Tenous Connections - The Undertones

I finally got round to mapping out the 'connections', my music 'family tree', or as I prefer to call it, 'my tenous connections' - let's be clear about this. There are famous people on the same chart as me, but I have not known all of them. Indeed some are there because I am not there, i.e. I left a band and then they came along. On the other hand I have known 'famous' people! And people who are not on this chart. And I'm sort of amused to think someone reading this might make some more tenous connections for me.

I actually came across another today - and this isn't on the map. I found a band called The Hit Parade who appear to have a drummer called Matt Moffat, a bassist called Raymond Watts and a guitarist called Julian Henry. I couldn't find any more info on this lot, but the very first band I was in had a drummer called Matt Moffat and a great pianist called Mike Watts (I won't say the name of the band... we were very young). I was 'playing' saxophone at the time. A guy called Julian Henry was around (this was a school situation) in a band called 'First of the Last' with Andy McAlpine and John Jacobs. Is this the same Julian Henry who now writes for the Guardian? But this band I found on MySpace must be the sons of the people I knew - surely. I'm confused. There is a mention of the school we were at on their MySpace site. Yes, confused. Anyway, let's move on to look at today's tenous connection - The Undertones.

The reason for producing the map is blatant publicity seeking with the forthcoming release of the Tripping Cherubs album. Though to be fair it only recently occured to me that there were connections, or rather how many.

The most tenuous of all is The Undertones probably. Here's the short story (as I remember it). I was working in Good Vibrations (indie record shop in Belfast's Great Victoria Street) on a voluntary basis putting covers on the singles that Terri Hooley was releasing for bands like Rudi, Protex Blue, Victim, etc in about 1978. One day he was very excited and said he'd got a tape from a band in Derry that he thought was amazing (Derry was another planet to people like us in Belfast).

At the time I was 'running' a fanzine called '9 to 5' and was playing bass in my first real band (The Androids - real: we played gigs).

Terri said, "Do you fancy interviewing them? They're coming down on Sunday." I said "Yes."

When Sunday came there was John O'Neil (later of That Petrol Emotion - one of the greatest bands ever, who were on the Pink label. I did some work for Pink at one stage, but that's quite a separate tenuous conection, and not on the map). Fergal Sharkey was also there. Later Fergal, of course, confounded the pop industry by having a solo hit or two as a glamour star of the '80s!

I can't remember much about the interview because I'm sure I asked dumb questions. Another 'hack' was there. A guy from my school called Andy something who had a fanzine called 'No Fun' - this Andy something also became famous briefly - and doesn't appear on my map. When/if I remember his name I'll post it here. He was a Dylan-type of Northern Irish singer songwriter doing OK in the '90s I think. Found it: Andy White. Looks like he's still at it.

So, The Undertone's first ever interview appeared in edition 2 of my fanzine 9 to 5 (as noted in the book "It makes you want to Spit! - an Alternative Ulster 1977-1982 - the definitive guide to punk in N. Ireland" by Sean O'Neill and Guy Trelford, published by Reekus. p.81). (The ref is for those who think I'm making all this up!)

A slight change of scene in this story... In the Belfast scene at the time we all knew everyone. A lot has been written about that time in Belfast (and at least one more book is promissed according to communication with Alex Og this month) and it all, rightly, focussed on the collective spirit. So in this atmosphere it did not seem that odd when one of The Idiots (and I can't remember which one of this good-time punk band it was) asked me if I wanted to hear the song they'd just recorded for Good Vibes. Sure. To be honest The Idiots was a perfect name for this lot. They were musically the classic 'pick up an instrument and play' punk band. It may have been Dee Wilson or Wee Gordy Owen. Anyway, rather than pulling out a Walkman (no chance even if they were invented by then) we walked round to Wizard Studios in the centre of Belfast and he asked the engineer if he would play their song! Which he did. He then asked me what I thought and whether he thought it needed a guitar solo in the middle. I thought it sounded great and I wasn't sure about the 'solo' - us punks didn't do solos did we?

Anyway before I knew it he'd asked the engineer if he could borrow a guitar. A Fender Strat was handed over (I'd never touched a Fender before!) and he said "Will you put a solo on it then?" Err, well I'll have to learn something is what I was thinking. Obviously that wasn't an option. "OK". Solo done. One take. "See you..." I don't think I, or The Idiots, ever mentioned it again. Anyway, I felt so guilty. I was a bass player in a punk band, not a guitar hero. It was their single and I'd gatecrashed their moment of glory. So Idiots, if you ever read this, apologies. It wasn't my idea, but actually: what a great track!

Anyway, the track came out on a 4 track compilation EP called 'Battle of the Bands' on Good Vibes featuring Rudi, The Outcasts, Spider, and 'Parents' by The Idiots. The cover was a typical Good Vibes folded A3 arrangement featuring a reproduction of my Undertones interview.

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In writing this I have realised that The Undertones didn't have a track on the EP (though they were meant to, but they signed to Sire at about that time on the back of Teenage Kicks coming out on Good Vibes just beforehand. I folded many a cover for that.

This Tenous Connections thing also serves to remind me: it has taken many bands to leave me behind in order to make a name for themselves - bugger. Let's not dwell on that. Let's just say it's more coincidence...

Next installment will examine another piece of the puzzle I expect, but all of a sudden I feel like I should write a song about coincidence and the people I have known... and who have known me.

