11 Jul AN EVENING WITH IAN MCNABB, MILES HUNT & TOM JOHNSON….LIVE AT THE PLATFORM – MORECAMBE…

Moochin’ About are extremely proud to present 2 undisputed music legends..!

After 4 sold out nights at Arnside Sailing Club in 2022, both musical geniuses have been brought together for one night only at The Platform in Morecambe, as part of Moochin’ About Summer Sessions – playing their classics, from careers spanning over 30 years…
and if that isn’t enough..! we are delighted to announce the incredible Tom J Johnson will be appearing as special guest to Ian & Miles – playing songs from his forthcoming album, to be released on Moochin’ About, later this year…

7:00pm The Platform, Morecambe – Saturday 19th August 2023.

 TICKETS HERE

Miles Hunt is the singer of highly successful 90s indie band The Wonder Stuff, and also briefly of Vent 414. His solo career began in 1999 and he has released three “proper” albums – “Hairy On The Inside” (2000), “The Miles Hunt Club” (2002, Under The artist name The Miles Hunt Club) and “Not An Exit” (2007), as well as various live albums. The latter was recorded with violinist Erika Nockalls, recent recruit to The Wonder Stuff, who seems likely to be heavily involved with future Miles Hunt output.
His live shows are famous for anecdotes and stories which often take up more of the gig than actual songs. He now performs solo tours between gigging and recording new material with a reformed The Wonder Stuff…
Miles has been back on the road recently performing songs from his stunning new album album ‘Things Can Change’ alongside classics from his 36-year career…
For the new album, Miles did what he’s always done and wrote about things that were happening around him, and what had happened to him in the past. Endeavouring to make the music as uplifting as possible, Miles came to accept that we live in a constant state of flux – things can, and will, change. But one thing that he can always be sure of is that his community of friends and family keep him from sinking.
Miles Hunt – Things Can Change ft. Penfriend – youtu.be/nYp9Si8MBTo
Somewhere between the mid-’80s and mid-’90s, the Wonder Stuff were one of the biggest bands in the U.K. Starting as a revved-up guitar pop band, later adding offbeat folk influences while occasionally nodding to the excess of the Madchester scene, cleverness and eclecticism were the Wonder Stuff’s calling cards. The group was also blessed/cursed with a frontman, Miles Hunt, who had the gift of arrogant gab, delivering bitingly witty lyrics and lively interviews that won plenty of space in the U.K. music press.

The Wonder Stuff were formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, England in 1986. The original lineup featured Miles Hunt on vocals and guitar, Malcolm Treece on guitar and vocals, Rob Jones (aka The Bass Thing) on bass, and Martin Gilks on drums. The group began rehearsing in March, and in September they went into the studio to cut their debut EP, A Wonderful Day. Positive press from the EP and early gigs helped the Wonder Stuff land a record deal with Polydor in 1987. After hitting the U.K. singles chart with the song “It’s Yer Money I’m After, Baby,” the group released its first album, The Eight Legged Groove Machine, in August 1988. The album’s modest success led to the Wonder Stuff’s first headlining tour of the U.K., as well as appearances at the Reading and Glastonbury Festivals.

In September 1989, the single “Don’t Let Me Down Gently” broke into the U.K. Top 20, and one month later, the Wonder Stuff dropped their second album, Hup! A more eclectic effort that debuted new banjo and fiddle man Martin Bell, Hup! rose to number five on the U.K. albums chart. Near the end of 1989, Rob Jones quit the Wonder Stuff and relocated to the United States; Paul Clifford signed on as their new bassist a few months later. (Jones died in July 1993; he was only 29.) After a stretch of U.K. touring, the Wonder Stuff began work on their third album. Never Loved Elvis appeared in June 1991, and became the band’s highest-charting album, peaking at number three in the U.K. It featured the single “The Size of a Cow,” which became a number five hit in England and a college radio favorite in America. The Wonder Stuff also cut a cover of Tommy Roe’s “Dizzy” with comedian Vic Reeves that became a number one British hit.

In October 1993, the Wonder Stuff’s fourth album appeared in shops, Construction for the Modern Idiot. While the album went to number four on the U.K. charts, it didn’t enjoy the same success as Never Loved Elvis, and reviews were lukewarm. A massive tour followed, and the band, worn out and at loose ends, opted to cancel upcoming jaunts to Australia and the Far East. In June 1994, the Wonder Stuff announced in their fan club newsletter that they were calling it a day. For their final show, they headlined the Phoenix Festival in Stratford-on-Avon, a gig booked far in advance. Miles Hunt toured as a solo act and formed the band Vent 414, while Malcolm Treece, Martin Gilks, and Paul Clifford worked together in the group Weknowwhereyoulive…
In 2000, the Wonder Stuff reunited for a one-off show in London, with Hunt, Treece, Gilks, and Bell joined by new bassist Stuart Quinell and keyboardist Pete Whittaker, who had toured with the group in the ’90s. Demand for tickets led to the single show expanding into a five-night run, in addition to two nights in the Midlands. The band toured sporadically until 2004, when Gilks and Bell had a falling out with Hunt. While the Wonder Stuff were believed to be defunct, Hunt assembled a new lineup of the band and cut a studio album, Escape from Rubbish Island, that was released in September 2004. Hunt’s new Wonder Stuff released another studio album, Suspended by Stars, in 2006. That same year, Martin Gilks lost his life in a motorcycle accident at the age of 41. While the Wonder Stuff’s lineup became increasingly fluid from this point onward, Miles Hunt remained the group’s frontman and constant presence, and they toured regularly in the U.K. and Europe. In 2016, the Wonder Stuff celebrated the 30th anniversary of their founding with the release of their first album in ten years, 30 Goes Around the Sun. With the band playing live in various incarnations over the next few years, Hunt brought back original guitarist Malcolm Treece to play on tour to support the group’s 2019 ninth studio album, Better Being Lucky. With the tour coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the release of Hup!, the revitalized band — which now included members of Eat and the Mission — also played the album in its entirety at the shows.

