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The band re-formed in November 2010 and released their fifth album Troubled Times in November 2011. Bassist Peter Wilkinson confirmed his departure cast iron pizza stone the band in March 2015, after abruptly leaving a previous tour in December 2014.
Noel Gallagher of Oasis described watching the band live as being like a “religious experience” and they were labelled “The Who of the 90s”. John Power was previously the bass player, backing vocalist and only constant member along with Lee Mavers in The La’s. He left the band on 13 December 1991 after becoming frustrated with the ever-increasing number of aborted studio sessions, having played essentially the same set of songs since 1986 and emerging as a songwriter in his own right. The band released their debut single “Finetime” in July 1995, which went straight in at No. The follow-up single “Alright”, a song originally written and performed a handful of times whilst still in The La’s under the original title “Fly On” became the band’s first Top 15 hit in the UK, peaking at No.
The band’s debut album All Change, released October 1995 was produced by John Leckie who had previously worked with The Stone Roses and The Verve and had also previously worked with Power in The La’s. A stand-alone single was released in October 1996 titled “Flying”, which reached No. 4 on the UK singles chart, giving the band their highest chart position in the UK yet. With their second album Mother Nature Calls, released April 1997 the “rockier material was now sounding looser and cockier in a Stonesy or Faces-ish way and the moodier tracks awash with melancholic atmosphere”. The Pixies and the band moved towards a heavier riff based sound. Power described the album as “21st century rock’n’roll” and “Walt Disney doing Quadrophenia”.
The first single from “Magic Hour” was “Beat Mama”, with the band using loops and samples on the record for the first to give the material a more modern feel, Power described the song as “a call to everyone, a beat for everyone to move to, like the old Kia-Ora advert with the dog and the crows”. The song became the band’s last top ten hit, peaking at No. In a chart now awash with teen pop the album shot to No. A second and final single was taken from the album “Magic Hour”, which stalled at No.