The Stump Story

Incredibly, I still get asked about Stump a lot, even though it’s like ancient history to me now. I hope this little personal, potted history will answer all those questions for good, especially the dreaded "why did you split up?" - which drives me nuts!


THE STUMP STORY

Before Stump
I’d always had trouble joining bands and finding musicians from when I first picked up the bass - this was entirely my own fault because I didn't really understand the way most bands put their music together in the conventional way, ie, melody, chords, bassline and rhythms. I’d go along to auditions and get really bored when I was asked to play a bass line in ‘A’ for example and I’d leave feeling pretty useless and very frustrated because there was always someone who could do that much better than me. Where I grew up in Ipswich, there was nothing but country and western bands and 'power-pop' combos. Rather than bother to learn a form of music I hated, I carried on in blissful ignorance developing my own set of values and working obsessively in relative isolation.

As a young man, I was hopelessly infatuated with the bass guitar. My main interest was finding interesting patterns, morphing pitch bends into staccato sequences and then compiling it all together to form something startling with a set of contrasts. I never really liked Jaco Pastorious even though I played fretless bass - Percy Jones was the player that inspired me most. My approach didn’t always go down well - I remember jamming with ex- members of Selecter and The Specials when I was a student in Coventry and Silverton ( the Drummer) exclaiming to all that I was a ‘frustrated guitarist’. I drove my housemates mad - in fact they thought I was the worst bassist in the world - but I didn’t care - I had a one-track mind and I just kept going!

Forming the band
In 1982 I met guitarist Chris Salmon in Whitstable on a summer holiday. He was a very creative musician with a strong R’n’Bstyle but he also had a really unusual, perculiar streak to his playing especially when he used the wang bar on his Strat. Crucially, he enjoyed adding stuff to my basslines, was never short of ideas and never said ’ this one’s in A’. He put stuff together in exactly the same way as I did - by cut 'n'pasteing - and I knew there and then that he would make the an ideal writing partner.

A year and a half later we got together in London with the intention of forming a band. We advertised for a drummer in Melody Maker and Rob McKahey turned up - he was an obvious first choice right from the start not only for his tub-thumping but also for his astonishing facility for self-promotion and bullshit. He’d recently moved from Cork and knew lots of Irish musicians in London including members of bands such as Five Go Down To The Sea and MicroDisney. Among them was someone called Mick Lynch who Rob invited down to our rehearsal basement on the Old Kent road. Mick had a ‘light’ style and wrote funny little vignettes about tupperware strippers and American tourists. We liked him and he handled the difficult job of slotting words into the arrangements easily.

When we started playing our first gigs it was obvious that he would be a great front man - even people who didn’t like the music still had a great time at the gigs watching Mick’s performance, so he extended the appeal of the band. With a ready-made Irish audience that spread the word fast, it didn’t take long before we began packing places out becoming one of the hottest live acts on the London indie scene. When we recorded our first e.p ‘Mud On A Colon ’ in 1986 on a small budget for the Ron Johnson label, the press picked up on it with enthusiasm and a Peel session followed.

Quirking Out
A production company normally used to managing record producers approached us with the offer of long term management and finances for the recording of a mini-album on our own label.‘ Quirk Out ’ was made at Rockfield studios with Hugh Jones at the desk. It enjoyed a long stint around the top of the indie charts and more Peel sessions followed and a NME cassette - C86 - added to our popularity (even though I thought it was the worst recorded track on the tape at the time).

This was a happy exciting time. The influences we all brought to the band were working well at this point, even though our democratic writing and rehearsal process was tortuously slow. It took us months to fashion all the wobbly noises, tumbling drums and lyrics into songs. Much was made about the Beefheart influence, but only myself and Rob were fans. Chris and Mick didn’t know his music and didn’t want to get to know it, either. We were constantly on the road and the gigs were hilarious affairs but always musically exciting. You could get into it for pure entertainment but there was also plenty for alternative music fans. Our audience were divided into 3 stratas of people: nutters jumping around at the front, rock punters in the middle, and chin scratching serious types at the back.

It was about this time that Ensign Records started to take an interest. At first we heard that they were only interested in Mick and not the rest of the band but when the Tube TV programme decided to make a video of ‘Buffalo’ and then featured us playing live on the show we were at the height of our popularity and they must have thought “ it’s now or never’ and snapped us up. Ensign were run by Nigel Grange, a very successful old- school record company man and Chris Hill a well-known DJ who had had his heyday in the seventies introducing disco to the UK. They specialised in Irish rock acts and had had huge success with Sinead O’Connor and the Waterboys and to be honest...we were wondering what the hell they wanted with us.

