Thanks so much to Phil Andrews for the interview!

++ Why did you decide to call it a day with Chapter 29 and start The Morrisons? I’m quite curious of that first band of yours, were there any recordings or releases?

I think we had gone as far as we could with it really. It was Ian and Jerry’s first band in which they literally learned to play. If it had been 1986 and not 1982/83 I think the twee sound would have found a better home. There were a number of fairly basic recordings and funnily enough these have just been released as a CDR album by Series Two Records.

++ Were you fan of The Doors at all? Or was the name a joke? What were your favourite bands at the time?

Ian was a big fan of The Doors but the idea came one Sunday night when we were both down the pub and pretty drunk! We were nearly called The Jim Morrisons!! Ian has always been a big garage rock 60’s fan and introduced me to The Velvet Underground amongst others. We were both very inspired by punk and the “just go and do it” ethic to writing and playing.

++ How did the whole band came together? At one point you were a five piece right? you even had a saxophone!

We actually started as a five piece and after about six months (in time for our first gig) Shelley joined on saxophone and backing vocals to make it six!!

++ Why did you decide to self release the Listen To Your Heart flexi? H ow fast did those 1000 copies go?! How did you afford pressing it?

We saw that a flexi was the way forward through the music press at the time and we actually recorded ours before we had even gigged. Once John Peel played it several hundred copies went via mail order within the first couple of weeks. Johnny Dee then approached us about giving the balance away with his Especially Yellow fanzine which we did and that lead on to the EP for Playroom Discs. Ian, Jerry and myself saved up the money for the flexi at £10 a week each for about two months.

++ Most of your recordings were done “live”, straight to a four track! Why did you do it that way? Were you looking for something with more energy? What difference do you find between those recordings and the Playroom EP?

Most of the recordings were done live on four track because that was all we could afford. Home recording equipment was still basic and expensive and a “proper” recording session would have been too expensive as well. It does have the advantage of sounding more rough and edgy and because the recordings were done with friends we could do more of them and re-do the ones that didn’t work out so good. With the exception of Travellin’ Boy and Lament we were disappointed with the EP sound which we felt was too polished. Ian and I prefer the four track demo versions of the songs better.

++ The EP of yours is fantastic. Listen To Your Heart, Storm, Lament (such a good bassline and trumpets!) and the underrated Travellin’ Boy (this could have been a single by itself!). Why didn’t you keep releasing more music? I heard Golden Pathway was going to release something but it never happened? What’s the story?

Thanks Roque. We always liked the EP songs it was just the recordings that sounded too polished!! Golden Pathway were poised to release our next single which was going to be Brighter Days as Karen and Gordon at Playroom Discs still had other EP’s to get out before they could think about another Morrisons one. Things still moved very slowly back then and we needed the distribution network that the labels had remember there was no internet and MySpace back then. Travellin’ Boy by the way was always one of my favourite Morrisons songs we did play it again in the live set a while back which was fun. On the subject of bass lines it must be said that Dave is an awesome bass player.

++ How was your relationship with Johnny Dee? How helpful was him with his Especially Yellow fanzine in spreading the word of The Morrisons?

Johnny was real helpful. Without his input giving away Listen To Your Heart with Especially Yellow we wouldn’t have got the EP deal with Playroom Discs. We mainly exchanged letters (no e-mail then) but I’m sure I met Johnny once at his flat in Brighton when Ian and I visited Karen and Gordon but my memory is a little wobbly here it was a long time ago. I always read Johnny’s articles if I come across them in the papers though.

++ What was the biggest highlight for The Morrisons? Maybe getting the flexi played by John Peel?

The John Peel plays will always be special he was after all the most iconic DJ of all time. We did play some really great gigs at the time too people seemed really up for it. It still surprises me though when people get in touch now who bought the records back in the 80’s.

++ Do you remember anything about those tape compilations were you appeared? Like the Rewind compilation tape or the Now That’s Righteous one? Who did these? How did you end up on them?

We used to do loads and loads of fanzine interviews at the time and these would often come with requests for tracks for compilation cassettes. We always donated tracks and I lost count of who had what. It’s great to see that some of those are really popular even now.

++ On the Leamington Spa compilation liner notes you say you were darlings of the fanzine scene! How involved were you in that scene? Did you ever gave it a shot to make one? Which ones were your favourite ones?

As I said above we were doing several a week they were a great way of getting the band’s name around. We never started one ourselves although the local one here called Swim I would regularly write for. Favourite fanzine well Especially Yellow of course!!

++ What was your favourite gig playing for The Morrisons and why?

It would have been in 1987 at Bart’s Tavern in Exeter. We played with a band called The Precious Stone Thieves and the place was packed. There was no stage at Bart’s and the audience was literally pressed right up tight in front of the band. We played really well that night and made lots of friends. We were always regulars at Bart’s after that.

++ Why did you call it a day in 1988? Were you involved in any bands after that?

I think we were all getting frustrated. Things weren’t moving fast enough for us I think we felt we should be touring and releasing records but it seemed to take forever for things to move forward. In hindsight I think we needed a Manager we were still doing everything ourselves from writing songs to booking live dates, PA hire and vans etc. I played bass in a band called Jensen for about five years. Ian, Jerry and Dave played in a number of bands before we re-formed The Morrisons in 2003. We lost contact with our drummer Jason until a couple of months back when he spotted our You Tube stuff and got back in touch again.

++ You released a fantastic retrospective CD with the good friends of Firestation Records called “Songs From the South of England”! Im very glad it happened as it introduced your music to a broader audience. How do you feel about your songs twenty years later? I think they’ve aged really well! Which is your favourite song of your repertoire?

It was great to do the Firestation release as it drew together lots of loose ends and packaged up a lot of songs that had just sat quietly on the shelf getting dusty. I think a lot of the songs still sound good and I’ll often strum through some of them at home even now! We do play some of the 80’s stuff in our live sets now but it tends to be “forgotten” ones that we never recorded at the time. Favourites would be Travellin’ Boy, Storm and Brighter Days (we have been known to play all three of these even now!!).

++ Last question, which is your favourite beach in Torquay?

It’s called Oddicombe and is real quiet compared to the main tourist beaches. You can reach it by using an old Victorian cliff railway which is fun and there is a good pub called The Cary Arms about a ten minute walk away. If you ever visit Torquay give me a call and I’ll take you down there!

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Listen
The Morrisons – Travellin’ Boy

Thanks so much to Jon Clay for the interview. Check out “Tunes for Saturday Boys” compilation CD on Firestation Records!

++ Your website enunciates, ‘The Ferrymen play Northern Pop’. What is Northern Pop?

Northern Pop is a name or genre that we made up ourselves. In a similar way that Northern Soul was so called because it was first played in the UK in clubs around the North of England, Northern Pop is guitar based pop music that was first played in the North of England!

++ How did the band start? How did you know each other?

The band started in late 1990 when Wayne decided to form a new band after his previous band split up. The early band went through a few line-up changes and I joined in 1992. Wayne’s girlfriend at the time was my cousin, so between her and a school-friend of mine I got persuaded to audition for the job of bass player.

++ More than ten people have played either live or when recording with The Ferrymen. Why did you have such a big cast of players in the band? Was it easier to work this way?

The simple answer is that many of the “extra” players didn’t really want to be in the band full time as they couldn’t commit the amount of time that was needed. So, we used a lot of people for recording, but only a few of those ever played live. Throughout the life of the band we only ever had 2 keyboard players that actually played live, and only 1 trumpet player. WE played 1 gig with a trumpet player and sax player together… the gig sounded great but unfortunately the sax player didn’t want to join the band full time.

++ Why do you say it’s not cool to come from Doncaster? I’ve never been there, but I totally be interested to visit, maybe you can tell me what are the sights?

Ha ha…. Doncaster doen’t really have any sights! Doncaster is a very large industrial town in the North of England, and it’s nearest major cities are Sheffield and Leeds. Doncaster used to be a large coal mining town, but the majority of the “pits” closed in and around 1984, and the town sort of died along with the coal industry. This led to massive unemployment and deprivation which is still felt in some parts of the town today. In terms of the music industry, people just didn’t want to know if you came from Doncaster as it wasn’t considered a cool place to be. Lots of famous bands have come from Sheffield, and for a while it was a cool place to be in the 1990s (Pulp etc), but that never filtered through to Doncaster. Also, living in a city can be quite cosmopolitan due to the different mix of people that live there, but Doncaster didn’t really have that back then. Many people led their lives with closed minds and little imagination unfortunately.

++ How do you feel about all The Housemartins comparisons? Were you big fans of Paul Heaton’s band?

