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A number of fans traveled to Liverpool to see this 90s band

Posted on by Josh L
A number of fans traveled to Liverpool to see this 90s band

Johann Shepherd has many fond memories of Liverpool over the decade

08:31, October 27, 2024Updated 08:33, October 27, 2024

The Undecided are an indie punk band from West Yorkshire who performed in the 1990s and early 2000s, all hailing from the Bradford area of ​​West Yorkshire, but during this time they became popular in Liverpool and gained a large following. Pictured: The club's performance at The Picket on Hardman Street
The Undecided are an indie punk band from West Yorkshire who performed in the 1990s and early 2000s, all hailing from the Bradford area of ​​West Yorkshire, but during this time they became popular in Liverpool and gained a large following. Pictured: The club’s performance at The Picket on Hardman Street(Image: Photo courtesy of The Undecided)

For decades, Liverpool has been synonymous with music and entertainment, nurturing and supporting talent from in our region and so on. In past and present venues, we have welcomed hundreds of incredible artists and musicians to our city for numerous concerts and concerts.

In years before the advent of social networks, Those involved in the Liverpool music scene, as in other areas, had to be on the ground, performing at venues large and small and promoting themselves through word of mouth, physical advertising and selling their own CDs at events. In the late 90’s and early 00’s, West Yorkshire indie punk band The Undecided often traveled to Liverpool to perform.

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They brought a host of fans with them and gained a large following in Liverpool. Group consisted of Johann Shepherd on bass guitar, Tim Baldwin on lead vocals, Steve Holdsworth on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, and the late Sam Carlyle on lead guitar.

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In the composition Liverpool ECHO ‘As It Used To Be’ series.Haworth-based musician and writer Johann Shepherd shares his memories of 90s Liverpool and its thriving music scene. 48-year-old Johann said ECHO: “The band started in 1995 with a couple of my friends, Sam Carlyle and Steve Holdsworth.

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“They were 17 each and started out as a sort of duo jam and they used to jam in the high street of Haworth, buying for a few quid. Then they started a group by gathering more people.

The Undecided are an indie punk band from West Yorkshire who performed in the 1990s and early 2000s, all hailing from the Bradford area of ​​West Yorkshire, but during this time they became popular in Liverpool and gained a large following
The Undecided are an indie punk band from West Yorkshire that performed in the 1990s and early 2000s. (Image: Photo courtesy of The Undecided)

“Tim Baldwin, he joined as a singer and then I joined a little bit later as a bass player. We’ve never had a permanent drummer, that’s always been our Achilles heel.

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“We kind of begged and borrowed and stole drummers from here, there and everywhere who would come and join us and hang out, or jam with us, play shows with us, record with us in the studio.” As the band developed, they started playing in local pubs and clubs, and then in big cities.

Starting in Bradford, The Undecided were soon performing in Leeds before coming to Liverpool. The Undecided was also managed by friend Steve “Tempo” Tempest.

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Johann said: “Tempo, he lived in Liverpool. He has worked with bands such as Teardrop Explodes and Echo & the Bunnymen. He brought with him a lot of knowledge, a lot of contacts and managed to get us playing venues all over Liverpool.

“We played The Cavern quite a lot, I think six times during the year and every time we packed it and we brought other support bands with us. There would be some bands from Liverpool supporting us there as well.

“We also played a lot of other pubs and places like The Picket.” Johann said the band would also play gigs in Birkenhead, where their lead guitarist, the late Sam Carlyle, used to live.

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The Undecided are an indie punk band from West Yorkshire who performed in the 1990s and early 2000s, all hailing from the Bradford area of ​​West Yorkshire, but during this time they became popular in Liverpool and gained a large following. In the photo: the band performs at The Cavern club
Band performance at The Cavern Club(Image: Photo courtesy of The Undecided)

During their time in the city, The Undecided sold many CDs with their first songs Felling Better and Burning, which were recorded at Hard City Records in Liverpool and also supported by Birkenhead of the band Half Man Half Biscuit and also performed on the radio station then known as Crash FM.

Johann said The Undecided also brought their own fans from home to the city in “vans”. He said: “As a band we always said we were sort of from the Bradford area, but our musical home was really in Liverpool and obviously brought in wagonloads of people.

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“Every time we did it. At one point we had two full-time coaches, but most of the time we had at least one full-time coach with us, and then there were people in Liverpool who came to watch us play. Liverpool was almost like a second home for us.”

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At a time when northern bands like Oasis were topping the charts, Johann recalls that the band started out jamming and playing Beatles covers. As for Liverpool, Johann said the Cast, The Coral and The Zutons were also playing in the city at the time.

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Johann said: “I think in those days it was a thrill for us to be in a different city. I’m a Liverpool FC supporter – I’ve been a Liverpool FC supporter since the early 80s.

“I used to go and watch matches at Anfield, but I was always close to Liverpool as a city. I think we were accepted as a band from out of town by people who liked our music, some support groups. and the Liverpool groups who helped us.”

The Undecided are an indie punk band from West Yorkshire who performed in the 1990s and early 2000s, all hailing from the Bradford area of ​​West Yorkshire, but during this time they became popular in Liverpool and gained a large following. Pictured: memorabilia from when they played the Cavern in 1988
Memorable moments when they played at The Cavern Club in 1988(Image: Photo courtesy of The Undecided)

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25 years after the band first played in Liverpool, their history and our city’s 90s music scene have inspired a new project. Sixteen Drummers – The Story of The Undecided is a biography of the band which, as the title suggests, catalogs their history and the many drummers who have played with them.

Among them is Gary Dwyer, who was the drummer in the Teardrop Explodes. Johann said: “I lost my father two years ago and when we were cleaning out his house and all his belongings, I found a large scrapbook that he had kept.

“This scrapbook had all the photos, mostly of us from The Cavern, but there’s a lot of memorabilia like that, like concert tickets, posters, postcards and all kinds of stuff. There were also newspaper clippings, and it made me think that maybe I could write the history of the band with this.”

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In the future, Johann hopes the band can bring the book to the city for a signing, and they also want to hear the memories of those who saw them perform in the city in the 90s and 00s. Johann said that there are no plans for a reunion performance, but did not rule it out in the future.

The book “Sixteen Drummers – A Story of the Unknown” is now available on Amazon. Click to learn more here. To share your memories of the band in Liverpool, you can visit their official page Facebook pages here as well as a Facebook page for Sixteen Drummers here.