Thanks so much to Silas for the interview!!! I had written about the superb London 80s band A Better Mousetrap some years ago. Silas got in touch and told me so many interesting bits about the band, about their name change, other recordings, even about what happened when they were to appear on The Tube and in the end they didn’t. On this interview he shares these and many more stories and anecdotes. So enjoy and discover this great band!
++ Hi Silas! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still involved with music?
Hi Roque – thanks for the invitation! I’m fine thanks. Up until 2000 my whole life was in music as a musician in the world of rock & as a stage technician in the world of classical music but I gradually morphed into a Ranger & Nature Reserve Warden, devoting my life to endangered wildlife. However, I’ve always kept my hand in, for instance in 2020 – with my bandmates from Exit, & at the request of Detour Records – releasing a retrospective compilation: EXIT – We Live by the River on CD & Spotify etc. In 2023 I co-wrote a song in the style of The Ramones, ‘Love on the Docks’ with Barry Morris of The Sleepers, recorded in Brighton, England. I also appear at wildlife-themed events playing the glockenspiel. I have written a (so far unpublished) book, Captain Sensible’s Red Beret, set entirely in the 1970s & featuring my first band, Exit, & I’m presently working on Goodbye Cruel World, the story of A Better Mousetrap in the 1980s.
++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what your first instrument was? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?
My first musical memories are of me in 1963, aged 4, singing for family & friends, ‘You Were Made for Me’ by Freddie and the Dreamers. I copied their versatile singer, Freddie Garrity, by leaping into the air with scissor-kicks – superb preparation for when, as a teenager in the ‘70s, I leaped higher into the air than the other pogoing Punk Rockers. So I suppose you could say that my first instrument was my voice which in the 1970s earned me the ‘starring’ roles in high school musicals – most memorably in the title role of Joseph & His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
The first instrument I learnt to play was the piano. My mother bought it for me in 1971. I taught myself to play by watching a Gilbert O’Sullivan BBC TV concert & by listening to his records. In 1998 I sent my Cleethorpes Promenade Is Here CD to Gilbert & he sent me a lovely hand-written letter, including an invitation to come & visit him backstage after one of his concerts, which I cherish.
Following the Punk Rock explosion of 1976-77 the guitar became my main instrument – except for 1984-1988.
Whilst growing up, my two older brothers Phil & Andy were a big influence musically. Their record collections included all the great ‘60s pop groups such as The Kinks & The Tremeloes & the ‘70s rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band – and, above all else, David Bowie. I discovered Gilbert O’Sullivan all by myself, aged 11. He continues to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time & I’ve been to his concerts many times.
++ Had you been in other bands before A Better Mousetrap?You mentioned The Legendary 96 Tears, but that was mainly the same as A Better Mousetrap, right? What about other bands? Exit? The Teardrops?
Yes, we were the same line-up & the same band. The Teardrops was also us. We performed 270 shows in cabaret: a repertoire of 140 songs, mostly 1950s-1960s hits & we earned good money – up to £700. We needed that money to help finance playing our own songs – 36 in total as The Legendary 96 Tears/A Better Moustrap – because of our 80 shows the most we ever earned was £150 & it wasn’t enough to survive on.
Exit is the band I am most associated with. For our 1970s years the line-up was: Mick Taylor, vocals/guitar (that’s me!); Dave Alucard, bass; Steve Labourne 2nd guitar; Phil Taylor (aka Trotsky or Everest) drums. Exit formed at Cleethorpes Winter Gardens at a gig by The Boys in July 1977. Our debut gig provoked a riot which made national news. We all got our heads kicked in by the audience but this sparked interest in us from BBC Radio Humberside who decided to support our career.
Our biggest gig, to an audience of 500+, was in February 1979 supporting The Damned at Cleethorpes Winter Gardens – the night that Captain Sensible’s famous red beret ‘trademark’ image was born. Whilst we were performing our support spot, Captain ran on stage and swiped my Scouts of America red beret from my head. I was well known about town for my red beret, a shocking garment for a young man to be seen wearing back in the 1970s! Anyway, when The Damned came onstage to do their spot, Captain performed wearing my red beret. A couple of months later, making their first appearance on BBC’s Top Of The Pops performing ‘Love Song’, Captain was wearing my red beret, henceforth to be his famous ‘trademark’.
