The Farm (British band)

The band was formed in early 1983[3] and initially comprised Peter Hooton, Steve Grimes, John Melvin and Andrew John "Andy" McVann,[5] who was killed in a police chase on 1 October 1986 at the age of 21,[6] and to whose parents the band's subsequent album, Spartacus, is dedicated.

The Farm playing on the main stage at Guilfest 2014

The band evolved from an earlier group called The Excitements,[7] initially including Phil Stephenson on bass guitar, Neil (Cad) Campbell on drums, Grimes on guitar and Thomas (the band's dancer). They became The Farm after Martin Dunbar (vocals) left and Peter Hooton joined, although they did play several gigs as The Excitements with Hooton on vocals. In 1984, they released the single, "Hearts and Minds", produced by Graham "Suggs" McPherson,[8] lead vocalist with Madness.[3] In 1986, after McVann's death, Melvin left the band to pursue a varied career as the director of his own construction firm, but he eventually returned to music in 1990 under the guise of Mr. Smith, a two-piece band that toured frequently, but did not release anything of note. In 1987, the band supported The Housemartins on their UK tour.

After the departure of Melvin and the death of McVann, Hooton brought in a new line-up. They released four independent singles, but did not have a big break until 1990.[9] In 1989, the band had been given a cameo role in the movie The Final Frame starring Suggs. They were signed after this and hired Suggs as their producer. Their first single under new management was "Stepping Stone", a dance remake of Paul Revere & the Raiders and The Monkees' single "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone",[9] a 1966 single that in its day reached No. 20 in the U.S. Billboard charts for The Monkees.[3] They appeared in The Face, an influential popular culture magazine in the UK, and their promotion of "No alla violenza" anti-hooligan T-shirts during Italia 90 helped to raise their profile further.

The Farm at GuilFest 2011

The Farm's first song to reach the top part of the UK Singles Chart was "Groovy Train", which reached the Top 10 in September 1990.[9] During the summer that year they played in Ibiza and were a key feature in the film A Short Film About Chilling.[10] In late November that year, they released their most memorable song, "All Together Now", which instantly became a hit and peaked at number three in the charts in December 1990.[3] It was on the crest of this wave that their album Spartacus reached No. 1 in the UK the following year.

In 1991 The Farm teamed up with Pete Wylie of Wah! (The Mongrel), to re-record his 1986 hit "Sinful" in the indie-dance 'baggy' style[11] and followed it up with three smaller hits on the Produce record label.

With the success of Spartacus, the band signed a major label deal with Sony Records, who gave them their own End Product record label[12] (which played on the name of their former independent record company Produce). However their success was to be short-lived due to changes in the indie music scene and the move to a major. Their first single for Sony, "Rising Sun" (1992), moved away from the baggy sound and did not perform well, peaking at Number 48 in the UK Top 75.[9] At this point the band had split from producers Pete Heller and Terry Farley and had joined up with Mark Saunders, who had produced Erasure and The Cure. In October 1992 they reached the Top 20 with a cover version of The Human League's "Don't You Want Me", recorded for charity album Ruby Trax - The NME's Roaring Forty (a follow-up to the NME's Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father).[9]

The Farm's last 'new' Top 40 under their own name was a re-recorded version of "Love See No Colour", now used as the title track of their 1992 album. The Sony Music version dispensed of the 'Scally-baggy' rhythms of the original Produce release (which had got 'lost in the Christmas chart rush' at the end of 1991), for a slower more synthpop sound with gospel overtones and a big budget video using classical and religious imagery. However, this song only reached Number 35 in the UK charts while the parent album did not chart at all (which means that The Farm join Steve Brookstein and Johnny Hates Jazz in the list of album chart 'One-Hit Wonders'). The Farm were dropped from Sony Music.

In 1994, they released the album Hullabaloo on the Sire label, followed by their last major single.[3] Despite being a group largely supporting Liverpool F.C., they allowed Everton Football Club to release a version of "All Together Now" on MDMC Records (which was credited to Everton FC by the UK Top 40[13]) to accompany their presence in the 1995 FA Cup Final, in which Everton beat Manchester United 1-0.

Their most recent hit single under their own name was "All Together Now 2004", featuring the S.F.X. Boys Choir of Liverpool, as the official anthem of the England National Football Team at Euro 2004.[14] It was issued on 31 May 2004 and, as the name suggests, in a slightly remixed format, with radio commentary from the Euro 2004 qualifiers added to the track, whilst a bonus remix was included on the single with the help of DJ Spoony.

The Farm was also one of the first bands to perform at the Echo Arena Liverpool when it opened in January 2008.

Current members

• Peter Hooton – vocals (1983–1996, 2004–present)
• Keith Mullin – guitar (1986–1996, 2004–present)
• Steve Grimes – guitar, keyboards (1983–1996, 2004–present)
• Carl Hunter – bass guitar (1986–1996, 2004–present)
• Ben Leach – keyboards (1988–1996, 2004–present)
• Roy Boulter – drums (1987–1996, 2004–present)

Former members

• Paula David – backing vocals (1989-1993)
• Phil Strongman – bass guitar (1983–1986)
• Andy McVann – drums (1983–1986)
• Anthony Evans – brass (1984–1986)
• Steve Levy – brass (1984–1986)
• George Maher – brass (1984–1986)
• John Melvin – brass (1984–1986)
• Mick Hanratty;- drums (1985 - 1987)

• The Farm Website
• The Farm at AllMusic
• The Farm discography at Discogs