Show notes, music, links, references and more for Ep 04 – The Hummingbirds.
The title of this episode is I Am Defiant, a lyric from The Hummingbirds song Defiant.
The band
They were the leaders of the indie rock scene at the turn of the 90s. They had some breakthrough indie rock success, offering something fresh and optimistic for a new young audience.
Get some records
The classic album to get is their debut album LoveBuzz (1989). It’s on all the digital services.
The follow-up Va Va Voom (1991) is also excellent. And that’s it, two albums. The early singles are mostly collected on Contradiction (2000).
That’s unfortunately it. Early singles like Swim To Shore and lots of b-sides are not available. The later EPs were collected on a mini album in 2017 after Simon’s death.
The golden age of The Hummingbirds were very much in the vinyl era. Here’s my collection along with Miso.
Film clips
Here’s all the official film clips.
TV shows and cover versions
The Hummingbirds perform Blush on Countdown, 1989.
The Hummingbirds perform You Just Gotta Know My Mind on Hey Hey, 1994.
A bunch of hot young bands – Alvvays, Hatchie and Snail Mail, perform Alimony.
Bob Evans aka Kevin from Jebediah doing an acoustic cover of Blush.
Simon Holmes
Here’s a Guardian article reporting on Simon’s death and the importance of The Hummingbirds, written by Andrew Stafford.
Music from the episode (all by the Hummingbirds
- Get On Down from LoveBuzz
- Alimony from LoveBuzz
- Hindsight single
- Blush from LoveBuzz
- Word Gets Around from LoveBuzz
- Tuesday from LoveBuzz
- If A Vow from Va Va Voom
- Two Weeks With A Good Man In Niagara Falls from Va Va Voom
- You Just Gotta Know My Mind from the You Just Gotta Know My Mind EP
- She Knows from LoveBuzz
- Rainy Daydream from the b-side of Hindsight
- And an extra bit of Blush at the end.
Playlists
Their wonderful 1989 album LoveBuzz
The best of Contradiction