Exit expanded in the 1980s. I added Moog Prodigy synthesiser + Teisco organ & Neil Burniston joined, bringing additional songwriting talent. Three ‘45s were released – the first one in September 1979, the East Coast Kids EP, under the name The What. A career highlight for us was in 1982 recording our second ’45, ‘Planetoid Passion’/’Social Graces’ at the famous Cargo Studios, Rochdale. It was engineered & co-produced by Colin Richardson who’d worked there with producer Martin Hannet on Joy Division’s ‘Atmosphere’ and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s ‘Electricity’. In 1984 the third ’45, ‘The Bite of Winter’/’No Respect’, was released, recorded at Hull Fairview Studios. Record companies have since released 4 or 5 compilations of Exit’s music, plus 2 illegal vinyl album releases.
++ And back to The Legendary 96 Tears, what’s the story? Why the decision to change names if this band was doing well? Was there a different sort of sound perhaps?
In February 1986 we changed our name to A Better Mousetrap during 4 days recording 6 new songs for our 2nd cassette album at Hull Fairview Studios, engineered & co-produced by John Spence, best known for his work with The Happy Mondays and The Beautiful South.
Why did we change our name when we had achieved popularity in the north of England, filling venues as The Legendary 96 Tears?! Thank you, Roque, for asking “Was there a different sort of sound?” because you’ve jogged my memory…
The 4 days in the studio were preceded by 5 days on the road gigging during which we were living & sleeping in a Luton van fitted out with mattresses & hammocks, especially made for us by a ship’s chandler on Grimsby Docks. These 9 days coincided with the coldest weather on record in Britain; it was so cold that when we awoke each morning in the Luton van we found ourselves covered in snow, and, no, there wasn’t a hole in the roof – it was snowing inside because our exhaled breath whilst sleeping had crystalized into snow due to the sub-zero temperatures!
One particular night we were huddled-up unable to sleep in the freezer-like van. By stuttering candlelight, Les, shivering uncontrollably in the sub-zero temperatures, suddenly announced that with these 6 new songs we’d totally changed our sound so we should change our name. He quoted the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door”.
Hooray – the truth at long last! Thanks Roque.
Andrew Eldritch of Sisters Of Mercy was recording at Fairview during the night-time in between our daytime sessions and we’d have conversations with him during the changeover. Hearing about our miserable conditions living outside the studio in our Luton van he took great pity upon us. He ordered us, from Hull’s top department store, a large hamper of food and drink. After this, his amazing act of kindness, our suffering didn’t seem so bad! The songs Andrew was working on were ‘The Giving Ground’, released the following July on The Sisterhood’s ‘The Gift’ album & ‘This Corrosion’, a Sisters Of Mercy No. 7 UK hit in Oct 1987.
++ Where were you from originally?
Cleethorpes – a seaside resort on the English East Coast.
++ How was London at the time of A Better Mousetrap? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
Favourite bands: Howard Devoto’s Luxuria; Bob Kerr’s Whoopee Band, & 3 Go Fishing With Norman – a Wembley band.
Record stores: Rock On, Camden Town; Tower Records, Picadilly Circus; Virgin Megastore, Oxford St.
Best venues for up & coming bands: Wembley, The Flag; Kennington Oval, The Cricketers; King’s Cross, New Merlin’s Cave; Hammersmith Clarendon (downstairs); Union Tavern Timebox II; Dingwalls; Rock Garden. We played them all – 6 times at The Flag, managed by Pete Gilbert & Frank Drake – great guys who also managed the Gary Numan Fan Club – & who generously paid for 1000 A Better Mousetrap badges. The Flag had the warmest, most fabulous audience you could ever wish for.
