The Honey Buzzards

The Honey Buzzards were a Norwich, England based band who achieved significant Independent Music success in the early 1990s.

They were formed by Ian Thompson (born 1971, vocals/guitar), Simon Shaw (born 1972, bass) and Matthew Wayne (born 1971,drums) at Norwich School in 1988. In 1989 they were joined by song writer and guitarist, Gareth Todd, (born 1968) who added to their 1960s inspired ethos, after leaving The Power Poppies, which included Chris (Bez) Berryman (Bass) and Milton Thorne, (drums).. In late '89, early '90 they recruited Nathan Moore (born 1970) who replaced Todd, along with John Evans (born 1972) as guitarists. They took their name from a 17th Century British painting and their sound was influenced by an Art School sensibility, The Velvet Underground, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and latterly The Stone Roses.

They released three singles on Manchester Based Sheer Joy Records; Sympathy (for two girls) (1990), Starhappy (1990) and Pale Horse (1991) all of which made the Top 20 of the Indie Chart, and issued a promo single with remixes by The Orb . Their strongest sales however were in Scandinavia, particularly Sweden.

The first single was produced by Michael Johnson, who was responsible for most of New Order's back catalogue including the "Brotherhood", "Low-life" and "Technique" albums. In 1991, the band recorded two BBC Sessions, one for the Mark Goodier Evening Session (Radio 1) and one for Hit the North (Radio 5), rejoined by Todd as a session musician, and who had contributed to the original song structure. Meanwhile John Peel championed the band's singles extensively.

They also appeared on the soundtrack to the Diane Ladd and Max Parrish film "Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me" (1993). The band split in 1994. They achieved critical acclaim in The NME and Melody Maker, and shared a BBC Session studio with David Bowie. John Evans has gone onto to achieve mainstream national success with the band The Divine Comedy and continues to tour as their guitarist.

• The Honey Buzzards, pictured in 1991