Them (band)

Them (band)
London Records · Public domain · source
Name	Them
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Years active	1964–1967; reunions 1979–1983
Labels	Decca, Parrot, Deram
Associated acts	Van Morrison, Belfast

Them (band) was a mid-1960s rock group formed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, noted for blending rhythm and blues, garage rock, and early psychedelia. The band achieved international recognition through its raw recordings and the breakout success of a lead singer who later became a prominent solo artist. During their brief initial run they influenced contemporaries across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe, while contributing to the cultural exchange between the British Isles and American rhythm and blues traditions.

History

Formed in 1964 in Belfast, the group evolved from local skiffle and rhythm and blues scenes alongside contemporaries like The Beatles-era acts and Northern Irish bands performing in venues used by touring American artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Early lineups coalesced around a charismatic frontman who had performed with showbands linked to the Beat Group circuit and who drew attention from labels active in the British Invasion period, leading to a contract with Decca Records and later releases on Parrot Records and Deram Records. The band's 1964–1966 recordings were produced during sessions in London with engineers and producers who worked with acts appearing on Ready Steady Go! and Top of the Pops, situating them within the mid-1960s British pop and R&B industries.

As the group toured clubs and theaters across England, Scotland, and parts of Europe, tensions over musical direction and management contributed to multiple personnel changes; members departed to join or form groups associated with the burgeoning mod and psychedelia movements. By 1967 the original lineup had effectively dissolved, and the frontman pursued a solo career that intersected with the folk revival and rock scenes centered around venues in London and New York City. Occasional reunions and archival releases in the 1970s and 1980s renewed interest among collectors and scholars studying the era's transatlantic influences.

Musical Style and Influences

The band's sound drew heavily from American artists such as Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, and James Brown, filtered through British interpretations exemplified by The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and The Kinks. They combined raw electric blues phrasing with driving backbeats reminiscent of Little Richard and horn-influenced R&B arrangements heard in recordings by Ray Charles and Sam Cooke. Guitar work integrated the feedback and distortion techniques later associated with garage rock acts and proto-punk bands influenced by The Stooges and MC5.

Vocal delivery reflected gospel-inflected intensity associated with performers like Otis Redding and the narrative phrasing found in the work of Bob Dylan during his mid-1960s songwriting surge. The group's studio output included covers of rhythm and blues standards and original compositions that anticipated elements of power pop and hard rock, influencing subsequent musicians active in scenes in Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and London.

Band Members

Notable members included the lead vocalist, a songwriter who later recorded acclaimed solo albums and collaborated with artists linked to Van Morrison and the British folk-rock circuit. Guitarists and rhythm section musicians who passed through the group had associations with acts such as Skid Row (Irish band), Jet, The Wheels, and other Northern Irish showbands that fed into the wider British rock ecosystem. Session players and touring members had histories with Them Belfast Gypsies-type projects and later worked with labels like Decca and Deram.

Specific personnel changes featured departures to form or join bands connected to the mod scene, studio work in London with producers whose credits included sessions for Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, and later collaborations with musicians active in punk rock and post-punk movements. Several former members continued careers as sidemen, session musicians, or bandleaders in groups performing across Europe and North America.

Discography

The group's core discography comprises mid-1960s singles and albums released on major and subsidiary labels, including hit singles that entered charts in the United Kingdom and United States. Early releases included raw renditions of American rhythm and blues numbers and originals that received airplay on pirate radio stations and programs like Ready Steady Go!. Albums issued on labels such as Decca Records, Parrot Records, and Deram Records have been reissued in anthology formats and on compilation series curated by collectors and historians of 1960s British rock.

Posthumous compilations and box sets collect studio outtakes, live recordings from Belfast clubs and London venues, and alternate mixes produced during sessions overseen by producers who also worked with contemporary British acts. The discography influenced later reissues focusing on the British rhythm and blues boom and the transition into garage and psychedelic rock scenes.

Legacy and Influence

The band's influence extends to garage rock revivalists, punk pioneers, and singer-songwriters who cite the raw immediacy of their early recordings. Their work is frequently referenced alongside other seminal 1960s groups in studies of the British Invasion, the cross-pollination between American rhythm and blues and British rock, and the development of electric rock vocal styles carried into folk rock and soul-infused popular music. Musicians from The Doors-era circles to later bands in Los Angeles and New York City scenes have acknowledged the group's impact on stagecraft and vocal approach.

Reissues, tribute albums, and scholarly retrospectives situate the band within narratives linking Belfast to the wider history of 20th-century popular music, highlighting how a short-lived ensemble contributed to stylistic currents that shaped subsequent decades of rock, punk, and alternative music.

Category:British rock music groups Category:Northern Irish musical groups