and earned mixed reviews. Despite their declining popularity, the Charlatans soldiered on, yet hit their biggest setback in late 1992, when Rob Collins was arrested as an accessory to armed robbery. The situation had been entirely accidental -- Collins had been drinking with an old friend and wound up following him into a liquor store -- but he was sentenced to eight months imprisonment. Before he went into jail, he laid down the tracks for the band's third album, which was released in early 1994, once he had left prison. Up to Our Hips received stronger reviews than its predecessor, and its single, "Can't Get Out of Bed," was a bigger hit than anything on Between 10th and 11th. It was the beginning of a comeback that culminated in the summer of 1995. Prior to the release of the group's eponymous third album, Tim Burgess sang on the Chemical Brothers' "Life Is Sweet," which re-established his hip indie credentials and gave him, and the Charlatans, credibility in electronica circles. Appropriately, The Charlatans demonstrated a deeper dance sensibility, as well as more concise tunes, and it unexpectedly entered the British charts at number one. Following the release of the album, the Charlatans re-entered the front rank of British rock bands and were at the peak of their popularity, as well as critical acclaim. The group was still unable to crack the American market -- initially, they were barred from touring the country due to Collins' arrest -- yet they remained popular throughout Europe and Asia. As the band was recording its follow-up to The Charlatans, Collins was killed in a drunk-driving accident as he headed to the studio. Although Collins was pivotal to the band's signature sound, they carried on without him, completing their fifth album, Tellin' Stories, with the assistance of Primal Scream's keyboardist, Martin Duffy. Tellin' Stories was released in the U.K. in the spring of 1997 to generally strong reviews, and it entered the charts at number one. Two years later, Us and Us Only came out, followed in 2001 by the dance-inspired Wonderland. The next year saw two releases, Live It Like You Love It, recorded live in the band's hometown in December 2001, and Songs from the Other Side, a collection of B-sides from 1990 to 1997. The Charlatans' eighth studio album, Up at the Lake, was issued in 2004, and two years later, Simpatico hit the shelves. In 2008, the group released You Cross My Path on the Cooking Vinyl label. In 2010, the band marked the 20th anniversary of the release of Some Friendly by performing the album at Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival. Their 11th studio album, Who We Touch, was slated for release in September of 2010. During the supporting tour for Who We Touch, drummer Jon Brookes was diagnosed with a brain tumor; Peter Salisbury helped finish off the tour, but Brookes showed up at year-end gigs with the band. Burgess and Collins did a brief acoustic tour on their own in 2011 before Burgess began work on a solo album. He returned to the Charlatans in 2012, with the group starting a new album and playing their 1997 album Tellin' Stories in its entirety at two separate shows that summer; the June 8 show at HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London was released as a live album that August. However, after several operations and ongoing treatment for his brain tumor, Brookes died in hospital on August 13, 2013 at the age of 44. The Charlatans reconvened in 2014 to record their twelfth studio album. Entitled Modern Nature, the record appeared on BMG in January 2015; it debuted at number seven in the U.K., making it the band's highest-charting album since 2006's Simpatico. Two years later, the Charlatans followed up with Different Days, a record sporting cameos from Paul Weller and Johnny Marr. The Charlatans spent the next few years quietly, reissuing portions of their catalog -- including an expanded version of Between 10th & 11th in 2020 -- while Tim Burgess resumed his solo career. During this period, Burgess also conceived and popularized the notion of online listening parties. He began by marshalling a look back at Some Friendly in March 2020, and within 12 months he'd organized over 700 such events. Next, borrowing a line from 1996's "One to Another" -- their highest-charting U.K. single -- the band issued A Head Full of Ideas, a lavishly packaged and thorough retrospective celebrating their 30th year as recording artists. 2. The Charlatans were an influential psychedelic rock band that played a role in the development of the San Francisco music scene during the 1960s and are often cited by critics as being the first group to play in the style that became known as the San Francisco Sound. Exhibiting more pronounced jug band, country and blues influences than many bands from the same scene, The Charlatans’ rebellious attitude and distinctive, late 19th century fashions exerted a major influence on the Summer of Love in San Francisco. Their recorded output was small, with their first album, The Charlatans, not being released until 1969, some years after the band's heyday. The band is notable for featuring the first commercial appearance of Dan Hicks, later of Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. Formed in the summer of 1964, by amateur avant-garde musician George Hunter and music major Richard Olsen, the earliest line up of The Charlatans featured George Hunter (autoharp, vocals), Olsen (bass, vocals), Mike Wilhelm (lead guitar, vocals), Mike Ferguson (piano/keyboards, vocals), and Sam Linde (drums). Linde's drumming was felt to be substandard by the rest of the band and he was soon replaced by Dan Hicks (drums, vocals). The group was known for their style of dress, clothing themselves in late 19th century attire, as if they were Victorian dandies or Wild West gunslingers. This eye-catching choice of clothing was influential on the emerging hippie counter-culture, with young San Franciscans dressing in similarly late Victorian and early Edwardian era clothing. In June 1965, the Charlatans began an extended residency at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada, just across the border from Northern California. This six week stint at the Red Dog was important because band members Mike Ferguson and George Hunter produced a rock concert poster in advance of the residency to