Another good 1980s venue for new bands was the Half Moon Putney, but I didn’t play there until the 1990s as Cleethorpes Promenade.
++ Were there any other good bands in your area?
In South Humberside: Exit; Green Lantern & The Fruit Pie Scene; The Expanding Wallets. In Wembley: 3 Go Fishing With Norman; The Europeans; The Price.
++ What instruments did each of you play in the band?
- Silas Sibbring (Aka Mick Taylor of Exit. Aka Cleethorpes Promenade.): Vocals, piano & 1960s Teisco organ
- Les ‘Lightning’ Watkins: (Aka Shawn Watkins.) Fender Stratocaster guitar
- Carl D’Inal (Aka Carl Horner.): Drums
- Martin ‘Wild Man of Rock’ Annis: Bass 1984
- Gerry McGowan: Bass 1984-1987
- Neil Simpson: Bass, then keyboards 1988
- Micky Englert: Bass 1988
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
From spring 1984 when we formed to summer 1988 when we split, we always worked the same way, beginning with Les’s guitar ideas which I’d record onto a cassette machine. Listening to these, I’d think up a fitting subject to write about & assemble Les’s ideas into verse & chorus with words & melodies. Then, at full band rehearsals with Gerry & Carl, all 4 of us would throw in further ideas, working everything up into the finished article.
In Humberside we were very fortunate to be given free daytime rehearsal by the generous owner of The Flamingo, a Cleethorpes nightclub. In London we had to pay a lot of money for professional rehearsal studios.
++ In 1987 you released your first 7″ single “The Road to Kingdom Come”. It was released by Cuddly Records who was your own label. Who came up with the name? And how did you enjoy doing record labels stuff like promoting, distributing, and so on?
I had my own label, Red Beret Music, started in April 1980 & several recordings had been released on that, including two Exit singles, but Les wanted our own label – hence Cuddly.
Promotion-wise we decided that, before approaching radio stations, we wanted to have our record available in shops beforehand, so our Number One priority was to get a national distribution deal. Red Rhino, Rough Trade & The Cartel struck a deal with us for 350 copies with an option for more depending on sales. Additionally, 50 copies to 2 shops in Grimsby & Cleethorpes. Having shipped the records out we sent copies to fanzines plus local & national press receiving quite a few reviews including one by Terry Staunton in the NME.
The promotion to radio stations is an odd story. No radio play whatsoever until the following year, in April 1988, when four different BBC DJs started playing it on a regular basis.
++ Then you signed to Flicknife Records. Who were they? And how did the relationship start? Was it through a demo you sent? Maybe they saw you playing live?
In September 1987, having received copies of ‘The Road to Kingdom Come’, & tapes of our August Kilburn High Road ‘Nice Cup Of Tea’ sessions, three record companies came to see us live & wanted to sign us: Primitive, Hedd & Flicknife. On October 5th Flicknife saw us at London Kennington Oval Cricketers supporting The Lucy Show & – after the Musicians Union approved the contract – we signed with them on October 8th. Hawkwind, a band we liked, were on their label & that swung it for us.
++ With this label you released, under their imprint Tuff!Enuff, the “Our Nice Cup of Tea EP” 12″. Why were you released on an imprint and not on the main label? How did this record do? You said 5,000 copies were pressed.
I’ve absolutely no idea what this Tuff!Enuff thing was all about. The first we knew about it was when it cropped up on the Flicknife-headed paper contract. On the 12” record label ‘Flicknife’ appeared only in the tiniest lettering – & my name was incorrectly spelt as ‘Sibbing’!
To this day I don’t know how the record did. Following its release on November 9th it was stocked in London’s Virgin Oxford St & Tower Records Picadilly Circus – we knew this because we visited the stores. However, we soon began to receive complaints from fans in a few towns around England where we’d built up strong followings over the years saying it wasn’t available in their local record shops. I’ll tell you a story about why I think this is…
The vinyl pressing of this record had been mastered at London’s Portland Place & all the band turned up to witness the process. It was a ‘Porky Prime Cut’. Porky was the engineer whose job it was to cut the vinyl master disc (the lacquer) from the studio master tapes. This master disc became the template for the factory record pressings. Porky’s real name is George Peckham & he’d done all the cuts for The Beatles since 1968.