Well, it was obvious that we would get compared to The Housemartins as we did sound very much like them, although we tried to throw in a bit of influence from The Redskins too! We were (and still are) all big fans of The Housemartins and even the first couple of Beautiful South albums, but we also had many other varied likes and influences.

++ Whole World was your first and only 7″, right? Who released it? Which songs did it include? Any anecdotes about this fantastic record?

Yes, Whole World was our first and only 7″ single which came out on the German Black Pearl label. The 7″ contained “Whole World” , “The Story Is Always The Same” and *******************

++ You also released a couple of demos which got great reviews, why didn’t these tracks end up on vinyl?

In total I think we released 4 demos. The tracks didn’t end up on vinyl as we simply didn’t have the opportunity to release them. That has always been a real bugbear of mine, having never released an album. That’s why I was really happy when Firestation Records asked if they could put out the compilation that I’d been planning!

++ You were around a time were the jangle pop acts weren’t getting any press compared to the late 80s. On the other hand you got to tour Germany and Spain which a few bands do. What were the highlights of The Ferrymen career?

The obvious highlights of our career were the Spanish and German tours, but we also had lots of great gigs in England too. My personal highlight was getting the “Whole World” 7″ released because it was my first ever record. Another highlight of mine was playing at the legendary 100 Club in London…. it was after that gig that everything fell into place for us. Also, one of our stickers appeared very briefly in the well known film The Full Monty, so that was another highlight!

++ Were any of you involved with bands before or after The Ferrymen?

Yes, most of us got together shortly after The Ferrymen split to form a band called Barny. We were only together a short while and we played, I think, only about 10 gigs. Most of the gigs were in London but we also played in Brighton and Leeds a few times. By that time I had moved to live in London and the rest of the band were still in Doncaster and Leeds, so things didn’t really work out. After that I stopped playing and became a live sound engineer for other bands and began working in and around London. Wayne and Mat continued in various other bands for a while, but only myself and Wayne are still playing now. I am currently in a band called The Platers with a friend of mine, as well as recording with various other projects.

++ Why did you do the “There’s Only One F In Ferrymen” fanzine? What did you write in them? Was it a team project or how did it work?

We made the fanzine because we felt that it was something we could give to our friends and fans to make them remember us! Of course, all this was in the days before Myspace, Facebook etc. so it was a lot harder for bands to get people to come to shows. The fanzine included topical cartoons about what we had been doing along with copies of press cuttings, gig dates, stories and photographs. It was really a team effort but all the printing was done by me on the quiet at work

++ Why did the band call it a day?

This is quite a difficult question to be honest, because you will get a different answer depending on who you ask! The fact is several members of the band were not happy about certain aspects of the German tour, and this caused tensions between the band and the promoter. During the tour the band split up and we drove back to England with 2 gigs remaining. I don’t really want to say more than that, as I don’t want to dig up old problems / opinions.

++ You just released a fantastic retrospective CD on Firestation Records called “Tunes for Saturday Boys”, what can the first time listeners expect on this album?

Listeners can expect most of the old tracks from the Black Pearl and Plastic Disc releases along with some tracks from the first ever demo and lots of live tracks…. 20 tracks in all! The songs have all been remastered to make them as good as possible, so it’s well worth getting hold of a copy!

++ Was it an easy decision to release this album after all these years? I really recommend it, right now my favourite song is Many Times, what is your favourite Ferrymen song?

Well, it was always something that I wished we had done but due to circumstances an album release never happened. I was considering releasing one myself, but Firestation Records asked to do it and so I jumped at the chance! A label such as Firestation Records has far better contacts and distribution than me, and they have done a fantastic job. My favourite song…. wow, that’s a difficult one….. probably One Saturday, We’d Take You In Our Sleep or So Angry…. I can’t decide!!!

++ Anything else you’d like to tell the pop fans out there?

I’d just like to thank everyone involved in the release of this CD and to say thanks to all those people who have bought copies or are going to buy a copy…. support the independent record labels! So, if you liked The Housemartins, The Redskins and early-Beautiful South then this album is for you!

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Listen
The Ferrymen – Stop Bending Backwards

Some time ago I wrote about Perth’s Stolen Picassos. I asked then if they had anything to do with The Picasso Twins. And the answer is yes. All this Picasso fanatism comes from Martin Gamble, the guitar player and vocalist of both bands. Which came first? The Stolen Picassos who were around more or less from August 1986 to May 1988 according to the Party Fears fanzine’s “Rickenbackers Revenge” (The Perth pop scene family tree). After the Stolen Picassos were over, Sandra Morgan, the vocalist, and Martin Gamble decided to keep on going, after the demise of Graham Hope (who I believe joined The Summer Suns at this moment) and form what would be The Picasso Twins.

There’s more to the story of course, there was a time when Martin collaborated with Ian Freeman from The Palisades and called their band The Pelicassos Brothers. Also during the early nineties, after The Picasso Twins, Martin went to record as The Mardi Picasso. But I don’t want to branch out too much, maybe leave these bands for future posts. Focus back on The Picasso Twins, on Martin and Sandra. I’d guess they were dating, though this is none of my business, right. What is, for sure, my business is that they released a tape album called “Some Mardi Sandwich” which included 12 songs. These are very very short songs, some of them lasting for a minute, some less than that, and none past the 3 minute mark. They are mostly acoustic songs and barely there’s any percussion. These are lovely little bits, but I won’t recommend them to you if you are going to go jogging around the park. The Picasso Twins are for a locked in Sunday, and if you have rain, even better.

The tracklist of the tape is as follows:
01. We All Fell Down
02. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
03. Maybe I Will
04. In a Vice
05. Too Close
06. Grin and Bare it
07. Listen to Me
08. You Took My Head
09. Slender Waste
10. Great Expectations
11. Lie Until Down
12. One Into Three

And sorry, no rapidshare link. :p

Around early 1989, Martin and Sandra decided to leave Perth and relocate in Sydney. Something must have went wrong there as they split up soon after. That was it for The Picasso Twins. They only lasted a year. Martin went back to Perth and started to record on his own. On the other hand Sandra stayed in Sydney and teamed up with Ian Freeman (from Palisades, Pelicassos Brothers, Peppermint Drops, Mars Bastards) and started a short lived project called Flowerburger, not sure if they ever recorded anything.

Fast forward 20 years later. What happened to them? No clue. Would be nice to know their whereabouts and interview them!

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Listen
The Picasso Twins – Lie Until Down

Thanks so much to Paul Denheyer for the fantastic interview!

++ What’s the story behind Politburo? Who were the original members and why did you start a new band after the break up of Dead of Arrival?

There were a couple of line-ups after DEAD ON ARRIVAL, including for a while JOHN LEVER (from Manchester’s THE CHAMELEONS) but the main line-up was:

(myself) Paul Denheyer – voice and guitar
Ian Jackson – bass guitar and voice
Carl Henry – the drums
along with
Andy Clegg – mellotron and synth (1983-84)
Dave Dix – keyboards (1984-85 but mostly only on recordings)

There was never a question for me of not continuing to make music after DEAD ON ARRIVAL. I enjoyed it too much and personally felt I had more to say as a songwriter. I’d known from an early age that music was all I wanted to do and I suppose I’ve always been lucky enough to find like-minded people who share that passion.

++ How much has changed Wirral since the eighties?

The Wirral is now officially promoted as the ‘leisure peninsula’ and is best known for it’s golf courses and as the place where wealthy footballers have their luxury homes. But it also still has it’s fair share of areas of poverty and social deprivation. During the eighties, and as a direct result of government cuts (in particular to customs & excise) our hometown was the cheapest place in Europe to buy heroin and, like the rest of Britain, lost most of it’s manufacturing industries creating high unemployment here. It has changed in many ways since and from my point of view for the better. Liverpool has just finished it’s year as European Capital Of Culture and this always affects surrounding areas – I remember seeing the positive effects it had on Glasgow when I was playing up in Scotland with FISHMONKEYMAN in the nineties. For young musicians and artists here, there is more support and there seems to be a healthy local scene now for the arts in general.

++ Where does the name come from? I read somewhere that during the mid eighties, Dale Street’s Vernon Arms was dubbed Liverpool’s politburo. Anything to do with that?

In the early 80s, Britain was living under the conservative Thatcher government – not the happiest of times for many people and particularly for anyone with socialist or left-wing views. While we never really wrote out and out political songs, it amused us to call ourselves Politburo (after the Soviet inner cabinet) just as a means of ‘getting up peoples noses’.

++ The first release of Politburo happened to be a BBC flexi disc called Two Minute Heroes. How did this happen? Was it common for the BBC to release records at that time?

