KIT - Singles (1989-90)

KIT formed in late 1983 after the split of Send No Flower and established their line-up as a three-piece, featuring former SNF Lyn Sangster (a.k.a. Lin Sangster, vocals guitars, later Bad Anorak 404 ), and Jake Wakstein (drums), and the new recruit Michelle Brown (bass). Phil Luckin occasionally provided some trumpet. After the song Coast to Coast on the compilation Head over Ears, A Debris Compilation (1987),this line-up worked on the band’s first single later released by the Manchester-based label Play Hard Records run by Dave Haslam and Nathan McGough (as would KIT’s next vinyl releases):


- My Desing (1988, b/w Dangerous + Nothing In This World)


Neal Carr of the hellfire Sermons remembers the first releases by the band as follows:
‘That single (and I think a Peel session) [most probably is referring to the song Coast to Coats, neither a single nor a Peel session, ndr] introduced us to what I would describe as the warm warble of Lin Sangster's voice. She sings with a kind of passionate vibrato, her voice is unmistakably her own. Knowing so little about the history of this, I don't know what happened in the intervening years, so Kit emerged fully formed to me with My Design. That voice was back, and this time it was bedded into a much more suitable sound. The dynamics of a three piece rock setup plus occasional trumpet seemed to fit together perfectly - and to me these songs have not dated. Kit have something in common with early James - the bass is strong, the guitar tends to be light and rhythmic, there is a certain similarity in the drum styles and there is no great attempt to compensate on record for the lack of numbers in the band.’


In 1988 Nat Smith (a.k.a. Tony Smith (?)) substituted Wakstein on drums. This line-up worked on and released their second single:


- Cheatin’ My Heart (1989, plus The Bitter End b/w Trusting My Perception + I Love Her Like Mad)


Neal Carr recalls:
‘Cheatin' My Heart was the second record, and pretty popular it was too, if I remember rightly. Like a lot of Kit songs, it builds on repetition of a simple phrase, subtly rearranging the music as the song progresses. Song structures are not exactly unusual, but if you think about it, there has obviously been a hollistic approach to the development of the songs. Tracks progress. The best songs take you on a path rather than make you feel each bit lives in it's own compartment. You're not too aware of verse-chorus-verse type dynamics: the words, melody and music take you on a journey. To me, this is the antithesis of your average indie music, and well worth aspiring to.’


In 1989 Kenny Manson joined the band (also on guitar). Later the same year KIT released a Peel session while working on their first LP (Unshakeable Faith, 1989), whose release was accompanied by the band’s third single:


- Overshadowing Me (1990, b/w My Design + Dangerous)


Neal Carr:
‘Overshadowing Me, the first song on the Unshakeable Faith LP, is a great example of this [see above]. It's about some deed done that is immediately regretted, no detail of what it was is given, but for once generalising and remaining unspecific do make the theme universal. The regret builds as the song goes on.’


As to the Unshakeable Faith album, Neal X concedes:
‘This whole album is full of this stuff. Skidaddle is next up, and another universal theme (let's get out of this place) is done so well, that if you ever have had a notion of leaving this town (or anything else!) you'll empathise. The melody in the line 'it gets me every time' does get me every time - it's not some incredibly original, clever note sequence, it's just perfect for its moment. So, I don't want to go through the whole thing. Suffice to say that this is a record that I put up there with The Room in my mental secret Liverpool, and now the Hellfires are essentially the same line up, it resonates more. The measure of this album is that there are so many love and longing songs, and even this time later they sound great and touch a chord. And there's a song called Love Sick that does a smash and grab and robs Orange Juice of the best song with that title prize!’

singles a-sides (1988-90)

(see also: http://www.myspace.com/kitliverpoolband
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/sessions/1980s/1989/Nov28kit/ )

The Moderates - Yes to the Neutron Bomb (1981)

After the release of ‘Fetishes’ the Moderates reconvened in the studio to re-work on ‘Yes to the Neutron Bomb’ for a single release.

