Been lurking around this site and the Wildhearts site for a few years now and thought it was about time I broke radio silence and made my presence known, considering that I am more than just a casual fan of our red-headed Captain - been a major, major fan since '92 after I bought Don't Be Happy... at a record fair, got the CDs home, put on disc 1 and sat there slowly edging my volume dial up and up, to try and better hear the riff that was beginning to form in my speakers.
When Turning American eventually arrived at full volume I was convinced that I had purchased myself a mis-pressed CD - How could the guys from the Dogs D'amour and the Quireboys (bands that weren't famous for being heavy) be playing music that sounded like Mettallica? I still wasn't convinced that the correct band was playing even though the choruses (oh! those choruses) seemed to correspond with the track-listing on the CD case (it din't help that Ginger was face-down on the table on the back of the cover, or that I had never heard him sing a lead vocal before). In fact, although I played those two E.P.s to death for the next year, I didn't become fully convinced that the Wildhearts were the band playing the music on those discs until I bought Earth vs... and was able to recognise Ginger's voice.
Thus began a love affair with a band that has outlasted all of my other relationships, and has, for the most part, been far more rewarding too.
Anyway, just glad to say hi and looking forward to making a contribution to the board.