Thanks so much to Damien Parsonage for the interview! I wrote about the fantastic and obscure band Crystal Tips & Alistair after discovering them on Youtube with their song “Lesley Cocaina” that appeared on the compilation tape “Blabbermouth” and I wanted to know more details of course! Happily Damien got in touch and shared some more songs with me, and even better he was keen to tell the story of the band! So sit back and discover this great band!
++ Hi Damien! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still involved with music?
Hi, and thanks to you! It’s so lovely that someone has ‘found’ our music after all these years.
I’ve always played guitar and been in various bands since the 90s. They’ve mostly been cover bands formed with people from work to play Christmas and summer parties. My latest is The Pharmacist, a band I’ve been in since 2015 with colleagues. We had a break for about 3 years but we’re getting back together for a birthday party in October. We’re just choosing songs and booking in some rehearsals now.
++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?
Music was really important in our house and my Dad, who played Spanish guitar, had an incredibly diverse taste in music – from flamenco to Charlie Parker and Miles Davies, from Country & Western to Northern Soul.
The Beatles were the big pop band for us. My Dad is from Liverpool (he moved down to London in the late ‘60s). He actually went to Quarry Bank School at the same time as John Lennon (although Lennon was 4 years older).
And he always recorded the top 40 chart show every week and made a compilation tape every month or so of the best stuff.
As for instruments, I was picked to play violin at school at about 6 and just hated it for the next 8 years or so. I never learned to read music properly and classical just wasn’t my thing.
My Dad had tried to get me interested in the playing guitar over the years, but I wasn’t really up for it. He gave up, and then suddenly at 13, I decided I really did want to play. So he gave me a chord book and some song books and told me to teach myself!
++ Had you been in other bands before Crystal Tips & Alistair? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings?
No, Crystal Tips was my first band. We were all so young!
When I was about 14, I used to get together with a friend from school, who was learning guitar at the same time as me. Another friend joined us on bass (using a normal guitar).
Of course we weren’t actually a band, we were just three mates playing around, trying to show off who knew the coolest riff etc.
We eventually entered a local battle of the bands competition and we performed as a two piece (bass player was away) as Black Pearl. (What were we thinking? Sounds like some awful metal band).
We quickly dumped that name and became Crystal Tips & Alistair.
++ What about the other members?
My two friends at the start were Chris Coombes (guitar and backing vocals), and Steven Pepper (Bass Guitar). It was their first band too.
Our drummer, Paul Harris, joined later (he was a friend of a friend at school) and it was his first band. In 1985, Steven Pepper left to join the Royal Air Force and he was replaced by Martin Young, who had been in another Medway band, The Drunken Popes, who also had a track on the Blabbermouth tapes.
++ Where were you from originally?
I was born in North West London (Willesden Green) and my parents moved down to Medway when I was 2.
++ How was Medway at the time of Crystal Tips & Alistair? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
Medway had such a thriving music scene. It was a great place to be young and in a band in the 80s. A few UK garage bands had made a name for themselves in the early 80s – including The Prisoners and Thee Milkshakes, which was Billy Childish’s first band. The Prisoners featured James Taylor on Hammond Organ, and he went on to form The James Taylor Quartet who had some good commercial success.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medway_scene
So there was a lot of buzz and a lot of places that had live bands on. And so many good bands. It was mostly pubs, but they generally welcomed and encouraged young bands. Churchill’s in Chatham, the Woodlands Tavern in Gillingham and the White Hart in Rochester were three places that had regular live local bands.
++ And what about Medway bands? Which are your favourite bands from your area? And if there are any that you would recommend me as obscure bands that deserve my attention?
So many good bands.
The Dentists were the big Medway band in the mid-80s and beyond. They were a “proper” band who had records out and got played on Radio One (Janet Long was a big fan, I think) and did big gigs.
Here’s their first single
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ulObblo7Cc
I also loved The Claim, another band who put some records out and had a decent following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIEKtuD6dAQ
And you must have impeccable taste, because the bands you’ve featured from Blabbermouth are the ones who I liked.
