Change to the East (Stuart Wood, Paul Benson, Mark Chesworth, and Ian Baker) released two demotapes, the first in early August 1985 (featuring Flying Days, Gone away, Never Again, The Other Side of You, Forgotten Race, Dreaming) and a second one in July 1986 (featuring A Feeling Like I’m Stoned, Tears and Lies, Guilty, The Rack, Love Bites).Some of these songs are in the file below, namely:
Some demos (1985-86)
- Dreaming (1985)
- The Rack (1986)
- Tears and Lies (1986)
- A Feeling Like I’m Stoned (1986)
- Guilty (1986)
- Love Bites (1986)
Dreaming was written by Woody (a.k.a. Stuart Wood) before Benson, Chesworth and Baker joined the band. It was one of the first songs the newly established line-up learned as a band. It was to appear the band’s first demo in August 1985. and was also a central point on any gig set list.
About the song Woody remembers:
‘Well, the story of this song is quite odd almost eerie but in a pleasant way! In early 1984 I was going through a fairly miserable time. I used to really love going to sleep; as it was the only place I could find any sort of peace. Nothing went wrong and it was a lovely warm, comforting place of retreat or escape I suppose.
Anyway, one night I had this really vivid dream about being in a cornfield with someone I didn’t know in real life, but was a friend in the dream. We were walking through a channel cut through the corn in the field that had this amazing tower at the end of it. For a moment I looked up and saw myself floating above the field. It wasn’t like I was looking down from above; it was just that in the dream, I knew it was I floating in the air.
Then I sort of joined myself at ground level and carried on just enjoying being in this field with the tower and my friend. It seemed to go on for hours, but dreams are odd things to equate in time. It was just a really lovely place.
Anyway, I woke up very disappointed as I realised it was indeed all a dream. For days I was affected by this dream and I wanted so much to go back there. I didn’t know whether it was some sort of past life memory or what, but it felt a bit more than just an ordinary dream.
Anyway, I wrote the song as a sort of therapy on myself, I never had the dream again but I could always remember it vividly.
Fast forward to June 2001. I had been living in Devon for a couple of years and moved away. I was on a short break catching up with some friends and one of them suggested we take the ferry from Dartmouth to Kingswear and wanted to show me a place where she had gone a lot in years gone by with friends. We parked up and walked to a field in which there was a tower. This tower is clearly visible from the surrounding area, but I had never given it a second thought. It was only when we entered the field and walked towards the tower in a channel cut through the corn, that I realised this was exactly what my dream had been all those years ago! I never saw myself floating in the sky though (!!!), but I knew this was a real life enactment of my dream.
Nothing dramatic happened but it was, like the dream, just a lovely day in a lovely place. What it meant or represented, who knows???’
Ian Backer adds:
‘Paul always loved this song, and I have fond memories of endless hours trying to get the timing right for the break towards the end of the song. It’s an interesting one because all parts stop at the same beat, and come back in on a different count in the bar. Once we had achieved the correct timings, we had to get the feel right, which came eventually.
The original multi track tape of this demo was erased and recorded over in December 1985 for another demo (ahh life in a band on the dole eh!).’
(see also: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChangetotheEast#p/u/0/bJKdI3dwS3A )
With reference to the 1986 demo Wood concedes:
'That July 1986 Demo really did represent our sound much more than the EP which was recorded in November.'
As to the songs featured there Baker adds:
The Rack also was written by Woody, before Benson, Baker and Chesworth joined. According to Baker ‘it was originally far slower and ethereal or psychedelic but for many reasons we never really took to it, so it was put to one side. Baker also remembers:
‘Once, Paul and I were setting up for practice, when he started playing this very intricate little drum pattern. I had this sort of funky bass line that I always used to do to warm up, and it seemed to sit over the drum pattern, Woody introduced this very sparse guitar and Mark started singing the words to The Rack and it all fitted.
It was one of those moments you get in a band, when you all look at each other and laugh and wonder how the hell that happened.
The drum pattern is so technical and, listening back I strongly believe it is one of Pauls best.
Paul was never a kick arse drummer but he never got the credit for his contribution to the overall sound of the band. He always tried to bring something a bit different to each song, and was always aware that sometimes it’s as much about what you don’t play as much as what you do.
I learned a lot about sound reproduction and recording from him, and he is sadly missed.’
(see also: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChangetotheEast#p/u/15/NCTi3Eey3TE )
A Feeling Like I’m Stoned, Tears and Lies and Guilty appeared on a demo recorded in July 1986.
Baker recalls:
‘The demo was recorded on a Fostex cassette Portastudio using the guitar effects above as outboard gear and mastered to cassette. The mics we had, were a load of missmatched old Realistic mics and a Shure SM10. With limitations of four track recording; all the instruments were recorded with their effects and bounced down, the vocals were recorded dry on their own tracks.’
ctte - demos
(I am very indebted and grateful to our friends Ian and Woody for the audio material and the information)
