In 2015 the Pop Group - one of the greatest and most influential of late 70s UK post punk bands - reformed to tour a new album. I spoke with singer Mark Stewart ahead of their Australian tour. I had seen them a few months previously in Edinburgh, playing to a crowd containing the cream of that city's post punk identities. (By that I mean people from Josef K and the Fire Engines). They had never been to Australia and their tour would prove that people didn't know how to deal with them. Their sound was singular, The rhythm section and the thin, spindly, ultra processed guitar sounds. And Mark towering over everybody with his mad wailing, delayed and reverbed and phased and echoed and eq'd by a master mixer in Adrian Sherwood. Deep, dub , roots reggae styling. Australians didn't know how to place it. There were no flannel shirts or distortion pedals. They were brilliant!
His passing in April 2023 really shook me. The guy was so tall and physically imposing. His voice was so strong and wild. One of the few music groups whose sound will never date. I mean the Pop Group, Rip Rig and Panic. Neneh Cherry, Mark Stewart and the Maffia and all who sailed in and with them. Perhaps them, the Stooges, Suicide and ..... a few others.

Further writing and appropriate links at my Substack https://open.substack.com/pub/davegraney/p/mark-stewart-the-pop-group-archival

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