Northen Uproar return!

Or they did last month apparently and no one noticed.

They had a single in '95 called Rollercoaster? Remember? There's a jingle on XFM which promotes the 100 best indie anthems ever and then pokes fun at the Uproar?

I once saw them live in '96 at the Cavern in Exeter. The biggest thing they had to say was that the Manics' James Dean Bradfield was 'helping' them in the studio. They neglected to say the 'help' involved getting the teenagers booze and fags from the local Spar. Support band Brubaker were managed by the largely ignored third Gallagher brother Paul who, if we're being honest, had more of an interest in pies than Britpop. The two bands were trading off celebrity association in the Britpop zeitgeist, clambering over each other to snag groupies, fags and Haribo Starmix while Noel Gallagher was playing to 250,000 people at Knebworth.

Fast forward to today and a message dropped into my inbox talking of a live TV broadcast, new album and tour. I blinked with disbelief and read the email again. Aha. That's Sky channel 203, a 'tour' which actually means a single gig at the local Manchester Academy for six quid and an album on a label that may have been created by a Moss Side drug dealer. Of course, this isn't nice but, honestly, can comebacks like this really work?

I once stood in the pissing rain at Glastonbury to see Embrace play a stunning set in 1998, years later they became decorators and have now got a (sort of) credible job thanks to a songwriting leg up from friend Chris Martin. If you look closely he writes "I heart Embrace" beside the "Make Trade Fair" tattoo on his ankle. Anyway, the point is, that's a comeback backed by Mr Coldplay, Managing Director of perhaps the biggest band on earth. And that's at good as it gets! Playing forests, doing DJ sets in Camden and writing the World Cup Song! If I was Embrace, I'd ask for my paintbrush and buy back that Ford Transit.

But if you were Northen Uproar, why would even try and come back? We've got The Enemy and they're loads better thanks. Wouldn't you find it a bit embarrassing singing songs about rollercoasters you wrote when you were 18, ten years on? And what about the MySpace shame? The site appears to be managed by a roadie, or at least someone working in a profession which doesn't involve a computer keyboard. Also, and I'm not saying that every one of Lily Allen's 29 million MySpace minions turn up to every gig she does, but Northen Uproar have 388 friends at the time of writing. That's friends and family surely? If you want to do something charitable today, go to their site and read their Maxim Album of The Month review (1997) and see how they are, in their own words, "let loose and wild again". In the words of the Manc Grandaddy Shaun Ryder, we say "call the cops". Or maybe Harvey Goldsmith.

http://www.myspace.com/northernuproar