Inspirals head out on the road

Photo: Ian Rook

UK tour . . . the Inspiral Carpets shown here following a recent gig in Holmfirth.

MUSIC EXTRA: THE WAGs have given it their blessing, so Oldham’s finest — the Inspiral Carpets — are heading out on the road again!

Starting tonight at the Villa Marina venue on the Isle of Man, iconic rockers Steve Holt, Clint Boon, Graham Lambert, Martyn Walsh and Craig Gill will arrow their way across the UK taking in 16 dates alongside fellow Nineties royalty Shed 7.

They may not be as commercially popular as they were in their Madchester heyday more than two decades ago, but the now 40-and 50-something Inspirals have never enjoyed the whole band experience as much as they are.

Speaking exclusively to the Chronicle ahead of their latest tour, keyboard star Boon said: “I think it’s fair to say every time we go out on the road nowadays it’s just getting easier and easier.

“It should be getting harder because we’re getting older, we’re all married or have got partners and most of us have kids, so you’d think our wives would be saying ‘we’re not letting you go out gallivanting again with your mates’. But our wives are still letting us do it!

The tables have turned somewhat in that the Inspirals are this time supporting Rick Witter’s Shed 7, as opposed to the opposite way around in days gone by, but Boon can’t wait to hit the 16 stages in what is his band’s latest exciting renaissance.

“When we last toured we were in the dying embers of Madchester and Britpop was just starting, so it was like the ending of one era for us and the start of another for them,” added Boon.

“This is the coming together of the two eras, and we do have a lot of respect for them. They very much remind us of ourselves. Both bands were big in Britain yet not really massive abroad.

“We’ve both had around the same profile I think, both had a similar number of hit singles and we’re all still around gigging into our 40s and 50s, and we are friends as well.

“We’ve stayed in touch since ’94, Rick Witter sung at my wedding and I played with them on ‘Top of the Pops’ so we have always had that connection. The idea of us going on stage before them doesn’t feel strange at all, it just feels normal. They’re our mates, they’re a great band, so why not jib on with them for a while.”

Guitarist and fellow founder band member Lambert agrees wholeheartedly, with the 51-year-old from Austerlands relishing the prospect of playing at places like the Roundhouse in London and Manchester’s Academy over the next month or so.

He added: “It’s good because as there’s two bands on, it’s enabling us to play bigger venues.

“We’re under no illusions, we’re going on first, but they’re fans of ours and we’re fans of theirs so it is a great coming together.”

Following the final gig on December 22 in Leeds, Boon will look ahead to the next 12 months: “We won’t be going hell for leather with gigs next year because we have been busy on the live circuit in 2015.

“We’ll see what offers we get festival-wise, but the main priority in 2016 will probably be looking at making some more new music.”


LISTEN to Simon Smedley’s exclusive audio interview with Graham Lambert and Clint Boon here: