The Screaming Blue Messiahs

The Screaming Blue Messiahs were a sort of blues driven rock band with some punky influences and a love of Americana,formed in the early eighties they recorded a few brilliant albums and split.Despite major label releases,extensive touring,critical acclaim and the endorsement of no less than David Bowie,hardly anyone has ever heard of them.I can clearly remember Bowie being interviewed on the tv around the time of his Glass Spider tour saying he though The SBM’s were the best thing since sliced bread.
The most distinctive thing about them is the frontman,Bill Carter’s guitar style,he plays without a pick,but not like say,Mark Knoffler,Carter plays with such aggression that it wasnt uncommon to see his guitars with splatters of blood.Coupled with his bluesy ,feedback laden sound,backed by the solid wall of noise produced by bass player Chris Thompson and drummer Kenny Harris,The Messiahs were a fearsome live band,who always seemed on the verge of disentegrating into a brawl,they were almost dangerous.
Check out this superb live version of ‘Sweetwater Pools’,i have no idea how he gets some of those sounds out of that guitar,even when he bangs it accidently into the mike stand it sounds amazing…also,check out the two girls in front of the stage losing it!!

They still have a website ,where you can find details of their records,all their albums are great,but i would suggest Bikini Red is the place to start.