Autumn 1994 - Mini are formed in Upminster, Essex. The band were Gary Davies and Scott Richardson, from the recently disbanded Romford rock band, Badface, Glen Johnson and Andrew Warden who had previously been in other bands together on the Romford scene. Regular Sunday rehearsals were held at Johnson’s house, with the band setting up around a snooker table in Johnson’s mum bar.

Johnson fronted the band and played bass, generally taking much of the lead vocal work along with some songs which were mature far beyond the age of the writer. Mini celebrated their foundation with a curry on New Year’s Day 1995 where despite being served cold rice and warm lager, they vowed to carry on (visiting the establishment) and writing and gigging together.

Throughout the 1995 and 1996, Mini appeared often on the local scene, with their most regular appearance being at the legendary and sadly missed Romford venue, Charmers (a.k.a The Cellar Bar or The Rezz) which hosted Mod/Indie nights on Wednesdays. They also appeared at several of the larger London venues of the time including the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town.

Their style of music was unique to the scene, combining well crafted pop songs with lush four part vocal harmonies led by Johnson and Richardson, the sweet Rhodes piano of Warden with Davies’ spiky guitar work, and it was in sharp contrast to the harder edged and less sophisticated sounds of many other acts of the time. This sound was committed to tape on several occasions at various studios and a number of those early recordings still exist and the band are currently in the process of digitally remastering them for nostalgia value.

By 1999, all the band members had found themselves unable to commit the proper amount of time to the band and Mini took a break. This hiatus lasted until 2003 when Davies and Warden started working together again to record for posterity some of Mini’s earlier and unrecorded work. Russell Hayward, a long time friend of the band heard this news and persuaded Johnson to rejoin the band and once Richardson was on board, Mini was back on it’s wheels again. Hayward had been presenting a powerpop radio show called “Cherrybombs” on Virgin Radio’s Liquid London DAB station with another long time friend Paul Reeves and was keen to get Mini on the show. Mini recorded a live session and took part in an interview with Hayward and Reeves which went out on the network; after that it was all systems go.

Mini went back to the studio to work on new material and made an appearance at the October 2004 International Pop Overthrow Festival in Liverpool. Further shows in 2004 and 2005 took them further afield, down to Brighton for a showcase appearance and to Guilford for a live show and another radio appearance, this time on Eagle FM. The obligatory London and Romford shows also took place.

Sadly for Mini, Johnson had decided that his time in the band was to come to an end and his 2006 appearance at International Pop Overthrow was to be his last. Mini took another short break while deciding on their future and buoyed by the buzz they were creating, asked Hayward a great musician in his own right to take up the job of playing bass for them.

Hayward accepted, joining the band in 2006 in time for the band’s third appearance at International Pop Overthrow and they followed this up with a new recording. Entitled ‘Must Try Harder’, it featured songs by Richardson, Warden and Hayward and was engineered by Nigel Clark from 90’s Britpop band Dodgy. Mastering was carried out at LoveHZ studios in Sydney Australia by Michael Carpenter. Mini then formed SARG Recordings, their own record label and you can buy the EP direct from them through this website. iTunes downloads are coming soon.

To date, Mini have played six years at the International Pop Overthrow, receiving great reviews and getting great feedback from audiences. Press commentary has been very welcoming too. The band’s future plans involve a visit to Ireland to do some new recording and as an aside, they’ve recently launched a new concept; “Mini present Guilty Pleasures”, a fun party band which moves away from the usual rock covers and aims to tread new ground with older material. A demo of this venture is coming shortly.

Guilty Pleasures are available for parties, weddings, corporate functions, bars and pubs and festivals. Get in touch with the band to find out more!

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