Recording A Fierce Pancake
All signed up, we were ready to record our first full album and we felt it was time to try a different producer. I’d been a big admirer of German samplist Holger Hiller and the two remarkable albums he made - ‘A bunch of Foulness in the Pit ’ and ‘Oben Im Eck ’ which blended music concrete forms with pop. I’d just acquired my first sampler at this time and his music had made a big impression on me - I was trying to incorporate sampling into the band as much as possible and really thought it was the most radical musical instrument ever ( and still do). Eventually we all agreed on giving Holger a try with Stephen Street engineering. After some initial recording in London we were booked into Hansa studios in Berlin and work began on what was to become the ‘Fierce Pancake’ album.

Everything seemed fine at first - the recording was going well with all the backing tracks sounding great. However, after a few days working together, it became apparent that a personality clash was developing between Holger and some members of the band. Holger had a cool, methodical approach which did not always suit the moment and the working environment of the studio and Stump were, in essence, a band full of hotheads. It certainly didn’t help when he kept saying ‘rock music is dead’... even if it was true! Stephen Street provided a calm influence, but when he left after two weeks to start work with Morrisey, the situation got worse. I must confess that I wasn’t party to most of this as I had finished all the bass parts in the first few days and was hanging around for the rest of the time waiting to put the samples down. I remember being shocked on the flight back home when it was suggested we throw Holger off the project altogether and call Hugh Jones up again to finish off and mix it - in fact, I had no idea that feelings were running that strong. When we got back to London a final decision was made to exclude Holger permanently. I thought this reflected badly on myself as I’d been instrumental in choosing him - I’d been naive and hadn’t thought about how the personalities would work at all. But another producer was suggested to us - the ‘ hottest remixer in town’ was the phrase I remember (I still cringe at that) and we agreed to meet him, on the insistance of our management company and Ensign.

Trouble at Mill
The first thing this producer ( I’ll call him ‘X’) suggested was a reworking of two of the songs already recorded which he would supervise and arrange. This immediately got my hackles up because Stump songs were very personal affairs that were painstakingly knitted together as only we knew how. Personally, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with them in the first place. We also regarded arrangement as part of composition and co-operating with this guy meant forgetting this very important point. Never the less, the majority of the band decided to give it a go. Events took a rather predictable turn when he began simplifying the bass and guitar parts and got Rob playing bland beats that any third-rate indie drummer would have been proud of. When Mick, one day, casually remarked that he would like to do a cover version of El Paso I was flabbergasted when X actually took it seriously and began wasting hours of expensive studio time producing a version of it! After a couple of days, I had decided that we were loosing all sense of objectivity and were sliding into oblivion, but when I made my feelings clear it created friction in the band because opinion was divided as to how well the tracks were progressing.

It’s fair to say that Mick and Rob were much better at talking to the Ensign boys than Chris and myself and they almost acted like emissaries while we took care of the music. When Ensign and the management asked us all to be open-minded about the situation and see it through, Mick and Rob were far less critical and more obliging due to their extra contact with Ensign so when I spoke out I was disturbing the peace and openly jepordising the relationship with the record company. Mick in particular did not like confrontation and was very angry with me. But the issue was simple for me: I resented the producer, the manager and the record company because THEY WERE ALL TAKING THE PISS OUT OF MY BELOVED BAND ... AND HAD TO BE STOPPED!

What was going on here? We’d gone from an Avant Garde genius who found ‘rock and roll boring’ to a pop producer who thought we should be doing C&W cover versions! When the record company eventually came down for a listen, the atmosphere was inflammatory and a ferocious row blew up with everyone shouting and screaming at each other (mostly at me). It was an ugly scene and I would have walked out that day if Chris hadn’t stuck up for me.

Money Money Money
The whole situation was exasperated by knowing how much money was riding on a ‘result’. The studio bill alone came in at over a grand a day. We had heard that X comanded a high price for his sevices but when someone spotted his bill at the office there was widespread disbelief at the size of it - remember, this was the late eighties ... the era of silly money. I remember one day at the studio he took exception to the singer from Transvision Vamp (a well known band at the time, who were also recording there) teasing him about his pay packet being even bigger than his ego. I didn’t think she knew anything about him, but it seemed his reputation had proceeded him.

