THE Madchester days may be long gone but many of the heroes of the Manchester music scene are still going strong.
One such icon is Tom Hingley, former frontman of baggy indie favourites Inspiral Carpets.
20 years on from their assault on the charts with much loved singles such as This It How It Feels and Saturn 5, the singer is still performing and has released a hatful of solo albums.
As he prepares for next month’s gig at Huddersfield’s Bar 1:22 the 45-year-old spoke to WoW about his continuing career and revealed he’s busier than ever.
“I do about 70 gigs a year,” he said. “Sometimes they’re little clubs and sometimes it’s to thousands of people at festivals. So yeah, I’m still out there performing.
“If you’re not in the charts it’s not always easy to let people know you’re out performing.
“I do a bit of teaching at Salford University and I’m doing a PhD in music performance but most of the time I’m still out performing.
“I’ve done four or five records since the Inspirals split.
“We did Glastonbury in 2003 and T in the Park, we’re still pretty current.”
In many ways Tom’s solo material, despite the unmistakable voice, couldn’t be any further away from the Inspiral’s pop format, tapping into ramshackle blues, roving folk and soul.
“I’m not trying to get in the charts,” he says.
“I don’t think anybody can get a top ten hit these days without going on a talent show.”
And while he treasures the halcyon days of the Madchester era, Tom said there wasn’t much chance of the Inspirals becoming the latest middle aged comeback kings.
“You’ve got to think it was good, if you’re a band that was successful it’s like hitting a bullet with a bullet. It was one of the best times of my life.
“But I don’t think there will be anything new with Inspirals as we’re all really busy with our own stuff.
“Clint’s doing his stuff on XFM, Graham’s a promoter for V Festival and Craig and Martyn are doing their own things too.
“We’re more active doing our individual stuff.”
Tom said his gigs now featured a wide range of material from old Inspirals tracks to covers to his own self-penned songs from his six previous albums.
And he said so far gigs had been a mix of fans old and new.
He added: “Sometimes you meet Inspirals fans’ children and they’re called things like Tom and Clint which is quite frightening, but yeah it can be anything from teenagers who are into the Courteeners or Oasis to original fans to first timers.”
Tom Hingley plays Bar 1:22 on Wednesday, November 24.