Minimal songs

I’ve got bored with all the admin so I actually picked up the guitar today. I put together the simplest of songs, but that’s the way I like it. Musically it’s very close to other chord sequences I’ve put together and other rhythms and other dynamics. The tune is repetitive and simple. It has no chorus. Just an intro, a verse (that’s like the intro, but slightly different) and a linking bit.

So it doesn’t sound like much of a song. Not a lot of variety. But it’s this hypnotic, simplicity that really grabs me. Though it was just acoustic and vocal I can hear the dynamics. I can see how the song will grow as other instruments come in. Even the lyrics are repetitive. It worries me!

Either I’m really under some strange delusion or I have rediscovered the wonders of minimalistic song writing or… well anyway we’ll see.

The song’s about what do people see when they see me. Even when I see me I jump to conclusions or don’t recognise the person in the mirror. It’s like when you talk into a tape recorder and don’t fully recognise the voice. You don’t sound like you think you do.

Anyway, no big deal of a song – again it’s minimal.

Still waiting for the connections?

After the last post I started to map out the family tree but got distracted following an email conversation with a guy called Alex who wanted some information about a previous existence: Belfast 1978 and the punk scene that woke that place out of its troublesome complacency for a while. Specifically Alex was interested in a band I was in then called The Androids. My initial reaction was: 'What?! I can't remember anything about that!' but then memories started to emerge.

Anyway no more of that here - it will appear in his book.

This is the third book I've contributed to in the last year about bands that I've been involved with, but the first about The Androids!

The last message from Alex referred to the demo tape I'd mentioned and he said it might be worth looking at options for releasing it. I couldn't remember whether I had the master tape and had a look - no. But then I thought it's possibly still on a shelf at Downtown Radio in Newtownards where we recorded it. I emailed them and haven't heard back, but it would be nice to think I could get it. As Alex suggested I think there'd be a fair amount of interest amongst the people who were around at that time.

So the family tree-ing sort of got side-tracked, but I'll get back to it.

Done but not dusted

The album is finally totally recorded and mastered. That's the good news. So let's release it - now! Well, I'm discoverring it's not that simple!
OK, so I knew what was coming, but I had to get the music done, if not dusted.
Dusting - this sounds like an entry for my other band, The Sinister Cleaners, but more on that later.
Dusting - yes, this is the bit where you have do all the other stuff like get the CD pressed, cover designed, budget identified (!), and promo stuff produced and decide who's going to get the promo stuff and how.
It's the last bit of this I've been putting some hours into recently and, until now, I hadn't given it too much thought at all. In the process I've realised that there's a hell of a lot of people releasing stuff (great) and a hell of a lot of channels for reviewing and playing stuff (great), but no John Peel (terrible), and no core music press (great and terrible). The last time I was involved in releasing stuff it was fairly straight forward to get UK national airplay (John Peel on BBC Radio 1 would always play everything a few times - and we got the royalty cheques to prove it) and if you sent enough copies to the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker, and one or two to the local press, you'd be sure to end up with a fair amount of attention and even some notoriety.
As I say, things have changed. We have the NME still, but it seems more like Smash Hits to me!
There are still interesting programmes on the BBC, but God knows how you get them to take notice. I'm going to find out I suppose.
Anyway, in the midst of all this, I've realised that I'm going to have to find something that catches the eye of one or two people. And I've found it!
I am related (musically) to The Smiths, The Wedding Present, The House of Love and The Undertones. I don't just mean influences - I mean I can draw lines that show I am at the centre of a Pete Frame type Rock Family Tree. And I will do this soon to prove it.
Now, before you start thinking this guy is just name dropping, look at it from my point of view. I'm desparate to find something that will vaguely raise the interest of one or two people who might then actually listen to what I'm doing.
Well, I think I'll leave it there for the moment as it's Peter Kay night on Channel 4 tonight - this is the only television I would ever watch. And I'm really hoping I can find a family tree connection to Peter Kay to add to my family tree, so I've got to go now. But I'll pick up this story soon!

Final touches

I think the album is ready except for a final editing on the final track. This will happen this evening all being well.
The final recording really happened in about February though the last six weeks or so has been a series of revisits to make slight adjustments to the odd vocal here and there and tweaks to the levels in one or two of the mixes.
I've had about five attempts at mastering it. After a while your ears become immune to sensible decision making. So I left it alone for a few weeks.
I put it on my iPod this morning and went for a walk. Today was the first time I heard it from start to finish without interuption. I've usually listened back to it whilst out and about and every single time I've bumped into someone. Even if you don't talk your concentration is interupted. If it's not people then it's traffic or some other background noise.
I actually think I've recorded a classic album as in 'Classic'. What do I mean? I mean if you asked me to find my perfect album this would be it. That shouldn't be so surprising you might think. But when I look back at all the bands I've been in before and the various influences (internal, but mostly external) it is actually very hard to maintain an idea of pure vision. Well, I've done it on this. This is my perfect album.
As such it means I really don't give a damn about reviews or what people think. This is all I wanted to do.
However, if I don't give a damn about what people think then why release it? Dangerous thinking. I suppose I have to say I hope other people like it. I want other people to like it. But if they don't I am happy enough to accept that my perfect vision is just that - MY perfect vision.