When you know there is serious money at stake, you’re under pressure to get it right and there is a great temptation to say ‘yes’ to everything. The general opinion was that we’d fucked-up once already and another fuck-up would finish us. When the tracks were eventually completed I was appalled at how slick, polished and bland they sounded ...it just wasn’t us - in fact, I didn’t even bother to play bass on two of the tracks - the parts were sequenced in my absense. In the end - and thousands of pounds later - the two reworked tracks and the cover version were dumped with only ‘Charlton Heston ’ surviving. The management then asked Hugh to come back and rescue the situation and mix the recordings from Hansa. It was a relief to see him back. We’d survived the experience intact, but I could see things up ahead threatening our future that were nothing to do with record companies, managers or producers.

After the Album
Spending the best part of 9 months giving birth to ‘A Fierce Pancake ’ meant we’d dropped out of gigging for quite some time and there had been some significant changes on the scene while we were away. The focus had shifted to 'dance' music and organised raves were happening up and down the country. Remix DJ’s and ‘keyboard wizards’ such as Adamski and Mr Monday were calling all the shots. There had been a sharp decline in the fortune of Indie bands of every kind - it was hardly surprising in retrospect, considering the plethora of goths, shambling bands and drippy Velvet Underground clones. However, I never considered Stump part of that scene - I thought we were much better than all of them ( yes I did! ) . Those who wanted to survive were getting out fast, learning how to make House music and trading their guitars for Atari computers and samplers.

Despite the difficult time we had making ‘A Fierce Pancake ’ I was happy with it from an artistic point of view. It was a dark, complex record - far more serious- sounding than our previous stuff. Perhaps Rob and Chris might have preferred the more immediate vibe of ‘Quirk Out ’ but I liked the richer sound and addition of sampling. The record worked on many levels and was beautifully mixed by Hugh in the end. The two dedications on the album to Wilhelm Reich and Flann O' Brian summed up the spirit of the record. No other rock band sounded anything like us.

Now it was time to get back on the road and tour.‘Chaos ’ was the song selected from the album for the first single. I was never clear why this was chosen as there was no discussion beforehand or formal band meeting with Ensign, but I heard from Rob, much later on, that Mick had lobbied hard as it was his favourite track. It was a good track, all right, but hardly commercial! I thought there were more obvious choices on the album but the decision appeared to be final. Despite a lavish promo for the single, initial sales figures suggested a gloomy forecast, both for the single and the album. When we came to do the British tour we played to half-empty venues and returned home demoralised. Ironically, these were our first gigs with tour support involving a road crew with a bloody great truck, P.A. and light show which added to the embarrassment...and Ensign were starting to get switchy about seeing zero return on their investment too.

‘Charlton Heston’ was chosen as the second single and a promo was made with director, Tim Pope (and a thousand live frogs) at the cost of nearly fifty grand. It was easily the most commercial song on the record, but despite asking the Irrestible Force to do a remix for us, the song proved emanently resistable and only nudged into the top 60 for a week before disappearing altogether.

Time for a Change
This had a depressing effect on the band and for the first time we started looking inward at ourselves and examining the sort of music we were making. The unshakable conviction we had in ourselves slowly started to evaporate and we starting to pull in different directions. Rob and Chris appeared to be looking for active solutions to our lack of commerciality and were drifting towards a more basic rock approach - they were playing Beatles and Stones tapes all the time and enthusing about bands like Husker Du and the Pixies. I was loosing interest in the bass and spending hours programming and sampling and going further left field. Mick remained fairly neutral. It was clear that we couldn’t make another Fierce Pancake, but before the quirky, wobbly Stump sound got an overhaul we all needed to agree where we were going first.

It seemed to me that in order to solve the problem we would have to test our versatility and risk upsetting the fixed roles we had established within the band over the years. We would have to listen to each other seriously and figure out how we could bring new interests together sucessfully and practically. But we never got round to agreeing on anything in the end. We only knew what we disagreed on: I wasn’t interested in going more rocky and playing straight bass; Chris and Rob weren’t interested in moving to the left field. I thought the samples could play an even more prominent part in the sound and we could still retain the set role of the guitar and drums but the others were sceptical about this and it proved impossible to develop the idea further than a few rehearsals with Rob. I could see that Chris felt uncomfortable when I wasn’t playing bass - after all, this was the way we had written everything for the last 4 years. All in all, we seemed unable to make the changes necessary for the survival of the band. All the disappointments and the poor performance of the album and singles had had the effect of lowering our morale and sapping our energy.

