On This Day 13/03/1989 Spacemen 3

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On this day, 13 March 1989, English neo-psychedelia band Spacemen 3 played Cardiff’s Venue club following the release of their eagerly awaited Playing with Fire album.

The album's front cover sleeve bore the slogan, "Purity, Love, Suicide, Accuracy, Revolution". Playing with Fire was Spacemen 3's first record to chart and one of the breakthrough indie albums of the year.

Within weeks of its release, it was No. 1 in both the NME and Melody Maker indie charts. It was "their most critically and commercially successful album" (Stephen Erlewine, AllMusic).

Reviews were extremely positive and the album garnered wide critical acclaim.

Formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, known respectively under their pseudonyms Sonic Boom and J Spaceman. Their music is known for its brand of "trance-like neo-psychedelia" consisting of heavily distorted guitar, synthesizer, and minimal chord or tempo changes.

Spacemen 3 had their first independent chart hits in 1987, gaining a cult following, and going on to have greater success towards the end of the decade. However, they disbanded shortly afterwards, releasing their final studio album post-split in 1991 after an acrimonious parting of ways.

They gained a reputation as a 'drug band' due to the members' drug-taking habits and Kember's candid interviews and outspoken opinions on recreational drug use. Kember and Pierce were the only members common to all line-ups of the band. Pierce has enjoyed considerable success with his subsequent project Spiritualized.

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On this day Budgie 24/6/1980

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On this day, 24 June 1980, Welsh rockers Budgie, played Cardiff’s Top Rank on their If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting Tour.

Budgie formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales under the name Hills Contemporary Grass. Their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums.

After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo.

The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable.

Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".

Budgie's music was described in the All-Music Guide as a cross between Rush and Black Sabbath.

Burke Shelley's vocals have been compared to Geddy Lee due to his similar approach of high-pitched banshee wails (coincidentally, Shelley and Lee are also the bass players in their respective power-trio bands).

Although Budgie remained fairly obscure during their early career, many future stars of hard rock/metal have cited them as an important influence and covered their songs, including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Van Halen, Melvins,Queens of the Stone Age, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.

Budgie were about to release their eighth studio album in October 1980 on Active Records, a sublabel of RCA Records (which was the distributor of A&M Records — Budgie's previous label — at the time).

This is the first album without original guitarist Tony Bourge, who left the band in 1978 after the album Impeckable.