|
|
|
 BRRRRR!!!(DGMYCD1)
Dawn Breaks
The Whistling Wind
Death To The Farce
Silent But Deadly
Morning Vicar
Seven Shades
All
songs written and produced by Moonproof. ©1989 Dygymy Records
|
| My
first solo work and not long into Ganja Force either, proving, if
proof were needed, that I was always constrained by the band from
the outset. That's not to deny my part in Ganja Force nor imply I
am not proud of our achievements. "Brrrrr!!!" was conceived as the
band members discovered themselves, and it was in this climate of
open, and often brutal hostility that the lyrics for much of the album
were written. That Ganja Force survived intact after the release of
this album would be testament to their longevity were it not for the
fact that the remaining 3 voted against me releasing it until such
time as they each had a similar project "in the can". People think
being in a band is easy, this album is the personification of not
easy, my friends.I consciously refrained from involving any member
of GF during its recording, mainly because a solo album in which any
of one's band appear is hardly solo. Thus it was that I determined
not to limit the instrumentation merely because I was not proficient
in that field. The results, as you can hear for yourself, are, if
not sublime, certainly radical. There were moments, I admit, where
I may have longed for, say, Imogen to get to grips with a particularly
hard oboe part, or for one of Emma's shrieks to pierce the wall of
bass, not to mention once absent-mindedly scoring in for Jism's other-worldly
triangle. But this was never a Ganja Force record. Indeed had the
band been present at the recordings they would surely have been stunned
at the sight of their leader clean-shaven and none the worse for drink/drugs,
and with only maybe half a dozen women, at most, to be seen. I was
intent on delivering a clean record.That was my intention, fuelling
the muse did though require some extra help. Much of this album was
written, if not on paper then in my head, long before I'd ever conceived
Ganja Force. Indeed "Seven Shades" was written around 1984 following
an altercation with a fellow reveller one New Year's Eve. Not immediately
after obviously. Said fellow reveller had underestimated my ability
to kick seven shades of shit out of him, hence the title. A lesson
to us all - we're all capable of inflicting severe injury upon one
another and just because some of us act like wimps don't assume we
won't pick up the nearest large, heavy, object and beat the living
fuck out of you. It was the anger of this song that impelled me to
produce an album of songs about what are called, often erroneously,
the negative emotions. It is, if you will, a concept album. The album
opens then with "Dawn Breaks", a semi-autobiographical tale of a relationship
that ended in acrimony (though thankfully not alimony - we weren't
married) when Dawn (she of the title) objected to my forming Ganja
Force, and in particular why I needed two girls in the band. I explained
that I wanted to get in touch with my feminine side, but she countered
that it was the getting in touch with someone else's femininity that
bothered her. There's nothing complicated about humanity and its desires
- women have what men want, she recognised that in me and decided
I could no longer have any of hers. "Silent But Deadly" stemmed from
this same relationship and her amazing ability to cut me in two without
uttering a sound. If only we'd talk about things more she'd say, three
weeks into the silent treatment, whilst I pretended not to notice
we hadn't spoken beyond day-to-day civility for that long. To be fair,
pretending wasn't that hard, I really hadn't noticed. So much hate
emanating from just one person - finding material for an album of
negativity didn't prove too hard. The remaining tracks: "The Whistling
Wind", "Death To The Farce" and "Morning Vicar" are all aimed squarely
at the single most destructive force in the universe - the Church
of England. The title for "The Whistling Wind" came to me whilst listening
to Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary" whereupon I wondered whether or
not the Archbishop of Canterbury had been spoken to thus. Then I realised
that it's Catholicism not Anglicanism that reveres the Madonna, but
still thought it'd make a bloody good title for a song. The mental
image of Robert Runcie tuning into the breeze appealed to me. "Death
To The Farce" is an amorality tale inspired by the film "Star Wars"
in which good triumphs over evil. No such triumph in my version, rather
things perpetuate as they are until one or all of us dies. And "Morning
Vicar" is a vicious attack on the sheer niceness of the Anglican clergy,
at least with a Catholic priest you'd probably find him in a boozer,
or flirting with the street ladies. (I'm not into the kiddy-fiddlers
though - no way, if you can't get your kicks with the chicks, just
have a wank!). But the Anglicans? Coffee mornings, bring and buy sales,
daytrips with the old folks to the seaside. Have they no soul? I made
the album available, eventually, by mail-order only, wanting to truly
get to know my fans. Sadly I wasted several months in correspondence
with a rather deranged vicar from Hampshire who assumed we'd met before
and who still didn't buy the album. Sales did pick up after Ganja
Force's "Drinking From The Fuzzycup" went ballistic internationally
though, and the internet over the last 2 or 3 years has been responsible
for further sales. I still have a few copies left if you're interested,
as I chose not to use the same distribution deal as Ganja Force wanting
to keep the two projects very much separate. |
|