When Mick and Rob left for a promo tour of the States, Chris and I stayed back to write as we were desperately short of new material. When they returned home everyone was disappointed because we hadn’t come up with much at all and were finding it difficult to avoid repeating ourselves. Chris had actually had more success writing with Mick around this time. There were about half a dozen ideas hanging around, but not much else. When we eventually came to demo the new songs Ensign were not impressed at all. In a last desparate attempt to get the band kick-started again they released ‘Buffalo’ as a single - we couldn’t even be bothered to tell them it was a lousy idea. When it flopped, as we knew it would, despondency set in with a vengeance. No one wanted to do anything in the rehearsals at Elephant & Castle anymore. We were all making excuses, arriving late and leaving early or getting involved in other projects. It was obvious to everyone around us what was going on and eventually we were persuaded to split by our manager after a truly suicidal gig at the Electric Ballroom in Camden late ‘88 when we rattled through a set that would have normally lasted an hour in 25 minutes - just to get it over with. The audience of mostly loyal fans were horrified. There was relief all round when the decision was made, but great sadness too.

So there you have it: sure, there were some bad decisions made on our behalf, but our biggest problems and our ultimate downfall were all of our own making.

We left Ensign almost a quarter of a million pounds in debt and thought about what we were going to do next as individuals. It was over.

© Kev Hopper 2000

Database of Stump Press

I spent a day labouriously scanning old press clippings I have of the band - why? It seemed like a good idea at the time. Most of them are cut out of old NME's and Melody Makers but I couldn't be sure of some of the writers and sources.There are several large interviews from these papers that I wasn't prepared to scan for for the website as it was too time consuming, but there should be plenty of things of interest, hopefully.

Review of the Astoria gig by Pete Paisley (paper unknown)

Review of the Astoria gig by Paul Oldfield (paper unknown)

Review of the Astoria gig by simon Williams (paper unknown)

Review of the Bay 63 gig by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, June ’86

Review of the Central London Poly gig by Oskar Matzerath (paper unknown)

Review of the Chelsea Collge gig by Jonathan Romney (paper unknown)

Write-up (with good photo of Mick) in City Limits Mag by Ricky Kidare, May ’86

Write–up ( with excellent group colour photo) by Robin Smith (paper unknown)

Funny interview with group photo (writer and paper unknown)

Gossip and Mighty Lemon Drops bitching (paper unknown)

Interview by Chris Maillard (with excellent photo of Mick & Chris) from International Musician, March ’87

Japanese language feature with colour photo (writer and paper unknown)

Review of the Limelight gig by Sgrifennwr Afiach (with photo of Mick) Melody Maker , January ’87

Review of the Limelight gig by Shaun Phillips (paper unknown)

Embarrassing 2 page interview Vicki Hill (featuring video grabs) from LM magazine

Review of the Manchester International gig by Billy Smith (paper unknown)

Shambolic likes and dislikes (with photo) from the NME, August ’88

Picture of Mick in full shout

Review of the Scruples gig in Wolverhampton by Ian Birrell, Melody Maker, May ‘86

Feature by Simon Reynolds with group photo, Melody Maker April ‘86

Review of Dingwalls gig by Everett True (with excellent photo of Mick) Melody Maker, Aug ’88

Review of a Bay 63 gig (with a pic of Bogshed!) by Simon Reynolds, March ’86

Review of ‘Mud on a Colon’ with cover photo (writer and paper unknown)

Write-up with outstanding photo of Mick (writer and paper unknown)

2 Reviews of ‘Mud on a Colon” Sounds and NME, March ’86 (writers unknown)

Review of Kentish Town Bull & Gate by Dele Fadele, NME, April ’86

Charlton Heston review (with cover illustration) from the NME, July ’88

Feature with big group photo dressed as policemen (writer and paper unknown)

‘Quirk Out’ review by Simon Reynolds (paper unknown)

‘Quirk Out’ review by Ron Rom (paper unknown)

Review of the George Robey gig by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, June ’86

Review of Kentish Town Bull & Gate (with photo of Mick) by Ron Rom, Sounds, April ’86

The first ever Stump write up (with group photo) by Neil Taylor, NME

Review of the Town and Country club gig (writer and paper unknown)

Write-up by Bruce Dessau (with outstanding group photo) from London Time Out

Write-up with colour group photo (writer and paper unknown)

Glastonbury 1987 programme (group photo and blurb)

Where are they now?