Here are Tom Gould’s recollections:
‘We were offered a contract by Greensleeves records (biggest reggae label), as ska had taken most of their customers, so they wanted to sign some ‘white pop bands’. They set up a subsidiary label called ‘Hyped Records’ for ours and a band from Birminghams’ releases , and booked us into a 24 track recording studio in London. During the session we realised that they didn’t really know what they were doing, as previously they bought finished tracks from studio’s in Jamaica. This is where we recorded the second version of ‘Yes to the Neutron Bomb’ and ‘Bus Girl’ (Bus Girl was about taking late night bus journeys in Liverpool, as there always seemed to be a young girl standing at the front of the bus talking to the driver – bus groupies?).
Our experience in the studio was awful as we also had an engineer who thought he was the greatest producer in the world, but was more of a hindrance than any help, so the recordings were pretty bad. At the end of the original ‘Yes to the Neutron Bomb’ on ‘Fetishes’, the explosion was created by four of us holding the keys down on the keyboard, which was plugged into a guitar amp with the settings for distortion, reverb, presence and volume on full, so most of the noise was feedback. On the second recording (the one you have in the directory is the Fetishes version, not the one that ended up on the single), the engineer could not reproduce it, he used a pretty weak explosion from a sound-effects record instead which sounded really crap!’

Moderates – Yes to the Neutron Bomb (b/w Bus Girl)

(The sound quality is very poor. Sorry for that.)

The Moderates - Peel Session (1981)

The story of the band has already been posted (see relevant post), though containing some inaccuracies. Here is Tom Gould’s account of his time with the band:

‘There were two distinct periods in the bands existence, the first was mainly staff members from the Everyman Bistro (bar staff, serving staff – The Everyman is a local theatre, the Bistro is located in the basement), who formed the band in response to Deaf School’s growing success. The set was full of in-jokes poking fun at local celebrities, using the likes of Dame Looney and Margie Clarke (who starred in the movie Letter to Brezhnev, and was a poet during this period championed by Anthony H. Wilson from Factory Records). In fact the track ‘I Don’t Want to Go Bald’ on the ‘Street to Street’ album featured the taxi driver who drove them to the studio playing guitar.

The second version was made up of musicians that John Brady had lined up from other Liverpool bands who had regularly played at the Everyman Bistro (he promoted a local band night on Thursdays). So this version was more ambitious than previous, the jokey songs and spots from Dame Looney and Margie Clarke were ditched and the band concentrated on more serious songwriting.

I rehearsed with half of the band for two weeks to learn the songs, and played the first gig at the Everyman Bistro (I met Bobby Carr and Martin Cooper for the first time during the soundcheck). The following week we went into the studio to record ‘Fetishes’. On its release it received favourable reviews and was chosen as the ‘Single of the Week’ in the Melody Maker. John Peel regularly played all four tracks on his Radio 1 show and a few major labels started to take an interest.

This is where it became complicated, we only had 1,000 copies pressed, so couldn’t keep up with the high demand, but if we had pressed 10,000 more the demand would have waned and we would end up with a bill for 10,000 12” singles we couldn’t sell. John Peel invited us to do a session at the BBC; the Musician’s Union had a dispute with the BBC and placed a ban on Union members undertaking live sessions for the BBC (we were all members). The Melody Maker did an interview and photo shoot with the band; but due to the Fleet Street strikes, it was shelved. So we were constantly 'in the right place at the wrong time!'

A major record company was on the verge of signing us, but a member of the decision making panel thought ‘Don’t be Silly (You Only Want Me for My Willy)’ was too sexist. We eventually signed for Greensleeves ( the reggae label). They had set up a subsidiary label called ‘Hyped Records’ and signed us and a band from Birmingham (who we never met). The company booked us into a 24 track recording studio in London to record the 'Yes to the Neutron Bomb’ single.

