About Senseless Things

The Senseless Things were a successful indie punk band who were popular in the UK in the early 1990's. The Senseless Things formed in 1987 in Twickenham London. The band consisted of Mark Keds on guitar and vocals, Ben Harding on guitar and vocals, Cass Browne on drums and Morgan Nicholls on bass. The early band's sound was characterised by a Ramones-like barrage of fast melodic pop - punk singles and energetic stage shows. The early singles were collected on the 1988 compilation Postcard CV on Way Cool records which could be compared to The Undertones and The Buzzcocks. In 1989 a remixed version of early single Too Much Kissing became a UK chart hit. The band had a very loyal following of characteristically very young stagediving and moshing teenage fans who were referred to in the music press as "Pop Kids". In 1991 the band signed to Epic Records and released their debut album First of Too Many, featuring artwork by Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett who was a friend of the band. The album was well received and saw the band experimenting with other musical styles including some acoustic songs. The band enjoyed a run of reasonably successful chart singles and sold out club tours. In 1992 the band undertook an long and intensive tour of America with Blur. The next album, 1993's Empire of the Senseless, showed some darker grunge influences. The lead single "Homophobic Asshole" was an angry and passionate song, although it was not a large hit. The following singles "Hold it Down" and "Primary Instinct" were reasonable successes. The band's final album was 1995's Taking Care of Business backed with controversial single "Christian Killer" (renamed "Christine Keeler" for the album). The album flopped and the band split in 1995 after one final tour. In 1995 Mark Keds briefly joined The Wildhearts (he appeared on the 'Just in Lust' single cover, as well as its 3 flipside tracks, but never actually gigged with them) before forming his own band Jolt in 1996. Ben Harding formed the new band 3 Colours Red who were the most successful of all ex members of the Senseless Things new bands. Morgan Nicholls briefly joined The Wonder Stuff vocalist Miles Hunt in Vent 414 before rejoining Cass Browne in Delakota in 1998. Weirdly, the Senseless Things ex-rhythm section now feature in some of the biggest bands in the business - Morgan has played bass and other instruments for The Streets, and is now a permanent fixture in Muse - performing keyboards and backing vocals at live gigs. Cass Browne plays live drums for Gorillaz - a band who were, of course, created by Senseless Things cover artist Jamie Hewlett and their old tour-mates, Blur.