the Housemartins

The band was formed in late 1983 by Paul Heaton (vocals, billed as "P.d. Heaton".) and Stan Cullimore (guitar), initially as a busking duo. The pair recorded a demo tape with Ingo Dewsnap and Sharon Green of Les Zeiga Fleurs which brought them to the attention of Go! Discs. The band often referred to themselves as "the fourth best band in Hull" - various candidates have been cited for the three better bands, including Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and the Gargoyles.

With the start of the UK miners' strike in 1984, Heaton felt the angrier political songwriting that resulted from this required a full band lineup.{{cite AV media|title=Paul Heaton: From Hull To Heatongrad|people=Claire Faragher (director)|date=2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHFLV9s34Ws|access-date=21 August 2024|publisher=Channel 4 Television}} The band recruited the rhythm section from fellow Hull band The Gargoyles, initially recruiting guitarist Ted Key on bass, who then persuaded his bandmate Hugh Whitaker to join on drums.{{cite web |url=https://sheffieldtapearchive.bandcamp.com/album/the-gargoyles-hull-adelphi-club-1986 |title=The Gargoyles – Hull Adelphi Club 1986 |publisher=Sheffield Tape Archive |access-date=28 March 2020}}{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnjJDYzqouI|title=Sally Bibb interviews Stan Cullimore|first=Sally|last=Bibb|date=15 Oct 2020|access-date=30 Aug 2024}} The band's first live performance as a four-piece was at Hull University in October 1984.{{cite book|last=Frame |first=Pete |year=1999 |title=Pete Frame's Rockin' Around Britain: Rock'n'roll Landmarks of the UK and Ireland |publisher= Omnibus Press |isbn=978-0711969735 |page= 204}}

Key left at the end of 1985, after recording the band's first John Peel session and the band's first single "Flag Day", saying he felt isolated in the writing process for the band's first album. Heaton invited Norman Cook (later known as Fatboy Slim), who had been a member of Heaton's teenage band the Stomping Pond Frogs and had played on some early Housemartins demos, to replace Key.{{cite web|url=https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/features/norman-cook---hes-come-a-long-way-baby|title=Norman Cook – He's Come A Long Way Baby|website=PRS for Music|date=9 May 2011|first=Paul|last=Nichols|access-date=30 August 2024}}

In 1986, having recorded a second John Peel session, the band broke through with their third single "Happy Hour", which reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart.{{cite book |first= David |last= Roberts |year= 2006 |title= British Hit Singles & Albums |edition= 19th| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited |location= London |isbn= 1-904994-10-5 |page= 261}} The single's success was helped by a claymation animated pop promo of a type that was in vogue at the time, featuring a cameo by comedian Phill Jupitus, who toured with the band under his stage name of "Porky the Poet". Their debut album, London 0 Hull 4, was released later in 1986 and contained their previous two singles as well as alternative versions of first single "Flag Day" and follow-up to Happy Hour, "Think for a Minute".

At the end of 1986 they had their only UK No. 1 single on 16 December with a cover version of Isley-Jasper-Isley's "Caravan of Love". The single was pipped to the Christmas number 1 by Jackie Wilson's "Reet Petite", which the band later attributed to the track being pulled from the BBC Radio 1 playlist following a sexual reference to the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her husband Denis, made by one of the band in a radio interview.{{cite news|title=A Casual Revolution|first=David|last=Hutcheon|date=2009|newspaper=Mojo}}{{cite news|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/high-flying-birds|title=High-Flying Birds|first=Jim|last=Keoghan|newspaper=Record Collector|date=6 October 2012|access-date=18 October 2024}}

"Caravan of Love" was first performed by the Housemartins in their second Peel session in April 1986, before their initial chart success.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

Drummer Hugh Whitaker left in 1987 on amicable terms, and suggested his school friend Dave Hemingway as replacement.{{cite web |url=http://www.beautifulsouthfans.co.uk/the-housemartins.html |title=The Housemartins |work=Beautiful South and Paul Heaton Fans |access-date=28 October 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226232247/http://www.beautifulsouthfans.co.uk/the-housemartins.html |archive-date=26 December 2016 }}

The Housemartins' second album The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death was released in September 1987, and included their two previous singles "Five Get Over Excited" and "Me and the Farmer". A third single from the album, "Build", was released in November, and a final Peel Session from the same month provided a recording used for their final single.

