Biography

Introduction

Miss Black America (MBA) were a punk-influenced rock band based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. Its original line-up consisted of Seymour Glass (voice/guitar), Mike Smith (bass) and Neil Baldwin (drums). The band formed after a chance encounter between Glass and Smith at a drum and bass night at The Junction in nearby Cambridge in October 1999. Baldwin and Smith had been playing together for several years, having attended neighbouring schools in Bury St Edmunds. Glass was at this time playing with two other Suffolk-based bands: Billion Dollar Brain, with future MBA bassist Laura Kidd and The Hip Down, with singer/songwriter Greg McDonald (later of The Dawn Parade/The Visions; Glass and McDonald also ran a fanzine entitled Planet Of Sound after a song by Pixies of the same name. "Seymour Glass" was the pseudonym Seymour initially adopted in order to review bands anonymously for the fanzine, after a character from the stories of J.D. Salinger but the name stuck for the duration of his time in MBA. Following Glass's departure from The Hip Down, McDonald changed the name of the band to The Dawn Parade.

History

Miss Black America entered the Cambridge Band Competition in early 2000, also held at the Junction, and came runner-up. This led to a slot supporting The Dandy Warhols, which earned the band a considerable local following. Following an industrial accident in September 2000, which resulted in Glass losing the little finger of his left hand (the digit was successfully sewn back on with partial loss of movement), Glass's school friend Gish was drafted in on guitar. Following success at another band competition (Burysound in Bury St Edmunds) in December 2000, Gish was made a full-time member of the band.

Early career

MBA's self-financed début single, the Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP, sold out within weeks of release when John Peel pushed the band on BBC Radio One. Second single Don't Speak My Mind was also championed by Peel and attracted the attention of Bedford-based Integrity Records, who signed the band to a one-album deal.

Debut album God Bless Miss Black America was recorded at the Magic Garden studio in Wolverhampton between September 2001 and January 2002 (the recording process was punctuated by live dates, including the inaugural Drowned In Sound tour with Antihero), with producer Gavin Monaghan at the helm. The first three singles from God Bless (Infinite Chinese Box, Talk Hard and Miss Black America) were well-received by the British Music Press and received moderate airplay in the UK. All three singles fared well on John Peel's Festive Fifty at the end of 2002, with Talk Hard at #3. 2002 also saw MBA touring almost constantly, often supporting other "buzz bands" including The Libertines, Parkinsons, Doves and Liars.

2002

Problems set in during the tour to promote Talk Hard when Glass's marriage broke up. This exacerbated Glass's mental health problems (including long-term problems with Bulimia nervosa and self-injury) and led to tensions within the band. The band's live performance suffered, leading to poor reviews in the music press. When God Bless Miss Black America was finally released in September 2002, it received poor reviews from the NME and The Fly; problems with distribution meant that many shops did not stock the album, and it flopped. However, other UK magazines, (including Rock Sound and Q Magazine) were more positive, and Rolling Stone writers Michael Krugman and Jason Cohen voted God Bless... their Album of the Year 2002.

In late 2002, following a disastrous tour to promote God Bless Miss Black America (supported by Leeds-based rockers Parva, later known as The Kaiser Chiefs) and on the eve of a performance at the Eurosonic Festival in Groningen, NL (at the personal invitation of John Peel) and a UK tour supporting Kinesis and Reuben, the band underwent a radical shake-up, replacing all except Glass with Mat Anthony (guitar/voice), Jonny Steele (bass) and Simon Cooper (drums). Mike Smith and Neil Baldwin went on to form a new band fronted by Smith, My Hi-Fi Sister, and were later joined by Gish. Gish joined Bournemouth-based "noise collective" Krayon, releasing solo/band recordings on Dirty Demos, Sound Devastation and Krayon labels; he also joined Tex La Homa (nom-de-guerre of Bournemouth-based songwriter Matt Shaw, who had produced MBA b-side All I Want Is Out) as live guitarist.

Miss Black America released two singles through Cambridge-based Repeat Records in 2003 (Drowning By Numbers and Beautiful Velocity) but these were not widely-promoted or particularly well-received. Further line-up changes came in October 2003, with Jonny Steele replaced by Ryan Banwell on bass. Then, in April 2004, Simon Cooper quit and was swiftly replaced by Simon Chapple, former drummer of Bury St Edmunds-based punk band Chevette.

2005

The line up of Glass (guitar/voice), Mat Anthony (guitar/voice), Ryan Banwell (bass) and Simon Chapple (drums) went on to record a second album, Terminal, again at the Magic Garden with Gavin Monaghan once again producing. The album was part-funded by a grant from the Arts Council England.

A first single from the album, Dot Dot Dot, was released through Repeat Records in April 2005 and was declared "Single Of The Month" in Rock Sound magazine. Terminal followed, also on Repeat Records, in May 2005. The album was largely ignored by the mainstream UK music press and radio stations, but eventually outsold the much-hyped God Bless.... The album was snapped up for re-release by London-based Ruby Slippers Records in November 2005.

Ongoing problems, both personal and financial, continued to cause instability within the band; in June 2005, Ryan Banwell was sacked as bassist and replaced by the returning Mike Smith. The band toured with additional live guitarist Richard Phillips (from fellow Bury St Edmunds band The Khe Sanh Approach) in October 2005. Then in December 2005 Smith, Simon Chapple and Richard Phillips all left the band. Remaining members Seymour Glass and Mat Anthony were joined by Laura Kidd (bass) and Dan Smart (drums) for a final UK tour in May, June and July 2006, (supported for the most part by We Start Fires).

After a performance at the Camden Underworld in support of the charity Liberty on 31 July 2006, Miss Black America went on hiatus.

2008

Seymour Glass (now going by the name Seymour Patrick) is currently involved with a new band, Ten City Nation, with fellow ex-MBA members Mike Smith and Neil Baldwin. Their debut album was released as a free download from the Ten City Nation website in May 2008. Seymour also released a solo album, Import/Export, under the name "Open Mouth", through Repeat Records in May 2007. He has recently contributed guitars to the second album by former The Dawn Parade frontman Greg McDonald and occasionally plays bass guitar for country band The Blazing Zoos, alongside journalist Andrew Mueller and members of Jesus Jones.

Lead guitarist Mat Anthony has since been involved in drum & bass project Baron Greenback and solo project Mat Hudson, as well as playing for Italian singer songwriter Elena.

Laura Kidd plays bass and guitar sessions for established pop and rock acts including Tricky and Lil' Chris and is recording her debut solo album under the band name She Makes War. She released a dance collaboration with Michael Gray in 2007 called 'Automatic' and has been working with The Young Punx on some electro pop songs due to be released in Japan in 2008.

Simon Cooper went on to form a "crushing metal" band entitled Methods Of Punishment, who have since been renamed A Horse Called War.

Richard Phillips continued playing guitar for The Khe Sanh Approach until the band's demise in 2007.

Simon Chapple has recently formed a new band, having completed a course of rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol dependency. Details of this project have yet to be announced.