The Sundays

The Sundays were an English alternative rock band. The band's lineup consisted of lead vocalist Harriet Wheeler, guitarist David Gavurin, bassist Paul Brindley, and drummer Patrick Hannan.Having met while attending Bristol University, Wheeler and Gavurin formed the band in 1988. The Sundays secured a recording contract with Rough Trade Records. Their debut single was "Can't Be Sure". Their first album, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, was released in 1990 and became a UK top 5 hit. The album's lead single, "Here's Where the Story Ends", was a number one hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States.The Sundays' next single, "Goodbye", did not emerge until 1992. Their next album, Blind, arrived the same year, reaching the UK top 15. The single "Love" reached number 2 on the US Modern Rock charts. In 1997, their third and final album, Static & Silence, was followed by the release of their most successful single, "Summertime", which made the UK top 15.Vocalist Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin had met as students at Bristol University in the mid-1980s. Wheeler was from Reading, the daughter of an architect and a teacher, and studied English literature. Gavurin was from Wembley and actively pursued a degree in the Romance languages, particularly French and Spanish. The two fell in love and began living together. Following graduation, they wrote music in their free time while collecting unemployment benefits. Previously, Wheeler had played gigs with Cruel Shoes, an early incarnation of the band Jim Jiminee; otherwise, the couple had no musical background. Commenting on his desire to compose, Gavurin said, "It was something I'd always wanted to do, although I never wanted to be in a band when I was younger, like many kids do. It just dawned on me gradually." Wheeler displayed similar feelings: "There was never a time I wanted to be incredibly famous, or in a pop group," she said. "It just seemed a great thing to do to spend time working on something that's your own."After the couple completed several songs – and migrated to London – they enlisted the support of bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan, who had also attended Bristol University. Hannan's brother, Nick, had also been a member of Jim Jiminee, which briefly featured Wheeler as vocalist (see paragraph above). The band chose the name "The Sundays" as it was the only one everyone could agree upon. Demo tapes were sent out to several London clubs after the group felt energized by their efforts; Gavurin stated in a Rolling Stone interview that "by the end of the year we were thinking, 'Hang on a minute, some of this is good!'" Responses to the tape were enthusiastic and an employee at Vertigo Club offered the band an opening slot for an upcoming show in August 1988. "By chance there were three reviewers from the top music papers there," said Wheeler. "They were supposed to review the main band, but instead they wrote about us." The group subsequently became the focus of a record label bidding war. They eventually signed with Rough Trade Records and had a distribution deal signed for the United States with DGC Records.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.