Currently comprising Graham Crabb & Mary Baker (vox), Rich March (guitar), Adam Mole (keys), Fuzz Townshend (drums) and Davey Bennett (bass), Pop Will Eat Itself have rightfully earned a cult status through their nuanced mix of unbeatable melodies and anarchic personality.
Touching the careers of acts such as The Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails during their renegade career, PWEI have earned a large following worldwide which remains as infatuated now as they did upon the band’s formation almost four decades ago.
Back in 1987, Pop Will Eat Itself surprised the independent music world by morphing overnight from two minute, three chord indie pop wonders into hip-hop rock crossover pioneers. Years ahead of their time, PWEI produced their incendiary debut ‘Box Frenzy’ that same year, a furious mix of beatboxes, metal riffs, MC'ing and pop songs. Progressing their sound with second album 'This Is The Day, This Is The Hour, This Is This', the record was hailed as a masterpiece that was years ahead of its time; a smorgasbord of diverse samples, bleak dystopian lyrics and pumping, crashing rhythms that combined in a sprawling, futuristic mini-universe. Two more albums on major labels (RCA and BMG) swiftly followed, 'A Cure For Sanity' which took the sampling obsession further, but in a livelier, dancier style and 'The Looks Or The Lifestyle' which saw Fuzz Townshend enter the frame as a live drummer. Predicted by BMG to never have a Top 10 record, PWEI defied all expectations with the release of their seminal single “Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies” which went straight into the UK charts at no.9. Signing with Trent Reznor’s Nothing label in the US, PWEI embarked on a major US tour alongside Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson; a move that would ultimately result in the demise of the band, as a heavy touring schedule would prove the precursor to their split in 1996.
After a short-lived reunion in 2005 (for their ‘The Reformation’ tour), PWEI would reunite with a new line up in 2011 (albeit minus Clint Mansell due to commitments to his newfound career comprising film soundtracks) and released their first new album in some seventeen years: ‘New Noise Designed By A Sadist’, via the Cooking Vinyl label. Spurred on by its warm reception by media and fans alike, the band have been actively releasing new material, compilations, remixes and more ever since; while keeping in the national media spotlight with a multitude of stories involving PM Boris Johnson, MP Michael Gove and comic icon Dennis The Menace no less…
With original members March, Mole & Townshend rejoining the line up in 2017/18, Pop Will Eat Itself have cemented their reputation as a live force to be reckoned with for a new generation. Completing a major tour of Australia and a successful 'Love From Stourbridge' tour in the UK (alongside fellow Stourbridge stalwarts Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Miles Hunt of The Wonderstuff), the band continue their remarkable return with shows brimming with energy in abundance.
