Not a Prodigy gig, as such, they were the ‘live’ act at the ‘Yikes’ NYE bash. Three different DJs had already played ‘Your Love’ before the Prodigy even came on, and they were still very new to the game – ‘Everybody In The Place’ was released the week before, I think. Notable gig because Keith Flint was just the dancer in those days, wearing a ridiculous black and white Pierrot costume. Like Bez but ten times faster. Outstanding event, the absolute best ‘all night’ type of affair I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending.
The Shamen were the band responsible for my conversion to electronica. Through ‘In Gorbachev We Trust’ to the seminal ‘Progen’, I had been a fan for a few years, but had never seen them live. Progen is my favourite electronic album of them all, it’s what really turned me on to computerized bleeps and samples. Unfortunately I was about a year too late to see the classic line up (Will Sin having tragically popped his galoshes about a year previously) but this was at the height of their popularity so should have been a corker.
This was also the first time I’d seen Orbital – they really weren’t dance giants yet, just the Green and Brown albums (they never bettered Brown, IMHO) to their name, but a growing reputation. They really get the crowd going, because their music is just so damn good, but they may as well have been playing the CD, there were nothing different about their live sound. Meat Beat Manifesto on the other hand, were much heavier, more industrial than their records, and more of a ‘live’ band, with Jack Dangers plonking away at a bass throughout most of the set. Don’t remember A Homeboy, A Hippie & A Funki Dredd, must have been trying to score or something.
The Shamen were, it has to be said, a teensy bit of a disappointment, and I think it was because there was no Will Sin. They didn’t have a bassist at all, it was just sequenced, and Colin strummed a guitar on a couple of tracks. ‘Make It Mine’ rocked a bit but otherwise it was all a bit limp. Mr C is my favourite white rappah, and provided them with much needed energy and character, because Colin is just a bit of a drip, and looks and dances like Arnold Rimmer. Disappointing, on the whole.
Notable in that it was in Guildford (cool bands never play in Guildford) and that it was so loud, I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of me and my tinnitus. The Ozrics were beginning to wear a little thin by this time, had probably seen them a dozen times. Kickmuck used to be a live classic, now Ed and Merv seemed to be racing each other to the end. Flowerpot Men? Nup, sorry.
Another 12hr marathon, this time 6pm to 6am. It was rumoured that Hawkwind would be playing 2 separate sets. I either missed The Chemistry Set, Drop and Nutmeg or they left insufficient imprints on my brain. Nothing to report. The 25th of May were a lively anarcho-punk-rap lot, rather angry and a bit out of place really. Entertaining though. Then the first of two psychedelic guitar bands I’d been angling to see for a while – Dr Phibes And The House Of Wax Equations. They played some very proficient psych rock, and the front man Howard King Jr was a very capable guitarist. I seem to remember thinking he was very Hendrix-esque, but I would like to think that it was his playing style that led me to that conclusion, rather than the fact that he was black. Dunno, too long ago. Then Levitation, House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers’ new band. They had been receiving a lot of press attention, and I was somewhat mystified as to why they were on the bill with Hawkwind, what with being an indie band and all, after half a song I realized they were a pretty good choice. They played a sort of Spacemen 3 soundscape sort of sound, less fuzzy and more prog and right up my street. Then RDF again – probably the best time I ever saw them. Really had the whole place grooving. It still amazes me that such a ‘collision’ of dub and poetry can be so danceable.
Then the first Hawkwind set. Nothing stands out except a very, very good version of Steppenwolf with Bridget Wishart doing all the vocals. I was initially very skeptical, and horrified that she was about to commit sacriledge but within a verse and a half, she had me hooked. Never really liked much of her other stuff, but Steppenwolf was the pinnacle of her career as far as I was concerned. I then somehow slept for 2 hrs on a staircase, in amongst piles of assorted army surplus gear and ripped up Rizla packets, and returned to the auditorium in time to see their second set. This time they had ex-keyboardist and true electronic leg-end Tim Blake on stage with them. He didn’t appear to bring a great deal to the proceedings, poncing round with a ‘keytar’, but at least it meant they played a few off Levitation, and Lighthouse too. They played mostly old stuff, and if I hadn’t been half-asleep I think I’d have appreciated the set a whole lot more. Overall, one of Hawkwind’s better shows.
I think this was probably the first time I’d seen a dance act live, and it was a real turning point for me. I had had ‘Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld’ on near-enough constant play during the previous week, and was well up for it. Spurs had beaten Forest in the FA Cup Final earlier that day too, so I was in per-ropper party mood. Andy Weatherall and a couple of local DJs had the crowd pumped up before The Orb shuffled self-consciously on to the stage, and when Alex Patterson dropped in the sexy girl vocal sample that adorns ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ the floor went berzerk. Well, as berzerk as 120 bpm can get a crowd…
To this day, I’m not sure exactly how they created the sounds – there were definitely beats coming from a pair of decks, and a freakish amount of samples and squishy noises over the top of all that – the couple of minor fuckups suggested it was more live than sequenced. The only downer on the whole evening was the drunken student twat setting the fire alarm off, meaning we had to adjourn to the road outside for 20 minutes while the Fire Brigade came and checked it out. Th’Orb would become very, very popular in my house for a number of years.
Another visit to Hampshire’s most ASBOest neighbourhood but luckily this time in the relative safety of a car – no running the gauntlet of public transport.
I was not a particular fan of this incarnation of the legendary Gong, it was really just Daveid Allen and Graham Clark, plus Keith Missile Bass from Here and Now. They did the more dancey numbers off the ‘Gongmaison’ album, but I can’t honestly remember if they did any old Gong stuff. Not memorable in the slightest, apart from the fact that the DJ played The Orb’s ‘Adventures Beyond The Ultraword’ album before Gong came on, which had me dashing to Movement Records the next day…
My first visit to the legendary Marquee in Charing Cross Road (now, sadly, a Wetherspoon’s Pub). It was a cracking little venue, really small dancefloor, 2 or possibly 3 balconies and a great view and sound from everywhere. Senser came on first, and they were electric. Really energetic rap-rock, with male and female vocals, flute and DJ scratchy scratchy scr-scr-scr-scrrrratchy in the background. Very good for the first act of three, and a band I would go to see on numerous future occasions. Basti were next, but I remember nothing. They were from Norwich, so would probably have had a comedy yokel singer and songs about Morris dancing etc.
RDF (all 8 of them) took to the stage and proceeded to skank the Marquee to the ground. They are intense in a small venue like that – Chris Bowsher the 6ft6 dread ex-con ex-junkie vocalist is just so imposing, it’s frightening. I saw him walking down the Charing Cross Rd before the gig, the crowds parted in front of him like the Dead Sea. Anyway, this was the whole of Borderline Cases and a few older ones. Fantastic
The debut perfomance of the er, classic mk II line-up of Paperhouse. Twas a charity gig in aid of our large and helpless blubbery friends, and we managed to get on the bill through a friend who happened to work with the bassist out of Dr Brown.
This very stage had, in the past, been trodded by such luminaries as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Procul Harem, Genesis, Dire Straits amongst others, so no standards to live up to there then! The other three members of Paperhouse had all gigged extensively but this was my stage virginity on the line here (not counting the school Nativity play). I was quite nervous, to say the least – I’m really not that comfortable with the spotlight on me (in as much as the bassist in an instrumental band actually gets the spotlight), and the fact that the sparse crowd was mostly my friends and associates made it even worse. I would be forced to endure a not inconsiderable amount of mickey-taking if it all went pear shaped.
Paperhouse - Tie-dyed R Us
It all went swimmingly however, as we were really well-rehearsed, and anyway, fuzzy psychedelic space rock jams sound pretty well, fuzzy, at the best of times. A few hardy souls (not friends of ours or plants) even tore themselves away from the chairs round the side of the room, got down and grooved towards the end of our set, which was nice to see.
There actually exists aVHS record of the whole set, but (lack of) technology prevents me from posting it here (or indeed playing it ever again, probably) because I haven’t owned a VHS player for some years now. We played about 10 songs if I recall correctly, most of which would end up on the seminal Spongey Comestibles (no longer available in any shops, kids) and went down reasonably well for an unknown support act doing its first gig. Over the course of the 10 or so gigs I played with Paperhouse, the nerves never really went away…
Another rock hall-of-famer to cross off the list, this time Deep Purple. I think I would rank them higher than Sabbath, possibly equal status with Led Zep in my rock’n’roll founding fathers chart. However, this was only 4/5ths of the mkII Purple – Ian Gillan had not long left, so I had missed the classic lineup by a matter of months.
