Dark Heart (1978-80)

In 1978 Killerwatt (Steve Charnock, guitar, Greg McGraw, bass, Phil Rice, guitars, Geoff Stalford, drums, later Flashpoint) added a new vocalist, Keith Blagden. With the arrival of Bagden many more original songs were written, with a significantly different style.

Rice recalls: ‘To save me from prog-rock Hades, my trendy chum, God bless Keith Bladgen, took me to see Joy Division. Crap instruments, but a band with such stark fury and passion that the vision was clear.’

The band recorded some songs at the Wallesey Sound Studio in 1978, among which Observations Made (in the folder). About the song Rice recalls: ‘The weirdy-stark style was Keith`s influence, he later confessed he stole, lyrically, from Sartre...we just thought he was clever!’

dark heart – observation made

(see also http://www.archive.org/details/DarkHeart_68 )

Killerwatt (1977-78)

Killerwat were formed in 1977 by Steve Charnock (guitar) and Greg McGraw (bass). When they advertised for a drummer and a second guitar they had already written some original songs, such as Arnie the Aardvark (later re-styled in dub fashion for a Rock Against the Ringroad gig at the Masonic) and Hector and the Haemorrhoids (apparently with a recognizable Hawkwind vibe). Phil Rice (guitars) and Geoff Stalford (a.k.a. Stinkfoot [as in the Frank Zappa's song], drums, later Flashpoint) replied to the add and completed the line-up. Rice recalls: ‘The name [Killerwatt] was meant to pun on death and power’.

The band debuted at the Havana club (July 1978) supporting the Mutants, and did various gigs around Merseyside between 76 and 78, such as The Mayflower, The Sportsman The Dale in Wallasey and The Moonstone in the Precinct, eventually making it at Eric’s in 1978 supporting Dalek I Love You.


As to the band’s live activity, Stalford adds:

‘Other places we played were The Joiners Arms in the heart of Chorley (Lancashire), The Duke Of Wellington Pub high on a hill in Congleton (Cheshire), The Bull's Head in Little Sutton (Wirral) and various venues that I'm struggling to remember in Kirkby (Merseyside), Burscough (Lancashire) and the Cherry Tree in Runcorn that we didn’t make it to. […] We played The Moonstone in St John Precinct (Liverpool city centre) but also appeared in the Sportsman and Star & Garter which were situated in the same precinct. Notably the Sportsman was famous for the real sports car set in the ceiling and we always wondered when it would fall down - but thankfully it never did!’

Killerwatt were first given airwaves by Phil Easton of Radio City. Stalford adds: ‘We got to know a famous local pirate radio DJ called Rick Dane (R.I.P) who would give us many a mention on Radio Jackie North rock station and would come to see us. Phil Easton (RIP) would also mention us regularly on the local 'Gig Guide' on Radio City’

Stalford describes the band’s music as follows: ‘Although we didn’t look the part with long hair etc., we played some noisy, raunchy, punky, MC5 style R’n’R which also included tracks by Eddie & The Hot Rods, Stranglers, Motorhead & occ. Quo – I mean what a combination!’. In 1978 Killerwatt changed their name to Dark Heart.

killerwatt

(Thanks to our friend Phil Rice [philrice60@hotmail.com] for the info)

Troy Tate - Lifeline (1982)

In January 1982 Troy Tate, still with the Teardrop Explodes, released his second single:

Lifeline (1982)
- Lifeline (Hold on to That)
- Kamikaze
- Thomas (Moonbase version)

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NME dismissed the release follows:
‘Troy Teardrop loks in no mind to neglect his solo sideline. Pity that this ‘interesting’ cut does nothing much to establish an identity for him. Better is b-side ‘Thomas’, a version of his last and first solo single’ (NME, Feb. 27, 1982).

Tate talked about the single and much more in an interview with Ray Brittlewink of Merseysound (November 1981).

