History Part 2

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Cargo then asked for another 100, then another and soon all the singles were gone.I also sent a couple of copies out to radio, more in hope than any expectation but was encouraged to phone Mark Radcliffe by Richard Delerium(ta). Radcliffe came to the phone to my amazement and said that yes he’d got the single and would play it that evening. One of my/our life dreams to be played on the radio! We were well chuffed.Hearing your own stuff being played is surreal to say the least. Massive grins all round.There was also talk of doing a session for radio1,again we kind of needed to pinch ourselves as we’d been doing the same old shit for what seemed like ages in quiet old Bristol, getting some notice but not really setting anything on fire.

however….. We got ridiculously good reviews in Italy (“magnifico”) and elsewhere abroad and still practised down the cellar, not much had changed really. We managed to persuade Pete to shell out on another single,1000 pressed this time in an attempt to actually do more than just cover costs. Recorded with Fatty again at PIJ,”Coogan’s Bluff” featured a dreadful vocal by me and a couple of averagish B-sides, The sleeve was a 70’s Vogue cowgirls shot which in retrospect was,for me,the best thing about it (nicked by me from the inner of a mirror/dash sonic youth offshoot 7”-the joy of working in a shop again) . Anyway we released it, slightly faster turnaround this time,and we shifted a few. The best result of it was that Cargo and our man Mr. Keeler were prepared to sign us to their label,Headhunter, for a couple of singles and potentially an album. We played the odd gig here and there with such luminaries as “here and now” and Gong(silver fairy jumpsuits and wands with plastic skulls!?) which were n’t really our scene but a gigs a gig. We also toured for about 10 dates around the country with The Mice, fronted by our Wayne’s cousin, Julieanne Regan. The gigs were a mixed bunch, good experience and we paid our dues traversing the country, sleeping on floors and getting trashed when possible, the rhythm section showing particular promise in this area.

Round about this time we did a session for radio 1 in Scotland with a Tommy Vance sound-a-like. A farce. We had a bottle of tequila and too much reefer and when on live all we could hear in the “cans” was a grand prix commentary. We were in the room with the dj , he tried to interview us and he just got some mumbled incontinence (“well, what track will you play for us now?” “Er…Thanks” !?!) Luckily our radio experiences could only get better.

We went back to our chosen/only studio to record another 7” , this time for our new label, Headhunter UK. We had been signed mainly because Simon Keeler had such ridiculous faith in our abilities, we might have shown promise but his enthusiasm was what translated this into actual recordings. The day we signed our contract was a mini farce, Wayne had broken his arm going down a dry ski slope on a “for sale” sign the weekend before, we made our acquaintance with the cardboard out the back of the warehouse and met Phil, he may have wondered what he was getting into. We went into PIJ again and banged out another single , just to test the system out. “Gnu” was one that I think Hugo came up with though I’m not sure, it’s not a bad version though not really capturing the potential of the riff in retrospect. The joy of this release was the B-side,”Jellystoned Park” (less said about steamroller95 the better). This, monumental(not too strong a word for this) track was laid down live at PIJ in what was to become our permanent rehearsal room 10 years later. It’s got a heavy looseness about it that I just love, even now it makes me smile,firstly at Paul’s outrageous lead line which cracks in ,taking no prisoners and melting rock. Also the fact that we had barely played it before, it was just aB-side filler, meant I for one went to the break too early but it grinds along most beautifully. It is still one of my fave Head’s tracks though we never played it again, those opening drums...mmmm.

I liked it so much I looped 30 seconds and added loads of shit for a 15 minute version for personal indulgence, an inadequate edit of this appeared on a 7” on Rocket Sessions2. The sleeve was done by Chris Reeder and I, I like pictures of powerful,dominant, beautiful women you might say,hence the recurring theme from UltraVixen on “Quad” to cowgirls to Princess Leah(?). We tweaked it with the Vertigo swirl to produce the first of many two-tone vibrating psyche sleeves, “Op” art has always fascinated me, minimal but powerful. Cargo did the single and it did okay, got us further recognition and convinced them to pay for our debut LP.

Where to record it? PIJ wouldn’t quite do so in the end we found Foel Studios in deepest Wales. It fitted the bill as being residential, isolated, cheap and was run by an ex-Hawkwind member(Dave Anderson was an easygoing fella who also played on the mighty Space Ritual so that was enough). We booked in for a week to record and 3 days to mix, taking along Corin Dingley as engineer/producer,total cost for the album was about£1,500. We set up in a large room to play live having got up to match fitness in our trusty cellar with the leaking pipes and dodgy leccy. Most were one or two takes, it seemed that was often the best way, the only one to take longer was U33, it didn’t take 33 takes but it felt like it and was also the one and only time a click track was suggested, which we could not keep time with. Otherwise the recording was relatively uneventful,we took Mark “Homeyard” along for company and got wasted in the usual manner apart from the last night when having searched for hours amongst the sheep and fields we found only 10 ‘shrooms, did them in tea and then played a total mess of a “far-out” jam at 4am until the rythym section could no longer stand/ function, ah, the power of youth.

It was then mixed a week or so later, we just sat around, Corin brought in a mix, we nodded and so on.... Apart from an infestation of flies in one room(?) it was great to get out of town and get it done, it wasn’t quite Compass Point ,Nassau,but it was for us. The album wasn’t too bad either. Crisper than we were used to, hearing it for the first time as one piece was surreal to say the least. Our Man Keeler was well chuffed and proceeded to inflict “Relaxing With..” onto his workmates and many others besides. We got generally a very favourable reaction, psyche/stoner rock was not exactly flavour of the month as proved by 0/10 in “Vox” but the “metal” press went for it, especially as we were not big hairy tattooed bikers but so-called indie kids rocking the “librarian” look and we were English. The reviews were all great as it was cool that people had noticed what we did, whatever they thought we always got a reaction.

Footnotes:*1 Hugo, from Bristol. Played in local indie band “Quinton”(lp on pop-god records) The band photo is a classic with Hugo sporting a carrot. *2 Wayne is originally from Exeter, a trained mechanic who played in local indie band “Soundhouse” with Hugo on bass and a Steve on guitar, no known recordings but believed to be in the Husker Du vein. *3 Paul, from Bedminster,Bristol. Started playing the guitar very young and got to be pretty damn fine on it.Playing with local indie band “Soft Parade” when we (through Fatty) asked him to try us out. *4 “PIJ” located on King’s square off Jamaica street. A slightly rough end of town, also home to a hostel and a centre for the deaf, say no more. PIJ apparently used to stand for Paul Is Jesus, pinch of salt, but it was/is run by Fatty as he is more commonly known. Over the last decade or so it has given many a local aspiring outfit their first chance to make some noise, rehearse and do little else. It was a budget, entry level kind of thing.I did my first audition there shortly after arriving in Bristol, a quick thrash through “I wanna be your dog” on guitar and I was offered a job on the keyboards thanks to my hair and leather outfit. What can I say. It introduced me to the 3 rooms( we always got the shitty tiny one to start with), lugging gear, chatting and tinnitus. We still rehearse there in our own room( the big one now of course), it is the band’s musical and spiritual home really as half of what we’ve ever recorded has been done there. Special mention to “Luds” for putting up with so much shit and always being there with the keys back in the days.