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British alternative rock band

The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band. Originally based in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, England, the band's first lineup released four albums and nearly 20 singles and EPs, enjoying considerable chart and live success in the UK. The band have continued to tour and record since 2000. Largely the vehicle for the songwriting of Miles Hunt, the band split up with a farewell performance as headliners of the 1994 Phoenix Festival, but reformed in 2000 and have toured and recorded since then, with Hunt the anchor member of all line ups. Known for their catchy songs and Hunt's sharp lyrics, the band's sound evolved from guitar pop to include sampling and elements of folk and country. The band and Hunt in particular — were favourites of the UK music press, and were often associated with fellow Black Country acts Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Pop Will Eat Itself, with whom they have toured throughout their careers. The band scored one UK number 1 single, their release of "Dizzy" with comedian Vic Reeves, 17 top 20 single hits, and three top 10 albums in the UK. The band also toured internationally, and achieved some success in the United States, where they had six songs on the Billboard Alternative Songs Chart.

The original line up of Miles Hunt (whose uncle Bill Hunt was keyboard player with ELO and Wizzard) on vocals and guitar; Malcolm Treece on guitar and vocals; bassist Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones (died July 1993); and Martin Gilks (died April 2006) on drums grew from Hunt and Treece's collaboration with future members of Pop Will Eat Itself in a band called From Eden that featured Hunt on drums. The Wonder Stuff were formed on 19 March 1986 (their name reportedly came from a remark made about a very young Hunt by John Lennon) and in September that year recorded a self financed debut EP, A Wonderful Day. After finding management with Birmingham promoter Les Johnson and signing with Polydor Records for £80,000 in 1987, the group released a series of singles including "Unbearable", "Give Give Give, Me More More More", "A Wish Away" and "It's Yer Money I'm After Baby" (their first Top 40 entry) that featured on their debut album The Eight Legged Groove Machine, which was released in August 1988 (UK No. 18). This preceded a first headlining nineteen date national tour, 'Groovers on Manoeuvres'. A non album single, "Who Wants to Be the Disco King?" was released in March 1989 and was followed by UK, European, and United States tours and appearances at the Reading and Glastonbury festivals. Melody Maker made The Eight Legged Groove Machine one of their albums of the year for 1988, judging it, "A rollicking debut from the only band with enough wit, energy, charisma and acumen to cross over from loutish grebo into raffish pop."

In September 1989, "Don't Let Me Down, Gently", with its slick, American shot video, became the Wonder Stuff's first Top 20 hit, heralding the release of second album, Hup, in October (UK No. 5).

After previewing their new material at a few European summer festivals, a new single "On the Ropes" (UK No. 10) was released in September 1993 followed by the album Construction for the Modern Idiot in October 1993 (UK No. 4). Hunt started to tour as a solo artist, travelling to the US with Malc Treece, and releasing two albums: Miles Across America, an album of new material, Wonder Stuff tracks and Vent 414 material all reworked for the acoustic guitar, and a live acoustic album By the Time I Got to Jersey (1998). A full studio album, Hairy on the Inside (again featuring Treece and another fellow Wonder Stuff member Martin Bell) was released in April 1999, followed by The Miles Hunt Club in April 2002. Meanwhile, Treece, Clifford and Gilks formed We Know Where You Live (originally titled WeKnowWhereYouLive), with Ange Dolittle from Eat. An album of We Know Where You Live's demo recordings and live tracks was released in December 2006, with all profits being donated to a charitable concern at the request of Gilk's parents. In 2006, Miles Hunt's acoustic shows were recorded for a live album, titled Interloper and released in October 2006. The Wonder Stuff also began mixing a live record documenting the 2006 concerts and played several UK outdoor shows. The band finished the year by touring the UK again, performing their final show of the year on 8 December at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. Following this, the band went on hiatus due to Treece starting a family. Hunt released the solo album Not an Exit in 2007, which featured Nockalls and Karu; Hunt toured the UK twice, and the US later in the year. Before recording the album, he expected the band to be working on their own album at some point during the year. In 2008, the Wonder Stuff entered into a deal with the Carling Academy Group where the band would play their first two studio albums, The Eight Legged Groove Machine and Hup, in full over the course of several shows. Hunt and Treece were confident about the prospect, while the other members of the band who didn't play on either album, had a large workload ahead of them. In between the two releases, Hunt and Nockalls released the album Catching More Than We Miss in early 2009. The project gave Hunt and Townshend a lot of experience when it came to recording at home; Hunt was adamant about producing the band's next album. The band also toured the UK in April 2013, summer shows, and a Sleigh the UK set of shows in December 2013. In December 2013 the band's track "A Wish Away" was used in a TV commercial for the holiday company Hoseasons. Following a successful Australian tour in early 2014, drummer Fuzz Townshend left the group to concentrate on his work with The Beat. In May 2014 the band announced a new line up with Hunt, Nockalls and McCarthy being joined by Dan Donnelly on guitar and Tony Arthy on drums, with Arthy having parted company with Jesus Jones. Arthy had previously worked with Hunt in an earlier, but unreleased incarnation of The Miles Hunt Club in 2001. In March 2016, a PledgeMusic funded album, 30 Goes Around the Sun, was released to celebrate 30 years since the band's very first rehearsal in the heart of The Black Country. This coincided with a UK tour during March and April. This album became their first studio release to enter the Top 40 since 1994. In 2019, the band announced a new lineup, with founder member Malc Treece returning on guitar replacing Donnelly, Pete Howard of The Clash replacing Arthy on drums, and former The Mission guitarist Mark Thwaite replacing McCarthy on bass. After a short tour at the start of the year, the group announced they would be releasing a new album Better Being Lucky towards the end of 2019, featuring several songs co written by Thwaite on guitar, which would be followed by a tour where the group would play The Eight Legged Groove Machine and Hup albums in full alongside other tracks from their back catalogue and the new album. Thwaite moved to guitar on the live shows promoting the new album with Tim Sewell taking over bass duties.