The official UK midweek album charts have confirmed a huge win for The Cribs, all three of the indie band’s re-releases have positioned high within the charts. The British rockers rose to prominence during the mid-00s and have remained a family affair throughout their career. Hailing from West Yorkshire, the band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and younger brother Ross. After the band secured their cult status amongst music fans, former The Smiths member Johnny Marr joined the group from 2008-2011.
The band recently released re-issues of their three earliest albums, their debut LP The Cribs, The New Fellas and third studio album Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever; all three releases have made it to the UK album top ten. Placing at number eight is the group’s self-titled debut album, The Cribs was self-produced by the group and was recorded in the span of a week. The album was released in 2004 via London-based independent label Wichita Recordings and marked the band’s first entry into the era’s blossoming indie rock scene.
The group’s follow-up to their debut release has placed at number seven, The New Fellas was released in 2005 and sired the brother’s great critical acclaim. The album was included within NME’s Album Of The Year list of 2005 where it placed at eleven, The New Fellas also placed within Q Magazine’s list of Albums of the Century. The album’s first single “Hey Scenesters!” was quickly adapted as the indie scene’s anthem and remains a key part of the genre’s cannon.
The Cribs’ third studio album Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever has charted at number four. Often regarded as the band’s breakthrough album it was released in 2007 to critical and commercial acclaim, the album charted at number thirteen through its original release. The LP included one of the group’s biggest and most well-known single, “Men’s Needs” initially charted at number seventeen on the UK singles charts giving the group their highest chart position to date within the singles chart.
The band of brothers are currently performing a string of intimate gigs in the UK, Ryan spoke with NME concerning their recent album chart success, “We’ve been so busy playing multiple shows a day and haven’t really had any days off, so we haven’t really had chance to process it yet – but it’s certainly not what we were expecting when we did these reissues,”
The frontman continues, “The fundamental reason for doing these reissues was because the vinyl had been out of print for such a long time. We didn’t expect anything like this, but it’s amazing. We really appreciate it because it means that people still care about the records. That’s not always going to be a given, all this time down the line. It’s been a pretty crazy last couple of days. We’re so psyched.”
Ryan proceeds to discuss the band’s early work charting higher now than when originally released, “The first albums came out right in the heart of the whole file-sharing era so they didn’t really chart at all, It means a lot to see the first album in the Top 10, because that album was recorded before we had a record deal or anything. That feels really special because I never thought I’d see that record in the charts.“
He concludes, “That’s the only record in the Top 10 that cost £900 to record and was funded by working in a factory. The perversity of going up against Beyoncé and those big-hitters with a record that was made in that way is what means the most to us. It’s surreal.”
The band will next perform in Leeds on Thursday 4th August 2022, the date was added to the tour schedule as an extra date due to popular demand and will mark the final performance of their UK shows. On Tuesday 30thAugust 2022, The Cribs will embark on a string of US performances where they will support fellow indie rockers Modest Mouse for nine dates.
The Cribs UK tour date
04/08/2022 – The Cribs Outstore Shows/Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
Click here to purchase tickets.