The legend that is – Robert Ian McNabb…
In 1981 Ian formed The Icicle Works with Chris Sharrock (drums), and Chris Layhe (bass and vocals).
They quickly gained a following through their debut single release, Nirvana, and extensive live performances up and down the country.
The Icicle Works became part of the Liverpool renaissance movement of the eighties, alongside acts such as Echo And The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, WAH!, Heat, OMD, Black, Dead Or Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Lotus Eaters, and China Crisis.
They signed to Beggar’s Banquet records, and under the guidance of Martin Mills scored a top 20 hit with Love Is A Wonderful Colour in the U.K ; and top 40 placings in the U.S, Canada, and Europe with Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream), with their eponymous debut album.
The Icicle Works achieved top 40 placings in the UK for all four of their albums – The Icicle Works, The Small Price Of A Bicycle, If You Want To Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Songs, and Blind – until they split up in 1988.
Muff Winwood signed Ian to Epic records in 1989, paying a buy-out fee to Beggar’s Banquet; but Muff’s insistence on using The Icicle Works name, (with new musicians Roy Corkill and Zak Starkey) when the original band had ceased to be, caused friction, and after one disappointingly received album, Permanent Damage, Ian was dropped from Epic’s roster.
Ian began a collaboration with his friend and previous Icicle Works producer, Ian Broudie – a number of songs featured on subsequent Lightning Seeds records, which became hugely successful.
Ian signed to Andrew Lauder’s new imprint, This Way Up, in 1992, which yielded 3 albums : Truth And Beauty (which Ian had recorded at his own expense by remortgaging his house), Head Like A Rock, which was recorded in part with Neil Young’s band Crazy Horse in L.A and subsequently nominated for a Mercury Music Prize in 1994, and Merseybeast – the latter 2 albums achieved top 30 placings; the first was heralded as “One of the best records released in Q magazine’s lifetime”.
This Way Up records ceased to be in 1997 and Ian found himself without a deal once more, so accepted an invitation to join his friend Mike Scott (The Waterboys) on bass guitar for a lengthy European and Japanese tour.
Ian self financed another record in 1998, A Party Political Broadcast On Behalf Of The Emotional Party, which featured Danny Thompson (John Martyn, Nick Drake amongst others) on upright bass. They toured together that Autumn to promote the record.
At the end of the decade Ian released the live disc Live at Life, recorded over two nights at Liverpool’s Life Cafe.
Ian then joined The Waterboys on keyboards for a European tour. When this was completed, Ian accepted Ian Broudie’s invitation to record on ‘The Barge’ – Pete Townshend’s studio which Broudie was currently renting, moored next to Pete’s Eel Pie complex. The resulting album – Ian McNabb – saw a return of Ian’s love of guitar driven pop/rock and was released on Sanctuary Records in 2001.
Ian briefly played bass guitar in Ringo Starr’s band in 2002.
Throughout the 00s Ian released a further 5 solo albums : Waifs And Strays, The Gentleman Adventurer, Before All Of This, How We Live, and Great Things – all self financed and issued on his own Fairfield Records imprint to a small, dedicated fan base.
All albums were supported by extensive touring.
In 2009 Ian unleashed his autobiography Merseybeast which has become something of a cult classic amongst the rock fraternity (Peter Buck of R.E.M contacted Ian recently to tell him that he’d only just discovered the book and loved it!) – it has since been released as an audio book, narrated by Ian himself.
So far this decade, Ian has released Little Episodes, Eclectic Warrior, and Kruggerands – harder rocking albums which both feature the band Cold Shoulder ; Respectfully Yours (a long promised album of cover versions), Star, Smile, Strong, which features collaborations with Prof. Brian Cox, a co-write with Ralph Molina (from Crazy Horse), and the unexpected return of Icicle Works drummer Chris Sharrock (who had gone on to work with The La’s, World Party, Del Amitri, Dave Stewart, Mick Jagger, Robbie Williams, Oasis, and both Liam and Noel Gallagher in their solo endeavours), and most recently Our Future In Space, which once again features Cold Shoulder, and the song Aquamarine co-written with R.E.Ms Peter Buck

 TICKETS HERE