We went back to Liverpool, writing new songs and undertaking a lot of gigs, building up a bigger following. One was at a venue in Matthew Street to 200+, an Irish band on their first UK tour played a venue on the other side of the street to 65 people, called U2. Another was supporting John Peel at Liverpool University, where he invited us back to do the session at the BBC (the Musicians Union ban had been lifted).

We spent a week at a local studio recording demo's of eight new songs, in view of recording our next two singles. We then went down to London to record the Peel Session and after returning went back into the studio again. This time a 24 tack studio in Liverpool, where we recorded ‘Emile’ and ‘For What It’s Worth’ for the first single and 'Nightlife', 'Housewife for Life' as the second (unreleased) single. I could not get time off, so I took my guitar to work attending the studio in the night recording my parts, the band had recorded theirs during the day. Most bands don’t like working in the studio as tension between members of the group begin to manifest, then once they play a few gigs the camaraderie returns. Our biggest mistake was spending three long periods in recording studios without playing any gigs, so we hadn’t given ourselves any outlet to release the tension, which was the catalyst for us going our separate ways.’
(Tom Gould, Liverpool 2010)

The Peel Session mentioned in the text was recorded on 25/03/1981 (with Dale Griffin - former drummer of Mott the Hoople - producing and Pater Watts engineering) and broadcast on 20/04/1981. The band’s line-up included Bob Carr (guitar, violin), John Brady (vocals, keyboards), Heidi Kure (vocals), Tom Gould (guitar), Mike Pursey (bass) and John Potter (drums).


Peel Session (1981)
- Housewife For Life
- Nightlife
- What's That Sound (For What It's Worth)
- Emile


Peel (new link)


(Thanks to our friend Multihit who provided the complete version of the session)
(see also http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/sessions/1980s/1981/Mar25moderates/ )

The Relations (1980)

The Relations were a power-pop band from Birkenhead formed in 1980 by John Poole (vocals, guitar, former J-Beats, Kilk, Familiar Compound, Stone Circle, Cuddly Toys and Drugs, later Messing Scratch Band), Vick Headley (guitar), Roy Bowen (bass), Graham Pyke (a.k.a Dyke, keyboards) and Maxwell Hammer (drums). In July 1980 they released their first and only single:

Summer Romance (1980)
- Summer Romance
- One More Record

In November of the same year the b-side (One More Record) was also featured on the Liverpool compilation ‘A Trip to the Dentist’ (see relevant post).

On his myspace page, here is how John Pool recalls his time with the band:
‘My first live performance was at the age of 13 in a band called The J-Beats during the interval of a Saturday afternoon film matinee at The Gaumont, Dingle, Liverpool 1963. I went on to play The Cavern Club, Majestic Ballroom and Youth Clubs etc; at the height of the Merseybeat era 1964/65. Through the years of 1966-78, other bands followed such as The Klik, Familiar Compound Spirit, Stone Circle and Cuddly Toys encompassing R&B, psychedelic, blues, folk and indie guitar rock. In 1980 I formed studio band The Relations, specifically to record a single featuring two of my songs, Summer Romance/One More Record produced by Phil Ault for the legendary Birkenhead independent, Skeleton Records. This single sadly didn't sell loads but did pick up some favourable reviews and is now somewhat a collectors item. Around the same time, I was a member of another studio band The Drugs, formed by friend Graham Pike [Pyke] who wrote and arranged the material. Following a move to East Anglia 1981/2 and a period of relative musical inactivity, I met some new faces, got involved again and between 1987-2002 wrote, recorded and performed with the Messing Scratch Band, Bo Diddley Diddley and Bopp! playing arrangements of trad. Irish music, Folk/Blues standards and self-penned songs.’


relations

(see also: http://www.myspace.com/johnnypoole
http://www.myspace.com/grahampike
http://reocities.com/SunsetStrip/Limo/8385/r/uk80r.htm#Relations)