Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

Biography

The Sundays were an influential British indie group of the late 1980s and 1990s, formed in 1988 and hailing from London, United Kingdom. Singer Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin formed the band in college at Bristol, soon adding bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan. Comparisons were drawn with original label-mates The Smiths, and bands such as Cocteau Twins, and 10,000 Maniacs. Their level of commercial success was almost unprecedented by an indie act when their first alb...

The Sundays were an influential British indie group of the late 1980s and 1990s, formed in 1988 and hailing from London, United Kingdom. Singer Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin formed the band in college at Bristol, soon adding bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan. Comparisons were drawn with original label-mates The Smiths, and bands such as Cocteau Twins, and 10,000 Maniacs.

Their level of commercial success was almost unprecedented by an indie act when their first album 'Reading Writing and Arithmetic' (Rough Trade, 1989) debuted in the British charts at number 4, (even cracking the US Top 40) with little publicity and almost a year after the legendary single and John Peel fave 'Can't Be Sure' peaked at number 45. This now seminal album also featured the single "Here's Where The Story Ends" (more recently covered by 'Tin Tin Out') and other classic indie pop tunes 'Skin & Bones', 'Hideous Towns' and 'I Kicked A Boy'.

A US tour and a (soon to become infamous) "break" preceded follow-up album 'Blind' (1992) for which sky-high critical expectations couldn't be met, though single 'Goodbye' fared well reaching number 27.
It was a long wait before third and most recent album 'Static and Silence' (Parlophone, 1997) was released, followed by a 3-date UK, and 14-date U.S tour. Single "Summertime" (their most successful hit to date on the UK charts) was taken from this album, and garnered airplay in most parts of the world, although the follow-up "Cry" didn't fare quite as well. Gavurin formed a friendship with the comedian David Baddiel when growing up in North London, which would lead to the Sundays providing the song "Another Flavour" (sans vocals) from Static and Silence as the theme tune to the Newman and Baddiel in Pieces TV series.

No new material has been released by The Sundays since Static and Silence (and its attendant singles) in 1997. Harriet Wheeler and David Gavurin have settled down and are raising a family. Patrick Hannan has become a session drummer and occasional record producer. Bassist Paul Brindley, like Harriet and David, is no longer a part of the music industry.

In April 2014, Adam Pitluk, the editor of American Airlines' magazine American Way, tracked down and conducted an interview with Wheeler and Gavurin in which he put forward the idea of a reunion. The response to this was as follows - "First let’s see if the music we’re currently writing ever sees the light of day, and then we can get on to the enjoyable globe-trotting-meets-concert-planning stage."


There is also a Japanese independent rock/punk band named SUNDAYS. They started out in September 2007 and released their first mini-album on a major label in January 2013. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.