South

“South

‘They called themselves South as a statement; an act of bravado. Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough. Manchester bands had dominated for two decades, be it the Smiths, New Order, the Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays, and of course Oasis. Now it was the turn of three lads from North London. Move over Madchester. Although commercial success eluded them in the UK, South soared abroad - notably in the US, Germany and Japan. They toured the world with Elbow - one night South would top the bill, the next night it would be Elbow’s turn. Guy Garvey would always dedicate a song to them from the stage “because they’re real”. In the US, their prominence was partly due to the fact that they composed the soundtrack to the smash gangster movie Sexy Beast, and that their biggest single Paint The Silence featured on the teen drama TV series The OC. When South split up in 2008 - four albums and a decade down the line - they had a back catalogue to be proud of.

And twenty years on from its release, their debut album From Here On In sounds as fresh as the day it was first pressed in 2001. Despite the swagger in their name, South couldn’t have been less laddish or pugilistic. All three were quietly spoken, thoughtful, serious minded. They originally saw themselves as an electronic act, before morphing into a crusty-haired grunge band. They got a regular spot at the St Moritz Club on the legendary Wardour Street in 1998 and evolved again - less thrashing, more acoustic, tingling guitars, and sublime harmonies. Within weeks of starting at the St Moritz they had signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell, before James Lavelle signed them to Mo’Wax. For all that South eschewed the North, they would have been perfectly at home in Manchester. ”