Medusa (band)

Formed in Blackburn, Lancashire in spring 1998, by guitarist and vocalist Julian Molinero whilst still at school.[1]

Over the next several years, the band went through many line up changes and claimed to have been banned from the majority of venues they played in the early years.[2]

After a hiatus of approximately one year, Julian Molinero resurrected the group in 2006 to record the self-titled debut album.

During this period, Medusa hit the national headlines in the UK with fabricated publicity stunts, appearing in The Sun (newspaper) for apparently stealing television star Russell Brand's garden gnome. The story was also mentioned on BBC Radio 1 and 2 and the popular news and gossip website Hecklerspray, who had previously championed the band.[3] On 20 April 2007, The Sun reported that Russell Brand had invited the band onto his new TV talk show to make amends where the band had smuggled a goat into his dressing room where it ate his clothes and defecated in his shoes.[4]

Several months of gigging around the UK followed, including packed shows at Manchester Academy and London's Underworld and the band were also asked to support UK Subs and Glen Matlock's acoustic Sex Pistols set. In late summer 2007, this line up dissolved and Julian set about writing and recording the second album to be titled "Can't Fucking Win", intended to be an emotionally deeper and more melodic album. The final mastering of the album was completed by well-known heavy metal producer Romesh Dodangoda (Manic Street Preachers/Funeral for a Friend) who also mixed two tracks.[5] It was finally released in March 2011.

In February 2011, the band relocated from the north of England to Camden Town, London.

As well as accumulating positive reviews and worldwide radio play, on 13 April 2012, Medusa appeared in the Daily Star newspaper in the UK, in an article featuring several stills from their second music video to the track Tinkerbell.[6] The video features intoxicated dwarf Josh Bennett, a reality TV star from the Channel 4 show Seven Dwarves, dressed as an Oompa Loompa on a drunken limousine ride with the band.[7]

A documentary called "In Bed with Medusa", produced about the band in 2013, parodies the Madonna film Madonna: Truth or Dare (known in the UK as In Bed With Madonna).[8] The same year, Medusa introduced new members Stefan Hale and Milo De Nack, on drums and bass respectively.

In 2014, the band released their third album "Headcase's Handbook", produced by UK Top Ten producer Lee Batiuk, who produced hits for Deaf Havana, among others. Shortly after the album's release, it was announced that they would be having their next album recorded by Steve Albini (famous for recording albums by Nirvana/Pixies etc.) at Electrical Audio in Chicago.[9][10]

Medusa's music videos for "Sid and Nancy" and "The Sweetest Elixir", released in 2015, quickly accumulated tens of thousands of views on YouTube.[11][12]

In 2016 and 2017, the band headlined monthly shows in London, as well as playing gigs at a few other towns in England.[13][14]

Medusa recruited Snell as the new drummer in late 2019; best known as the drummer from Towers of London but whom had also played with The Prodigy, Day 21 and starred in the British television show The Mighty Boosh.[15]

With this new line up, they recorded their fourth album "In Bed with Medusa" with Steve Albini at his studio Electrical Audio. It was released in February 2020.[16][17][18][19] On 10 March 2020 a short documentary was released, directed by Rich Kolar, about the making of the album.[20][21]