Mick Lynch

Soon after Stump folded Mick began playing with Chris in a regular band. I think they did one gig together before they called it a day (for reasons I’m not really clear on). Then he formed a band called ‘Bernard’ with musicians from Stockwell where he lived. I saw them play in a pub in south London and they were quite good – much more poppy than Stump with well arranged songs. They even played a few old Stump numbers that didn’t make it to vinyl.

What happened to them? I think Mick returned home to Cork after his father became ill. I think he lost enthusiasm for the band and was homesick. They never made any recordings as far as I know.

I last saw Mick at the Triskell theatre in Cork early 2002 when I was there with Ticklish. He did a sort of cabaret act called “with chickens” (I think). It’s was quite ‘light’ and he did a few Stump numbers with other people imitating the sounds of the band. Rob McKahey and myself were singing along in a drunken stupor!

We went for a drink after the show and he was lamenting a bit of bad luck with money/accommodation/relationships. There really wasn’t enough time to talk. As far as I could gather, he picks up occasional acting jobs with an Irish theatre company and occasionally performs on Irish radio.

Even though he said he had written plenty of songs since, I got the feeling it would be quite some time before he got it together to perform them with a band. It was good to see him.

Chris Salmon

Chris was still extremely enthusiastic about playing after the split. At first he had the band with Mick, but when that ended he seemed to give up the guitar completely in favour of painting and printmaking. He was having some success at this already and had begun exhibiting and selling his work on a regular basis. He is now quite a successful artist.

I bump into Chris a couple of times a year as he still lives in London. I think he still harbours ambitions to get back to playing again but has never found the right moment, for some reason. He was one of the most gifted guitarists I’ve heard.

Rob McKahey

One thing a lot of people didn’t realize about Rob was that he had an impressive baritone voice and could accompany himself on the guitar. He had a deep love of Irish traditional folk music. After the split he recorded a lot of songs – I remember the music was a funny mix of traditional and ‘industrial’ – he used drum machines and traditional musicians. Des D’ Moor and myself contributed samples.

However, success (in the form of a record deal) was not immediately forthcoming and Rob became increasingly impatient with the whole music business. Also, he really loathed London with a vengeance and was looking for a good excuse to quit his Edgeware road flat, go back to Cork and start afresh.

After he managed to pull off a series of money-raising scams, he found the ‘excuse’ in the form of a woman he met and later married. They bought a house in county Cork and raised a family. Rob gave up music completely other than giving drum lessons. Several years later, with a divorce behind him, he has sold his drum kit and devotes his time to his two young boys and renovating property.

I try and keep in touch with him. He has told me he has no ambition to return to playing music.

DISCOGRAPHY

•MUD ON A COLON (C)1986 Ron Johnson Music 12" U.K. ZRON 6 A1. Orgasm Way A2. Ice The Levant B1. Grab Hands B2. 55-0-55 Recorded: Point Studio Producer: Stump & Danny Engineer: Danny Hyde Black vinyl. No inserts.


QUIRK OUT (C)1986 Stuff Records 12" U.K. STUF/U2 A1. Tupperware Stripper A2. Our Fathers A3. Kitchen Table B1. Buffalo B2. Everything In It's Place B3. Bit Part Actor Recorded: Rockfield (July 1986) Producer & Engineer: Hugh Jones Black vinyl. One-sided insert w/lyrics.

THE PEEL SESSIONS (C)1987 Strange Fruit Records 12" U.K. SFP019 (C)1987 Dutch East India Trading CASS DEI8335-4 A1. Down On The Kitchen Table A2. Orgasm Way B1. Grab Hands B2. Buffalo Producer: Dale Griffin Engineer: Mike Engles Recorded: 26th January 1986 First Transmission: 5th February 1986 Cutting Engineer: Bob Jones, CTS black vinyl, no insert. U.S. cassette has color tri-fold cover insert.

