Surreal Estate - Midas Touch (1985)

Surreal Estate formed in 1984 when Bob Carr (guitars, former Those Naughty Lumps, Tontrix, Moderates) joined John Potter (keyboards, vocals). The duo recorded and released their first single in June 1985, with (what the press defined as) a distinctive ‘new psychedelia’ guitar sound.

Midas Touch (1985)
A1. Midas Touch
A2. Incidentally
B1. The Messenger
B2. Inciclub

The single features also Marjie Mayers (vocals), and Bunnymen Will Sergeant (guitars) and Les Pattinson (bass).
In 1986 Carr quit and the band with a new line-up (featuring, besides Potter, Rob Eagle on guitars, Anthony Wilding on bass, Peter Higgins on keyboard, and Alan McLaughlin on drums) released another single (Curtain Call b/w Without + Peppermint And Ivory Towers)

surreal estate - midas

That Volcano – Demos (1983)

That Volcano was a Kirkby electronic band formed around 1982 when Gary Williams (keyboards, drum machine, later Secluded Places), Tony O'Shaughnessy (Keyboards, Guitar) and Paul Cassidy (Keyboards), all in Penulitmate Vehicle (1981-82), were joined by Paul Beckett (Vocals, later Lunjay Blue Armey, U.S. Companion, Push Push) and John Blackhurst (Guitars). After a short period as Radio Blue (under whose name the band won the 1983 edition o the Battle of the Bands) the group settled for That Volcano. In the same year That Volcano recorded a couple of demos:

First Demo (1983):
- The Brighter Side of Life
- Read the Writing
- What Would You Do
- Too Late

Pauline Alliston, Paul Beckett's cousin, can be heard on backing vocals.

Second Demo (1983):
- Recently
- Win Win
(plus other two tracks)

By the end of the year Paul Cassidy was made to quit the band, and in December 1983 That Volcan split.

Gary Williams (see http://www.myspace.com/thatvolcano):

‘It all started in January 1981 with me doing a multi-layered recording, bouncing tracks between one tape recorder and another to build up a wall of sound. Instrumentation included a vase, a 'pong' tv game, a set of springs, some knitting needles as drum-sticks etc. The resulting cacophony was entitled 'I'm a membrane', and I was ever so proud! I played it to Tony O'shaughnessy, who lived around the corner, and within days, we'd formed a band called 'Penultimate Vehicle'!

'Most of 1981 saw us building our arsenal of instruments, including a casio VL1. Tony already had a stylophone and a church organ which you had to pump with your feet so he was well ahead of the game! By January 1982, we had expanded to three members, including Paul Cassidy. Paul was approached entirely on the basis of the fact that he bought NME and liked Fad Gadget. Me, Tony and Paul had all gone into debt (or made our parents go into debt) to buy synthesisers - Yamaha, Roland and Korg respectively. We also had the cheapest little drum machine that money could buy.

'We were ready for our first and last gig as Penultimate Vehicle, with me on vocals. This took place at a friend, Davo's house, as part of his 16th birthday party. It was just us, and another friend's band called The Atoms playing. Common consensus was that the music held at least some promise, while the vocals were appalling (the tape of the gig still exists, under lock and key. You can hear people laughing and making cat noises as I sing with a style generally written off as 'sounding like mooncat').

'The gig led to a review, and soon we had recruited my classmate Paul Beckett as frontman, and John Blackhurst to guitar. Anyway, for what its worth, the full line up of Paul Beckett on Vocals, Tony O'Shaughnessy, me and Paul Cassidy ALL on keyboards, and John Blackhurst on guitar then spent the best part of a year writing songs and rehearsing songs and not doing much else.

'Come the spring of 1983, we finally felt we had a set of songs we were reasonably confident with, so we played our first gig, which, as it happens was a battle of the bands at the local school fete. I can't really remember much about the other bands beyond the fact that one of them was called Mojo Filter. By this time we had changed our name to the very shortlived 'Radio Blue'. We won the competition, with the bands who lost questioning the decision of the sole judge (Kevin Perkes), as he was a friend of ours!

'Fired up by this win, we booked ourselves into the 'Abbey Green' 16 track recording studios in Warrington. Why Warrington? I have no idea. Liverpool was bursting at the seams with recording studios and rehearsal rooms at the time. I suppose it felt like, as it was just for one weekend, it made little difference. We all chipped in £25 each for a two day session, which covered the recording and mixing of […] four. The girl on the tape was Pauline Alliston, who was Paul Beckett's cousin.

