The sweet and sour career of British mayhem masters Black Grape was officially squashed this week when frontman and founder Shaun Ryder announced the untimely demise of his 5-year-old brainchild. |

The break-up announcement will not likely shock longtime fans of Black Grape, which has been teetering on the edge of doom since the late 1997 release of Stupid Stupid Stupid. The band fired one of its first warning flares in December at the Doncaster Dome in England, where a backstage brawl between Ryder and the other members caused them to cancel the show. Though initial reports suggested that Ryder had fired his entire band, Black Grape continued to grip the edge of extinction until this week.

First, the band announced it would miss a New Year's Eve show at London's Alexandra Palace -- countless more cancellations would follow. A budding movie star, Ryder shifted his band to the back burner when he subsequently canceled all Black Grape concerts -- including the highly anticipated Universe '98 and Glastonbury festivals -- for the remainder of the year. Reportedly, Ryder hopes to pursue the glamorous life with filmmaker Tom Bruggen, who made a band documentary titled the Grape Tapes and is now working with the eccentric singer on various film scripts.

Ryder's first, addictive taste of Hollywood came late last year, when he slithered into the role of a villain in the forthcoming movie The Avengers. A series of 14-hour days spent behind lights, camera and action caught up with Ryder on Dec. 7, when he suffered a bout of nervous exhaustion and was forced to pull out of a concert that night at Doncaster Dome. Black Grape's other members -- namely Kermit and Carl 'Psycho' McCarthy -- did not take the news well, and reportedly exchanged heated words with Ryder backstage. They never reconciled.

Stupid Stupid Stupid also failed to sell well outside the U.K., where Black Grape's odd combination of social satire, funk, house party DJ sounds and rude indie beats earned them a loyal following. The group skyrocketed in their homeland with the hit singles "Reverend Black Grape" and "In the Name of the Father" from their 1995 debut, It's Great When You're Straight ... Yeah.

Ryder recently told England's Melody Maker magazine that "there won't be another Black Grape record. I wanna carry on and make CDs every now and again, but I don't want to tour, man. I can't swing my little skinny butt anymore."

Ryder first began to swing -- and rant -- in the late 1980s with Manchester's leaders of the dance club movement, the Happy Mondays. The drug-fueled rave culture caught up with the twisted frontman in 1993, when Ryder's heroin addiction ultimately tore the band apart. Within a few weeks, he had assembled Black Grape with ex-Happy Monday Bez (dancing, percussion), rappers Kermit and Jed from the Ruthless Rap Assassins, and former Paris Angels guitarist Wags. Ryder later added a keyboardist, guitarist and producer/bassist Danny Saber, who stuck with Ryder throughout the fiasco.

Late last year, Ryder told the British music website, NME: "I'm sick and tired after two years of damn hard, solid work, and I've really had enough for this year -- of the work and the bitching." (Anni Layne)