Menswear (band)

Menswear
Johnny Dean, photographed in 2013
Background information
Origin	Camden Town, London, England
Genres	Britpop
Years active	1994–98, 2013–2015
Labels	Laurel, Polydor

Menswear (sometimes written "Menswe@r") are a Britpop band formed in October 1994 from Camden in London. They released a number of singles and an album, Nuisance on the short-lived London Records subsidiary Laurel. They recorded a second album which was released in Japan only and broke up in 1998. Menswear, made up of a new line-up in addition to frontman Dean, played their first show in 15 years in August 2013.

The beginnings of the band were a feature in a Select article about a supposed London mod revival led by Graham Coxon. Two individuals closely associated with the burgeoning Britpop scene, Chris Gentry and Johnny Dean, made references to a "top new unsigned band" (Menswear), an act which did not yet exist. They later appeared on the cover of Melody Maker before they had released any material. Their dress sense was Mod (tight fitting suits etc.) whilst their music was influenced by both Blur's second album Modern Life Is Rubbish and Elastica. Gentry and Dean had a single song - called "Daydreamer" - but soon recruited friend Simon White, who contributed "I'll Manage Somehow" to add to the setlist necessary for their upcoming debut gig at a Britpop-oriented club on Regent Street called Smashing. The music press reviewed their performance enthusiastically, with the NME comparing them to a "Tarantino film... totally derivative but totally brilliant", increasing the record labels' interest.

After a frantic race between record companies, they signed to London Records for £90,000 and a lucrative 18.5% gross revenues after just their fifth gig. Shortly afterwards, they signed a £500,000 publishing deal despite having just seven songs in their repertoire - working out at around £70,000 per song.