Following the release of their last single "There Is Always Something There to Remind Me" in April 1988, the Housemartins announced that the band was splitting up. A farewell compilation album, Now That's What I Call Quite Good was released later that year.

The members of the band have remained in contact and have worked on each other's projects. Norman Cook has enjoyed significant success with Beats International and then as Fatboy Slim, while Heaton, Hemingway and roadie Sean Welch formed The Beautiful South. In August 2009, Mojo magazine arranged for The Housemartins' original members (Heaton, Cullimore, Cook and Whitaker) to get together for a photo-shoot and interview, for the first time in many years, but in the interview all the members maintained that the band would not re-form.

Cullimore became a children's author, and in December 2009 co-wrote songs for (and appeared in) a pre-school music series called The Bopps, which first showed on Nick Jr. in the UK in April 2010. Cullimore and Whitaker joined Heaton on stage during a show by Heaton and Jacqui Abbott in 2014 at Hull's The New Adelphi Club, on the stage where the band had signed their Go-Discs record contract. The trio performed the Housemartins hit "Me and the Farmer", and Cullimore and Heaton closed the show with a performance of "Caravan of Love".{{cite news |last=Longhorn |first=Danny |url=http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Housemartins-reunite-Adelphi-Caravan-Love-Paul/story-23049884-detail/story.html |title=Housemartins reunite for Adelphi Caravan of Love as Paul Heaton joined on stage by Stan Cullimore and Hugh Whitaker |newspaper=Hull Daily Mail |date=6 October 2014 |access-date=4 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010043514/http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Housemartins-reunite-Adelphi-Caravan-Love-Paul/story-23049884-detail/story.html |archive-date=10 October 2014 }}

In June 2024, Heaton performed on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, and was joined by Cook on bass for a performance of "Happy Hour".{{cite web|url=https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/paul-heaton-at-glastonbury-review/|title=Paul Heaton At Glastonbury Review: Norman Cook joins Housemartins bandmate for heart-stirring set|work=Mojo|first=Andy|last=Fyfe|date=29 June 2024|access-date=9 August 2024}}

The band's early releases saw them described as jangle pop, which brought comparisons with bands such as The Smirks, The Smiths and Aztec Camera.{{cite book|last1=Cooper |first1=Kim |last2=Smay|first2= David |year=2004 |title=Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415969987}}{{cite book|last=Fletcher |first=Tony |year=2012 |title=A Light that Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of The Smiths |publisher=William Heinemann Ltd |isbn=978-0434022182 |page=548}} David Quantick, writing for Spin, described them in 1986 as playing "traditional '60s-style guitar pop overlaid with soul vocals".{{cite magazine|last=Quantick |first=David |title= Blinded by Gospel |magazine=Spin |date= December 1986 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=FL-rqqrDxb8C&dq=%22the+housemartins%22&pg=PA16 16] }} Cook described the band as "religious, but not Christians", and the band's repertoire included gospel songs.

Many of the band's lyrics have socialist themes, with Cook stating that "Paul realised that he hated writing about love...and that writing politically came easier to him", describing some of their songs as "angrily political".{{cite book|last=Lamie |first=Maria |title=The Rough Guide to Rock – The Housemartins |editor-last=Buckley |editor-first=Peter |year=2003 |series=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1843531050 |pages= 509–510}}

• Paul Heaton – vocals, harmonica, guitar, trombone (1983–1988)
• Stan Cullimore – guitar, vocals (1983–1988)
• Norman Cook – bass, vocals (1985–1988)
• Dave Hemingway – drums, vocals (1987–1988)

• Ted Key – bass, vocals (1984–1985)
• Hugh Whitaker – drums, vocals (1985–1987)

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(does not include "live" appearances on TV programmes)

• "Sheep"
• "Happy Hour"
• "Think for a Minute"
• "Caravan of Love"
• "Five Get Over Excited"
• "Me and the Farmer"
• "Build"
• "There Is Always Something There to Remind Me"
• "We're Not Deep"

• {{cite book|title=The Housemartins: Now That's What I Call Quite Good |first= Nick |last=Swift |year=1988 |publisher= Tales from Humberside |isbn=0-7119-1517-2}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{YouTube|u=GoDiscsRecords|{{PAGENAMEBASE}}|suffix='}}

{{The Housemartins|state=expanded}}

{{Paul Heaton}}

{{Fatboy Slim}}

{{Brit British Breakthrough}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:English jangle pop groups

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Category:Musical groups established in 1983

Category:Musical groups from Kingston upon Hull

Category:British political music groups