The Hyacinth Girls was formed by Andy Webber, who was the driving force behind the Bands Co-op, and who also managed to get two of his songs on the Blabbermouth tapes. On Margate Sands is actually the Hyacinth Girls under a different name. Here’s a track from an album they released:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICw8tegafvc
And I loved The Strookas, who were from Maidstone a nearby town, so not strictly Medway. But in the spirit of cooperative love, they were invited to join the Co-Op and we all played lots of gigs with each other. Here’s my favourite track of theirs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1gThPF2dFA
++ You were founding members of the Medway Bands Co-Op. Was wondering what did that entail? And what were the successes of this Co-Op?
There were so many bands in Medway it made sense to try and organize ourselves to ensure we got paid fairly and treated well. It was also a chance to ensure up and coming bands got heard and seen as much as possible.
I think it was Andy Webber’s original idea with Mark Matthews (bass player from The Dentists) and our bass player Martin Young. All the bands knew each other really, so word got round that we were starting this co-operative and everyone was invited to an inaugural meeting to discuss it.
We met every other Sunday I think in a pub in Chatham or Rochester and discussed band business. We agreed to compile the Blabbermouth tapes and put on Co-op Showcase gigs featuring all the bands playing live in big local venues, and at the Town and Country Club in London.
Over the course of two or three years, the Co-Op released two Blabbermouth tapes, put on numerous gigs and helped bands get some exposure.
++ How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
Crystal Tips were all school friends basically.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
We practised at each others’ houses a lot – I blew up two sets of my Dad’s speakers as we didn’t have amps for ages.
Then there were lots of studio/rehearsal places you could book for the night – some with a proper set up and some church halls!
Me and Chris Coombes would write the songs on our own and then bring them to rehearsal for the band to play.
++ Who were the members and what instruments did each of you play?
Me – guitar and vocals
Chris Coombes – guitar and vocals
Steve Pepper (bass guitar until 1985/6)
Martin Young (bass guitar from 1986)
Paul Harris (drums)
Andrew Kesby (lead vocals 1986-1988)
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
Crystal Tips and Alistair was a children’s TV show in the UK from the late 60s/early 70s. It was bit of trend to refer back to those beloved programmes and a few bands around that time had names based on old kids’ TV shows. The Soup Dragons, for example, as well as another Medway band The Herbs.
So we were just riding that bandwagon. It was one of my favourite shows and it seemed like a cool name for a band at the time.
++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
We all loved 60s stuff – The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, The Byrds, The Monkees, The Beach Boys etc (Chris even liked Status Quo!).
Also more obscure 60s bands like Love and The Velvet Underground were influencing everyone.
And punk/new wave bands especially The Clash, The Jam, The Fall.
The Smiths were probably the most important band to me at the time – I so wanted to be Johnny Marr (still do).
Obviously C86 was a massive influence on everyone at the time in indie and we were also listening to The Cult, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Wolfhounds, McCarthy, The Mighty Lemon Drops, etc etc
++ You started early in 1984 and it was during this first session that you recorded the song I know, “Lesley Cocaina”. What other songs were recorded then? And where were they recorded?
It was just me and Chris at that stage, with me on bass and a session drummer. We recorded 4 tracks over a weekend at Red Studios, in Wouldham, near Rochester, run by Graham Seamark.
Along with Lesley Cocaina we did songs called Glass Box, This Song and an acoustic track I can’t remember the title of. I have no copies of the songs left except Lesley Cocaina, because that was put onto Blabbermouth Vol 1.
++ Was this your first time at a recording studio?
Yes we were totally naïve 16 year olds!
++ You mentioned that you did a few more recording sessions afterwards. How many were they? How many (and which) songs were recorded?
We had no money, of course so we only did two more recording studio sessions over the years – all at Red Studios. After this one, the next two were both in 1988.
We did a live session at Easter 1988, where we basically recorded three of our set with a few added overdubs. These tracks were Flatful of Wankers, One Step at a Time and Margaret.