Porky was greatly amused when I recounted to him my musings back in 1977 as to the meaning of ‘A PORKY PRIME CUT’ on the spin-off grooves of Damned Damned Damned &, over the next few years, the same message on quite a few Punk/NewWave/Indie records. He duly etched ‘SOD OFF CRUEL WORLD!’ onto side 1 of our disc and ‘A BETTER PORKY PRIME CUT’ onto side 2.
Anyway, Frenchy Gloder, the MD of Flicknife, was supposed to be at this cut but he didn’t turn up &, not knowing any better, we asked Porky to cut the record at 45rpm. Soon afterwards, Frenchy rang us up & called us a bunch of buffoons. He’d just discovered that 5,000 copies had been pressed at the wrong speed – they were supposed to be at 33rpm. He was blaming us, but if he’d turned up to the cut as he was supposed to do this wouldn’t have happened. After this, we had little contact with Flicknife because nobody had ever previously insulted us & we didn’t like being called buffoons.
The wrong-speed issue, in my opinion, led to a degree of reluctance in shipping out the records nationally, even though they had nationwide distribution with Pinnacle & Rough Trade.
To be fair to Flicknife, despite this ‘misunderstanding’, they still arranged for us to headline at London’s historic 100 Club on Oxford St a few weeks later.
++ Where were the songs for these two releases recorded? Did you work with a producer?
‘The Road To Kingdom Come’ & ‘We Are All Going to Die’ were recorded over 3 days in March 1987 at London, Tottenham, Neo Sounds 16-track Studios. Produced by Mike Neophytou. (1000 7” ’45 vinyl copies pressed, Cuddly label, distribution by Red Rhino, Rough Trade & The Cartel.)
‘Goodbye Cruel World’, ‘Beautiful Place’, ‘Tea Break’. ‘Pigs Will Fly’, ‘The World Is Mad’, ‘A Nice Cup of Tea’ + 2 ‘ditties’ were recorded over 5 days in August 1987 at London, Kilburn High Rd, Airwave 16-track Studios. Produced by Barry Lane. (5000 12” ’45 vinyl copies pressed, Flicknife label under the imprint of Tuff!Enuff, distribution by Pinnacle & Rough Trade.)
++ Tell me about the artwork for the releases which is quite different and cool. I read it was Mike Mitchell. Who was he?
The concepts for both sleeves were mine, but the artwork was by two talented individuals. Mike, from Cleethorpes, created ‘The Road To Kingdom Come’ sleeve. At the time, he was a local poet, artist & also in a comedy band, The Spotted Dicks. Adam Webb, from Grimsby, created the ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ sleeve. At the time, Adam was a musician & artist who’d worked on TV’s Dr Who & the comics Oink! & Gas.
++ There was also an album on tape, right? One from much earlier, from 1986. An album of 500 copies recorded at Hull Fairview Studio called “24 Track Demo” which actually wasn’t demos. Where was this album sold? The label, Fairview, makes me wonder if it was the studio who funded the release?
Calling this album a Demo was silly because it was a full 24-track production job. We funded the entire project ourselves: £2,500 – a fortune for 1986! The whole point was not to sell them but to help promote the band. We gave away hundreds free to fans & hundreds mostly mailed out for promotion. This opened quite a few doors: bookings, press etc. My favourite memory from this time was Melody Maker writers, the Legendary Stud Brothers, praising the album – on one fabulous occasion phoning me at home to enthuse about it!
++ This album almost landed you an appearance at The Tube! What happened? You must have been really frustrated by the whole situation?
