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The
follow-up album to 1988's "Piss Elegance" and continuing the theme
my original intention was to show Mr. Perry Como in a state of sublime
humanity. Sadly, for Mr. Como (and his vast army of suited lawyers)
he chose not to reveal this soft underbelly or indeed any other
part of his anatomy. The cover artwork then, which was intended
as inspirational in the creation and production of the album, had
to be hastily rethought when it became obvious during the Christmas
of 1988 that Mr. Como was as straight as his PR would have us believe.
Just one of the many dark hours the band had during the recording
of our second, difficult, album. The spelling of the title is deliberate,
feeling as we did, justified in pursuing our original creative goal
in showing the darker side of humanity's light entertainers. Having
financed "Piss Elegance" ourselves we were picked up by Dutch record
company THC who afforded us a sizeable advance, most of which ended
up in smoke. Fortunately help was at hand in the form of Kezzie
Hoolbanger, a long-standing acquaintance, who had just opened her
own studio in North Wales (the sublimely named Outer Yertree House).
Loathe as we were to leave the Swindon ambience we holed up there
for almost a year writing, recording etc. The etcetera being much
discussed by the typically hypocritical narrow-minded hacks masquerading
as music journalists. Those that can, do, those that can't, teach,
and those with no discernible talent whatsoever write about others
creative abilities. The band lived an almost commune-like existence
except Imogen (DeFris) who spent most of her time at another, entirely
different commune, having been found guilty of persistent malicious
phone calls to an ex-partner. Caging such a beast as Imogen, whatever
the motive, is like trying to cage a wasp. Although the sentence
was just 30 days she became severely depressed, something which
took the band by complete surprise as she was always the most outgoing
soul. The jail term and the depression limited her creative input
to just the one song, the deeply morose "Severe Narcosis" which
we wrote together over the course of several very early morning
sessions that the remainder of the band were unaware of. It is perhaps,
for the very proximity she afforded me during those sessions, that
"Narcosis" is probably my favourite song and has become a staple
of our live performances ever since. The remainder of the album
is pretty much my own work with the exceptions being "Jenny Agutter
Blew My Mind" (written following an evening of Miss Agutter's sterling
films which I and Jism watched to help alleviate some of the frustration
of recording and of being one member short during Imogen's enforced
absence. Emma added her own unique creation subsequently when she
later asked to borrow the videos too); "Bongo The Bass" (an old
Jism Quimberry track which I breathed some life into); and "On The
Nod" a musical disagreement if you will betwixt bass and triangle
indicative of the struggle between light and dark, body and soul,
deep and shallow, sleep and wake, sex and drugs and rock and roll.
The only track on the album not written by, or with, me was Emma
(Snowstorm)'s "O! Ball". This track has been the subject of many
column inches not just in awe of Emma's unique vocal talents but
in discussion of the precise meaning of the title. The discussion
can now be ended - the title is pronounced O-Bow, or given Emma's
preferred instrument Oboe. Why she chose to title the track that
way was a mystery until shortly before her untimely death when she
confided in me of an affair she had with a man from the Potteries
(that's Stoke - it's near Manchester - and apparently North Wales
is the kind of happening place people from that area like to go
to, which is how she met him) who pronounced the word "ball" as
"bow". The song then is a paean to this love, a love she kept from
the band, and me in particular, for some considerable time. Its
beauty, in hindsight, is awesome. Sales of the album worldwide were
respectable with the Dutch and the people of Papua New Guinea (an
untapped market) especially taking us into their bloodstreams. We
deliberately concentrated efforts on PNG because at the time of
the album's release the number one slot was held by none other than
Mr. Perry Como. I reasoned that if he wouldn't let us see him eating
number two, we'd take his number one and shove it right back in
his face.
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SHITFACED
& COMOTOSE (THC02)