The ‘Two Minute Heroes’ record was the idea of Radio Merseyside’s Roger Hill. I think he wanted to give something back to the local bands of the time – particularly the ones that regularly submitted material for his show. For a while, i think he was the only broadcaster at Radio Merseyside supporting the local scene – later on they started a sunday night show called ‘Streetlife’ hosted by Con McConville and Janice Long (who later went on to Radio One) – but I’m not aware of any other such releases so i guess Roger should take credit for it really.

++ You released a couple of demo tapes, do you remember which songs were included? Any chance pop fans will be able to listen to them some day?

Hmm we made available several cassettes of our songs for sale at gigs – a few of the tracks I put up on the myspace page.

++ In 1984 Ronnie Flood, founder of the city’s musicpaper Merseysound “had the idea of putting together a compilation of the best local groups who weren’t getting airplay”. That was the Jobs for the Boys compilation and Politburo was included with the song “Innocence”, which you had to re-record. Did you know Ronnie already? Was there a launch party? What were your favourite tracks on the compilation? Do you think he missed any other great local groups?

No, we didnt know Ronnie directly until he asked us to submit a track for the album. The launch party was an all-day event at Liverpool University featuring many of the bands on the album. We were the last band to play and I remember waiting around most of the day watching the other bands (some we were aware of already) and only really enjoyed BROKEN PROMISE and THE FACTION. Probably because they had a similar attitude to ourselves – we prided ourselves on being as unpretentious as possible and disliked any form of ‘rockstar’ behaviour. Other than that I always had a soft spot for COOK DA BOOK’s ‘Piggy In The Middle 8′ track. I don’t think Ronnie missed any good unsigned bands at the time, BLACK, IT’S IMMATERIAL, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, ICICLE WORKS etc.. were already signed and making their own records by then.

++ Did you participate in other compilations?

No, just the ‘Jobs For The Boys’ album.

++ In March 1986 you release your first and only proper single “Euphoria b/w April Shower, Half a Hairpin”. What do you remember from these recording sessions? Who released the 7″? Why did you choose these three songs in particular?

I remember enjoying the sessions for the single. Our producer and good friend Dave Dix (from BLACK) took us into Pete Fullwell’s Benson Street Studios to lay down the tracks. For a small studio, it was a really good vibe with other local musicians dropping in and hanging out – IT’S IMMATERIAL, BLACK and WAH! were all signed to Pete’s label INEVITABLE.
Dave added some keyboard parts, then we did the vocals and final mixes in New Brighton’s STATION HOUSE studio. The record was released on Pete Leah’s SKYSAW RECORDS and was well received generally – I think we decided between us all that they were our best 3 songs we had at the time.

++ After that you were going to work on a second single, right? What happened with it? Why didn’t it come out?

Yes, we were booked into Cargo Studios in Rochdale to record the latest songs but split up just before the session and so regretfully it had to be cancelled.

++ Did you gig a lot with Politburo? Which gigs in particular do you remember the most and why?

We were constantly gigging throughout the UK. Gigs that stand out? I’d have to say playing at the Royal Court Theatre along with ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN and others for JOEY MUSKER’s ‘Drums Over The Mersey’ charity gig. I also remember enjoying every time we played at the ‘Larks In The Park’ event and performing live on Radio Merseyside with ICICLE WORKS and IT’S IMMATERIAL was very cool. I loved IT’S IMMATERIAL

++ What’s the story behind the Return of the Kodak Ghosts video? It has indeed that ghostlike feel! And what about the song, were you inspired by Eyeless in Gaza’s “Kodak Ghosts Run Amok” by any chance?

Haha, i have to say this song was very heavily-influenced by Sheffield’s COMSAT ANGELS (a big favourite of ours). I don’t think i heard the Eyeless In Gaza track. The video was part of a home-produced 25 minute film we made of our songs called ‘Building Cages’. To have a band video at all in those days was rare and to be selling it at gigs for the price of the cassette itself even rarer. It was produced on a couple of domestic recorders and a camera the size of a suitcase so is highly amusing to watch compared to what can be done now.

++ Did you know there was a Danish movie last year called “Room 205″ and it’s a terror movie! What is your Room 205 song about? maybe it’s about ghosts too? Do you have a particular interest in ghosts at all?

nope LOL. I never really felt too comfortable explaining my songs, preferring listeners to make up their own minds but i think looking back it’s about isolation. At the time i was losing friends to drugs and I think this sense of helplessness was reflected in more than a few Politburo songs.

++ What do you miss the most from those days when you hang around with your mates and made fantastic music?

In all honesty i’m still hanging around with friends and hopefully still making fantastic music occasionally LOL. I never grew up

++ Why and when did the band call it a day? What did you do after?

All things come to an end and there were many personal reasons for the end of Politburo in 1986. Ian Jackson had started his own musical project with local poet JEGSY DODD and it’s success, along with the band’s frustration at not gaining the recognition we thought we deserved, probably didn’t help matters. Sadly, for me, the songs written by both myself and Ian at the end were never recorded and I still feel they were the best songs we ever wrote. They did however give me a focus for the direction of my next project.
Ian went off to do his own thing and Carl and I started playing with lots of different musicians in search of the right formula that would eventually gel to become FISHMONKEYMAN. After releasing our own 12″EP in 1990, we were signed to Warners and released a couple of successful singles with them. FISHMONKEYMAN continued in various guises with support from indie label COPASETIC RECORDS until 1997 when I finally hung up my guitar and concentrated on producing local bands and discovered underground house music.
These days I produce the odd house vinyl, dj occasionally and run an underground house internet radio station and record label called MYHOUSE-YOURHOUSE. Just recently, I returned to my indie roots and started producing demos for a new Liverpool band called SLOPeS. (http://www.myspace.com/thisisslopes)

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Only my thanks for asking me to do this interview. Was funny thinking back on what were exciting times for the Liverpool music scene. They were ‘dark times’, particularly in the north of england and yet a lot of quality music was created. It’s nice to know there’s still interest in this period, I still get emails about the bands i was involved in at the time and for that reason put up the following myspace pages so people can still hear some of the songs….

http://www.myspace.com/politburo82
http://www.myspace.com/fishmonkeyman9197

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Listen
Politburo – Innocence

Thanks so much to Gavin, Christine, Stephen and Adrian for the interview! Also a big thanks to Emma, the number 1 Proctors fan, who helped so much on the interview.

Look for the new The Proctors CD out on the Cloudberry Classics series! It includes 5 fantastic pop songs!

‘After returning victorious from a bubble bath wonderland laiden with a chest full of tunes, and the secret to a kings glory. Toys at teatime, a true daydream lay forever in front of us’ Adrian ‘Josef’ Jones (The Proctors) April 2009

++ Who were The Proctors? Why did you name the band The Proctors?

Gavin: Gavin Priest, Christina Priest, Adrian ‘Josef’ Jones and Stephen Davies. The band was named after a kid at school whose nickname was Proctor. He was a bit of an outsider.

++ Did Stephen/Stevie usually spell his name like Steven back then?

Stephen: No it was a printing error. It was always Stephen back then. Stevie is more of a recent thing, but I am tending to mainly stick with Stephen. I think it suits my advancing years better than Stevie. If my name was spelt Steven I would have the same first two names as Morrissey as my middle name is Patrick. Well they are the same but with just a different spelling. I read once that Morrissey said he is glad that is first name (Steven) is spelt with a ‘V’. I’ve never really understood what he meant by this. I much prefer the look of the name ‘Stephen’ with a ‘PH’. When I see the name Stephen Pastel I get quite excited, so I think it will definitely be Stephen from now on.

++ In which bands were you involved with bands before or after The Proctors?

Gavin: Prior to the Proctors I was in This November, The Cudgels. After it was Sweet Jesus, Venus and Groupie. Oh and Autopia and Codename Josephine after this!
Stephen: Myself and Adrian were in The Cudgels along with Gavin. I occasionally come out of retirement to play stand up drums with my brother Andrew who performs shows as ‘Andus’. Adrian is also currently playing drums with a punk band.

++ Why did you like the colour blue so much?

Gavin: I do like blue, how did you know! The deep blue ocean and a beautiful endless sky. And of course its the saddest colour of all…

Christina: Connections to blue are melancholy. Though the songs do not have a ‘Blues’ sound, some of them do have the deep emotions of Blues and I think they are also about the familiar ‘things that we knew.’ (Like Blues) On the flip side, I also believe in ‘Blue Skies’!!

Stephen: Blue is a great colour and it goes with everything. Also the word conjures up imagery that is both personal and universal.

++ Who wrote the lyrics, who did you write them for & how did the others act when they finally heard what was going to be the next lifesaving hit? Were there tears when everything eventually clicked?

Gavin: I wrote most of the lyrics, with Christina doing a few songs also. The tears were ones of sadness and joy! Nothing really clicked, we were usually ‘winging it’, but in some cases the results were pretty good!
Christina: Gavin wrote most of them so he should get the credit but the ones that I wrote were mainly to do with the unhappy time I had at University and a boy I had a crush on who had been to prison. (I was very young and impressionable at the time!)

