60ft Dolls
| 60 Ft. Dolls | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Newport, South Wales |
| Genres | Hard rock, Britpop |
| Years active | 1993–1998 |
| Labels |
Indolent Records (UK) Geffen Records (US) |
| Past members | Carl Bevan Mike Cole Richard Parfitt & Wil Mcallister |
60 Ft. Dolls were a British rock trio active in the 1990s.
They were formed in Newport in 1992 by Richard J. Parfitt and Michael Cole, who met through Donna Matthews (later of Elastica), who was at the time dating Cole and working part-time in the same pizza restaurant as Parfitt. Wil Mcallister, formerly the bassist, had other things going on in his life and decided to leave the band and pursue his dreams in the probation service. After problems finding the right drummer, they eventually took on pastor's son Carl Bevan. Initially influenced by touring American hardcore bands that played in Newport (and in particular prominent local venue T. J.'s), the Dolls played noisy yet melodic rock, described by the NME as "grunge mod...proto-pub metal blues of the first order". In 1993, Huw Williams of the Pooh Sticks became their manager and released the debut single "Happy Shopper", named after a British convenience store chain, on his own Townhill label.
In 1995 they joined the first 'BratBus' NME tour with Veruca Salt, Marion and Skunk Anansie. After support spots with Oasis, Elastica and Dinosaur Jr., 60 Ft. Dolls released their second single "White Knuckle Ride" on Rough Trade Records and then "Pig Valentine" on the RCA imprint Indolent Records. These early singles were championed heavily by BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, and as a consequence were picked up by influential American DJ Rodney Bingenheimer of KROQ-FM. This resulted in the band signing a deal with Geffen Records in the USA. The New York Times listed "Pig Valentine" among its 1996 singles of the year. The band broke into the UK Top 40 with their fourth single "Talk to Me" (Indolent, 1996). This was followed by their debut album, The Big 3, which was produced by Al Clay (producer for The Pixies, Therapy? and A). Reviews called it "as close to soar-away rock perfection as it's possible to imagine" by the NME and "pure, unadulterated, no nonsense, emotional, tuneful, impassioned, purposeful, hedonistic rock 'n' roll" by Melody Maker. The album was included in Select magazine's top 30 albums of 1996 and Mojo's 2003 retrospective feature "Top 12 Britpop albums of the 90s", which called it "a devilishly evocative document of the period".
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