In late 1986 Channel 4’s The Tube’s producers were considering us for an appearance on the show based on how impressed they were by ‘The Golden Mile’, the opening number on the album. The Tube was a flagship live TV music show that ran for 5 seasons from 1982 onwards & it would undoubtedly have been a career-making move for A Better Mousetrap. Unfortunately, on Friday 16th January 1987, on Channel 4 at 5.15pm, on a live trailer at peak children’s viewing time, Jools Holland, the show’s presenter, said, “Be there or be ungroovy fuckers!”
The resultant scandal led to resignations & the demise of the show ruining our first genuine chance for a shot at the big time! The rest of the band didn’t know the full truth of how close we’d come. They’d seen the initial letter of interest from Assistant Producer John Gwyn but they didn’t know about the follow-up phone call to me soon afterwards from Associate Producer Chris Phipps naming ‘The Golden Mile’ & ‘The Backward Slide’ as numbers discussed for performance. I decided to keep quiet about this call for good reason…
In 1981 a short-lived band I was in, Skeleton Crew, was due to appear at Futurama 3 in Stafford, off the main stage in a marquee. It was a national event & a glorious opportunity to advance our career. We were overjoyed! But the Fire Brigade refused a licence for the marquee &, along with several other bands due to appear in the marquee, we were cancelled. Morale crumbled & the band split soon afterwards.
On December 30th, 1983, the H-Men, a short-lived band I was in with Carl & Gerry, was due to appear at Leeds Queen’s Hall all-day festival headlined by The Damned. It was a national event at a huge venue where in 1979 & 1980 I’d attended Futuramas 1 & 2 & it was a glorious opportunity to advance our career. We were overjoyed! But shortly before, we were cancelled due to “over-booking”. We felt embarrassed & silly having got our hopes up of future glory only to fall flat on our faces. Morale crumbled & the band split soon afterwards.
The Tube was a national event on prime-time TV. What if I told the band about that phone call? They’d have been overjoyed at this glorious opportunity to advance our career. But what if the next step, to be given an appearance date, never happened? Would we feel embarrassed & silly having got our hopes up of future glory only to fall flat on our faces. Would morale crumble & the band split? I wasn’t going to risk this happening a third time. So, I kept my mouth shut – and I’m glad I did because the subsequent cancellation of The Tube proved me right.
++ You also contributed a song to the compilation “Vinyl Virgins” that Mighty Sheffield Records released. How did this compilation come about? I am not familiar with any of the other bands in it, are there any tracks in it that you liked?
The producers had seen us play live & liked ‘The Road to Kingdom Come’ so much that they put it as the opening number of the album. We met them in 1988 & it was released in August of that year. The parent company was Zoot Records run by a nice bloke called Steve Taylor. That’s all I remember. I don’t know anything about the other bands & haven’t played the album since the summer of 1988 when our band broke up.
++ From your comment on my blog, I can tell there was a studio recording in 1988 at Peppermint Place where 6 songs were recorded. Why do these songs remain unreleased? Was there no interest to put them out at the time?
It was Nov 1st 1987: Peppermint Place Recording Studios, Beckenham Kent. It was paid for by Abbey Sounds, who owned the studios. Previously, they’d wanted us to sign over ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ & ‘Pigs Will Fly’ so they could lease the Masters to European Territories & to publish & manage us. But we’d only just signed those 2 songs over to Flicknife. So, instead, they invited us to record, live, 6 other songs: Mud In Your Eye, Rubbish, We’re Here Because We’re Here, Television Land, Pyramids of Chocolaty Delights & Me Myself & Nobody Else. Me & Les took an Abbey Sounds document to the Musician’s Union solicitor & he advised us not to sign, so we didn’t. We weren’t bothered because we were incredibly busy, anyway, with ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ due to be released on 9th November. To be fair, Abbey Sounds might then have charged us for the studio time they’d paid for, but they didn’t. Sadly – although we regularly performed the songs live – these recordings have been on the shelf ever since.
++ Speaking of interest in releasing your music, were there any labels interested in releasing your songs? Maybe big labels?
