The Wonder Stuff

Formed in 1986 in Stourbridge, West Midlands, The Wonder Stuff coalesced around Miles Hunt, with Malc Treece, Rob Jones and Martin Gilks, and initially belonged to the English grebo scene alongside other Black Country acts such as Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. The Wonder Stuff developed a bracing alternative rock sound driven by taut guitars, British pop choruses and a frequently biting tone, before broadening their palette with folk and country elements, notably when Martin Bell added violin and banjo in the late 1980s. This evolution is heard across albums like The Eight Legged Groove Machine (1988), Hup (1989), Never Loved Elvis (1991) and Construction for the Modern Idiot (1993), a period during which the band toured extensively in the UK, Europe and the United States and recorded the cover of “Dizzy” with Vic Reeves in 1991. After splitting in 1994, The Wonder Stuff returned to the road in 2000 at the instigation of Miles Hunt, the central member of all the group’s incarnations. Since then they have continued with Escape from Rubbish Island (2004), Suspended by Stars (2006), Oh No It’s... The Wonder Stuff (2012), 30 Goes Around the Sun (2016) and Better Being Lucky (2019), preserving their blend of melodic rock, live energy and more acoustic arrangements.