‘Q. What’s the title of the next single you have worked on and who plays on it?
‘A. The A-side is Lifeline and the b-side will be Kamkazzi (sic) – on those sessions were Rolo (Wild Swans), Dave Balfe, and a girl called Virginia Ashley (sic, a.k.a. Virginia Astley) who played on Townsend’s latest LP, she has done some singing on that. And I’ve got Joe Musker on the b-side – he would have been on the a-side but he couldn’t make it. So we used Ally Patterson from TV21 who was at Rockfield Studios at the time, and we were friends and liked what he had done with TV21, and he and I had been in Shake together as well, so it seemed pointless ringing Pete Kershew up who I usually work with to come down when Ally could do the job, plus we had planned to do a single together for a long time anyway, and now was our chance. […]

‘Q. If you wouldn’t have joined Teardrop what do you think you would have been doing now?
‘A. I would have been doing my own stuff, I think, and formed a band around that. Because there aren’t that many bands that I would like to join really and there isn’t that much choice when you think about it. And it’s just that everything’s gone well, and this year’s been like a dream come true. […]

‘Q. Is ‘Thomas’ about a certain person or just fictitious?
‘A. No. It’s not about anyone in particular that I know. I suppose it could be about friends but also about your own self, just how fate sets you up in certain situations. […] I wanted a short story line for it which it is. And again it was interesting to use someone different. Like in Teardrop you all rehearse together and you know everything but when you get someone who doesn’t know the songs it’s harder but more exciting. See, I can do that because I do one thing with Teardrop which I enjoy and then I do my own stuff and experiment with other people and I feel lucky in that respect.

‘Q. Do you find working with people you know better than with someone new?
‘A. No, if I had the time I would like to use all different musicians. Like I don’t like starting with a set idea about a song anyway and stick to saying from the start it[‘s] going to be like this or that. Like with ‘Thomas’, that was called Missile Time before I changed it.

‘Q. Were you disappointed over Thomas not being more of a success?
‘A. I wasn’t say disappointed over it not getting a chart entry. I was more fed up that it didn’t get any radio play, because we thought it was a good record, and the things that I have done say with Teardrop, TV21 and Shake had all done OK, and I thought this would. Mind you there is the possibility everyone thought it was shit so they didn’t play it.

‘Q. What are your plans for an album and solo dates?
‘A. Well I would like to do them but, like the single, I would do it when say I have something to say and the time. Because like next we’re doing the Teardrop LP and maybe some dates, then I wouldn’t mind two weeks off and stop having so much fun’ […]

‘Q. Who’s your main influence?
‘A. John Lennon and anyone else who’s been good. I know Lennon is an obvious answer, but he had a gutsy and intelligent way about him. I don’t like anything too bland.

‘Q. What do you think of Liverpool and the so-called scene?
‘A. It’s great the people are so alive and open about things, and even if people don’t like you they say well fuck you. And I love the girls here and everyone has their own different thing. Even when people are depressed here they have time to laugh, like where I cam from, Yorkshire. I love London, but here things are on a smaller scale so you can get around quicker like when I lived in Edinburgh.’

(Merseysound #19, November 1981)


Lifeline can be found here (thanks to our friends at fade2gray)

Troy Tate - Thomas (1981)

While still playing guitar with the Teardrop Explodes, Troy Tate released his first single as a solo artist in June 1981.

Thomas (1981)
- Thomas
- London’s Swinging

Sounds welcomed the release with the following article:

‘Pre-employ in the Teardrop camp and post the decline of Shake, Troy has drifted from the glamorous environs of the music biz into labours of a less salubrious nature. By day assembling on a factory production line and by night and weekends in a restaurant kitchen hidden behind a sky bound stack of dirty dishes discarded by the hunger-mad, food crazy diners in their quest for appetite satiation. In the few spare hours that this busy life of toil and tedium offered Troy was committing to tape demos of self-penned material. This action resulted in a publishing agreement with Warner Bros and the in-the-racks-now-pop-kids single 'Thomas' with the rear graced by 'London's Swinging' on Why Fi c/o RCA (sleeve designed by the beautifully titled Pablo Cuckoo).

