Mclusky

Mclusky was a three-piece rock group from Cardiff, Wales. The group consisted of Andy Falkous (vocals, guitar), Jonathan Chapple (bass, vocals) and Jack Egglestone (drums), who replaced previous drummer Matthew Harding in late 2003.

According to the band, they originally formed in 1996 when Andy and Matthew met at the Blackwood Miners Institute, a venue in their home town from which they were both ejected for dressing as miners. The pair met Jon a short time afterwards at the Reading Festival when they caught Jon passing a leak on their tent late in the night.

Originally called Best, named after early Beatles drummer Pete Best, the band signed to London label Seriously Groovy and released their debut record, the 3-track single Huwuno.

The band changed its name to mclusky in 1999, releasing their first full-length album My Pain and Sadness is More Sad and Painful Than Yours in 2000 on the Fuzzbox imprint before drawing international attention with their critically praised sophomore album Mclusky Do Dallas in 2002. In 2004 they released their third album The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire to generally positive reviews.

They have worked frequently with recording engineer Steve Albini, whose influence through his now-legendary work with bands like the Pixies and The Jesus Lizard, along with his own bands Big Black and Shellac, can be easily recognised in mclusky's dense, raw sound.

The band called it quits on January 7th 2005, with Falkous making the following annoucement on the band's website on January 10th:

The three piece rock band known as mclusky have disbanded, as of friday january 7th, 2005. The reason for this parting is private, though probably not as entertaining as you'd imagine. Personally, I would like to thank all the people, places and times that occurred on or near us. I'm grateful for the love and to a lesser degree, the hate. There'll be more music soon, from all of us.

Since the band's demise, bass player Jonathan Chapple has started concentrating on his other band Shooting At Unarmed Men. Falkous and Egglestone are writing material together with plans for something later in the year. There are plans for a compilation of the band's singles, b-sides, rarities and live recordings.