Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Ned's Atomic Dustbin are an English Grebo rock band formed in Stourbridge in West Midlands in November 1987. The band took their name from an episode of The Goon Show. The band were unusual for using two bass players in their lineup: Alex Griffin played melody lines high up on one bass, and Matt played the regular basslines on the other. This gave the band a tense and highly driven sub-hardcore sound with distorted indie guitars and complicated Baggy drum beats.

The band was formed while at sixth form college and they recorded their first album while still teenagers. This led to a strong teenage fanbase with a reputation for enjoying stage diving and moshing at their gigs. The band were also noted (and sometimes ridiculed) for their early image which consisted of uniformly crimped hair, short trousers and T-shirts. The Neds (as their fans referred to them) were well known for their T-shirts and produced over 80 different designs within three years. Towards the end they also branched out into shorts, hats and other merchandise items.

History

Ned's Atomic Dustbin quickly gathered a strong fanbase after being noticed by local group The Wonder Stuff who offered a support slot on their 1989 and 1990 UK tours. During 1990, Ned's Atomic Dustbin released two EP's, "The Ingredients" and "Kill Your Television", which reached numbers 92 and 53 in UK Singles chart, respectively. They released their debut album God Fodder shortly afterwards and had hits with "Until You Find Out" (#51) and "Happy" (#16) in 1991. During the next two years, the group toured with, amongst others Mega City Four, Senseless Things and Jesus Jones. During this period they recorded their second album Are You Normal? in 1992, which was promoted by the singles "Not Sleeping Around" and "Intact".

The band spent the next few years on a worldwide tour before recording their final album, Brainbloodvolume. The album had a more diverse sound including samplers and keyboards. Their record label released the album in America before the UK, so most fans bought it on import leading to a poor UK chart position when it was eventually released, leading to tensions within the band and with the label. The poor chart showing may have also been to do with a changed music scene now fully in the swing of Britpop. The band had one last UK top 40 single with "All I Ask of Myself Is That I Hold Together" in 1995 following an appearance on The Word. The band split in 1995. Singer Jonn Penney formed a new band, Groundswell, which had little success.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin reformed with a different lineup in 2000, for a show in Dudley. The show was a success and the band have done a Christmas show every year since then, including a four-date tour in 2004 where the band performed several new songs. In 2005 they again played a few late-December gigs, and on 5 June 2006 their first new single in 11 years, "Hibernation", was released, supported with a weekend concert series called "Ned-Fest". The single was not available at regular retailers: it was an online-only single, available as both an online CD purchase and as a download.

The video game NCAA Football 2006 for Playstation 2 and Xbox features the song "Kill Your Television". Their song "Grey Cell Green" is featured in the video game Saints Row for the Xbox 360 platform, on "The Rock" radio station. The Neds' cover version of the Bay City Rollers song "Saturday Night" features in the movie So I Married an Axe Murderer.

On 7 May 2007, a compilation album was released with the name of Some Furtive Years - A Ned's Anthology: "Furtive" is a reference to their earlier record label. Unlike the others, this compilation features liner notes by Jonn Penney and Matt Cheslin, offering insight into the background of songs featured on the album.

On 12 May 2008, the band announced that the original lineup of Jonn, Rat, Matt, Alex, and Dan would be performing live together for the first time since 1995 on 6 December 2008 at the Astoria London.

Members ? classic lineup 1989?1995

Jonn Penney - vocals
Gareth "Rat" Pring - guitar
Alex Griffin - lead bass
Matt Cheslin - bass
Dan Warton - drums

Discography

Furtive was the band's own label distributed under Sony, which allowed the band to retain a level of independence and control (although which subsidiary of Sony distributed each release depended on which one and where it was bought. In the UK it was Sony Soho Square, Japan Epic, and in the US they were shifted about - first Columbia, then Chaos, then Work.)

Albums
Year
Title
Label
Other information
1990
Bite
Chapter 22
Collection of the first two singles plus two other tracks
1991
God Fodder
Furtive
D?but album
1992
And Besides...
Japanese only b-side collection
Are You Normal?
Second studio album
1994
0.522
B-side collection
1995
Brainbloodvolume
Last studio album
1998
Intact
Sony
Compilation
2001
One More, No More
Gig
Live, 29 June 2000
2003
Terminally Groovy
Castle
"Best of" compilation
2004
Session
Shakedown
Re-recordings, live
2007
Some Furtive Years - A Ned's Anthology
Camden
Compilation
Singles and EPs
Year
Title
Label
UK Singles Chart
US Modern Rock
Other information
May 1990
The Ingredients ep
Chapter 22