Are Britpop’s coolest band about to reform after 25 years?

David Owens

It seems that wherever you look there’s a band from the Britpop era either reforming or announcing yet another tour.

When Oasis returned from the sibling wilderness it caused shockwaves and a seismic ticket sale. From Suede, Pulp and Blur to Sleeper, Gene and Supergrass, we appear to be in the midst of a Britpop revival fuelled by creaking fiftysomethings who were there the first time and their kids who are gleefully discovering the hitherto hidden joys of their parents’ record collections.

However, amongst the ’90s renaissance there was one band missing in action, thought never likely to grace us with their supercharged presence ever again.

Elastica burned briefly but brightly with their punchy hook-laden art rock releasing their self-titled debut album to great acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic in 1995; at the time the fastest-selling debut since Oasis’ Definitely Maybe the previous year.

They even broke America scoring a huge UK and US hit with Britpop anthem Connection, a rarity for a UK band at the time.

Influenced by the sound and the image of punk and new wave trailblazers like Blondie, Wire and The Stranglers, the group – Welsh guitarist Donna Matthews, frontwoman Justine Frischmann, bass player Annie Holland and drummer Justin Welch, not only looked the part they sounded it too.

While their UK number one debut album was hailed as a masterpiece, unlike other era-defining contemporaries who released several albums the band imploded succumbing to the hedonistic excesses of the decade, while also beset with disputes and line-up changes.

When their ever-revolving personnel limped over the line with 2000’s poorly received follow-up album The Menace the band parted ways the following year in 2001.

However, 25 years after the split could the original line-up of one of Britpop’s most revered groups be set to reconvene and thrill us all over again.

Watch a rarely seen video of Elastica playing The King’s Hotel in Newport in 1994 – a warm-up gig for Reading Festival

Elastica took to their official Instagram page last night (Friday) where they shared a black-and-white photo of the group, captioned “Missed us?”

“We’ve been busy behind the scenes, but we’re back,” the caption teased. “Keep your eyes peeled, there are some exciting things in the works,” the band announced, followed by an eyes emoji.

So okay, while the band didn’t specify exactly what their return would look like – whether it was a new album, song, tour or other project – but for their fans, after 25 years of near silence, the news was met with the sort of rapturous reception befitting one of Britpop’s solid gold stars.

See the ecstatic replies in the Instagram post below – and keep everything firmly crossed we get to make a Connection with Elastica all over again, because as Oasis ably demonstrated there’s nothing quite like something happening you never thought possible.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Elastica (@elasticaofficial)

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