First though, the support act, Vixen. I’m afraid to admit I have a somewhat misogynistic view when it comes to rock music. I don’t dislike bands purely based on gender, but the 99.9% bias toward male singers in my music collection probably tells a tale. When the band is all big hair and leather shoulder pads, like Vixen, the music would have to be exceptional just to prise me from the bar. It wasn’t and it didn’t. Deep Purple came on to the relief of just about everyone. Not the entrance of rock legends, they just short of shambled on really, looking old and portly. So, 4/5ths of the mkII lineup consisted of Ian Paice, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Lord Ritchie Blackmore, plus ex Rainbow crooner Joe Lynn Turner. I already knew him from Yngwie Malmsteen’s band. They played all the classics, they ALL did lengthy solos and to be brutally honest, they were somewhat jaded and going through the motions. Unlike Sabbath, they just didn’t seem to have it any more, and I think I probably regret having seen them like that – in hindsight, I’d rather have remained blissfully ignorant. Disappointing.
The Almighty were sort of a biker band without the bikes, as far as I remember. And that’s all I remember. The music press (I’d abandoned Kerrang and Metal Hammer in favour of Sounds and NME by this point) were lauding them as the next big rock band, but they didn’t bring anything new as far as I was concerned.
Mötörhead were just about the heaviest band around. No longer the fastest, probably not even the loudest, but the dirtiest, grungiest rock and roll band ever made. They command the sort of respect reserved for the top echelons of rock society, and rightly so. I think I’d heard louder bands in my time, but never such power – they make a blistering noise on stage, and there is no pantomime heavy metal cliché like with Maiden or any of those bands, it’s just plain old dirty rock and roll. I don’t particularly like Lemmy’s voice, and I find his style of playing a little on the ‘coarse’ side, but he is one hell of a frontman, no question. This incarnation of Mötörhead (the 1916 tour) was a foursome, still featured Philthy Animal Taylor on drums, and with Wurzel and Phil Campbell on guitars they were a close second to the Fast Eddie Clarke lineup.
Mötörhead doesn’t need two guitars, it’s the bass that makes them so heavy, but for some reason three blokes out front looks better, if you’re going to remain stationed in front of your mic stands then two blokes leaves the stage looking a little, well, empty. Anyway, the four of them blew the Guildhall clean away, and even the rather modestly sized aircraft-shaped lighting rig that descended over the stage for ‘Bomber’ somehow worked, somehow didn’t look uncool. Not many bands could pull something like that off without looking Spinal Tap-esque. I think it’s because Lemmy is tuff enuff to carry it off. Of course, ‘Ace Of Spades’ was what everyone was waiting for, and they played it with the energy and enthusiasm of a new song, no hint of going through the motions.
A very odd band for the Ents Soc to book, especially as they didn’t open it to non-students. Hence, there were only about 50 people there, but Dumpy didn’t seem to mind. Don’t remember much about it (75p a pint, what exactly were you expecting?), except they didn’t play Shnibob this time either. I caught the drummer’s drumstick again, but when I got it home and paired it with the one from last time, it was about 3 sizes larger. Either they had a new drummer or the old one has different length arms or something.
Astralasia were still getting the hang of dance music at this stage, but they were still very danceable. Needed to ditch the guitar though, and soon. In them days, you see, people wanted dance music to be made entirely by computers, in time down to the microsecond, not sticking live guitar and drums over sequenced tracks and therefore inviting human error. Anyway, great place for a rave, as I once said, and once Astralasia were off, the DJs had the place bangin’ till the break of dawn.
One of the best live music venues I’ve been to – a really nice little place with two tiers of balconies on 3 sides of the square dancefloor. Ideal for raves, in fact. More of that another time. Support was David Jaxon (of Vandergraaf Generator er, fame) a saxophonist of the strange opinion that people wanted to hear the Benny Hill theme tune and variations thereupon for forty minutes. The Magic Mushroom Band, on home territory, went down really well though.
one louder 