The Lawnmower (1981-1987)

The Lawnmower formed in 1981 as an impromptu band, put together by Roger Eagle and consisting of the duo Alan Peters (vocals, trumpet, harmonica, former Almost Blues, Supercharge, Opposition, 29th & Dearborn, Love Ponies, Beach Bastards, Faction) and Mick Hucknall (vocals, harmonica, former Frantic Elevators, later Simply Red). The band quickly evolved by the inclusion of former Accelerators Martin ‘Yorker’ Smith (guitars) and Tony Doyle (bass, later Adams Family, Cat Scratch Fever), and former The English / Z Victor 1, Tony Dalman (a.k.a. Tony Dalman, drums, percussion), further extended in 1983 with the addition of former The Systems Mike Nelson (sax). In 1984 Smith quit and was replaced by Kenny Roberts (former Opposition, 29th & Dearborn). With the help of George Newport (keyboards) and Angie Sammons (vocals), this line-up released the band’s debut release, a 7 track mini LP:

The Cat (1985)

- The Cat

- South American Cousin

- Jumpin’ High

- The Boys Are back in Town

- Smokin’ Joe

- Cry Cry Cry

- Hit the Road Jack

As to the origin of the band, Alan Peters recalls: ‘We were recording an album for Mick Hucknall’s band The Frantic Elevators, and he wanted the sound of Adam’s club. Roger [Eagle of Eric’s] put Bo Diddley on at Adam’s Club. […] Roger was working under the name of ‘Jukebox Johnson’, which he often did when he DJ-ed. He said he could do with a break and asked me and Mick Hucknall to get up [on stage] − just the two of us, no backing. Mick did ‘Gin House’ with me on harmonica and I did ‘Got My Mojo Working’with Mick playing harmonica. It went down well, a great night.

‘We continued recording Frantic Elevators live at Adam’s Club, and later I saw a poster on the wall that said ‘The Lawnmower’ and I asked Roger who the band was. He said ‘That’s you and Mick! You’ve got ten days to get a few musicians together!’ So we did, and The Lawnmower evolved. Originally the rhythm section had a stand-up drummer, Tony Dalman, and we had Tony Doyle on double-bass, Kenny Roberts on guitar, and Mike Nelson on tenor sax. Roger gave us the namr − it comes from a country music track, it’s got a line that goes ‘She’s got ways like a mowing machine / she’s known as The Lawnmower!’’(Florek / Whelan, Liverpool Eric’s, p. 74)

Mick Hucknall remembers: ‘As the Frantic Elevators were fizzling out, The Lawnmower was a way of getting me to get out and start playing with another band − that was with Alan Peters, and Martin on guitar, and Tony Doyle on double bass who I thought was a really good musician, and we initially approached him to play bass with Simply Red. […] As The Lawnmower we opened for Bo Diddley, Junior Walker and the Allstars, Sonny Terry and Brownie Maghee.’(Florek / Whelan, Liverpool Eric’s, p. 29-30)

lawnmower

In 1987 the band released the single Thin Man (you can listen to it here , thanks to Napomm).

( see also here )

The Motion Pictures (1982-84)

The Motion Pictures original line-up − Steve Emberon (vocals, bass former The Next), Gordon Longsworth (guitars, vocals, later Ponderosa Glee Boys, Foundation, Visual Aids), Chris Edwards (keyboards) and Tony Mckenna (drums, later Visual Aids, The English) − changed in 1982 when Longsworth and Mckenna quit to join the Visual Aids, and were replaced respectively by Lee Marles (guitars, former Accelerators) and by Ray Martin (a.k.a. Roy Martin), first, and Mark Armstrong, in late 1983, on drums. Jeff Kelly (bass) and Ray Jones (percussion) occasionally helped the band during sessions. Despite this personnel, the band’s success was on the decline. Here is how NME reviwed one of the band’s last gigs: ‘Motion Pictures have gaps in their chests where their hearts used to be. The reek of profit margins and steady careers pervades their music which seems to have been exorcised of all original identity, leaving only a flabby, anaemic exterior. The pieces have been photo-fitted together but do not make up an organic whole. In attempting to streamline and commercialise their sound they’ve inadvertently thrown the baby out with the bathwater’ (Robert Scott, 19 May 1984).

In 1984 Motion Pictures finally disbanded. Chris Edwards formed Manteau (with Brian Renwick, Bernie Daracott, Alan Pendergast), Lee Marles formed the studio band Funkmeister, and in 1985 Steve Emberton joined Dreamtime (with Paul Skillen).

Some Emberton/Longsworth-penned numbers were to appear on various synth-pop compilations, namely:

- Here to Eternity

- When Time Stood Still

- Daydream Domestic

Other audio material can be found on the band’s myspace page here .

motion pictures (comp)

(see also http://www.popmusic4synch.com/music/index.php?search_artist_id=58 )

The Motion Pictures (1978-1981)

The Motion Pictures was a powerpop band formed in 1978 by Steve Emberon (vocals, bass former The Next), Gordon Longsworth (guitars, vocals, later Ponderosa Glee Boys, Foundation, Visual Aids), Chris Edwards (keyboards) and Tony Mckenna (drums, later Visual Aids, The English). This line-up recorded the first single in October 1980:

Twisted Avenues (1980)

- Twisted Avenues

- Unknown Quantity

A few months later a second single followed:

Jon (1981)

