The signs were all there
It is great when the buzz builds around a local band and they come crashing into the top 20 with a brilliant breakthrough single. That was what happened with Blameless in 1996, but unfortunately the Sheffield band never managed to build on this initial success.
The breakthrough song in question was Breathe (a little deeper), an atmospheric-yet-melodic three-chord guitar anthem released in March 1996 and playlisted on Radio 1 at the time:
Debut album, The signs are all there, followed in September that year and if I recall correctly, Town clowns, Don’t say you’re sorry and Signs were all lifted from it as singles. But they would fail to trouble the top 75 again and the story of what happened to the band now seems to have been lost. I would be interested to hear when the band split and whether they continued to make music post-Blameless.
The video for the Signs single can be seen on this video from the Chart show in 1996. Signs starts from 0:48:
If you enjoyed that, the YouTube user that uploaded this indie chart has lots more Chart show top 10s online.
Nick Holt
/ 20 October, 2008I really liked Blameless, thought they were excellent. Saw them perform at the Roadhouse in Manchester once. Sad that they didn’t carry on. Just the one album then.
Jas
/ 18 February, 2009Yeah loved them back in the early 90′s and Town Clowns was a great track. I actually thought they were from the USA until I read this post! Sound like the Gin Blossoms and those kind of indie bands from the USA. Thanks for the info anyway.
Jeff Cooper
/ 27 July, 2010Yes, I a session with them at Hallam FM in 1996 and recorded their gig at The Leadmill, too. A band far better than their chart record suggests.
Readers of this forum might be interested in a project I am developing at radio2XS to re-focus on the Sheffield scene of 20 years ago: we have loads of sessions and demos from the 1990s and are planning to involve as many of the bands’ members as we can find.
Anyone who can help, please get in touch.
Jeff