promote the performances. This poster—known as "The Seed"—is almost certainly the first psychedelic concert poster. By the end of the decade, psychedelic concert poster artwork by artists such as Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Victor Moscoso had become a mainstay of San Francisco's music scene. There were, in fact, two "Seed" posters, which look almost identical. They are differentiated by their dates. The first lists the band as playing between June 1 and 15, while the second states "Opening June 21". Another reason that The Charlatans' extended stay at the Red Dog Saloon was important was that, immediately before their first performance at the club, the band members took LSD. As a result, The Charlatans are sometimes called the first acid rock band, although their sound is not representative of the feedback-drenched, improvisational music that would later come to define acid rock. The Charlatans returned to San Francisco at the end of summer 1965 and, in September, were given the chance to audition for Autumn Records, a label headed by local DJ, Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue. Autumn didn't sign the band, partly due to conflicts between the group and Donahue over suitable material and partly due to lack of money; the label was on the verge of bankruptcy and was sold to Warner Bros. Records early the following year. Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine There is another band with the same name: Later years: 1966–1969 The failed Autumn Records audition proved to be only a minor setback as The Charlatans signed with Kama Sutra Records in early 1966. As home to the Lovin' Spoonful, one of the earliest folk rock bands to find international success, the group thought the label would be the ideal home for their music. However, after the band had recorded a number of songs for the record label and chosen to issue "Codine" as their debut single, the record company vetoed the release, due to the song's drug connotations. Ironically, the tune, penned by folk artist Buffy Sainte-Marie, spoke of the dangers of drugs, rather than promoting their use, but Kama Sutra was adamant and refused to release the song. Instead, two other songs from the Kama Sutra sessions, "The Shadow Knows" and "32-20", were released by Kapp Records in 1966 as the band's first single, with some copies being housed in a very rare, promotional-only picture sleeve. Kapp Records failed to adequately promote the release and the single was a commercial flop. The remaining songs recorded for The Charlatans' debut album during the Kama Sutra sessions remained unreleased until they were officially issued for the first time by Big Beat Records in 1996, on The Amazing Charlatans album. Mike Ferguson was fired from the Charlatans in 1967 and replaced by Patrick Gogerty. Additionally, Terry Wilson was brought in to take over as drummer after Dan Hicks moved to rhythm guitar, enabling him to sing his compositions as a front man for the group. Hicks eventually left the group in 1968 to form his own band, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks and Gogerty was subsequently fired from the band. Tensions between George Hunter and the rest of the band escalated throughout 1968 until Mike Wilhelm, Richard Olsen and Terry Wilson decided to disband the group, reforming soon afterward without inviting Hunter back into the band. The Charlatans recruited new member, Darrell DeVore (piano/keyboards, vocals), and soon secured a recording contract with Philips Records. The band released one album with Philips in 1969, titled simply The Charlatans. The album was a commercial failure, largely due to the band's sound being somewhat outdated by 1969. Breakup and reunions Following the release of The Charlatans, drummer Terry Wilson was forced to leave the band in order to begin serving a prison sentence for marijuana possession. The original quintet of Hunter, Olsen, Wilhelm, Ferguson and Hicks reunited briefly during the summer of 1969 but by the end of the year, The Charlatans had broken up for good. After the breakup, Mike Wilhelm went on to front the band Loose Gravel from 1969 until 1976, before becoming a member of The Flamin' Groovies during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Richard Olsen became a producer at Pacific High Studios and latterly formed the swing group Richard Olsen & His Big Band. George Hunter founded the Globe Propaganda design company and his artwork appeared on many LP covers including Happy Trails (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Hallelujah (Canned Heat), and It's a Beautiful Day (It's a Beautiful Day). Mike Ferguson joined Lynne Hughes, a barmaid from the Red Dog Saloon, in the band Tongue and Groove. In 1996, a documentary was released entitled The Life and Times of the Red Dog Saloon (also known as Rockin' at the Red Dog: The Dawn of Psychedelic Rock), in which the surviving members of the Charlatans (Ferguson died in 1979 from complications from diabetes) were interviewed about their heady days at the Red Dog. The following year, the Charlatans rehearsed for a series of top secret gigs at the legendary Sweetwater club in Mill Valley, followed by a series of reunion performances at the Fillmore. The band, composed of Hunter, Hicks, Wilhelm, and Olsen, were not heard from again until 2005, when they performed at a memorial concert for Family Dog founder Chet Helms in Golden Gate Park. The foursome returned to Golden Gate Park on September 2, 2007 for what would be their final performance to date, at a free concert commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love in San Francisco. Despite their lackluster recording career, The Charlatans hold the distinction of being the first of the underground San Francisco bands of the 1960s and as such, their importance is felt by the dozens of successful Bay Area bands that emerged later in the decade, and by all the bands that those groups influenced. Discography Albums The Charlatans (1969) Compilations The Amazing Charlatans (1996) Unofficial compilations The Charlatans (1979, released as a limited edition picture disc) The Autumn Demo (1980) Alabama Bound (1983) The Charlatans/Alabama Bound (1992) Singles [edit]"The Shadow Knows"/"32-20" (1966) "High Coin"/"When I Go Sailin' By" (1969) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.