We then went back in during the summer of 1988 to record one track – Finished Before it Began which was intended for inclusion on an indie compilation record. That never happened but the track went onto Blabbermouth Volume 2 (and came runner up in a Radio Southampton song/band competition!)
++ Were these recordings released as demo tapes?
We did release them as demos, and tried to sell them, as well as sending them off to radio stations and record labels.
++ You appeared on the “Blabbermouth Volume One” tape with “Lesley Cocaina”. Was wondering what you can tell me about this compilation?
Blabbermouth Volume 1 was first big thing the Medway Bands Co-op did; to produce a tape cassette with one song from every member, maybe 20-25 bands in all. Some were bedroom recordings, some live gig recordings and some were polished studios performances. But all had equal weight and the tape was arranged in alphabetical order.
It was reviewed by the local papers, sent to the local radio stations and we put on a gig featuring as many of the bands as feasible.
++ And there was a “Blabbermouth Volume Two” tape too, with another song of yours, right? When was this released and which song of yours was on it?
Volume 2 came out in 1988, and it was the same deal. Reverse alphabetical this time, and with a gig that featured every one of the bands with 10 mins slots.
We chose a track called Finished Before It Began, which we’d recorded for another compilation album that never happened.
++ And how come there were no proper releases? Was there any interest from any labels?
There was always some interest, but most bands ended up releasing their own records, with some then getting picked up by labels.
++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Lesley Cocaina”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
It’s a song about a girl from a local family who were very religious. She came out as a lesbian and her family and the church rejected her and she ran away. I thought it was an interesting subject matter for a song – better than “I really love your smile” or other songs I was writing at the time!
++ If you were to choose your favorite Crystal Tips & Alistair song, which one would that be and why?
I really like Flatful of Wankers, it was a great live song and a bit punky for us. I also like Finished Before it Began because it’s so personal. But Lesley Cocaina was the first decent song I wrote and I was only 15, so I do have a soft spot for that.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
Lots and lots of local gigs. And some in London. From 1986 to1989 I was at university, and from 1987-1990 Martin was, so we had a limited window for gigs, but we crammed them in during the holidays.
++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
Best gigs were the Co-Op gigs with lots of bands and lots of support. We played at the old Chatham Town Hall a few times, which was good, including one where we were one of the support acts for McCarthy.
No real rock n roll stories, sadly.
++ When and why did Crystal Tips & Alistair stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?
We called it a day in 1990, as Chris was getting a bit frustrated waiting around for us at uni. Also our drummer was leaving to go to Salt Lake City.
So sadly we agreed to call it a day in late 1990.
Chris started a band with the drummer and keyboard player from The Hyacinth Girls. Martin went on to form a band called Summersault.
I’ve been in various work bands over the years and am currently in The Pharmacist “a funk-punk Dad band”.
++ Has there been any Crystal Tips & Alistair reunions?
I kept in touch with Chris and Steven Pepper. And our drummer Paul contacted me a few years ago to say he had the master tapes from our 1988 sessions. We talked about a reunion but nothing happened.
++ Was there any interest from radio? TV? ++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention? ++ What about from fanzines?
Local radio stations and local papers were generally supportive, and there were a few fanzines around.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
Probably supporting McCarthy! And more recently finding out someone had put my song on YouTube!
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
I love football – my Dad gave me a life-long love of music and a lifelong love of Liverpool FC. I spend a lot of time watching, thinking about and arguing about football.
I’m a UEFA licensed football coach and I ran a local youth team until recently.
++ I once went to Rochester but I am not familiar with Medway, so would love to ask a local what would you suggest them doing there, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?
Well, I left Medway in 1990 to work and live in London, and I’ve only really been back to visit my parents now and then. So I’m not really a local any more!
But Rochester has a lovely quaint high street and a castle, Gillingham has Kent’s only football league team and erm …
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Just to say thanks again for giving me a lovely trip down memory lane!
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Listen
Crystal Tips & Alistair – Lesley Cocaina
