Up for auction "Perfume" Group Signed CD Cover. Signers are; Mick McCarthy, Tony Owen, and Karl Traae. This item is authenticated

By Professional Autograph Authentication Service (PAAS) and comes with their

certificate of authenticity and hologram affixed. 

ES-1915

Perfume were a British indie group from Leicester, active between 1993 and 1997. When Blab Happy split up, singer/guitarist Mick McCarthy and

bassist Tony Owen recruited John Waddington to form Perfume, initially releasing

records on their own "Aromasound" label. Beginning with scented

limited edition vinyl, they enjoyed a string of Indie Top 10 hits. Their first

release was "Yoga/Perfume” in December 1993, the white label was played

repeatedly on Radio 1 by Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley who still champion the band

to this day. Second single "Young/Annointed” (which was also

perfume-scented) appeared in April 1994. Third single

"Lover" was picked up on by BBC Radio One DJ's Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley (the latter getting the band in to record a

session for her show). The

next two singles stormed the Indie Top 10, Lover (Steve Lamacq’s Single of the

Week) and Yesterday Follows You established the band as radio favourites and

NME and Melody Maker did full features on the band including What’s going On

the NME stereo Top 10. The video for Yesterday Follows You was featured on ITV

Chart Show and the next headline tour saw shows sell out all over the UK.

Perfume recorded songs at BBC Maida Vale for a week long Session for Steve

Lamacq and Jo Whiley. Perfume drew a crowd of over 5,000 at the second stage at

the Phoenix Festival, quite a statement for a band on their own DIY label self

releasing scented limited edition vinyl. They co-headlined with the likes

of Travis and toured

heavily as a headline act selling out many renowned venues in the UK and were

invited to play abroad at prestigious events such as the legendary Black

Sessions in Paris. The recruitment of bass player Karl Traae of Leicester's HBM

and recently returned from a stint in the US with San Diego's Whirl lead to

another Indie Top 10 (UK Chart Top 75) hit in January 1996 with the single

"Haven't Seen You" which was on heavy rotation on daytime radio. That

year's success saw them sign to Big Star Records, and to Paul Weller's publishers Notting Hill, who reissued

"Lover" to be followed by the debut album One in

1997 which received glowing reviews in Q and Select magazines. Perfume

performed on the NME stage at the Glastonbury Festival in

1997. After a lengthy record company takeover the band’s final release was a

posthumous "best of" compilation Yesterday Rising released

on Aromasound in 1998. Perfume were Paul Weller's special guests at his Lazy

Sunday Afternoon in Finsbury Park. Jo Whiley joined the band on stage at BBC

Camden Live Festival to add handclaps to Lover, a song she described as

"The sweetest song in all the world." Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley

included the interview with Perfume when the band surprised Jo for her birthday

as one of their highlights in the 20 Years of The Evening Session programs in

2014. Perfume prompted more fanmail than any other band according to Steve

Lamacq. The coverage on the Evening Session over a number of years helped the

band to secure a string of Top Ten Indie Hits, and are featured on the Top 20

Indie Compilation Albums. NME reported that Michael Stipe and Thom Yorke were

spotted at Perfume’s 100 Club show. Lover was featured on the 2010 Common

People Indie Compilation and was described by Luke Lewis of the NME as

a "lost gem." On NME.com he wrote an article called Rescue A Lost

Classic about the song. "There is one track on the album that stopped me

dead in my tracks. It's by Perfume and it's called 'Lover'. It's magnificent -

an ecstatic, vernal bloom of falsetto and violins that gave me one of those

powerful surges of nostalgia that critics always insist on calling a

"Proustian rush. Lover was chosen by Steve Lamacq for his 2019 Lost

Alternatives album, receiving renewed airplay on BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2

from Steve Lamacq and on Jo Whiley and Simon Mayo. In July 2020 the first

edition of Speakeasy featured an article on Perfume... summing up with

“Throughout their four-year career, Perfume were lauded by the NME, Melody

Maker, Select and Q, had multiple songs on the Indie Top-10 chart and on the

Indie Top 20 CD compilations. If they were missed the first time around, with

plaudits like these there’s never been a sweeter smelling time to right these

wrongs.”

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