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Following
the unmitigated disaster that was "Hamlet" THC acted quickly
in dropping their one-time favoured artistes. The original deal
required us to provide THC with 4 albums but with the band at breaking
point (Quimberry wanting me to take "Hamlet" on the road.
On ice for fuck's sake.) THC cut their significant losses and opted
for what was, but for a hasty remix of "Fuzzy Cup", a
best-of album. We had, in actuality, given THC more than the requisite
number of albums ("Hamlet" being 3-in-1) and arguing this
point allowed us to get away without recording any new material.
That, and the fact, they (THC) were all too aware how long a Ganja
Force album could take to record of late. Not like the old days
- 3 days "Piss Elegance" took us. "Hamlet" took
almost 3 years. They did kindly accept my idea for the title and
cover-art though, but misprinted the title, by inserting, unnecessarily,
the word "of".
The
band finally split - I ended up taking Quimberry to court over the
writing credits and royalties for "Fuzzy Cup". Somehow,
despite writing not one single note of that hit single, he'd managed
to gain a writing credit and therefore 50% of the royalties. I can
only imagine he'd prostrated himself on the "casting couch"
with some THC bigwig during one of my absences. I was desperate
for cash, having returned to Swindon to record my second solo album
("So Low Out In") and felt that his defence - "creative
use of triangle" - was insufficient to warrant half of my money.
At the same time I petitioned for proprietary rights to the name
"Ganja Force" (fearing Quimberry's megalomania would result
in a Ganja Force without me, its progenitor, at the helm) and won.
(I did, however, lose the royalties case, the judge obviously having
taken a back-hander, or something entirely different. Maybe Quimberry
had slipped him a mickey - it wouldn't have been the first time)
Undeterred,
Quimberry, Emma and Imogen, at Quimberry's insistence, formed "The
Ganja Boys". I say at his insistence because Emma had begun
to carve out a career in Amsterdam, providing soundtracks for Art
Movies (notably "Hot Amsterdam Nights") and had taken
up acting in said movies. And Imogen had returned to Reading where
she took a job as a high school dinner-lady. Much to the delight
of the Sixth Form, according to the local paper who discovered her
penchant for adolescents and Nazi boots. Neither of them were desperate
for the work then and once again (as per "Hamlet") Quimberry
had displayed some bizarre hold over the two girls. Both were otherwise
violently independent and not easily led. I believe, and it's a
dirty word I know (so's poo, but it happens) that he was blackmailing
them. To this day, I have my suspicions about an order of mine that
went missing of some particularly rare and pungent herb which I
knew the girls were keen to sample, and Quimberry did spend unnatural
amounts of time away from the band and me in particular. Sadly I
lack the evidence to pursue the matter as yet, although my then
dealer assured me the goods had been delivered. And it's not something
I can pursue without a firearms license (denied to me, bizarrely,
despite the numerous threats on my life during my career, by the
Wiltshire Constabulary)
It
was during recording of that illegitimate album, that Emma had been
recalled to Amsterdam, primarily as tongue-double, for a new Art
Movie. Like being shafted by an over-excited, over-sized, over-enthusiastic,
King Dong of a donkey, the news reached me of Emma's death. On the
spot I wrote "Emma (Lost Without Ya)". The next day, pride
swallowed, I journeyed to Huddersfield, where the 3 of them had
been recording, played them the demo of "Emma…" and
insisted that we reform the band.
For
a few days we were all overcome with grief. Imogen was almost inconsolable,
having lost her partner in crime, but both Jism & I, quite honourably,
took it in turn to administer the only grief-therapy we knew.
But
I'm getting ahead of myself - Emma's death galvanised us all into
recording Ganja Force's last ever album - "More Fun Than A
Barrel Of Monkeys".
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GOOD
HITS - THE VERY BEST GANJA FORCE (THCC06)