'Thomas' sets off in a broody fashion, in some ways akin to a slow burning John Cale ballad. Troy's voice being well up in the mix makes it necessary to raise sound levels to allow the delicacies of the masked staccato strumming and the discreet build-up to the marching beat that underlays the chorus to emerge and fully maximise listening pleasure.

"It was recorded on an eight-track machine in the bedroom of Phil Chapman. There was no room for a drum kit in there so they were added separately just before I left for America.
"Now there's some hilarious reviews saying it's over produced. It was edited the day before we did 'Treason' for Top Of The Pops and the artwork done literally just an hour before the programme."

‘Lyrically 'Thomas' could, given the lightest of casual hearings, be dismissed as just another well-meaning but dreary anti-war tirade. But let the artiste enlighten:

"It's basically about the way events take over people. I meet people I used to play in groups with and now they're sales reps or whatever, not that there's anything wrong with being a sales rep but 'Thomas' is a twist on the way fate can push people into situations they didn't want.
"On my mind too was that that is the way an army mobilisation can happen. If they're not careful everyone could be in the army if the government and/or world events dictate it.
"The song covers this in a slightly off-centre way. I didn't want to just sing 'Oh, I hate war'. The line 'the train's on time' comes from the title of a story by Heinrich Boll, written during the war about the way people get sucked into it in quite arbitrary fashion. 'It's like watching war films when you're a kid and before you know it you're out there fighting in Northern Ireland or Poland and it's nothing to do with you.
"In some ways it's like the music business too. Like having the hit single and selling out all the gigs, we never expected that to happen. It's taken two months for that to start to sink in.
"One gig I was watching the Delmontes (UK tour support), I was tired and a bit out of it and I seriously wondered who the main band were. You suddenly think God! All these people are coming to see us!"

‘The not-to-be missed flip, 'London's Swinging' bursts out with an Iggy/Bowie style raunch, heavy duty sustained guitar leading the cut and thrust form start to finish. These grooves are made doubly dangerous by the oft-used refrain which fairly bulldozes its way to the cranium.

"That one's partly autobiographical. When the economy is bad everything is down to a minimum and people think I've got a job. Get some money and get ripped on Friday night and don't give a shit. People aren’t grabbing things and changing them any more.
"There's the comparison with the Swinging London of the sixties. Nowadays London isn't really part of England anymore and the swinging is from a yard arm.
"It's partly a tongue-in-cheek rock and roll song as well the ‘Johnny' in it has been in every rock and roll song ever written. It's like a package and I do like the idea of rock being disposable, you can take it seriously and throw it away.
"It's not like religion or the government, rock and roll keeps changing and rock and roll is bananas and that’s why I love it."

‘Prolonged globe-trotting, rather than sapping energies, has fuelled and strengthened Troy's zest for existence. Pausing only for a brief week-long rest, he's recording further personal compositions in readiness for a future follow-up RCA forty-five.

‘Strings still buzzing, he remains studio bound for the making of the second Teardrop LP, the material on which will be publicly unveiled on a September scheduled Euro-tour. Any possible unfilled studio seconds will find Troy crawling round to face the mixing desk, hopefully producing (past credits include TV21) Birmingham's Pinkies. Does he never relax?

"It's important to do things, not just talk about them. I don't want to sit around on my arse. The Teardrop Explodes is a very positive thing, a real buzz gets across to the audience and it encourages them to do things for themselves. It's a slightly different angle on the punk thing. Be creative and go out and take life. Don't let anybody give you any shit.
"I went to see James Brown at the Lone Star Club in New York. A legend just ten feet away from me on a tiny stage, doing the splits and jumping up and down and after a heart attack. It was a great inspiration seeing someone like that, you know you’ve just got to keep going.
"If there is anybody reading this (!) and they really believe in something and really want to do it, then they will do it."

(Sounds, August 1981)



Thomas can be found here (thanks to our friends at fade2gray)



(see also: http://micksinclair.com/sounds/troy.html )