Stephen: Although I played on a few of the songs I still think of myself as more of a ‘fan’. I love all of the songs. I think the music strikes just the right balance of melody, emotion and energy. When Gavin first played The Proctors demo tape to me I was absolutely knocked out by the songs. There were no tears – just excitement!

++ What did you eat on tour? Did you ever slept on floors? Any particular gig you remember the most?

Gavin: Many times! Usually with a big dog licking my face. That was a good hangover cure! In London we played with Drugstore and Tom Yorke and Michael Stipe turned up. I was pleased to play at the Hacienda in Manchester also. Ian Brown gave me a high five and Rob Gretton who managed Joy Division popped into our dressing room! I’m such a name dropper! These gigs were with Groupie.
Stephen: The Proctors never played a live show. When we started in 1993 the indie scene in the UK was on it’s last legs. The fanzines had died out, nobody was releasing records or starting labels. There was more interest in the band from Europe and the USA – which would have made touring difficult. The indiepop scene of the early 90s wasn’t very romantic although looking back it was great fun. The Cudgels played some good shows. My favourite gigs were the ones we used to do with Po!

++ Almost all your songs mention, in some way, mention space related stuff like the moon, a shooting star, sunshine & Jupiter, by any chance do you believe in astrology? Or maybe you wished to be an astronaut when little? What are the Proctors zodiac signs?

Gavin: I like the idea of space. An endless silent vacuum. I like Ray Bradbury stories like ‘The Kaleidoscope’. I like anything really that can’t be explained by the powers that be. Spiritual stuff. Why does a smell or a song not just bring back a memory, but make you feel a way you did when you heard it years ago. I think thats a kind of time travel…Yes I’m a believer! I love lucid dreams and hairs standing up on the back of your neck. I bet you regret asking that question! I am known to my family for making ‘cosmic comments’ as they call them. Not sure if I believe in horoscopes, seems a bit simplistic, I mean you wouldn’t leave the house on certain days!

Gavin- sagittarius
Christina -Scorpio
Adrian – Virgo
Stephen – Aquarius

Christina: I think anything to do with ’space’ means ‘optimism’ because it shows there is a massive wide world out there full of possibilities. It also reminds us how small (and sometimes fragile) we all are in the greater scheme of things. I think that space also reminds us of how we should all try and be conscious of the ‘universality’ of mankind’s existence.
Christina is a Scorpio. Fiery and fiercely determined. People often think of Scorpio’s mainly to do with the nasty ’sting’ in the tail but one very positive quality is that Scorpio’s are ‘firecely loyal.’ (You will never get a better friend than a Scorpio!)

++ What band did you secretly wanted to be? Why didn’t you become the new Smiths? (Who needs bands like The Smiths while in your adolescence when all you really need is songs like ‘Only Stupid’ or ‘My Youth’ & you’ll be alright!)

Gavin: That’s nice of you to say. Christina wrote the lyrics to ‘My Youth’. ‘Only Stupid’ deals with nostalgia in some ways, I’m terribly nostalgic. And theres a touch of ‘Beam me up Scotty’ in there. I blame David Bowie’s Space Oddity being on the radio all the time when I was about 5.

Stephen: I had always wanted to be in either the original six piece Primal Scream line-up or the original Sea Urchins line up pre-Pristine Christine. That single was released too late – they had lost it by that stage. During the summer of 1986 The Sea Urchins were at their pure pop peak. They were untouchable.

++ What does it takes to create perfection, like you did in ‘Liveforever’?

Gavin: Ha! I like you. Its one of our best efforts perhaps…Lovely and sad! A love song. I was always a little embarrassed about my lyrics, usually picking words that rhyme over any real meaning. But I think subconsciously I wrote things that meant a lot to me. Glad you like that one.

++ Who took the amazing band pictures & why didnt you all win ‘Britian’s best dressed’? my curiosity doesn’t have limits; who got the most girls?

Gavin: That was Debbie Williams – Pete Williams’ wife (he of Dexy’s Midnight Runners fame) We were at college together when I met Pete for the first time and I was star struck as I was listening a lot to Dexy’s first album at the time. Yes good photos! Christina usually got the most girls, which doesn’t say much for the rest of us!

When the Proctors turned up at the studio for our first recording session, guess who the engineer was? Pete. ‘Oh no’ I thought, ‘I have to sing in front of him!’ He recorded all our stuff from then on. Stoker from Dexy’s also popped in during a visit to Pete and Debbie, which was nerve racking for our drummer Ade!

Stephen: I think Gavin is being a little modest here – he was always pretty successful with the girls. He’s got a lovely cheeky smile! Ade did okay and I came in a poor third. I don’t think my technique was very good. I would start conversations with girls about obscure indiepop records and if they hadn’t heard them I would lose interest. Sadly my approach hasn’t improved over the years. Britain’s Best Dressed? Hmmm .. we were pretty good.

++ How did your rehearsals look like? were there biscuits involved or just strict practicing?

Gavin: Yes of course it was a very strict regime. There were custard creams involved as I recall.

Stephen: I can only remember attending one rehearsal. Malted Milk are probably my favourite biscuits but it generally depends on my mood. I suppose the variety packs are the best option.

++ Speaking of biscuits; who made the coffee, or did you prefer tea?

Gavin: I like tea usually..

Christina: Always tea

Stephen: Coffee in the mornings then tea from luchtime onwards.

++ Whatever happened to Christine after The Proctors? She ended up being Queen Elizabeth’s personal singer?

Gavin: I don’t think she’d be allowed into the Palace

Christina: Christina now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she has made her home. She has a career but enjoys writing creatively. This is a link to an article she had publised about some time she spent living in New York. http://www.bettyconfidential.com/ar/h/a/a01731.html

++ How did your fanbase look like? Please send me a picture if you have so I can copy the look!

Gavin: I will find you a picture

Stephen: It is hard to know what the fanbase looked like as the internet hadn’t really got going and the band didn’t play live. I would say the fans are quite an intelligent bunch.

++ Did you design the artwork for your releases?

Gavin: No unfortunately.

++ Who played the flute on ‘The Other Side of the River’? I dont know if it was with purpose but I always have a king’s fool dancing around on a field with his flute & a nun swaying back & forth singing the vocals in my head. Or yeah OK, I’m pretty sure that’s just me

Gavin: That would make a great video…Pete Williams played the harmonica, and we all imagined a tramp coming out from a canal bridge playing this harmonica bit! Thats 3 great characters for the video. I would have to be the fool as I played the flute (well penny whistle). Christina would be the nun, but who would be the rent boy!

++ All of your songs are quite different. It’s genius how you still managed to make every track flawless. Were you always interested in trying out new sounds and styles and not just sticking to a formula?

Gavin: I suppose we like different types of music. Yes we like experimenting!

++ Which Balti house is your favourite in town? Which football team do you support?!

Gavin: Cafe Le Spice and Wolverhampton Wanderers

Stephen: There are a couple of good balti houses in Walsall and Aldridge. I support Walsall FC.

++ I loved Farewell Farewell, and that is the last song, in order, that was released by The Proctors. After that, it was farewell indeed. Was that on purpose? Why did you call it a day? What did The Proctors do after?

Gavin: That was on purpose…subconsciously. I was in another band. The Proctors had run its course I suppose. We are all alive and well, and totally cosmic! Myself and Adrian may be embarking upon some new Proctors material soon.

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Listen
The Proctors – Black Tattoos

After another round of cutting and pasting Cloudberry sleeves I decided it was time to do some vinyl ripping. It’s been a while since I used my USB turntable. The slow morning (though I should answer a couple of emails!) invited me to go through and rummage around the 7″ boxes I have in my room. Earlier I’ve been putting together some artwork for the next split single. It’s fantastic. Also finished all the small posters for the new Cloudberry Classics CD, The Proctors, should be out any moment (you can pre-order now if you’d like and you can listen Black Tattoos streaming on the Myspace page). Also talked with some amazing bands for future interviews, so keep tuned to this humble blog.

Back to lost bands. The 7″ that I chose today for this Saturday morning comes courtesy of Avalanche Records, though they forgot to write which was the catalog number. I’d guess the band comes from Scotland too. Did Avalanche release any band that weren’t Scottish?  Having a look on the threefold sleeve, Riverhead was formed by Michael Doran, Rod White, Richard Conte and Ady Powers. It includes lyrics for both songs contained in this single sided 7″. Yeah, two songs on the A side which are “Was Away” and “Haddit”.  It also lists some other releases by the band (which are not listed in Twee.net):

• Alpharetta – which is a 12″ record that includes four songs, Looking At The Sky, She Can, Strange and My Turn. This is AGAP 005
• Haddit – another 4 track EP. This is AVA 001. Don’t know which songs were included, though I guess Haddit is one of them.
• And lastly it lists two T-shirts to buy, each for 6 pounds, one for Haddit and one for Was Away. Was it the same design as the sleeve covers?

