DESCRIPTION:
Hometown: North London.

The lineup: Jonathan Sutcliffe (vocals), Tomas Kubowicz (lead guitar, backing vocals), Andrew Needle (rhythm guitar), Anton Lindberg (bass), Alfie Tammaro (drums).

The Ruling Class are based in London -- although their members hail from places as far-flung and glamorous as Italy, Sweden and, er, Harrogate -- but they sound like they come from the Thames Valley area via Manchester. Has there previously been a band before that combined elements of the two major musical movements of the late 80s/early 90s? There have been baggy revivalists, for sure, and this year there has been a flood of neo-noisepoppers in thrall to the guitar haze of My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive et al, but to our knowledge the Ruling Class are the first to do both at once. It's an astute move: the Madchester-era bands and the FX pedal merchants from Oxford and Reading made music to bliss out to. Different drugs, same aim. Granted, the one was heavier on the boogie while the other prioritised feedback and white-out, but they both were big on fey, wispy vocals and an atmosphere of mellow, stoned insouciance. After all, the Berlin Wall was coming down, everyone was high on Glasnost, and people wanted to party like it was 1989, mainly because it was 1989.
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