Room 512 :: an unofficial wonder stuff fansite

In December, Pat Collier began mixing work for a live album at London's Greenhouse Studios. It is thought that he may have been working on compiling a full-length recording of the group's Leeds Town and Country Club performance - extracts of which were featured on the bonus live disc issued with some overseas copies of the 'Construction For The Modern Idiot' album. Polydor had always been very keen to release an album showcasing the Stuffies' live talents but the group were not happy at the timing of the release and the album has still not yet surfaced.

To compensate for the non-appearance of a live album, a bootleg CD recording of the Phoenix gig was released in February which featured the Radio 1FM broadcast except for the final track, 'Good Night Though'. Around the same time, Polydor reissued 'The Eight Legged Groove Machine', 'Hup' and 'Never Loved Elvis' on their mid-price range.

Rumours then started circulating that the group were set to reform shortly as Malc, Martin and Paul were seen playing together. These stories turned out to be red herrings as in May, the trio graced the news pages of the music press with details of their new venture, WeKnowWhereYouLive featuring former Eat member Ange Dolittle on vocals. Shortly after, news of Miles' new band Vent started to emerge, though it was also being reported that the group would be called either Bent or Pan-Am Stress Boys (?).

In the sudden spate of interviews and articles, Malc became the first to talk openly about the split. "We lost the plot," he said. "No-one seemed to pull in the same direction at the same time. It mutated over the last English tour. We had a meeting after that and said it's not worth it. It was a brave thing for us to do because we could've gone on. But I think we all knew it wasn't happening. I still see Miles though from time to time." He went on to add, "The Wonder Stuff has all gone now. It's been a year since the last tour and nine months since Phoenix. We can't live on what we've done previously, we're doing stuff now which is different and fucking great."

Live in Manchester sleeve pics In July, a year and a day since they split up, BBC Records released a CD-only live recording of The Stuffies' Manchester G-Mex gig from 1991 - a strange choice of release as the concert is already available on the 'Inertia' bootleg. Making the release a more viable sale though, the sleeve notes were written by Miles and the track listing differed by a couple of tracks between this album and the bootleg CD. The sound quality was also greatly improved and the release included a limited edition run of 5,000 gatefold sleeves. It should be noted that this is not the album that Pat Collier was mixing at the end of the 1994.

LIVE IN MANCHESTER

With all members currently taking first steps with new projects including the spunky WeKnowWhereYouLive, The Wonder Stuff are now just a salty memory but in November 1991 they were alive and very much kicking, and more than capable of energising the vast echoey tramshed of the Manchester G-Mex Centre. In it's own way, this is just as appropriate a summary as the recent greatest hits package since a muscular competence and Miles Hunt's abrasive chumminess were always part of the group's uncompromising charm. 'Sleep Alone', 'Size Of A Cow', 'Golden Green', 'Dizzy', 'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' and the rest are delivered with typical verve and aplomb. This is stadium rock with a comfortingly homely edge, which is perhaps why they never mounted a serious challenge to U2. But it's no less enjoyable for that. ****

Stuart Maconie, Q Magazine

An interview appeared in the New Musical Express in October, around the time of Vent's first live UK performances, in which Miles spoke about the break-up of The Wonder Stuff. "I used to go on stage thinking, what's the fucking point? You've got the records, you know what they sound like so why do you want to hear them again?' But that's just me being cynical about being in a band. There are some people who, if you tell them they are going on stage and grossing £60,000, then there are some people who will do that. Myself, I've never had any respect for money. The Wonder Stuff ended up with five people on the payroll that weren't in the band. We had three fucking managers and we ran a studio. On the last tour we had 25 crew and you wake up in Glasgow with a stinking fucking 'flu and 25 people are wanting to work and they can't because you've got 'flu. I don't want that pressure, I just ended up thinking in commercial and competitive terms."

In March 1996, Polydor reissued the 'Construction For The Modern Idiot' album on CD. Unlike the reissues of the previous three albums which had been identical to their original release, the record company repackaged the album in its original 'palm trees' sleeve design. This caused considerable confusion for collectors of the group's releases as copies of the original withdrawn album were highly sought after but the reissue gave no way of proving whether a copy of the album was now an original or not.

However, by the Summer of the same year Polydor had deleted all of the group's releases from their catalogue except for 'If The Beatles Had Read Hunter' - which they reissued on their mid-price range - and the 'Greatest Hits - Finally Live' video.

Between 1997 and 1999, The Wonder Stuff as a project ceased to exist. The surviving group members were off doing their own things, their contractual obligations to Polydor were completed and, aside from the occasional inclusion of a Stuffies track on a compilation album, there were no more releases.

TWSonline caught up with Miles Hunt at the end of December in an interview he did for the site when, as part of one of his responses, revealed that he had been talking with Martin Gilks, Malc Treece and Martin Bell for a number of months previous about whether or not to reform the group. It was only after some very serious consideration, that they agreed to leave the past behind them and continue working on their current projects.