Some more evidence that the band could/must be Scottish is that this 7″ was recorded in Funny Farm Studios, in Haddington. That’s quite close to Edinburgh.

Where does the name come from? The only Riverhead town I found in UK, is in Kent in England. There’s a Riverhead in New York state and also one in New Zealand and in Canada. There’s a Riverhead Books, a subdivision of Penguin Books USA that published the Kurt Cobain diaries… that can’t be either, right?

I don’t think this 7″ is scarce at all. I think you can find it on eBay easily. I recommend getting it for the great c-86ish, Leamington Spa sounding, “Was Away”. What a great song it is. Sadly there’s no information online about them. If you know their whereabouts, or what did they do after or before Riverhead… or maybe if there are more releases, let me know! I’d love to hear more from this band!

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Listen
Riverhead – Was Away

Thanks to Ian Kirton for the interview!

++ What does The Daisychain Connection means? Was The Daisychain Connection your first musical experience, if not what earlier band were you in? What was the main motivation for starting the band?

The name came from a series of short stories written for radio by Stephen about a spoof detective named Jack Daisychain.

We had all played in bands prior to forming The Daisychain Connection. Vocalist Stephen and drummer Neil were in “Chimes at Midnight”.

Guitarist Ian and keyboards/bass player David were in “Beyond the Wall” and original bass player Pete was in “The Kittiwakes”. They all played original material and were similar in style to the DC although “The Kittiwakes” were more intense and serious!

We all vaguely knew each other through seeing each others bands play and our bands were due to split at roughly the same time for one reason or another so we formed the Daisychain because we all wanted to carry on playing and writing music.

++ What is the full discography, including demos, of the band? I can’t find any info online!

The first demo we did was done in 1986 in Crimson Studios, Manchester and contained 4 tracks. “Julie Come Home”, “You’ll Always Be There”

“There’s nothing Like Perfection” and “Sirens Call”. We sent this round numerous record companies which created quite a lot of interest. One night soon after we had 5 major companies come up from London to see us play in a tiny club in a small town called Penrith just south of Carlisle.

MCA were interested in signing us but wanted us to do another demo first which they paid for. They booked us in to Drone studios in Manchester where the Smiths had done some early recordings.

We recorded “You’ll always Be There” and “Nothing Like Perfection” again and a new song called “Janette” but the majority of the time was spent getting the “perfect drum sound” by an obsessed producer which pleased Neil no end but didn’t leave much time for anything else like vocals! After we’d finished and although we were in a far superior studio we all knew that the first demo of the songs we’d done was much better.

The A n R guy at MCA that dealt with us wanted to sign us but he couldn’t convince his superiors and, alas it never happened.

We didn’t have a manager at the time and we thought it was the main reason that MCA was put off us. 1, because they thought we weren’t taking it all totally seriously and 2, didn’t have anyone to negotiate the business side with as we didn’t have a clue at the time.

We decided to get a manager but we chose very badly and although he convinced us he knew what he was doing, he didn’t, in fact, a manager made of chocolate would’ve been more use!

Very sadly, bass player Pete then died in a house fire which knocked us all for 6.

We decided to carry on with another bass player and recorded another demo in Carlisle containing “S.W.A.L.K”, “The Day Before Yesterday” and a cover of the Simon and Garfunkel track “Feeling Groovy”.

The next recording was “Bingo and Bossa Nova” done in Newcastle which we released ourselves on 7” Vinyl with “Coal Necklace” on the B side.

The last demo was recorded ourselves in our practice room in 1990 and contained “King of Finland, “Casey Rides Again” “Mood Swings and “My My”. We have recently re-recorded these 4 along with “Wash Day”, “My Lip Hit the Floor”, “You’ll Always Be There”, “Julie Come Home”, “Kiss Of Life” and “Real Life Soap” all of which will be on an a CD album soon to be released ourselves.

++ You have recorded, twenty years later, new songs for a yet unreleased album. Something that strikes me, is that the sound of your songs haven’t lost that fantastic 80s jangle pop sound! How do you do it? Why did you decide to reunite after such a long time? How was this reunion? Was it like the good old days?

The songs recently recorded are not new. They were all written in the late 80s and early 90s. However, we have all recorded new material for various different projects over the years and we all remain slaves to the jangle! We have worshipped and studied the ways of the great god of jangle Johnny Marr! As long as Johnny is alive to guide us the jangle will always flow freely from us!

We decided to re-record 10 songs mainly because we didn’t have decent recordings of a lot of them. Recordings mainly existed on dodgy cassettes so we thought it would be good to use the better recording equipment available to us now to re-record them and get them onto CD. It was also fun to go into the studio again as a band. We have all remained good friends since the DC split up in 1991 but hadn’t played together much so it was just like old times.

++ You supported The Beautiful South, which other bands did you play with? Did The Daisychain Connection gig a lot? Which are the gigs you remember the most?

As the DC we didn’t have that many big support gigs. We supported a band called Martin Stephenson and the Daintees quite a lot at a local venue called the Front Page. We also supported “Runrig”, who were massive in Scotland at the time, at the same venue where the Beautiful South gig was.

We did a lot of support gigs in our previous bands with the likes of “Del Amitri”, “The Housemartins”, “The Woodentops”, “The Men They Couldn’t Hang”, “It Bites” and “Jamie Wednesday”.

We did gig a lot which we usually set up and organised ourselves. We used to arrange buses for fans from Carlisle to come and see us when we played in other cities.

The most memorable was definitely the Beautiful South Support gig as this was the most people we ever played to. Another one that sticks out is when we played with 5 major record company execs in the audience at a small venue in Penrith.

Another great one was Coventry University where we played really well and were well received.

We very nearly got on a tour with The Housemartins. In the end it was between us and a band called The Farm. The Farm got it because they were already signed, we were totally gutted!

++ My friend Emma asks: Who’s Julie – the queen of Finland? & speaking of Finland – how come you wrote a song about Finland’s king when they haven’t had one for nearly a century? will you write about the king of Sweden next time? he’s quite charming you know.

Julie was just a fictitious character created for the song which was about disillusioned youth.

There’s a long story associated with “The King of Finland”. At the time it was written we were very keen on rolling our own mind altering cigarettes. As they increased in size they became known as “great white cigars” this was then shortened to “great white” and then to “shark”. A DC member finding himself in Finland (shark fin land) was more to do with the state he found himself in after smoking several “sharks” than a visit to the country!

The king of Finland became one of the many fictitious characters that Stephen would draw on cassette covers. He even designed his own wrapping paper where the king would regularly appear!

The song, being about complete fantasy, was named this for the very reason that Finland didn’t have a king!

We hope this is not in any way offensive to Finnish people and was never intended to be so.

++ And she had another question: At the same time you emerged to the music scene in 1986 from Carlisle, Belinda Carlisle married Morgan Mason! Was there any connection? Maybe a tribute? Is heaven a place on earth? Maybe ‘Real Life Soap’ was inspired by Morgan Mason & his involvement in TV?

We’re really sorry Emma but the fact that we hail form Carlisle has nothing to do with Belinda. Although we were fans of Belinda’s first band, fellow jangle merchants The Go Gos, so she could have been an influence on us! And she did once play in Carlisle!

++ When in Eastenders (the BBC soap opera), the Angie character tried to commit suicide by taking pills, many viewers tried to do the same. That’s one of the cases of Real-Life Soap. If listeners were to follow the steps of The Daisychain Connection, what would be the example you’d like to give them?

Although our lyrics can be melodramatic and a bit serious we like to think that the care free feel of the jangle portrays a tongue in cheek view of life. The DC message would be enjoy the gift of life, don’t take things for granted and don’t spend too much time worrying about the future or the past, live in the moment.

On the subject of Eastenders and soap operas in general, the DC is concerned that too many people get wrapped and tangled up in fictitious lives and situations which gets in the way of enjoying their own lives.

++ What was the biggest highlight for The Daisychain Connection? What do you miss the most from those days?

One of the best feelings ever was when a gig sold out but there would still be a queue of people outside the venue trying to get in. We were sad for those left outside but at the same time, excited that there was so much interest.

The biggest highlight was probably getting interest from so many major record labels with our first demo.

++ The band seem pretty obscure, I’ve never seen it mentioned in fanzines from that era… were you involved at all with fanzines at the time?

We were featured in a Manchester fanzine and also did an interview with Melody Maker.