Polydor invited us for an interview & Les & I attended but nothing came of it. More interestingly, Go! Discs invited us & all four of us attended on July 2nd, 1987. It seemed to go OK. Afterwards, on the way downstairs, we met a band coming up. It was The La’s. Instead of signing up A Better Mousetrap, they signed up The La’s, who later had an international blockbuster with ‘There She Goes’!
++ My favourite song of yours is “Goodbye Cruel World”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
The clue is in the record sleeve artwork which pictures us departing Planet Earth in a spaceship. When I wrote the words I was fed up with life on Earth. The only good thing was watching movies on TV featuring Fred Astaire dancing with Eleanor Powell, Ginger Rogers & Cyd Charisse. A class act. Compared to the elegance of 1930s to 1960s Hollywood Musicals, everything in 1987 England seemed rubbish. Our band wasn’t getting the success we deserved & I thought we’d be better off emigrating to Mars where we might be better appreciated. Unfortunately, we were somewhat deluded in those days & didn’t stop to think that this might be a big mistake. In the 21st Century of today, we’re more planetary aware. Mars isn’t particularly suitable for a rock band. Audiences are thin on the ground &, for band members like me who love the outdoors, there’s nothing much to do. Not many animals. A scarcity of flowers, bushes & trees. Far too few pleasant valleys, rivers & streams. So, if you were to ask me nowadays, would I like to go to Mars? I would have to say, not really, no.
++ If you were to choose your favorite A Better Mousetrap song, which one would that be and why?
Two songs go hand-in-hand: ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’ & ‘We’re All Going To Die’ – written at the same time after I’d watched the Sunday Matinee movie on TV: Zulu. In 1879 in South Africa, 100 British Redcoats + 50 colonial troops, defending the settlement of Rorke’s Drift, are facing certain death in the face of 4,000 Zulus about to attack. A drunken Vicar shouts out to the soldiers, “You’re all going to die!”. When a frightened soldier asks the Sergeant Major, “Why us?” he replies, “Because we’re here”. I jumped out of my chair in amazement because, between them, the Vicar & the Sergent Major had perfectly summed up life on Earth & answered the ultimate question, “Why?” Unfortunately, they’d got it the wrong way round. In answer to the question why are we here? We’re here because we’re here & we’re all going to die.
Bishop’s Stortford Herald:
“Mid set head-scratcher ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’ is pure genius, just making it over the thin line from lunacy. And the props used by the singer (a bizarre looking cross between Dave Vanian and Jona Lewie) are ridiculously fine. The band sneak upon you from a different angle to most, and they do it brilliantly.
++ And what were the best gigs that you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
This is difficult to answer because we played 270 gigs as The Teardrops some of which were incredible, when audiences wouldn’t let us go until we’d played 3 or 4 encores; & sometimes we shared the same billing with 1960s legends such as the Nashville Teens & the Supremes. But of the 80 gigs passionately performing our own stuff – which was our true reason for living –I’ll mention two.
1). February 1985 as The Legendary 96 Tears at Cleethorpes Submarine. We’d been booked by the promotor, Solid Entertainments, as the support band to The Wilko Johnson Band. Wilko was nationally famous for being the guitarist for Dr Feelgood who’d written most of their best songs. 150 tickets had been sold: a full house. By opening time word had come that the Wilko Johnson Band wouldn’t be playing & the promotor had to stand at the door telling everyone that The Legendary 96 Tears would now be headlining. Fortunately, in addition to our own songs, in those days our repertoire contained plenty of covers that a Wilko audience would approve of. Here is an extract from a press review of our performance that night:
“…130 people at the door, when told Wilko wasn’t coming, still decided to stay & hear the support band; and they weren’t disappointed. The band’s firm grasp of British R’n’B & Pub Rock & their own blazing interpretations of numbers familiar to a Wilko/Dr Feelgood audience won the audience over hands down.”
Standing in at the last moment as headliners that night cemented our reputation & we were soon playing to 400+ at local bigger venues.
2). February 1988 as A Better Mousetrap at London’s 100 Club on Oxford St.
