In 2021 there was a retrospective album by The Telephone Boxes on Detour Records (DRLP088) that I missed. I feel bad about it. My record buying habits have decreased considerably since becoming a dad.
It is hard to keep up. But I think this record is one I would definitely want to have. I should keep my eyes peeled. Maybe I’ll be lucky sometimes.
The first time I heard about this band was thanks to an interview I did with Pete Brickley of the wonderful band The Wallflowers. Before being in The Wallflowers he had been in The Telephone Boxes. This is what he told me:
I left The Telephone Boxes, shortly after our support slot on the first Smiths tour to start a solo career but was persuaded by Warner Chapell to take a band name (from page 1 issue 1 of Spiderman).
Telephone Boxes were utterly amazing (the Smiths invited us on their first tour and paid our expenses and a modest wage)we sounded like a cross between The Fall & an ice cream van. We recorded four demos for various record companies,every Smiths gig, and lots of home tapes. Maybe we can release some of it one day.
The Telephone Boxes was formed in 1982 by Pete Brickley (vocals, guitar), Charlie Allen (bass, backing vocals), Adam Wood (guitar, backing vocals) and Patrick Hunt (drums, and he would continue working with Pete on The Wallflowers). The band would be active until 1985. Also worth noting that on the song “Theme from Interpol” the drummer was Mark “Sparky” Davies.
Previously Patrick had been in Aztec Camera. Pete Brickley was on The Mystery Girls and The Xtensions. Adam Wood had also been in The Mystery Girls as well as in Frankenstein’s Baby, The Company and The Famous Men.
The record that Detour released in 2021 included a plethora of songs. It was an LP and CD combo. The songs on the LP are repeated on the CD, but the compact disc includes 12 more songs. These are: “Lazy Time”, “Language of the Land”, “Little White Lies”, “You’re the One”, “I Don’t Like to Repeat Myself (Live)”, “Thank You”, “Theme from Interpol”, “Please Yourself”, “Hallelujah I Was Born”, “One Day”, “Now That We’re Friends”, “A Twist of Fate”, “Love Was Here (Live)”, “STYLE”, “Affection”, “I Read a Book”, “Good Fortune”, “Boomerang Jack”, “Camouflage”, “A Great Big River”, “Down and Out”, “Everybody’s Fool”, “Broken Up”, “Living in Trees”, “Deadbeat (Live)” and “Relatively Speaking”. The songs were written sometimes by Pete and others by Adam.
This record was very limited sadly. 150 copies in black vinyl and 100 on red. The album includes their demos as well as live tracks from their Smiths tour.
On my blog I find another mention about the Telephone Boxes. It is on the post about the band Ala Pana Fuzo. There I wrote: “There’s an interesting bio on last.fm written by Ian Miller himself. Among the many interesting facts written, he mentions that they often played on the same bill with Peter Brickley, from the Telephone Boxes and the more known Wallflowers as he was also from Slough. They were also very close to signing to a major label but it didn’t happen.”
A post on The Guardian tells us a little bit more about Peter and The Telephone Boxes: “The Wallflowers were the creation of Peter Brickley (who always styled himself Peter d Brickley). He’d come to the attention of Marr via his previous band, the Telephone Boxes, who had supported the Smiths. It’s possible he didn’t have the Stakhanovite work ethic required to make a success of a music career: his RIckenbacker guitar was backed with a large sticker with the word “acid” written in block capitals; he played more often with Slough’s jokey country band the Company than he did with his own group.”
I start to wonder why did I miss this. I haven’t heard all the songs on the record. Just a few and they are fantastic. I’m pissed. Only now, 2 years after the fact I am seeing my mistake. And happily all the songs are on Soundcloud. Sure, not the same as playing the real thing, but this is nice too!
What else is there to say about them? Well yes, they played at many places including, at the Nelson Mandela Hall and London King’s College (both with Hurrah! and Felt), at the Leicester De Montfort Hall, the Warwick University Arts Centre and Reading University (with The Smiths), at Dingwalls (with The Smiths and The Daintees), at the Lyceum in the Strand (with The Smiths, Billy Bragg and The Redskins), at Libertys (with Death Pop), at the ICA (with The Room and The Red Guitars), at the Windsor Arts Centre (with The Smashing and Death Pop), Mothers Wardrobe in Slough, Studio One and at The Rock Garden among others.
Lastly on Youtube there are two videos, titled “The Last Twist Part #1” and “The Last Twist Part #2“. Check them out!
I lost touch with Pete Brickley since I interviewed him ages ago. So yeah, would love to reconnect, maybe find out more about this wonderful band. Also hoping for a reissue someday! Anyone remember them?
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Listen
The Telephone Boxes – Language of the Land
