SPROUT HEAD UPRISING is the brainchild of an unemployed Mancunian Lee Perry fan, Michael Ward. "The band is called SPROUT HEAD UPRISING because it sounded l ike a good name and anyway I'm a vegetarian. It's also an uprising against all the new romantic bands who nobody has heard of in Manchester."

Michael left school in Whalley Range, Manchester a couple of years ago and made his way across America. Having produced a single for a friend at New York's Electric Ladyland he returned to England and pressed up a couple of thousand copies on his own Rocksteady label. The next Michael Ward project was a reggae single by DIVERSION. "It was a long time before the ska revival and was a lunge for that commercial sound, but as it was not a conspicuous success I vowed I'd never compromise again and stick to what I really believed in."

A single by Cathy La Creme quickly followed. It was called "I Married A Cult Figure From Salford" and was a piss-take of John Cooper Clarke's "I Married a Creature From Outer Space". "John didn't mind at all because we're good mates and anyway we both have our hair cut by the same girl, Sally, but of course he's lost his street credibility now and doesn't wear national health specs anymore!"

More recently Michael has been responsible for releases by SONS OF ARQA and SPROUT HEAD UPRISING. SONS OF ARQA released an album earlier this year once again on Michael 's Rocksteady label. The album, REVENGE OF THE MOZABITES was described by Hot Press as "a dizzying blend of reggae, Indian music, Irish folk music and God knows what else besides." The album was the result of a meeting between Michael and two brothers Aziz and Kalu Zeria. SONS OF ARQA also featured a few musicians who later appear in SPROUT HEAD UPRISING. Their first single on Rocksteady was called "Electric Animal". "It doesn't bear much relation to what we do now as we weren't a country band then".

[ Sprout Head Uprising | Throw Some Water In | Stiff Records™ | Buy DJ 121 | 1981 ]