Reverend And The Makers

Reverend & the Makers originated in 2005 when vocalist and songwriter Jon McClure assembled the group to merge indie rock melody and attitude with dance rhythm. The Sheffield act's energetic opening single, "Heavyweight Champion of the World," climbed into the U.K. Top Ten in 2007 and launched a sequence of four indie chart number ones that each became fixtures on alt rock radio playlists throughout Britain. Across the ensuing decade, from The State of Things in 2007 to The Death of a King in 2017, six successive albums entered the U.K. Top 20. After a six-year break, the R&B-inspired Heatwave in the Cold North arrived as their seventh album in 2023.

Born in 1981 and raised with his brother in Sheffield's Grenoside suburb, McClure spent his teenage years admiring Brit-pop figures such as Liam Gallagher, Damon Albarn, and Jarvis Cocker, whose example prompted him to pursue music. He participated in the short-lived groups Judan Suki and 1984, building a local reputation in Sheffield as both songwriter and poet. At twenty-five, already established on the city's scene, he served as a mentor to Alex Turner, who soon gained sudden fame fronting Arctic Monkeys; Turner references McClure's 1984 in "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," while McClure's brother Chris appears on the cover of that band's debut album. When Arctic Monkeys' demos circulated online and generated intense interest, record labels offered McClure six-figure contracts to assemble a similar-sounding band, yet he remained unemployed and instead followed his own direction by forming Reverend & the Makers. From the start the core lineup included childhood friend and fellow Notre Dame High School alumnus Ed Cosens on bass and keyboardist Laura Manuel, joined initially by guitarist Tom Jarvis, synth player Joe Moskow, drummer Rich Westley, and percussionist Stuart Doughty. The group played its first show in 2005, and Arctic Monkeys invited McClure and his band to open their spring 2006 tour.

Reverend & the Makers gradually cultivated a devoted audience and sold out thousand-capacity venues in Sheffield, prompting Mark Jones to sign them to his Wall of Sound label after witnessing a performance. Their debut single, "Heavyweight Champion of the World," surfaced in May 2007 and included a B-side contribution, "The Last Resort," from one of McClure's lyrical influences, John Cooper Clarke. A follow-up single, "He Said He Loved Me," preceded the September 2007 release of The State of Things. Throughout 2008 persistent rumors of a split circulated until McClure first confirmed and later denied them; nevertheless, several personnel shifts occurred. Westley departed to start Strange & Partners, after which Doughty moved to drums. Guitarist Tom Jarvis exited in January 2009 and was succeeded by McClure's longtime friend and former Milburn guitarist Tom Rowley, who had already co-written songs for The State of Things. With the refreshed roster the band secured an opening slot on Oasis's sold-out 2009 summer tour and introduced "Silence is Talking." Their second album, A French Kiss in the Chaos, incorporated Jarvis's guitar throughout and concentrated on politically charged topics that addressed the Iraq conflict, consumerism, and global warming. Known for outspoken and brash commentary, McClure did not hesitate to tackle the record's central controversies. In August 2009 Manuel married McClure in Italy, adopting his surname after the couple formed during the album sessions.

Reverend & the Makers subsequently entered hiatus, re-emerging in 2011 with a revised lineup that briefly featured ex-Arctic Monkeys bassist Andy Nicholson before stabilizing around the core trio of McClure, McClure, and Cosens. In August they uploaded the YouTube clip "Riot" reacting to that summer's widespread disorder across England. January 2012 brought former Milburn bassist Joe Carnall into the fold, followed by drummer Ryan Jenkinson. Produced by Jason Cox and Jason Dring of Gorillaz alongside Youth of the Verve and U2, the third album @Reverend_Makers appeared that June and returned to the band's electronic-inflected indie rock, exemplified by the dancefloor synth lines of single "Bassline" and the urgent guitars of "Noisy Neighbor."

In 2014 the band delivered its fourth studio album, ThirtyTwo, which included a guest appearance by Sheffield house producer Steve Edwards. They next traveled to Jamaica's Geejam Studios with Dave Sanderson to begin recording the fifth album, Mirrors; after additional production from Youth and Alan Smyth the group completed the record back in Sheffield. Issued in October 2015, Mirrors earned acclaim from critics and from musicians including Noel Gallagher and Carl Barât. In 2016 Reverend & the Makers again journeyed overseas with Sanderson, this time to Thailand's Karma Sound Studios, resulting in The Death of a King, released in mid-2017 and marking their highest-charting U.K. album since The State of Things. During 2019 the band reflected on its history with the greatest-hits collection The Best of Reverend & the Makers, which compiled earlier tracks and added two new songs recorded for the project: "Elastic Fantastic," featuring a one-time return by Westley, and "Te Quiero Pero."

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic McClure devoted considerable time to producing and writing for other artists while immersing himself in classic R&B by Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield as well as contemporary work from the Odd Future collective. In 2022 he visited twelve countries from the U.K. to Zambia, filming the local music cultures he encountered. August of that year brought the laid-back, R&B-flavored comeback single "Heatwave in the Cold North," which received regular primetime national airplay on BBC Radio 2. "High" and "Problems" followed in December and January, respectively, ahead of the early-2023 release of Heatwave in the Cold North, the band's seventh LP.