++ Watching the video for Sirens Call what catches my attention is Stephen’s dancing! I can’t recall many bands from that time that had their singer dancing around! Where did he learn those moves? Does he still dance like this?

Stephen first learned to dance while on holiday at the classic British holiday camp “Pontins” in the 1970s doing “the Slosh”. Unfortunately, some of these moves stayed with him even after extensive dance therapy! Careful analysis of his moves will reveal him skiing without the skis or snow.

++ Have any of you fallen into the Curse of Carlisle?

Thankfully, no! Well not that we know of!

++ Why and when did you call it a day? What did you do after the breakup?

In the late 80s the UK music scene was starting to be dominated by dance and rave music and it became increasingly difficult for guitar based live bands to get regular gigs and many record companies weren’t looking to sign bands like us, preferring to go down the dance route. This became frustrating for us and we decided to call it a day in 1991.

We then went off in many directions some of which will be on a new web site we are developing. Including a collaboration between Stephen and Ian called Dunn & Kirton producing another jangle led 10 track album.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

www.daisychaintunes.com will be launched late April 2009 where amongst many other tracks, the DC songs will be available to download for free.

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Listen
The Daisychain Connection – Julie Come Home

Thanks so much to Nick Clay for the interview!

++ What happened (to you my dearest friend) in between The Pink Toilets and Pink Noise? Why did you decide to change the name? Did you release anything under The Pink Toilets?

The move from Pink Toilets to Pink Noise was seamless, really. We had got together in late 1984 at University. Our first gig was a showcase of the various bands that had grown out of the Musicians Soc and we needed a name. I can’t recall why we thought The Pink Toilets was a good idea for a name. We played the gig and went down fairly well and were offered the opportunity to play again at the university. I think it was after that second gig that we realised that the name was something of an albatross. Nothing was ever even recorded as The Pink Toilets. Thank god.

++ Where did the the obvious obsession with pink came from? Was this a way to attract girls, getting the proper ‘hard on the outside, soft on the inside’ image?

It’s all a bit vague now, but I think we thought that retaining the pink theme might ensure some continuity, and we came up with Pink Noise by a process of simply adding random words to ‘pink’ until we came up with something that none of us violently objected to. Your thought-processes as to how to get a band name are much cleverer than those we used I’m afraid.

++ Where did you all meet? Did you all attend Hull University? What were you studying?

Although we are all the same age Dave and Sam (just about everyone calls him Sam, even though he is really Steve) had been at Hull a year before I arrived as I’d taken a year out prior to university. They’d been in a band in their first year that had died in the summer of 1984. Sam had approached me at the first Musicians Soc meeting and said he was looking to form a band, and told me he knew a drummer from the previous year. We had a chat and sorted out a jam. At one stage (perhaps only the first practice) there was another bloke who played saxophone. I can’t even remember his name now.

Sam did a degree in geography. Dave and I did Social and Economic History.

Later on Chris Elliott from the Gargoyles joined and played some gigs with us, but that was as we were knock, knock, knocking on the door of oblivion.

++ Was Steve’s hair naturally uberblonde?

In the sense that hydrogen peroxide is natural, yes. Now his head’s naturally uberbald.

++ The idea of being in an university band with friends called “Pink Noise” sounds like a fantastic way of spending your youth! How did common Saturdays look like for the band? What did Hull as an university city had to offer?

It was great, but we weren’t in each other’s pockets the whole time. Some bands are like cliques of friends who only hang around together, but we didn’t, for instance, only go out together on a Saturday as a group. Hull is a small enough place to make it reasonably likely that you’ll meet up anyway. Hull isn’t as big a university city as Leeds or Manchester, so the options were probably fairly limited. Early on the routine would be; get pissed in the student bar, go to Spiders nightclub, walk home. Later I started going to gigs that Hull’s ranting poet Swift Nick was putting on at the Trades and Labour Club (The Nightingales, Skeletal Family and so on) and the Welly Club. Later still I ended up spending my time at the famous Adelphi Club.

++ Apart from playing in the band & studying what activity/hobby did you have? As friends, how close were you? Ever had a fight? Did a Yoko exist, maybe?

It would be great to say I had an ‘activity/hobby’. But I didn’t.

I think we were pretty close friends – we all invested time in the band, got together to practice regularly, crammed ourselves into hire-vans to drive to gigs, and generally had a laugh. I don’t remember any fights in the sense of anyone punching anyone else. Bit of mardiness maybe. No Yoko’s. We all had girlfriends, but they never tried to join in the band. Or make films of our bottoms.

++ What was your first ambition with the band? Was it being on Top of the Pops really what you were after?

I think we wanted to be famous-I remember earnestly explaining my pop-star plans to one of my house-mates. He seemed pretty interested. Then it dawned on me that he was gently taking the piss. I don’t think we were aiming for real fame, fortune and TOTP, but when The Housemartins hit the big-time I think all the local bands thought a little of the crumbs from their table might fall our way

++ What & Who were your biggest influences? During the early stages of the band what other musicians & records did you discuss in a ‘this is how we want to sound’ way? Have you had any earlier music experience?

No earlier or later bands for me. One problem that we had as a band was we didn’t have an obviously coherent look or sound. Sam was a big Jam and Blondie fan, I liked The Cure and Dave liked all sorts of odd stuff. But we had an over-lapping taste as well. When I think about it now I don’t think we ever sat down and discussed what we should sound like, and I certainly wasn’t a good enough guitarist to play authentically in any other style apart from the one I had (and still have). So we were stuck with what we had got.

++ How important was the Adelphi for you? Was it a place where Hull bands could feel there was some kind of community?

The Adelphi was central. We played there, hung out and watched other bands there…Sam got a job there as manager when he graduated so we stored our gear there and used the stage for rehearsals. It was the focal point for all the local musicians in Hull. An amazing, grotty dive in the middle of a Victorian terraced street. Some of the worst and best bands I ever saw played there. Paul Jackson was prepared to give everyone a chance to play. There were 2-4 bands a night for 7 days a week. Sometimes the sweat was dripping off the ceiling, sometimes there were more people on stage than in the audience. We were lucky when we first started playing there that we had a ready-made student following so that we could usually pull a reasonable crowd. But the important thing there for me was always how it played to the other local musicians. Local bands were always watched by other musicians. Everyone was checking the competition out all of the time. It was a mutually supportive community. With some back-stabbing thrown in.

++ What was the gig you remember the most and why? Who would you have wanted to share the headline?

I dunno really. I sort of remember the Housemartins signing gig at the Adelphi. It was the first time we’d played there and possibly the first time I’d ever been there. We got equal shares with them and the other acts-about fifty quid- the place was packed and we went down well. Although I’d seen the Housemartins play several times before, and had shared the bill with them, this was the point at which I realized that what everyone was saying about them was true. The exact moment came as they rehearsed ‘Joy, joy, joy’ in the soundcheck. No-one else was doing four-part harmony acapella and it was a revelation.

++ What was the full discography of Pink Noise, do you remember?

Leaving aside some largely well dodgy cassette demos that we did, our limited vinyl career went as follows;

1987 Thin End of the Wedge

1988 Everything/Move for You/Ghosts

1989 On My Mind- a track on compilation album ‘Knee Deep in Shit, volume 8’

All in all not a difficult list to remember.

++ Your first single “Thin Edge of the Wedge” got great reviews but your second, “Everything / Move for You”, got almost no attention! Why do you think that happened?

I don’t know about ‘great’ reviews but it was generally well received. I think that TEotW was a chugging 4-minute indie anthem and fitted in easily with the prevailing scene. The problem with the next release was it didn’t fall into any obvious camp. Everything was trying too hard to be a radio-friendly pop song, whilst Move for You was also supposed to be the A-side. That’s ok if you’re the Beatles putting out Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane but a bit dumb if you’re nobody. With hindsight I think it may have been better to put Move for You out first as there was a continuity of sound following on from TEotW and then put out Everything. Who knows? Or cares?

++ Pink Noise recorded a song called “I Won’t Miss You (When You’re Gone)” and it was directed to Margaret Thatcher. How politically involved were you during those tough years in Great Britain?

We were committed, I think. We did lots of benefit gigs at the time as did all of the local bands. There was a real feeling of active opposition to what was going on.

Times were tough. The miner’s strike was on when we started and, although Hull isn’t a mining area, it was only a short drive to the South Yorkshire coalfields. The city was on it’s uppers at the time, really. The fishing industry had collapsed, there was significant local unemployment. There were people collecting money in buckets for striking miners outside the shops, benefit gigs for miners and South African trades unionists at the Adelphi and so on. Thatcher and her government had determined to crush mining communities, called Mandela a terrorist, supported apartheid, and encouraged greed. It was an intensely frustrating time. I was glad when she got booted out. She won’t be forgiven. Mind you Tony Blair was as bad.

