lush is one of the most underrated bands to come out of the early ninety's britpop-shoegaze movement.
they are also one of my personal favourites.
their story begins appropriately enough in london when two 14 year-olds, bff's miki berenyi and emma anderson began discussing their mutual love for music. co-founding a fanzine and attending numerous gigs together, they learned all about the local punk scene and decided to join respective bands -- "the bugs" for berenyi, "the rover girls" for anderson. after developing their own sound, and enlisting drummer chris acland and bassist steve rippon, lush was born.
they gained heavy momentum by playing local gigs throughout london--so heavy in fact, that on one particular night, as many as twelve different studio execs came to listen. only one rep from seminal indie label 4ad chose to stay.
they began by writing quintessential pop lyrics -- drawing influence from carly simon and the beatles and anything else they remember listening to as kids, and burying it under a lot of heavy guitar reverb, mainly because of berenyi and anderson's presumed lack of vocal ability. this sound would go on to become their signature and a staple of the early shoegaze genre.
and it worked:
robin guthrie of cocteau twins was so impressed, he decided to produce their debut album, spooky, in 1992 (with new bassist phil king, replacing rippon after an amicable separation).
minor success soon followed abroad when perry farrell of jane's addiction, a huge fan, decided to extend the invitation to play lollapalooza the following year. they accepted, and brought their unique sounds to america. the festival (in its second year) featured lush not only playing center stage with red hot chilli peppers, soundgraden, pearl jam and ice cube but also, in true rock-star form, berenyi plunging from a misjudged stage-dive onto her head, requiring 14 stitches.
when it was time to record a sophomore LP in 1994, the now confident band fled to wales to cut split, a more melodic effort that had both girls, lyrically, reaching deep in an attempt to outdo their first record.
tensions rose and pressures mounted as split made less of an impact in the u.k., selling less than spooky, but did however garner them heavy rotation on mtv stateside and allowed them a proper, full u.s., canadian, british and european tour. fame overseas is not what they wanted.
if england didn't like them, they had failed.
perceived failure once again served as motivation towards the recording of album #3. released in 1996, lovelife, unlike earlier efforts, showcased berenyi and anderson's individual songwriting skills which mixed dark, pastoral imagery with jangly, high-spirited pop sounds--particularly on tracks like "papasan" and "ciao!", berneyi's duet with jarvis cocker.
either way, critical reaction was high and showcasing became essential
--perhaps too much so. exhausting and repetitive touring throughout america took its toll:
anderson wanted to leave the band.
acland was ordered by a doctor to stay on bedrest.
berenyi felt completely abandoned, yet hopeful.
the band took a much needed hiatus.
acland decided to move to his parent's house in the english countryside.
it was here that fears and stress became all consuming and he hanged himself.
lush was no more.
berenyi and anderson, devastated, could not and would not carry on without their friend. lovelife would be their last record and they officially disbanded in 1996.
- in 1998, emma anderson formed a new band entitled sing-sing with lisa o'neill. they disbanded in 2008. anderson is now a booking agent. she is 42.
- miki berenyi currently works as a sub-editor at a major music magazine in london. she has provided vocals for tracks by the rentals and seinking ships. she has no desire to return to music. she is 42.
- phil king is currently a touring guitarist for the jesus and mary chain. he apparently works at the same company (not the same publication) as miki. he is 49.
i love listening to this when it is raining outside.
right now,
it is raining outside.