'We were very happy with the results[…] and within weeks were on the train to London, to tout it around the record companies. Naturally, we were met with general indifference from the more fashionable labels, but London Records and EMI said they wanted to hear more. With this information under our belt, we got back in touch with Abbey Green, who immediately offered to manage us, serving up as much recording studio time as we could use to record a heavyweight follow-up to the first demo. So we would get phone calls telling us the studio was free, did we fancy using the studio? Invariably, my dad would be pressed into service, driving us up the motorway to Warrington, where we would then spend 36 very happy hours making cups of coffee, drinking beer, and generally noodling around.

'This went on for three months! At the end of which we had a tape with four new songs [among which 'Recently' and 'Win Win'] that bore no resemblance to the band we were or had been. This demo again got taken around the record companies, meeting with hostility this time! London records simply wanted to know 'What happened?' Back to the drawing board.

'It was about this time that we took our very worst decision, when we kicked Paul Cassidy out of the band. Why? Because he and singer Paul were having too much fun! We felt distracted, and wanted to ensure we could focus on the music.

'Looking back, it was a big shame that we had lost sight of the fact that all this was supposed to be fun. Abbey Green thought that we needed to build our following and put ourselves on the map with a big, showcase show. Again, our general myopic view of the world meant that we spurned Liverpool, instead deciding to hire Kirkby's Civic Suite, with a capacity of about 600! We should really have been playing little pubs around town to build an audience, but oh! no! we had to be different. So we then spent another six weeks in the studio, recording backing tapes for the gig. Basically, all the drum machine and basslines were put onto a 4 track fostex, which would then stand proudly centre stage during the gig. We were only three years or four years behind OMD and Human League in doing this, but that didn't put us off.

'So 3rd December 1983 saw us play this massive gig in Kirkby. We had an audience of about 400 people - there wasn't much to do in Kirkby of a Thursday night, if at all. Most people were there for the promised disco I am sure. Anyway, it all went reasonably well, and we convinced ourselves we were popstars. Within three weeks we had split up.'

Tracks from the band’s two demos can be found at the band’s myspace page here

The Tempest - The singles (1985-86)

The Tempest was a five-piece formed by Mike Sheerin in 1984 including Lyn Smith (vocals), Ian Finney (guitars), Stuart Dunning (bass) and Steve Dolder (drums, former Prefab Sprout).

This is how Jamming described the band:
‘The Tempest hardly comply with the dictionary definition of their name – violent, stormy, agitated. The supremely melodic, almost whimsical qualities of their music seems more in tune with that Shakespeare play from which ‘tis rumoured they drew their inspiration. There’s nothing ordinary about this Liverpool band – intent on garnering a reputation for producing pleasing tunes with acoustic instruments rather than soul-less static synths.
‘However conventional and dull this may sound, The Tempest’s frontman and songwriter Mike Sheerin has a flair for songwriting comparative to Morrissey and Lloyd Cole but with added optimism and energy. It was this innate talent which probably contributed to the band’s association with Glenn Tilbrook [from Squeeze, ndt] who produced their debut single ‘Always the Same’ and their new release ‘Bluebelle’ […]. The connection extends to The Tempest joining the Squeeze tour in October [1985].
Meeting Mike is an experience which is impossible to eradicate from te memory. Resembling a younger version of Leonard Rossiter à la Rigsby, the similar characteristics are apparent, as he hurtles through conversation, spewing out philosophical reflections and silly anecdotes in the same breath. Underneath his zany humour and subtle sarcasm lies an astute mind ready to slide into overdrive. […]
‘“I want to get as much fame as possibly as I can but not fortune or adulation, critical acclaim. I want to be massively famous and on everyone’s lips so that when I open my gob – they will listen. It’s merely a vehicle for something bigger and better”. […]
‘The first single ‘ Always the Same’ conveyed the futility of our existence – in both our lives and loves and echoes that old saying which is passed on from generation to generation. Coming from Mike, this perception is quite surprising as he appears such a spirited and idealistic person.
‘Once he becomes animated, his imagination tends to take him over and the rest of the band seem to be forgotten. Bu however strong willed and eager he may seem, it will still take the efforts of all five members of the Tempest to put them on the path to success. Something which Mike readily acknowledges.
‘“We’re five individuals – all with something different to offer. I’ve listened to bands who’ve signed for huge amounts of money and they can’s even play their guitars properly. The only trouble with us is that we’re too different – there’s nothing simple for people to latch onto”’. (Jamming, October 1985)

The Tempest released four singles, starting from April 1985:

Always The Same (1985)
- Always The Same
(b/w Love In The Winter Time)

Bluebelle (1985)
- Bluebelle
(b/w I Want To Live)

Didn't We Have A Nice Time? (1986)
- Didn't We Have A Nice Time?
(b/w The Physical Act)