I’ve always liked songs that are ostensibly about one thing when in fact they’re about another; The Ruts’ Love in Vain being one of the best examples.

++ You released on Reasonable Records which was Ted Key’s, of Housemartin’s fame. label. He also produced your singles, right? How was working with him? Any anecdotes you’d like to share?

Ted played bass for the Housemartins. Then got dismissed. Or left. Or something. He also played guitar for The Gargoyles a great band who were largely met with stunned surprise by audiences outside of Hull. Reasonable Records was a label that Ted set up with, I think John Rowley of Red Guitars. I think it only put out Pink Noise and Gargoyles records. It wasn’t a very big venture. It was fine working with Ted. He was very enthusiastic and we wanted someone who we knew to be in charge because we didn’t know what to do in the studio. And no-one else was interested.

I’m not sure about anecdotes. He might get me killed. I know that when we recorded Everything he told us to go away and stop bothering him whilst he and the engineer worked on the mix. When we came back it sounded miles better than when we’d been there. Also he played the guitar solo on Ghosts and some thwacka-thwacka noises on Move for You. Perhaps he redid all the other parts on Everything whilst we were gone as well?

++ How come things got downhill AFTER John Peel played your song “Thin End of the Wedge”? Did you feel like you achieved enough & that it was time to leave with the flag waving on the top?

I think TEotW marked the start of us writing good songs, but it was also the time that our student support began to slip away as people that we knew at University were leaving Hull. John Peel playing our record was great. It was more or less all that I’d ever realistically hoped for as far as being in a band was concerned so I was very satisfied. But of course you think it’s a road to musical world domination.

We carried on plugging away and, in general, I think we became a better band from 1987 onwards. Just less…wanted.

++ What is that that you miss the most of playing with your mates?

Just that really. Playing. I used to like it best when we rehearsed and a new song would suddenly come together out of a riff or chord change or drum pattern. That was thrilling.

++ Why & when did the band call it a day? How was the goodbye party if you ever had one, or did things just run though your fingers like sand through the hourglass (so are the days of our lives) what did you do all after? You ever got together again & thought ‘hey why not regroup’ while talking good old memories but then before parting decided that maybe it wouldnt be such a good idea?

I’m not even sure when it finished. Some time in 1990, I think. Sam left Hull under a cloud after he and Paul Jackson fell out and that was it. No last Candlestick Park/Winterland Ballroom gig for us. I’m sure it was time to call it a day anyway- we were all broke and it was time to put away childish things. I got married in June 1990 and my daughter was born in October of that year.

We’ve not all been in the same room-or within hundreds of miles of each other for nearly 20 years now.

If we could get it together I would like us to have a jam together again some time. We were always a tight band and it’d be fun to see if we could still hold a song together.

++ What do you all do nowadays?

I have my own law firm representing the criminals and alleged criminals of Hull and East Yorkshire

Dave joined Secret of Life and they put a fantastic ep that got NME single of the week. Any of the tracks would have been a highlight of the This Mortal Coil album had they been on it. Then he fell out with them and sold his drums and bough an expensive hifi. He lives near to where I live and works for the local council as a planning officer. We go out for a night’s drinking together every few months, get pissed and talk about stuff.

Sam lives and works in Madrid. I met up with him for the day when I was in Spain last summer. It was the first time we’d seen each other for about 18 years. We cried, hugged….no we didn’t. But it was good to see him.

Chris Elliott got married last year and his raving days as a Beautiful South hanger on/temporary bass player behind him. My family and his family went out for Sunday lunch recently.

I play Scrabble online with Sam and Dave every day on Facebook.

Not very rock n’ roll

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Read more my efforts to pin Pink Noise and the other Hull bands onto the wall of history at http://www.nickclay.karoo.net/

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Listen
Pink Noise – Beverly Westwood

There are two Andreas in Hamburg. One is my friend Andreas Hering and the other one is the pop mastermind Andreas Dorau. Ok, maybe if I look on the phone book there’s more, but does that really matter?

I met Andreas at Eldorado, a small club/bar in Hamburg four or five blocks away of the main street of the Red Light district. I was DJing some indiepop tunes thanks to the fantastic help and organizing skills of Nana and Henning. They had arranged this small happening so all popkids could receive the 1st of June here, which is a holiday in Germany. We could stay till late, drink lots of Astra, no one had to work next day. It was all perfect. On top of that, it was promoted really well. I met many friends that I only knew online or by name. The only familiar face was the great Peter Hahndorf. But in a matter of minutes all of the crowd became familiar faces and good friends.

I met Andreas after DJing almost at the entrance door. It was below the street level, a couple of stairs down. He was carrying some black and white posters for the Liechtenstein concert he was organizing for his “Adventure Playground” night some months later. I got a couple of those posters, one is now scotch-taped on my wall. I believe he has booked the fantastic Swedish all-girl band a couple of times more including the Hamburg Pop-Weekender he has organized along other friends. This is happening now in April and I’m totally ashamed of missing it. If you can make it there, I totally recommend going. The lineup is really to die for, including: Days, Northern Portrait, Horowitz, The Manhattan Love Suicides, the aforementioned Liechtenstein and many more. Even they’ve got The Motifs to come all the way from Australia! This is what the indiepop community is all about. And Andreas knows it. Since the day he made that legendary tape Everlasting Happiness when he was just a kid to organizing the Pop Weekender, he has been committed to indiepop.

On another dimension, Andreas Dorau was singing ‘From Jupiter comes Fred, the marvellous Kosmonaut. All the girls feel enthusiastic about him and want to keep him here forever.’ It was 1981 and he was only 17 years old. Die Doraus und Die Marinas recorded this fantastic single for Mute Records. And it was a big hit in Germany. A blissful slice of electronic pop, shambolic choruses by Die Marinas, and a fun, fresh and naive vibe that electronic pop has lost many years ago. This is one of my favourite songs, even though I only understand four or five words out of it. And what about the video for this song! The children morning tv show kind of look, Dorau’s face painted green and Die Marines having a blast throwing out some of their best dance moves, brilliant! And it doesn’t matter if Mr. Dorau had some other hits like Girls in Love more recently, nothing can compare to this song. Also there I find that there is something about the German language that also fits and suits this song perfectly, proving that pop music is universal.

Werner Herzog went to look for El Dorado in Peru on his movie “Aguirre, The Wrath of God”. I, humbly, went to Germany to look for Eldorado. Andreas Dorau brought Fred from Jupiter to Earth. And Andreas Hering will take indiepop from Earth and, I wouldn’t be surprised, take it to Jupiter one day. His love and energy is, indeed, everlasting (happiness!).

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Listen
Die Doraus Und Die Marinas – Fred vom Jupiter

Thanks again to Harvey!

++ Did the Tender Engines form immediately after the breakup of The Odolites? What was the main reason to put a band together again?

When the Odolites split I had a few songs stored up and had a creative burst so wrote a bunch more. So the tascam 4 track was put to good use and I probably recorded about 20 songs in that initial period. So really the band was just a vehicle for the new songs and I didn’t have too many plans beyond that.

++ Why did you choose the name Tender Engines?

Andy’s son Scott was a young tacker at the time and watched a lot of Thomas & the Tank Engines. I think it was Ringo Starrs dulcet tones that drew him in! So I think Andy suggested it as a name. I like the paradox one word soft and delicate and the other dark and gritty! The name is also a good reflection on the lyrical content as I tend to teeter between between portraying a fairly normal everyday life but with some darker overtones because I read too much Jim Thompson & George P Pelecanos.

++ On the band there was only you, Harvey, and Andrew, recording as the Tender Engines. Was it easy to record this way? How did you work out playing the instruments?

Andy and I started out together in Noddy’s Revenge back in Tasmania in the early 80’s. At the time the Odolites formed Andy was out of town so wasn’t around to play bass. A year or so after we moved to Melbourne Andy also moved over with the band the Fish John West Reject. So he was living around the corner and I’d get him around to play the bass parts on my four track recordings.

On our first trip to the studio though we got a few other friends around for some quick rehearsals and then pretty much recorded it live in the studio. After the drawn out process of recording the Odolites album I really wanted to get back to basics and just bang it down as live as possible. The studio was a little 8 track place called Phantom Tollbooth based in a warehouse.

From memory the other players on that session were Andy, Mark Narcowicz from the Fish John West Reject (guitar and backing vocals), Paul Stothard (organ) and Tim Gleeson (drums).

We recorded A Legend Never Fails & Clinging To The Wreckage in that session plus songs that would later be used as b-sides Under The Same Roof, Final Kiss, A Night At The Fair and Leaving Town. There is one unreleased track called Candyhouse which is a re-record of an old Noddy’s Revenge song.

