Reverend and the Makers

by Mark Deming
Fusing indie rock melodies and attitudes with dance rhythms and electronic surfaces, Reverend and the Makers were formed by vocalist and songwriter Jon McClure, who at the age of 25 was already a fixture on the music scene in Sheffield, England. Previously a member of the short-lived bands Judan Suki and 1984, McClure had a reputation in Sheffield as both a songwriter and a poet, and became something of a mentor to Alex Turner, who would become an overnight sensation as the leader of the group Arctic Monkeys (Turner mentions McClure's 1984 in his song "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"). When Arctic Monkeys began developing massive buzz on the basis of Internet circulation of their demos, McClure was offered six-figure deals by record companies to put together a band that sounded just like them; however, even though he was out of work, he opted to follow his own muse and instead formed Reverend and the Makers with guitarist Tom Jarvis, Ed Cosens on bass, keyboard players Joe Moskow and Laura Manuel, drummer Richy Westley, and Stuart Doughty on percussion. The band made its live debut in 2005, and in the spring of 2006 Arctic Monkeys took McClure and his band on the road as their opening act. In time, Reverend and the Makers developed a loyal following and could sell out 1,000-capacity clubs in their Sheffield hometown; Mark Jones saw the band and was strongly impressed, promptly signing them to his Wall of Sound label. Reverend and the Makers' first single, "Heavyweight Champion of the World" appeared in May 2007, and included an appearance by one of McClure's lyrical inspirations, John Cooper Clarke, on the B-side, "The Last Resort." A second single, "He Said He Loved Me," followed, with the group's first album, The State of Thing, appearing in shops in September 2007.