Medusa (band)

Medusa are a punk-influenced rock band, based in London, UK. Their cited influences include Sex Pistols, Nirvana and Van Halen.

History

Formed in Blackburn, Lancashire in spring 1998, by guitarist and vocalist Julian Molinero whilst still at school.^[1]

Over the next several years, the band went through many line up changes, including bassist Chris Hodgson aka Amadeus De La Fontaine, who later joined Dear Superstar. The group claimed to have been banned from the majority of venues they played in the early years.^[2]

After a hiatus of approximately one year, Julian Molinero resurrected the group in 2006 to record the self-titled debut album.

During this period, Medusa hit the national headlines, appearing in The Sun (newspaper) for apparently stealing television star Russell Brand's garden gnome.^[3] The story was also mentioned on BBC Radio 1 and 2 and the popular news and gossip website Hecklerspray, whom had previously championed the band.^[4]

On April 20, 2007, The Sun reported that Russell Brand had invited the band onto his new TV talk show to make amends where the band had smuggled a goat into his dressing room where it ate his clothes and defecated in his shoes.^[5][6]

Several months of gigging around the UK followed, including packed shows at Manchester Academy and London's Underworld and the band were also asked to support U.K. Subs and Glen Matlock's acoustic Sex Pistols set. In late summer 2007, this line up dissolved and Julian set about writing and recording the second album to be titled "Can't Fucking Win", intended to be an emotionally deeper and more melodic album. The CD was sequenced by highly regarded heavy metal producer Romesh Dodangoda (Manic Street Preachers/Funeral for a Friend) who also mixed two tracks.^[7] It was finally released in March 2011.

In February 2011, the band relocated from the north of England to Camden Town, London.

As well as accumulating positive reviews and worldwide radio play, on April 13, 2012, Medusa appeared in the Daily Star newspaper in the UK, in an article featuring several stills from their second music video to the track Tinkerbell.^[8] The video features intoxicated dwarf Josh Bennett, a reality TV star from the Channel 4 show Seven Dwarves, dressed as an Oompa Loompa on a drunken limousine ride with the band.^[9]

A documentary called “In Bed with Medusa”, produced about the band in 2013, parodies the Madonna film “In Bed with Madonna”.^[10] The same year, Medusa introduced new members Stefan Hale and Milo De Nack, on drums and bass respectively.

In 2014, the band released their third album “Headcase's Handbook”, produced by UK Top Ten producer Lee Batiuk, who produced hits for Deaf Havana, among others.

Shortly after the album's release, it was announced that they would be recording their next album with Steve Albini (Nirvana/Pixies) at Electrical Audio in Chicago.^[11][12]

Medusa's music videos for “Sid and Nancy” and “The Sweetest Elixir”, released in 2015, quickly accumulated tens of thousands of views on YouTube.^[13][14]

References