A FIERCE PANCAKE (C)1988 Ensign Records Limited LP U.K. CHEN 9 LP U.S. BFV41641 CD U.K. CCD 1641 CD U.S. VK 41641 / DIDX 3007 A1. Living It Down A2. In The Green A3. Roll The Bodies Over A4. Bone A5. Eager Bereaver (U.K. only track) A5. Buffalo (U.S. only track)** A6. Chaos B1. Alcohol B2. Charlton Heston* B3. Heartache B4. Doctor (A Visit To The) B5. A Fierce Pancake B6. Boggy Home Recorded: in London and Berlin by Stephen Street Producer: Holger Hiller and Stump (* Producer: John Robie) (** Producer: Hugh Jones) Post Production and Mix: Hugh Jones Notes:The U.K. and U.S. versions swap the songs: "Eager Bereaver" and "Buffalo". LP comes with printed dust sleeve. CD comes with 16page booklet.

FOUR TRACK SAMPLER (C)1988 Chrysalis Records Limited 12" U.K. FRIZ 2 A1. Chaos (7" Mix) A2. Alcohol A3. Charlton Heston* A4. Living It Down Recorded: in London and Berlin by Stephen Street Producer: Holger Hiller and Stump (* Producer: John Robie) Post Production and Mix: Hugh Jones Notes: Promotional only. Side B has nothing on it.

CHAOS (C)1988 Ensign/Chrysalis Records Limited 12" U.K. ENYX 612 7" U.K. ENY 612 A1. Chaos B1. Ice The Levant* B2. Safe Sex Recorded: in London and Berlin by Stephen Street Producer: Holger Hiller and Stump (* Producer: Hugh Jones) Post Production and Mix: Hugh Jones Notes: The 7" version has a different mix of "Choas", and omits "Safe Sex". This version of "Ice The Levant" is newly recorded (different from the "Mud On A Colon" EP version). n it.


CHARLTON HESTON (C)1988 Ensign/Chrysalis Records Limited 12" U.K. ENYX 614 7" U.K. ENY 614 A1. Lights! Camel! Action! (Charlton Heston Meets The Irresistable Force)* B1. Charlton Heston (7" Version) B2. The Rats* B3. Angst Forecast*** * Sampled and Reproduced by The Irresistable Force * Produced: John Robie at Swanyard * Engineered: Charlie Llewellyn at Cold Storage, Gerard Johnson at Advision, and Orinoco at Red Megaphone. Demon Workshop Mega Mix. Producer: John Robie, Remix: Hugh Jones * Pruducer: Stump at Red Bus, Mixed: Stephen Street Notes: The 7" version omits "Lights! Camel! Action!" and "The Rats".


BUFFALO (C)1988 Ensign/Chrysalis Records Limited 12" U.K. ENYX 619 7" U.K. ENY 619 A1. Buffalo B1. The Song's Remains* B2. Thelma* Recorded: in London and Berlin by Stephen Street Producer: Hugh Jones * Recorded: ? * Producer: Stump Notes: The 7" version omits "Thelma".

- - - (Compilations) - - - THE FIRST AFTER EPIPHANY (C)1986 Ron Johnson Music LP U.K. ZRON 21 Side A Track 4. STUMP - Big End Recorded: Cold Storage (London 1986) Producer: ? Engineer: ? Notes: This track can only be found on this compilation LP. Put out by Ron Johnson Music, including 10 other bands. Printed inner dust sleeve.

C86 (C)1986 NME New Musical Express LP U.K. ? CASS U.K. NME 022 Side A Track 7. STUMP - Buffalo (4:30) Recorded: ? Producer: Stump Engineer: ? Notes: This track version can only be found on this compilation LP. Publishing credited to Ron Johnson Music, so it is probably from the same sessions as "Big End", or "Mud On A Colon" EP. The compilation includes 22 other bands.

REFLEX (C)1988 Reflex Magazine FLEXI U.S. Soundsheet #4 Side A: THE SILOS - Out Of Town Side AA: STUMP - Our Fathers Recorded: ? (1986) Producer: Hugh Jones Engineer: ? Notes: This 7" Flexi came free with Relex Magazine, Volume 1 Issue 5, Special Double Issue, June/July 1988. (Same version from "Quirk Out" E.P.?)

All have recordings have been deleted since 1990. 'Mud on a Colon' and 'Quirk Out' were never released on CD.

Do you have any photos of the band? If so, email me at: kevhopper@dsl.pipex.com and I'll post them up on the this site

Jamie Mortimer (from the Mabuses) - you still have my one and only copy of A Fierce Pancake! Can I have it back, please?

Thanks to Yuko Shimbo for live photos of the band.

SPECIAL THANKS TO RONAN CLINTON FOR THE DISCOGRAPHY AND EXTRA PHOTOGRAPHS

INDEX