Clinic

Clinic are a UK rock band from Crosby, formed in 1997 and active to the present. The group consists of Brian Campbell, Carl Turney, Ade Blackburn and Jonathan Hartley. Their sound draws on art rock, experimental rock, garage psych, indie rock, indietronica and neo-psychedelia, and they are also associated with post-punk, indie, experimental and alternative rock.

Style and image

The band builds songs from combinations of familiar influences, including garage rock, the Velvet Underground, Suicide, spaghetti Western film music and dub. Ade Blackburn’s vocals are a defining part of the group’s sound, and the band is also known for performing in surgical masks. Their music changes gradually from album to album while keeping a recognisable identity.

Early years and first releases

Clinic form in 1997 after Blackburn and Hartley leave their previous band, Pure Morning. To complete the line-up, they bring in Campbell and Turney. Their early recordings emphasise punk and garage rock elements, along with keyboards sourced from flea markets and jumble sales. Their debut EP, I.P.C. Subeditors Dictate Our Youth, appears on their own Aladdin’s Cave of Golf label and reaches number nine in John Peel’s Festive 50 singles roundup for 1997. The following year they issue the singles “Cement Mixer” and “Monkey on My Back”.

Domino Records and album career

After a bidding war, Clinic sign to Domino Records in 1999. Their first release for the label is The Second Line, an EP whose title track is used in UK Levi’s adverts and later appears on Internal Wrangler. That debut album takes more than a year to complete and is self-financed, as are their earlier releases. It comes out in 2000 and is followed by appearances at Scott Walker’s Meltdown and All Tomorrow’s Parties festivals, as well as touring with Radiohead.

In 2002, Walking with Thee appears after being recorded in less than a month. It presents a more spacious and atmospheric version of the band’s sound and receives a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. Clinic then adopt a rougher, almost demo-like approach on Winchester Cathedral in 2004. For Visitations in 2006, they work again with Gareth Jones, who mixed Internal Wrangler, and the album returns to a rawer feel. A B-sides collection, Funf, follows in 2007.

The band continue to shift style on Do It! in 2008, a self-produced set that returns to psych and garage rock. In 2010, Bubblegum moves toward a gentler, chamber pop-influenced sound, with John Congleton as producer. The following year they release the covers EP Ladies Night as a Record Store Day release, including a version of Man 2 Man’s “Male Stripper”. Free Reign, released in 2012, combines experimental electronics with psychedelia and free jazz and features mixes by Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never. Lopatin later remixes the album as Free Reign II in 2013.

Later activity and side project

After Free Reign, Clinic go on hiatus. During that period Blackburn and Hartley form Higher Authorities, a side project focused more directly on dub and featuring collaborations with Adrian Sherwood. Their debut album, Neptune, appears in 2016. Clinic return in 2019 with Wheeltappers and Shunters, named after a British variety television show from the 1970s. The album combines direct songwriting with political commentary and nostalgia.

In May 2016, the band also perform with John Cale at his Liverpool concert of The Velvet Underground & Nico. Their catalogue shows a consistent interest in shifting arrangements, unusual textures and changes of style across a long-running career.