Jon McClure

Jon McClure (born 22 December 1981), known as The Reverend, is an English musician. He is the lead singer and frontman of Reverend and The Makers, and ex-vocalist of 1984 and Judan Suki. He says that the name "Reverend" became his moniker because "I'm a big mouth and always running on at people".^[1]

Early life

McClure was born in the Sheffield suburb Grenoside, and grew up there with his parents and brother Chris. He has known Ed Cosens since childhood and in Notre Dame High School. He went on to become a poet,^[2] and began blogging on the internet.

Career

A close friendship developed with Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, who McClure met on a bus and asked if Turner wanted to join his band at the time.^[3] Together, the two have co-written songs including "He Said He Loved Me", "The Machine", and "Old Yellow Bricks". McClure cites his key influences as being Bob Marley, Oasis and John Cooper Clarke.^[4] McClure was part of a collective that set up "Instigate Debate" in August 2008. He shared a flat with frontman of Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner.^[5]

Previous projects

Judan Suki

McClure's first band was Judan Suki, which featured Ed Cosens and Laura Manuel from The Makers. The name Judan Suki is Japanese, meaning "being kicked in the weak spot", which McClure believed related directly to the music. Judan Suki was nothing more than an experiment by McClure. During its life, Judan Suki had approximately 20 members, including Alex Turner and Matt Helders, who later went on to form Arctic Monkeys. In 2004, the band downsized from eight members to five. It was at this time that they began playing for formidable record companies, although McClure felt that the band were not good enough to be signed, a sentiment he kept with Reverend and The Makers; his perfectionist attitude forced songs from the album to be re-recorded, delaying the band's releases. Judan Suki became well known within Sheffield and headlined venues such as the Boardwalk in 2002. The band were notable for their cover of "Brothers on the Slide" by Cymande, although a studio version was never recorded.

1984

McClure's second band was 1984, named after the novel by George Orwell. Ed Cosens stuck with Jon, and co-wrote many of 1984's songs as well as all of Reverend and The Makers. The band also included Judan Suki bassist Karl Kelly and drummer David White. The band shared a short life from 2004 to 2005 and McClure's strong views against the Iraq War meant that many of his lyrics and vocals had an angrier edge to them. There are clear links and continuations with the lyrics and ideas of 1984 to those of Reverend and The Makers; "God Is In The TV", which is one of the B-sides on the forthcoming single, was originally a 1984 song. 1984 came to an end when McClure decided he was ready to start getting "serious" as he did not want to be "just another guitar band" or part of a Yorkshire music scene.

The lyric "dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984" from the Arctic Monkeys song "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" is a reference to the band. This maintains Turner's close link with McClure, who provided much of Turner's inspiration in his early songwriting days.^[6]

Side projects

Reverend Soundsystem

Prior to Reverend and the Makers being signed McClure hosted a monthly clubnight on the first Saturday of every month named "Reverend Soundsystem" at The Plug in Sheffield, and has also hosted one event at Manchester's Po Na Na. The Soundsystem, which ran for a year from October 2007 and has featured a number of guest DJs such as Mani (The Stone Roses/Primal Scream), Peter Hook (New Order), the late Tony Wilson (Factory Records), Andy Nicholson (ex-Arctic Monkeys), Chris McClure (face of the Arctic Monkeys debut album cover (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not) and brother of Jon), Terry Hall (The Specials), Milburn, Bez and Arctic Monkeys as well as live performances from The Sunshine Underground, Gas Club, Stoney, The 747s, The Hosts, White Rose Movement and Starlings (FKA Kelham Crisis). The event no longer takes place at The Plug.

In 2010, McClure took Reverend SoundSystem on tour. The band includes Jon, Matic Mouth, Laura McClure and Jimmy Welsh (who replaced Jagz Kooner).

Mongrel

McClure's new project features band members Lowkey, Andy Nicholson, Matt Helders, Drew McConnell, Joe Moskow, and Jagz Kooner.

Personal life

McClure's influences include The Clash, Oasis, The Stone Roses, The Beatles and The Jam.^[7]

McClure married fellow Reverend and The Makers member Laura Manuel in the summer of 2009, after an on-off relationship that McClure said was "proving tough".^[8]

McClure is a lifelong Sheffield Wednesday fan. He is known to be an avid player of the simulation game Football Manager. In September 2009, he became the first member of the public to play Football Manager 2010 upon its release.^[9] In an edition of The Wright Stuff, he said that he "absolutely loves" smoking. In March 2010, he was arrested in Inverness after possession of cannabis, but was given a caution.^[10]

References