SBE
perform 'keep on trying' at the Battle of the Bands final, having been awarded
the best young band trophy at The Thieves Kitchen, Worthing March 1990
the
band, professional to the core! Adur rec 1989
After
SBE I was briefly in a few covers band and did sound for a few bands then
after reading an Ad in Melody maker I joined Elysium in October 1992
1993 . . . Chris Plack, me, Tabatha Predovich
Elysium
dissolved when Tabatha returned to the US . . . not before we'd made and
released an EP
Behaviour,
recorded and produced by ourselves, my first experience of a proper studio.
Thereafter
in January 1994 I formed Moloko Plus with Raal Harris, along with Mick Long
from Raals previous band the Amorphous Cage, we auditioned and recruited
Martin Smith on drums, and later invited Dan Flack on Keyboards to join
us, a great band was emerging but sadly never quite realised the potential
I thought it had. Taking it a bit too seriously at times probably didn't
help, and the less said about management the better!
We
did sign a record deal, of sorts, recorded and released a few singles and
went on tour, got on MTV, so we did have some success and a bloody good
laugh as well. (although I'm scared to watch the videos these days!)
a
mic on a stand plugged into a tape recorder . . . a one off full rehearsal
in my living room! the band and a 3 piece brass section, whom we'd never
met before, why the F*** we didn't record the brass in the studio is anyone's
guess.
Famous
Honey, our first single, as above, recorded and produced by Colin Fairley
It
got slated in MM as being 'Ocean colour scene rip off' , perhaps with brass
it would have been slated as being a Dexys rip off, at least it would have
shown the journalist up as have no taste as well as no ear! Its funny now,
but mattered then, I guess it marked a bit of turning point, I think we
stopped enjoying ourselves and getting better at what we did naturally,
and somehow started trying too hard to achieve some recognition or success
ultimately became more of a chore than the fun it had been.
our
2nd gig, and first with Dan playing keyboards at the Duke of Wellington
1st July 1994, raw but passionate, exciting times
The
band ended 1997 with a UK tour, and a split with our manager which gave
us a great chance to refocus, keep our heads down over winter and re-emerged
all the better. The record company then going bust, didn't help much, but
theirs wasn't the only offer we'd had so it didn't bother me overly. I guess
now the digital age has taken over it would matter even less.
Unfortunately
for various personal reasons we as a band split up soon after, so we never
gave ourselves the chance to regroup, It was hard for us all as trying to
work and pay bills was impossible with our musical commitments and mortgages/rent
don't pay themselves.
I'm
not sure what all of the rest of the guys are doing now, I'm just playing
for the sheer fun of it, Raal has a great band called Deadbeat
Descendants
but I haven't heard from any of the other guys in years.
lets face it, there's some very successful but utterly woeful bands out
there and we weren't too shabby on our day, so who knows what might have
been. Having said that I can't say I miss any of the industry side of things.
os
