Ouch!

Fronted by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Kevin Taylor, this London quartet began life as a Merseybeat band in the right place at the wrong time (the '90s). When their first EP (I Need You More) was released on Cavell Records in 1992, the band (which also featured Darren Green on keyboards and vocals, Neil Blinkho on bass and vocals and drummer Mark Sellar) wore matching outfits and played pure breezy pop that fell somewhere between <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3UmBeGyNwr4iDWi1vTxWi8">Gerry & the Pacemakers</a> (you have to bear in mind that this was during the heyday of grunge and everything sloppy, noisy and ugly!). Gaining a fanbase (which included a lot of fans of the Jetset, a band who were doing this same exact thing a decade earlier) but not setting the charts on fire, the band went back into the studio to record their debut album. With Blinkho opting out, the band replaced him with Jon Mellor and added second guitarist Russel Paye to fill out the sound. When their debut album, Life Goes On, was released in '93, the matching outfits were gone, replaced by a hipper 'teeny-bopper' look akin to bands like <a href="spotify:artist:6lOC7lwSO1ql4Gc2Y3QObY">East 17</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1XgFuvRd7r5g0h844A5ZUQ">Take That</a>. Musically, over half the album remained in the Merseybeat style, the other half being a joyously schizophrenic collage of more modern pop influences such as <a href="spotify:artist:19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo">George Michael</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:06tPmk0aHzCFK0T96YzXnN">the Blow Monkeys</a>, etc. Shortly after the release of the album, their label went belly up and Ouch faded from sight. ~ Steve Schnee, Rovi