Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Formed in Stourbridge, in the West Midlands, in 1987, Ned's Atomic Dustbin were part of the British alternative rock wave around the turn of the 1990s, with a sound mixing grebo, power pop, indie punk and taut guitars. The band's distinguishing feature was a two-bass line-up—Jonn Penney, Rat, Alex Griffin, Matt Cheslin and Dan Worton—which gave their songs a dense, mobile rhythmic foundation. After starting out on the English independent scene, they gained attention by touring with The Wonder Stuff in 1989 and 1990 and by releasing The Ingredients EP in 1990, followed by the singles “Kill Your Television” and “Until You Find Out”. Ned's Atomic Dustbin later signed to Sony while retaining the Furtive label, and released the albums God Fodder (1991), Are You Normal? (1992) and Brainbloodvolume (1995). During this period the band toured widely across the UK, Europe and the United States, sharing bills with the likes of Mega City Four, Senseless Things and Jesus Jones, and played Glastonbury in 1992. They split in 1995, reformed from around 2000 and reunited their classic line-up in 2008, performing intermittently but regularly since then. In parallel, Jonn Penney and Rat developed the Ned’s Acoustic Dustbin project, documented by an album released in 2019.