++ I bet it must have been tough to play live with this lineup, right? How many gigs did you play? Any particular one you remember the most?

Yeah we only played a handful of shows, usually just when other Summershine artists offered us a support. I doubt we played with the same line up twice. It’d be Andy and I plus whatever drummer & second guitarists was around. We supported the Sugargliders (or was it the Steinbecks?) a couple of times. We also supported Ripe. That was a good show from memory. I think we had Ted (from the Odolites) on guitar for that one.

++ All of your discography was released by the legendary Summershine Records. How do you ended up there? Did you send a demo? How do you remember Jason Reynolds? Any anecdotes with him?

I first remember Jason as a bit of a boy about town. He had a program on the local radio station and ran club nights playing all the latest indie singles. He started coming along to Odolites shows and he’d always come up for a chat after the show. He purchased a record store called Exposure and as luck would have it he offered me part time work in the store. Summershine started during the period he had the store so he kinda had to release my records because I was working for him!

Jason was a big fan of Postcard and Creation and I think he wanted to be one of the Alan’s. Did he refer to himself as the President at one stage or am I just making that up??

++ What was the regular record deal with Summershine, was it with contracts or was it just the usual indiepop fare of having a beer together and saying, let’s make it happen!?

More the later, although Jason didn’t drink, so I had the beer and he sipped on a mineral water and did most of the talking! I don’t recall there being a contract but maybe there was. It was fairly casual though. I gave him the finished recordings, his girlfriend put the artwork together, the distributor tried to get them into the stores. As time went along most of the singles sold on export rather than locally. Unfortunately the label didn’t get the kudos it deserved here in Australia at the time. I think the great thing about Summershine was that Jason would track down overseas bands like East Village and Velvet Crush and this helped gain international attention for the Australian bands on the label as well. There aren’t too many other Australian labels as highly regard and as collectable around the world now as Summershine so full credit to JR for what he did with the label.

++ The first single “Clinging to the Wreckage” has that wonderful B side, “A Legend Never Fails”, what is this song about?

I look on it as a double A-Side single and there’s a lyrical link between the two also. Clinging To The Wreckage is part one of the story where a gravediggers son from a sheltered home meets up with a wild girl from the big bad city. She gets him do bad things like listen to the Sex Pistols! Eek! But then in part 2, A Legend Never Fails, he meets the same girl 5 years on. She’s mad as ever but she tells him she’s mended her ways, found God, and tries to preach to him. Part of her method of preaching is to recount her former deeds, which to him, are far more enticing than her current life anyway. “See her eyes shining bright, as she tauntingly describes, all the times that she had, when she was bad, oh how she woo’d them”. Both songs are 9 parts fiction 1 part fact. Well, okay, maybe 50/50!

Musically I was really into Felt at the time and insisted on having an organ on the songs for this reason. I was looking for that kinda Dylan Basement Tapes organ sound that Felt had on the Ballad of the Band EP and Forever Breathes The Lonely Word album.

++ “With Regret” was released on 7″ and CD. The CD was released months later with four exclusive songs. The 7″ included “Under the Same Roof” which wasn’t on the CD either. Was this a label move? I ask cause, say a song like Girl from the Hinterland could have been such a fine single by itself!

The EP was designed to be an EP in its own right rather than a single with 4 b sides. I think the reason to do the 7” was just that Summershine’s reputation was built on 7” singles and the CD Single was seen as a bit of an extravagance at the time. I’ve still got a boxful of them so someone got that one right!

This recording session was recorded at a decent studio, a place called Whirled, and produced by Ted, my old partner from the Odolites. He played guitar as well. I’m glad you like Girl from the Hinterland. In hindsight it was one of our best songs and lyrically has that dark but delicate blend that I referred to earlier.

++ The “Ex-Pop song” and the “Something Wicked” singles included demo versions of songs. Was that on purpose? Why wasn’t the finished recordings included?

EX-Pop Song and Something Wicked were both recorded in the one session also at Whirled with Ted in the producers chair again. We wanted to spend a bit more time on these and I think the finances were all put towards getting the 2 tracks right and there was no money left for b sides. Ted also plays guitar on these recordings and plays a killer solo on Ex Pop Song. I think Ex-Pop Song is one of the strongest things I’ve written and Something Wicked one of Andy’s best. The demos are actually left over recordings from the Wreckage/Legend sessions. Not sure why we called them demos. Probably thought they were of inferior quality! I’m pretty sure both singles were released on the same day in another cunning Summershine marketing ploy!

Ex-Pop Song also appears on Just A Taste the Slumberland Summershine compilation but under the name Pop Song 1. From memory this was the working title and we must have just finished the recording and not settled on the song title when we sent the track in. Just A Taste is a great compilation and credit to Mike at Slumberland and Jason for putting it together. It’s the only American release I’ve been on and I’m sure it’s a major reason why people in the US know of the Summershine label!

++ I know the existence of thirteen songs, the same that are listed in the Twee.net discography page, are there any unreleased stuff from the Tender Engines?

Thirteen, was it that many? Let me see now, recordings released on Summershine…..

1. Clinging To The Wreackage
2. A Legend Never Fails
3. With Regret
4. Under The Same Roof
5. Girl From The Hinterland
6. By His Side
7. Before She Met Me
8. Waiting For The Rain
9. Something Wicked
10. Ex Pop Song
11. A Night At The Fair
12. Final Kiss
13. Leaving Town Again

We also did This Girl Black Girl for a Go-Betweens tribute album called Right Here. That would be the last thing that was released actually. The Go-Betweens are one of my favourite bands ever and I begged Hippy Knight (the label that released the comp) to include us although most of the other bands were better known and a lot more active than we were.

Early on we also had 3 tracks (Leaving Town Again, A Night At The Fair and the otherwise unreleased The Last Party) on a fanzine cassette called Sparrows, A Melbourne Pop Compilation. Other bands on the cassette are Captain Cocoa, the Fish John West Reject, A.D., Ripe and the Sugargliders.

There are heaps of unreleased things if you count all the 4 track and (now that I’ve stepped up) 8 track recordings. I prefer to look on it as work in progress rather than unreleased though! I can only find one song that we recorded in a studio and didn’t release and that’s “Candyhouse”. There was a more serious attempt made to get something happening with the band after the EP and we actually started recording an album. All the tracking was done but then the studio we were recording at had to close because a ballet school opened next door and complained about the noise. It wasn’t us surely! So the studio disappeared and unfortunately so did the master tapes. It was a shame because that line up of the band actually rehearsed regularly and, to my ears at least, was sounding really good. It was Andy and I, a guy called Ed on drums, a guy called Tim on organ and Andy’s cousin Mark BJ Austin on 2nd guitar. Shortly after BJ joined the Paradise Motel, yet another bunch of Tasmanians trying to crack the mainland. They made a better fist of it than most and were based in London for a few years.

++ I read that “Ex-Pop Song” had a limited run of 500 copies, I guess that’s why it’s hard to come by! What about the other records, do you have a rough idea on how many copies were pressed?

I’d be surprised if there were more than 500 of any of the 7” singles. Most releases on Summershine were kept to one pressing only so unless a band was big enough to justify a bigger initial pressing I think it’d be 500.

++ As an Australian guitar pop fan, how did you see what was happening in New Zealand. Did you enjoy the bands from Flying Nun?

Yes, loved those early Flying Nun bands. If I was to name my top 3 all time indie labels it’d be Postcard, Creation and Flying Nun. I started getting the Flying Nun singles in the mid 80’s and I think the first ones I came across were the Chills “Pink Frost”, Verlaines “Death & the Maiden” and the Clean “Getting Older”. It’s hard to think of 3 better singles on any label!

++ What was the biggest highlight of the Tender Engines four years life?

If there was one highlight it was probably hearing that John Peel played the first single on his show! I used to tune in to his ½ hour weekly show on the BBC World Service (Short Wave) and he turned me on to so many bands.

++ Why did the Tender Engines decided to stop making music? Where you involved in any bands after?

Did we break up?? I really don’t know where the last (err) 15 years disappeared to. I’m really proud of all the things we released and disappointed that the daily grind took over and music fell by the wayside. I haven’t done anything else so I guess you can say I’m still a Tender Engine! Dozens of songs half written but don’t know what to do with them! Andy has a band called the Dunaways with Mark Narcowicz (who played on the first Tender Engines recordings), Martin Witheford and Graham Rankin (ex Odolites drummer). They have released a couple of albums that are worth tracking down and they play live occasionally. Ted, Andy and I get together every few months for a counter meal at the pub and talk about old times! We should probably talk about making some new music, but it seems easier to talk about old times!

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Listen
Tender Engines – Girl from Hinterland