Catherine Wheel - Ferment and Chrome

The English band Catherine Wheel's 1992 debut album Ferment and the 1993 follow up album Chrome associated the group with the shoegaze music scene. As the band progressed over the years after their debut, the music would become heavier before shifting to a more textured sound crossing through genres with the ever changing landscape of alternative music in the 90’s.

Catherine Wheel’s early attention and success started with the debut single , “Black Metallic” . They created another shoegaze anthem, "Crank", as the first single from the second album. It was during this early period over these two albums that Catherine Wheel incorporated shoegaze related elements of hazy and droning guitars, effects pedals, and somewhat buried vocals, along with some grunge and on the debut album, neo-psychedelia.

The band, fronted by lead singer and guitarist Rob Dickinson, would end their run in 2000 after five full length studio albums and years of US college radio success.

On this episode, we will explore the career of Catherine Wheel and their music with a little more focus on the first two albums.