The band was formed in early 1983 who was killed in a police chase on 1 October 1986 at the age of 21, and to whose parents the band's subsequent album,
Spartacus, is dedicated. The band evolved from an earlier group called
The Excitements, initially including Phil Stephenson on bass guitar, Neil (Cad) Campbell on drums, Grimes on guitar and Thomas (the band's dancer). They became
The Farm after Martin Dunbar (vocals) left and Peter Hooton joined, although they did play several gigs as The Excitements with Hooton on vocals. In 1984, they released the
single, "Hearts and Minds", produced by
Graham "Suggs" McPherson, lead vocalist with
Madness. In 1989, the band had been given a
cameo role in the movie
The Final Frame starring Suggs. They were signed after this and hired Suggs as their producer. Their first single under new management was "
Stepping Stone", a dance remake of
Paul Revere & the Raiders and
The Monkees' single "
(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", In late November that year, they released their most memorable song, "
All Together Now", which instantly became a hit and peaked at number four in the charts in December 1990. and followed it up with three smaller hits on the Produce record label. With the success of
Spartacus, the band signed a major label deal with
Sony Records, who gave them their own End Product record label (which played on the name of their former independent record company Produce). However their success was to be short-lived due to changes in the indie music scene and the move to a major. Their first single for Sony, "Rising Sun" (1992), moved away from the baggy sound and did not perform well, peaking at Number 48 in the UK Top 75.) to accompany their presence in the 1995
FA Cup Final, in which Everton beat
Manchester United 1-0. Their most recent hit single under their own name was "All Together Now 2004", featuring the S.F.X. Boys Choir of Liverpool, as the official anthem of the
England National Football Team at
Euro 2004. It was issued on 31 May 2004 and, as the name suggests, in a slightly remixed format, with radio commentary from the Euro 2004 qualifiers added to the track, whilst a bonus remix was included on the single with the help of
DJ Spoony. The Farm was also one of the first bands to perform at the
Echo Arena Liverpool when it opened in January 2008.
The Collective The Farm were also central to the track released to commemorate the
Hillsborough disaster, "
The Fields of Anfield Road", the proceeds going to the families of those who were killed. Credited to the Liverpool Collective featuring the Kop Choir, this single was a new entry at number 16 on the
UK Singles Chart on 12 April 2009 and reached number 14 a week later. In 2011, the Farm joined forces with others to create the ''Don't Buy The Sun
Gig, at the Olympia in Liverpool, which was part of the protests on Merseyside against The Sun'' newspaper for
its false reporting on the Hillsborough disaster 22 years before. This comprised
Mick Jones from
the Clash,
Pete Wylie from the Mighty Wah,
John Power and others. This then formed the core of The Justice Tonight Band which toured from 2011 to 2012, including four performances supporting the Stone Roses in their comeback tour in 2012. The Justice Tonight Band headlined the Strummerville festival in 2012 and went on to form
the Justice Collective who had the Christmas number 1 with their version of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", a charity single in aid of the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
2010s to present Throughout 2013 and 2014, the band have continued to perform at festivals around the UK, including the
Isle of Wight Festival in 2013. In 2014,
Alan McGee said that the band's acoustic gig at his new venue The Tabernacle, was in his "Top Ten All Time Gigs". The Farm continued to perform live in 2015 at various festivals such as at the Shiiine On Weekender in November, 2015 and appeared live doing a number of acoustic performances. In 2016, the band along with numerous other celebrities, toured the UK to support
Jeremy Corbyn's bid to become
Prime Minister. In June 2017, the band supported a
Labour Party rally prior to the
2017 UK general election. In 2018, Carl Hunter directed the feature film
Sometimes Always Never, which was written by
Frank Cottrell Boyce and starred
Bill Nighy,
Sam Riley,
Alice Lowe,
Jenny Agutter and
Tim McInnerny. This film received a 4 star review in
The Guardian and even though the soundtrack featured music by
Edwyn Collins and Sean Read rather than the Farm, the film was produced by members of group. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of
Spartacus being No. 1 in the album charts,
BMG released
Spartacus 30 which includes many tracks/remixes previously unavailable and released a HD version of "Groovy Train". Former member George Maher died in December 2022. In June 2025, the band announced the release of their first new album in 31 years, entitled "Let The Music (Take Control)", which contains ten new tracks. ==Trivia==