Wiiija changed hands, leaving the Rough Trade Shop salutations to Pete, Jude, Nigel, Delia, Sean Rugger Bugger et al - we still love you!) to become part of the Beggars Group of companies. Which gave us a larger cash injection to invest in the music we (and you) love. It also allied us with some great labels (NATION, MANTRA, BEGGARS) and you never know, might result in some interesting collaborations! (Mucho Macho remixing Bauhaus, anyone?)

1996 saw us release one off singles by Hate cartoonist Peter Bagge and his band, The Action Suits and a Free Kitten single 'Punks Suing Punks' which may or may not have been a comment on the Courtney Love v. Kathleen Hanna fiasco. Tut tut. Also a couple of singles by Sam from Jacob's Mouse, under the name Machismo's.



Terry Edwards, the talented multi-instrumentalist who's worked with Gallon Drunk, Tindersticks, Nick Cave, all the ska stars etc released an underrated LP on Wiiija. There was a new LP and some live dates by Guv'ner, who were as off the wall as ever. Charles & Pumpkin had even got a reply to their drummer want ad and brought him over.

bis were signed to Wiiija despite a huge signing war, which Wiiija did not even deign to join. They went off to conquer the US and Japan and were treated to the most vicious press backlash in history here in the UK! And handled it very well considering they were still teenagers!

Cornershop were remixed by The Grid and Black Star Liner and these mixes started going down a storm in clubs, earning them the attention of a dance audience. They did a succession of European and American tours, including Lollapalooza and signed a deal with David Byrne's label Luaka Bop.

We released the last Heavenly LP in 1996,a superb power pop indie LP. Unfortunately the successes of the year were shadowed for us all by the suicide of Mathew Fletcher, Heavenly's drummer. We still miss him dearly.

Comet Gain split into two bands in early 1997. David Charlie Feck continued in Comet Gain, recruiting a new line up. The 'Magnetic Poetry" LP is the last recording by the old band. Look out for releases by the new Comet Gain on other labels, including Mei Mei. Velocette went on to develop their particular brand of pristine pop and released the classic single "Get Yourself Together"...

1997 saw the emergence of Wiiija's dance side (there's always been a hip-hop/dance element to Mr Gary Walker) and the release of LPs by Hurricane and Cornershop's coming of age "Born For The 7th Time" which was voted one of the top LPs of the year by all the music mags... Wiiija also signed house act Mucho Macho and drum and bass voodoo queen Anjali.


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