Andrea Miller, reviewing the third single in NME (24 May 1986) wrote:
‘ Not many people write three-minute throw-away pop songs these days. […] Even fewer write three-minute throw-away pop songs about not being afraid of dying, and fewer still would intimate to any journalist that their purpose in this business (never mind this planet) is a good deal larger than being a popstar. […]
‘But then only The Tempest has Mike Sheerin, who’d cringe at being called a typical Liverpudlian but whose motor mouth, flights of wild fancy and insane humour could convince you he is. He is intense and intensely naïve, truly believing that pop songs can change the world and he is just the chap to do it. Sheering has a Tin Pal Alley attitude to music, backed up with a desperate need to get in the chart – skating the switchblade between pap compromise and pop credibility, between being utterly meaningless and having, as he would put it, ‘A Message’.
‘Yet the guy is probably not as crazy as I think he is. Glen Tilbrook has been convinced enough of Sheerin’s talent to stake his reputation on it and produce their yet-to-be-released album and all three of their singles to date: a sparkling little song, ‘Always the Same’, the rather disappointing ‘Bluebell’ [sic], and their current stab at the chart, ‘Didn't We Have A Nice Time?’ – a Country and Western-type number which sounds, in true Tempest style, utterly catchy and immediate. The lyrics though are a little different.
“‘Didn't We Have A Nice Time?’ is vaguely related to the reincarnation, not saying that it happens, but that if you’re going to have fun to make sure you don’t hurt anyone,” Sheering says. “The song says that we’re going to die but don’t fear death – don’t reminisce about mistakes because then we’d be frightened to do anything and we’d all be living in the same way. Try something, but not anything to hurt somebody.”
‘That said, ‘Didn't We Have A Nice Time?’ has more than a social conscience in its favours – a bustling, boppy little number that seems predestined to be played between the news and ‘First Love’.’

Although a self title album was recorded for Magnet in 1986, and produced by Tilbrook, it was never released. The band released a fourth single instead:

Lazy Sunday (1986)
- Lazy Sunday
(b/w You’ve Always Got Something to Say)

After the single, and after being dropped by Magnet, the band split up.

tempest

Roy White (1985-86)

Roy White began his career in music in 1977 when he co-founded Berlin with Johnny ‘Riff’ Reynolds (guitar, later 3D), James Mealy (bass), Gerry Garland (sax, both later Victims of Romance, Bamboo Fringe), and Roy Banks. When Banks left and was replaced by Brian Rawlins (later Liverpool Express, 3D, Keep it Dark) the band changed the name to Fun. This ‘progressive rockband’ had one track (I Heard You Called My Name) released on the compilation Street to Street Vol. 1 in 1978 (see relevant post). In 1979 Fun became Victims of Romance, as Reynolds left to join 3D and Steve Torch and Hambi (former Tontrix) were added to the line-up. In 1980 members of Victims of Romance went their separate ways, whereas White and Torch collaborated with Jayne Casey (former Big in Japan , later Pink Industry) in the Pink Military (White and Torch are among the personnel playing on the Pink Military’s Blood and Lipstick Ep, Sept. 1979, see relevant post).In 1980 Roy White and Steve Torch’s partnership got established and the duo began to release a series between 1980 to 1984.
In 1985 the due split and Roy White started working as a solo artist (mainly with the support of the same session musician who had worked with White and Torch, namely Jim Mealy (guitars), David Levy (bass), Charlie Morgan (drums), Jackie Robinson (a.k.a. Jaq Robinson, vocals), Di Wright (vocals). In September 1985 Roy White debuted as a solo artist releasing his first single:

Strange to Be with You (1985)
- Strange to Be with You

(b/w We Are America)

In December of the same year the accompanying Lp followed:

Shanty (1985)

- Stand In Line

- Don´t Stop Tommorow

- Sophie´s Choice

- Criminal Mind

- Shanty

- Strange To Be With You

- Shoot Myself

- Nothing To Remind Me

- Angel Loves Joe

- Ice On The Sun

- Reputation

- Lest We Forget

The cassette release apparently contained 4 bonus tracks. The album was not positively received and reviewed by the music press. For instance, this is what Robin Gibson wrote in Sounds:
‘Some of his album is unselfconscious and pleasant, and thus ready to be foolishly enjoyed. But much of it harbours grand intentions which fall very flat - to a point of boredom’ (January 4, 1986)

In February 1986 a second single followed:

Lest We Forget (1986):
- Lets We Forget
- Nothing to Remind Me
- Criminal Minds

After his experience as a soloist, White was joined King Of Fools in the nineties, which released an in 1991. and later formed The Truemen.

Roy White’s album Shanty can be found at the great site Rip it Up, here.
Thanks to Mikeyten for the great blog.

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