Saw them numerous times during the 90's after watching them supporting Love/Hate at the Woughton Centre in Milton Keynes. I only really went because Bam from the Dogs D'amour was their stand in drummer at the time, and I loved the Dogs. Met Danny at the bar and got pressured into buying a one sided vinyl copy of 'Turning American' from his van and pretty much became a hardcore fan overnight.
What I really admired about the Wildhearts at the time, and remember kids, this was back before MP3, was that the band released the same tracks on every format. You buy your CD and that's your lot. 4 tracks, all exclusive to that release. None of this remix bullshit or 2 or 3 different tracks spread over a 2 part single release to boost sales.
I think the Wildhearts were at their best over the 2nd half of the 'PHUQ' album and the original release of 'Fishing for Luckies'. Tunes like 'Caprice', 'Be My Drug' and 'Schizophonic' define the late 90's for me. It's fecking great music. I was a teenager then and it was teenage music with themes about not selling out and sticking it to the man. I loved it! They really should've kicked on from that and gone global but Danny's Drug habit and the shit with the record company and Ginger's paranoia brought it all tumbling down.
They went a bit weird and 'experimental' (Shit) after they finally got freed from their EastWest contract and I didn't really bother with their stuff again until they released 'The Wildhearts' a couple of years ago which was surprisingly brilliant.
One of my favourite bands.
