The Screaming Blue Messiahs

The Screaming Blue Messiahs were a band formed in 1983 in London by Bill Carter (vocals and guitar), Chris Thompson (bass and vocals) and Kenny Harris (drums). The three had played together previously as The Small Brothers, and Thompson and Carter had formed part of Motor Boys Motor, together with Tony Moon on vocals.

Bill Carter employed a very rhythmic, blues-influenced, feedback-laden guitar style, using mainly Fender Telecasters together with two combo amps: a MESA/Boogie and an HH outfitted with Gauss speakers. For his occasional forays into slide, he was quoted a saying that he favoured 'the mike stand, or whatever is handy', and that he only used open tunings 'when the strings go open by accident.'

Featuring a high-octane sound sometimes described as "rockabilly from hell" and an obsession with Americana, the group initially released the mini-album "Good and Gone" before signing to WEA. Three full-length albums followed. The first, "Gun Shy," produced the single "Wild Blue Yonder," which although a minor hit, would resurface in 2006 as the closing music of an episode of FX's Rescue Me. The second album, "Bikini Red", provided their only hit in the form of "I Wanna Be a Flintstone," which was later included on the soundtrack to the live-action Flintstones movie.

Despite supporting David Bowie on tour, they were dropped by their label after the third album, "Totally Religious", and split shortly afterwards, playing their last gig at The Subterrania Club in Notting Hill, London, on 4th June 1990.

After the split Thompson and Harris went on to form The Killer B's while Carter dropped out of performing music. Harris later turned to writing.

In 1990, The Replacements released their album "All Shook Down", not knowing that the Messiahs had released a single with the same title two years earlier. Upon learning this, Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg tried to delay the release of the record in order to change the title, but at that point it was too late.

In 2006, a MySpace page appeared under the name "Screaming Bill Carter" featuring three previously unreleased songs, although they have since been removed.

Discography

* "Good and Gone" mini-album (1984)
* "Gun-Shy" (1986)
* "The Peel Sessions: The Screaming Blue Messiahs" (1986)
* "Bikini Red" (1987)
* "Totally Religious" (1989)
* "BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert" (1992)
* "Zurich 1989" (2007)

External links

* [http://www.screamingbluemessiahs.co.uk/ Screaming Blue Messiahs home page]
* [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=screaming_blue_messiahs Trouser Press entry]
* [http://www.myspace.com/screamingbillcarter Screaming Bill Carter myspace page]
* [http://www.motorboysmotor.de Motor Boys Motor]
* [http://www.screamingbluemessiahs.com/ Blue Heaven - A Screaming Blue Messiahs fan site]
* [http://nuzzprowlinwolf.blogspot.com/2008/06/screaming-blue-messiahs-live-mean.html Nuzz Prowling Wolf - Live recording of The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Harlesden Mean Fiddler, 2/9/1988]