Inspirals front-man - 'Time is right' for Carpets legends to return

Oldham legends the Inspiral Carpets are back and are promising a ‘true celebration’ of Craig Gill’s life and music as they head out on tour in Spring 2023 for the first time since the devastating loss of the band’s drummer in November, 2016.

‘Madchester’ fore-runners the Carpets haven’t played live since 2015, and then the tragic loss of Craig the year after – at the age of just 44 - completely halted plans for further recordings and gigs.

Now, however, the hugely popular 1990s band who enjoyed huge commercial success after initially forming in the early 80s, feel the time is right to make what is sure to be an emotional return.

Mainstays front-man Stephen Holt, guitarist Graham Lambert and keyboardist Clint Boon will lead the Carpets into a full UK tour of 13 headline shows in March and April, 2023.

Front-man Stephen, the original vocalist who returned to the band after Tom Hingley’s departure just over a decade ago, acknowledges it’s going to be emotional stepping back onto the stage without much-loved Craig, but the Gill family are right behind the return.

Holt told the Chronicle: “It’s been a little bit bitter-sweet as none of us have really been able to do anything music-wise for the last six years or so.

“We’ve had lots of offers come through, but it’s just never felt like the time has been right – we just hadn’t had the appetite for it.

“It’s still slightly difficult because (bass player) Martyn (Walsh) still doesn’t feel the time is right for him, and we respect that.

“Losing Craig was a tragic loss of course, but myself, Graham and Clint feel that some things were still a little bit unresolved if you like.

“As time’s gone on, the three of us have increasingly thought that we could come back at some point, so we’ve just collectively thought ‘let’s get out there, it did end prematurely’, and it kind of felt wrong to end totally that way somehow.

“We’ve made this decision totally respectfully to Craig’s family – we ran the idea by them, and particularly Craig’s wife Rose, straight away.

“Everyone, in varying degrees, is in agreement that this is the right thing to do, and we will truly celebrate Craig’s life and pay respect to the music that we’ve all made together over the years.

“If anyone had said ‘no’ to the idea, we would definitely have strongly considered what we were doing – we wanted to make sure this was done in the right way for everyone.”

Certainly the response from Carpets fans regarding the new tour dates has been little short of phenomenal since news was announced this week.

“Already we’ve seen some great comments about how people are going to be here, there and there,” added Stephen.

“We’ve been doing bits of listening parties and the like online recently, but fans have always asked when we were going to be doing a tour.

“It’s been a great response and we all can’t wait for March now.”

A big question for those fans has been who will be replacements for Craig and bassist Martyn now this new tour has been announced.

Taking over on the drums will be highly-respected former Rainkings, Chameleons Vox and DubSex sticks man Kev Clark, while massively popular locally-based talent Jake Fletcher will take over on bass guitar.

The door is still very much open for Martyn to return if and when he feels the time is right, but Jake will be a more-than capable deputy for now as he has been touring with Paul Weller – among others – recently.

The Inspiral Carpets’ tour kicks off on March 23 next year at the Roadmender venue in Northampton.

It will end on April 22 at Frome’s Cheese and Grain.

Saturday, April 1 will see the Carpets’ big home-city show when they play the Albert Hall in Manchester.

To purchase tickets, go to either the Inspiral Carpets website, http://gigsandtours.com or http://ticketmaster.co.uk

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