Indieobit: Jeff Fletcher

Jeff Fletcher, guitarist with Northern Uproar, has been killed in a road accident.

Fletcher was hit by a lorry in the centre of Stockport on Monday evening; suffering head injuries, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jeff was a founder member of the group - arguably, rooted in bands he and Leon Meya started when they were just 11. Never quite Britpop, never quite Madchester, the band ran around the charts shouting between 1995 and 1997; they got back together in 2004 and are still a going concern, although Jeff left a couple of years back.

Talking to the Manchester Evening News, Leon Meya said:

“Jeff was a gentleman and my friend since the age of five, we grew up together and went through school.

“He was a genius and learned the guitar in six months. He was the principle song writer, he could make melodies, sing and was a good performer. He made the sound of Northern Uproar, we were a great team.

“Jeff was recognised as a great guitarist, his guitar work was amazing. He was such a lovely caring bloke, I will miss a proper friend.”

Here's the band featured on The Sunday Show in a none-more-90s segment involving ligging, The Astoria, and Loaded:

Jeff Fletcher was 36.

The Northern Uproar will rise again

You know what's odder than there being a Northern Uproar reunion?

It's discovering they've been reunited for seven years already. That's over three times the length of their original lifespan.

So, album number four is about to head our way. Leon & Chris tell Louder Than War what it's like:

Leon: it sounds, yeah, ‘heavy feel ‘ that would describe two thirds of it, pretty raw, all of us playing in a room, then there’s a few that we got the acoustics out on for a bit of light and shade

Chris: It feels like a a strong album to us, all killer, no filler, we had 40 songs to go at. So plenty of choice, our producer Chris Hamilton has brought a really fresh sound to it all

I know, for a fact, Lennon and McCartney described the White Album in almost exactly the same terms.