We’d headlined at 100 club on 10th November 1987 at a gig organised by Flicknife but this, our second appearance was to a much larger audience. We were in a support spot to Ruefrex whose 1979 ‘One-By-One’ EP was released on the legendary ‘Good Vibrations’ Belfast label featuring The Undertones.
I deployed a lot of props during our performances &, combined with costume changes, audiences loved it, but on this one occasion only, I took things too far. During the instrumental break in the middle of our song, ‘Rubbish’, I emptied a bag of rubbish from the stage onto the audience who, as you’d expect, retreated several yards, opening a gap on the dance floor, allowing me to leap off stage with a dustpan & brush to sweep it all back up into the bag. Unfortunately, this extended the instrumental break, ruining the flow of the song. Worse still, the audience, wary of what I might do next, refused to shuffle back towards the stage, spoiling the atmosphere, so I was banned by the band from ever doing it again – a pity because I’d really enjoyed doing the sweeping-up!
++ And were there any bad ones?
In March 1987, having just received a rapturous reception from an audience of 250+ at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre-in-the-Round, we next played London Greenwich Tunnel Club to an audience of nine, three of whom left after 5 minutes. It was an all-time career low!
++ When and why did A Better Mousetrap stop making music?
Since our first 100 Club gig in November 1987 – with an attendance of only 70 due to no promotion – we hadn’t heard from Flicknife. Only in April 1988 when ‘The Road to Kingdom Come’ was getting loads of radio play on the BBC did they contact us. Their idea was to meet public demand by speedily issuing a remixed ‘The Road to Kingdom Come’ & ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ as a double-sided 7” single & get it into the shops. But I had some bad news for MD Frenchy: ‘The Road to Kingdom Come’ couldn’t be remixed because, at the end of the studio recording sessions in Tottenham, we couldn’t afford to buy the remixable 1” master tape – only an un-remixable ¼” tape.
With this crushing blow, Flicknife, understandably perhaps, washed their hands of us.
A few days later I visited their offices in Acton Vale & blagged 100 copies of our ‘Nice Cup of Tea’ EP 12″ to take to gigs outside London for some of the fans who’d been unable to buy it in their local record shops.
The non-materialisation of the double-sided 7” single hit us hard. With all that radio play & several thousand sales we’d have got into the UK Independent Charts, thus boosting our career & leading to more opportunities. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back for our guitarist Les who’d rightly questioned why a remix of ‘The Road to Kingdom Come’ was needed; after all, our original mix was good enough for four BBC DJs. A few weeks later, Les resigned. Without him, it was the end of the band. Our final A Better Mousetrap gig was at Dunstable Wheatsheaf on June 22nd, 1988. But we still had to honour agents’ contracts & play loads of gigs as The Teardrops until August 27th which we found incredibly hard to do after the end of A Better Mousetrap. The bottom had fallen out of our world & our reason for living.
++ Were any of you involved in any other projects afterwards?
Silas: 1988 – A one-off gig as singer for The Price, including Neil Simpson on bass. 1989-1990 – Under my name Mick Taylor I guested with Humberside band The Merger (including ex-Exit Dave Alucard, Neil Burniston & Pete Shallcross, with Bill Miller, Richard Chuck, Lisa Walmsley & Julia Thompson) to co-write, record & perform a 30-minute gothic musical The Diary of Johnathan Harker, broadcast in the USA on The Blackout Radio Show with Mike Pougounas.
1990s-2000: Cleethorpes Promenade – released 2 CDs & gigged in London, sometimes with Wolfie Witcher & His Brew, including at legendary venues such as ‘Tin Pan Alley’s’ 12 Bar Club Denmark Place WC2, Camden Underworld & Half Moon Putney. I’ve since featured at wildlife-themed events playing glockenspiel.