- Jon

- Audio Scan

Boosted by the positive reaction of both the public and the music press the Motion Pictures went to New York for recording sessions and TV interviews. The press was still enthusiastic about the band when they returned. Here is how Rolling Thunder (Dec. 1982) welcomed their return: ‘After ten months in the doldrums, former Liverpool favourites Motion Pictures are once again playing live gigs on Merseyside […]. However do not expect to hear the commercial sounds they were producing more than twelve months ago. Their music and style has changed considerably since their disappointing visit to New York earlier this year. Inspirational vocalist Steve Emberton still writes most of the material, with a little help from talented keyboard player Chris ‘Look, no synths’ Edwards. The band’s music has matured noticeably and Steve quotes Hall & Oates, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, Olivia Newton-John and the Rolling Stones as his main influence […] Motion Pictures are in a class of their own. It should not be too long before they get the recognition they undoubtedly deserve.’

motion pictures

(see also: http://www.myspace.com/motionpicturestheliverpoolgroup )

The Accelerators (1977-81)

The Accelerators were formed by Chris Martin (vocals, later Adams Family), Martin ‘Yarker’ Smith (guitar) (later Lawnmower), Kathy Freeman (a.k.a. Kathy Apathy, vocals, guitars, keyboards, later of the Innocents, Kathy-X, Joyride), Brian ‘Damage’ Harcombe (drums) (former Shop Soiled, Filibuster, Death Kit, Restless – with 4-part vocal harmony front line – two girl singers, a bass player who sang and a guitarist who sang, and they wrote their own material”, later Adams Family), and Graham Marsh (bass) very early on replaced by Tony Doyle (later Lawnmower, Adams Family, Cat Scratch Fever).

Freeman, Smith (who were an item at the time) and Martin were already in the Biggles Blues Band, playing blues-rock classics such as Dust My Broom, Johnny B. Goode, Roll over Beethoven, and got Harcombe to gig with them. When punk came around Harcombe decided to quit.

Harcombe recalls: ‘I’d seen the Clash, I’d cut my hair off, and I said ‘They are my idea of a blues band in 1977…’ Kathy had also listened to Clash stuff, and she’d written a song called Street Kids, and that made Chris the singer think ‘Oh, I’ll write a song.’ And he did do. And Anyway, I left the band. Next day or a day later, this amazing thing happened. Kathy and Martin and Chris came round to ours, they’d sat and talked into the night, and […] said ‘We’ve decided to come with you Bri’ […] We ended up as a 8 piece band – 5 musicians and 3 crew [Mike Walker (sound, driver), Chris Bray (backline, managing director at Spiv Records, the band’s record company) and Sandra (drum technician)]. Everyone in the band had to do more than their one job. It’s not logical, but I got the job of knowing about frequencies and impedances and how does the P.A. work. Kathy got the job of booking the gigs. She made the phone calls, she posted off the tapes, sent out flyers, all that end of things.’

As to the recruitment of Doyle on bass duties, Harcombe recalls: ‘We had a bass player for a few months [Graham Marsh], he was a student, we should have known better. He couldn’t handle it. We played Blackpool, and admittedly there was a big fight, it had ended in a bloodbath, and we had to drive home withy no windscreen in the van… we got home and Graham said he didn’t want to play any more. We put adverts around, in Probe and the NME, ‘Accelerators need a bass player, come down Tuesday night…’ Tuesday night, there’s a queue down the road where we rehearsed. We went through all these people, who could play really well… […] Then this young lad turned up, Tony Doyle, he was 17. […] Tony, he says ‘I’ve written this…’ and it was Reason for Treason. […] So he was in.’

This line-up released a five-track demotape (Have You Been Accelerated?) in April 1979 (Radio Blues / Hype Machine / Western Countries / Space Patrol / Broken Promises), and in September of the same year they appeared on the ‘Street to Street’ Compilation with the number ‘Radio Blues’.

Later the same year the Accelerators released their firs E.P.

Reason for Treason (1979)

a. Popguns And Green Latern

a. Liberate The Night

a. Broken Promises

b. Reason For Treason

b. Telepathic Romance

b. This Is Your Life

Harcombe: ‘ We recorded half of it at Open Eye, it was Noddy Knowler who was engineering, the equipment was abysmal, but it had a four-track sound, and we liked that. We also booked into Amazon in Kirkby. We recorded some tracks in there, and we got a brilliant record-quality sound. So one side is 4-track Open Eye, and the other side is Amazon’

The Accelerators gigged extensively in and around Liverpool. In 1979 Smith quit and was replaced by Lee Marles (later Motion Pictures, Funk-Meister).

In early 1980 Freeman was becoming increasingly tired, especially with the managing of the band.

‘Eventually the management side of it started to kill her, and this is horrible, but we didn’t notice… and one day she just said ‘I can’t do this any more.’ […] So everything stopped. Kathy, she was the sound of the Accelerators, she played rhythm guitar like a machine gun. She was the musical soul of the Accelerators. And she wrote at least a third of the great numbers we did. It was only when she’d had enough, that the band finished. It’s only when everything stops, that you realise you are totally exhausted.’

‘The Accelerators were going for four years, the last gig was July 4^th, 1981 [at the Masonic]. We did our current set, and also played a lot of the original songs. We’d had over 200 songs. That night, we all came back to ours to sit around, and that night the Toxteth riots started and the Rialto burned down.’

After the split-up Lee Marles joined the Motion Pictues, Tony Doyle re-joined Martin Smith in the Lawnmower and Kathy Freeman joined the London-based The Innocents.

accelerators

(All quotations from Florek / Whelan, Liverpool Eric’s, 334-341)