Early years Before founding the Screaming Blue Messiahs, its three members had played together as The Small Brothers. Thompson and Carter had been part of the
Captain Beefheart-influenced band Motor Boys Motor; together with Tony Moon on vocals, they
recorded several tracks under that name on 24 August 1981 for
John Peel's show on
BBC Radio 1 and released a self-titled album. Initially, after Harris joined Carter and Thompson, the band briefly continued to perform under the name 'Motor Boys Motor'. According to Carter, the final name was chosen upon the suggestion of
Ace/Big Beat's Ted Caroll, who was concerned that the band's initial proposal of 'The Blues Messiahs' sounded too
pub rock. Carter employed a rhythmic,
blues-influenced,
feedback-laden guitar style, using mainly
Fender Telecaster guitars together with two
combo amps: a
Mesa Boogie and an
HH outfitted with Gauss speakers. For his occasional forays into
slide, he favoured 'the
mike stand, or whatever is handy', and that he only used
open tunings 'when the strings go open by accident'. Its six songs, which had been selected from eleven songs recorded in spring 1984 with producer
Vic Maile during a
session at Elephant Studios in
Wapping, London, included a version of
Hank Williams' "
You're Gonna Change". Upon its release, the
EP entered the top twenty in the
UK independent record chart, where it remained for six months. The Screaming Blue Messiahs played their first official gig at 'Downstairs at the Clarendon',
Hammersmith, London on 11 June 1984. On 24 July 1984, they performed the songs "Good And Gone", "Someone To Talk To", "Tracking The Dog" and "Let's Go Down to the Woods And Pray" during their first recorded session for the
John Peel show on
BBC Radio 1. The label re-released the mini-album
Good and Gone, and the band began work on
Gun Shy, their first studio album, produced by Vic Maile. Carter's vocal delivery also attracted attention in the
music press with, for example, John Dougan commenting: "Carter wielded his instrument like a cross between
Wilko Johnson and
Pete Townshend; he was a deft
soloist, but it was his tricky, complex rhythm playing that gave the band sheet-after-sheet of supercharged sound for a foundation. As impressive as his guitar playing was his voice: at times comically bawling, other times mumbling and imperceptible; in the course of a
verse, Carter could sound righteously indignant, or suddenly frightened and confused". The band's overall sound, according to Dougan, "made for extreme, confrontational, and very, very exciting
rock & roll". and again in
Words & Music magazine in January 1988: "There’s an English band I like very much. Nobody seems to have heard of them. They’re called The Screaming Blue Messiahs and I’m pushing them like mad. I think they’re really good. There’s an element of
The Clash in them that I really like. But there's something else there. I'm not really sure what it is. There's an exciting guitar player. He's a sort of
new wave guitar player, but they're an angry mob from London." The admiration extended to an invitation for the Messiahs to join Bowie on a couple of his
Glass Spider Tour dates in the UK. They supported at
Cardiff Arms Park in Wales and
Roker Park in
Sunderland on the 21 and 23 June 1987.
Chart success January 1988 saw the release of "I Wanna Be A Flintstone", a reworked song from the
Motor Boys Motor album, as a single. Despite having achieved critical acclaim and a hit record, a change of manager and a long touring schedule coupled with financial hardships after returning from tours began to take a toll on the band. To cope with the intensity of the band's live performances, Carter explained that "I used to have to prepare myself all day ahead of the gig for the sheer emotional and physical onslaught. I used to put everything into the gigs. I'd come off stage all used up. I was so hot after, I would have to put ice on my head! Then we'd come back from touring and I'd have to sell guitars in order to live". This sentiment was shared by Thompson, "One minute I'd be signing autographs in Hollywood then I'd be back here painting
skirting boards".
Final album Their third album,
Totally Religious — jointly produced by
Howard Gray and Robert Stevens — was recorded in Miami Sound Studios and
Criteria Studios in Miami, Alaska Studios in
Waterloo, London and Sheffield Recording in
Phoenix, Maryland and released in 1989. To support the album's release, the Messiahs toured the UK in November, and in December played six concerts in Germany. A promo video for the track "Four Engines Burning" was shot, although no singles were released from the album. The group's relationship with its record label deteriorated, resulting in the removal of
Totally Religious from distribution a month after its release. The band was dropped from its contract, and split up shortly afterwards, playing their last gig at The Subterrania Club in
Notting Hill, London, on 5 June 1990. The group's recordings were subsequently deleted from the WEA and Elektra catalogues and became unavailable. ==Post break-up==