Carl: 1989 – Planet Cook (Dub Reggae/early dance music). 1990 release: 12″ 4 track vinyl, ‘The Magic Roundabout’ sold all 1500 pressings with help from the manager of Virgin records in Brighton who constantly played it in the shop. 1993: The Langleys – St Albans area. Capital Radio’s Battle of the Bands competition Raw94 – from 5000 entries reached the last 12, resulting in LWT studios to be filmed and judged. Studio recordings with Pat Collier at Greenhouse Studios. His current band is InD90’s.
Les: Took up opera singing & guested on guitar for my Cleethorpes Promenade ‘My Summer Holiday’ CD released in 2000. Nobody I know has seen or heard from him since which is terribly upsetting.
Gerry: The Rumble Band & The Moggies. Sadly, Gerry died in April 2025.
Neil: 1988 – played a one-off gig as The Price with Silas as the singer but was so upset by the breakup of A Better Mousetrap that he emigrated to Australia to start a new life.
Micky became a music teacher.
++ Was there any interest from the radio? TV?
In April 1988 ‘The Road To Kingdom Come’ received a lot of radio play on BBC Radio 1, daytime & evening, including, from the 14th, on 4 successive days by Simon Mayo, by Mike Read on his prestigious Saturday Show & by Liz Kershaw & Janice Long. It also featured on the BBC Radio 1 show, Singled Out, hosted by Mike Read, where it was reviewed by guests including Bananarama.
In October 1988 BBC Radio Essex broadcasted a gig we had played at The Square in Harlow on June 10th.
Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music has broadcast ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ numerous times.
Our one & only TV opportunity was Channel 4’s The Tube as described earlier. Our likely appearance would have been scheduled for early 1987 playing ‘The Golden Mile’ plus maybe ‘The Backward Slide’.
++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?
The British national music press – although never conducting a major interview with us – reviewed gigs, records & published tour news & snippets. The journalists who promoted us were – for SOUNDS, Ashley Wainwright & Johnny Waller, who founded Fire Records with Clive Solomon in 1985 & released early records by Pulp. For NME, Terry Staunton, who later became Senior Editor for 10 years & co-founded Uncut. For Melody Maker, the Legendary Stud Brothers. Our best press, including many major articles, appeared in local papers – Grimsby Evening Telegraph, Scarborough Evening News, Wembley Observer, Bishop’s Stortford Herald, Dunstable & District Citizen & Luton News.
++ What about fanzines?
We had fabulous support from numerous fanzines including expansive interviews with the very influential House of Dolls. Also, Alice Through the Windscreen &, in France, Nineteen.
++ Looking back in retrospect, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
The highlight was our audience. Allow me to explain…
Whenever we performed in a new town in a new venue the audiences couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing & hearing because our shows were a surprising spectacle & enthusiastically received (exempting Greenwich Tunnel Club). I fondly remember 2 carloads of youngsters calling themselves The Roger Squad who journeyed to quite a few of our gigs – even designing & producing for us free-of-charge 2 different types of A Better Mousetrap t-shirts. The fabulous Roger Squad meant the world to us & embodied our audience as a constant highlight.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
Since the turn of the millennium, as a Ranger & Nature Reserve Warden, I’ve devoted my professional life to the recovery of endangered wildlife, & I also spend my spare time, mostly outdoors, in pursuit of this endeavour – so you could say that my hobby is being outdoors. It’s certainly a lot healthier than the 23 years I spent in stuffy, smoke-filled venues, studios & touring vans!
++ I’ve been to London, actually quite recently, but I’d love to ask a local. What do you suggest checking out in your town, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?
Walk along the River Thames from Richmond to Twickenham (or vice-versa) & time it to have a pint & lunch or dinner in one of the riverside pubs. To make the walk even more enjoyable, check the Thames tide-table in advance to coincide with a high tide.
As an Englishman I am by lawful decree obliged to recommend fish & chips (mushy peas an optional extra) a slice of buttered white bread & a nice cuppa tea.
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks for the questions, Roque! I’ve welcomed the opportunity to put on record something about our 1980s career as A Better Mousetrap. (Aka The Legendary 96 Tears.)
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Listen
A Better Mousetrap – Goodbye Cruel World
