The Carpettes - Frustration Paradise (1979)

The Carpettes were a Mod / Punk band from Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, England, formed in 1977, who released two albums on "Beggars Banquet Records" and recorded two Peel sessions. They split up in 1981, but reformed in 1996. The band was formed in 1977 by Neil Thompson (vocals, guitar), George Maddison (bass), and Kevin Heard (drums) (all three had played together since 1974 in Brown Sugar), although Heard had already been replaced by former Young Bucks drummer Tim Wilder by the time of the band's first album release, the Radio Wunderbar EP, released on the Walthamstow-based indie label Small Wonder. The band named their follow-up single "Small Wonder" in the label's honour. They recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show in 1978. In 1979, they signed to Beggars Banquet Records, who issued their debut album, Frustration Paradise, towards the end of that year, the band now associated with the Mod revival of the time. A second album followed in 1980, with a final single released in December that year, before the band split up in June 1981… The band reunited in 1996 to perform at the first Holidays in the Sun festival, with Thompson and Maddison joined by Thompson's brother Paul. This led to a permanent reunion and the release of a new album in 2002, Fair Play to 'Em. In 2005 Neil thompson Left the band and was replaced with Jimmy Devlin, a member of the Glasgow based Just Another Dream. A final album was recorded featuring Paul Thompson playing drums on several tracks and another Glaswegian, Jim Cosgrove on the rest of the album. This was released on the Texas based NDN Record label. This was followed shortly afterwards by a tour of Germany and Austria. The Carpettes did a coast to coast tour of The USA in 2011. George and Jimmy toured with Houston band band The Shadow, which features Henrik Poulsen, who runs the NDN Label. Their drummer Nick Raver played drums for The Carpettes on the tour. The band never say they are finished, and actually have plans to resurface some time in 2014, so watch this space.