1995

January – March

I was throwing myself into everything I did and something had to give.

Late nights clubbing at the weekend and hanging out with Jess, Martin, the rest of Pusherman and their friends. Mid-week release parties or impromptu late night get togethers at our flat in Highbury or down the road in Newington Green at theirs. Rehearsing and playing live with jump-rope, plus of course, my actual job.

Pusherman – Andy, Yank, Martin, Bo, Harry and Tony.

Maurice and Andy were busy focusing on American releases (through the label deal we had in place with A&M Records) for Senser and Planet Dog. Andy was managing Dodgy who were getting very busy, while also looking at a couple of new signings for the label. As a consequence, there weren’t many records coming out on Ultimate in the UK over the next few months and I put the extra energy I had, into my band.

10 January – The British transfer fee record is broken when Manchester United sign striker Andy Cole from Newcastle United in a deal valued at £7million

Having trimmed down from a four piece a few months previously, we changed the name from Poise to jump-rope and played our debut gig as a three-piece at The Marquee about a week later. We set up a label, got a distribution deal and released two 7″ singles. ‘Crowded Day’ was the first, both were recorded at Bark in Walthamstow, E17 at the end of 1994. ‘Crowded Day‘ had been played by Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq on their Radio 1 Evening Session, so I was pleased with how things were going.

We were now busy getting ‘Burn‘ ready for release. Meeting Saul Chester, the artwork guy in Shoreditch and getting the vinyl pressed. Gathering at our flat to stamp the white labels with ‘jump-rope‘.

25 January – Eric Cantona, the French international forward, assaults a spectator after being sent off while playing for Manchester United against Crystal Palace in the FA Premier League.

27 January – Manchester United fine Eric Cantona £20,000 and announce that he will not play for the first team for the rest of the current football season. Cantona also faces assault charges, with a police investigation pending.

Vocally, I was in a period of transition (from the care free days of my youth to now trying too hard) and I wasn’t there yet (plus the lyrics to ‘Burn’ are mine and are a bit silly) but I loved doing all the guitar parts myself. Being in charge of what I was doing, bouncing off harmonics and layering tracks. I found it very liberating and hugely rewarding.

There was a new energy about the three of us, we were working hard and getting better, now on Saturdays, so we could keep playing all day. I’d been tipped off about a studio in Vauxhall, run by Robs, a mate of Ray Conroy‘s and jump-rope seemed to be the only band ever using the place. There were a couple of rehearsal rooms plus the office (small, with a large blue, battered diary and a kettle). Robs used to just leave us to it. We’d play music for a few hours, then go and make some tea and drink it in the empty car park. The studio was one of a few industrial units and was quiet at the weekend. Sometimes we would go and throw a frisbee around on the dirty patch of grass behind the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Then back in to play for a few more hours.

The music was loud. I played a Fender Jaguar and had three distortion pedals (including a Tube Screamer). It was usually something like – intro: two pedals, verse: one pedal, bridge: two pedals and solo and / or chorus: all three pedals. (Yes, I do have tinnitus, how it’s not worse, I don’t know. Yes I wear musician’s ear plugs these days).

Since the age of 14, I had always been in a band. At first it was just immense fun. I played bass, then moved on to guitar. Writing songs, playing my semi acoustic. Then, a bit later, Danny wrote the words, I did the music. Working on songs together. Singing without thinking about it. Living and rehearsing at my parents’ house in Surrey. Touring Europe with The Television Personalities, playing in London as part of the as yet un named C86 scene. Releasing a couple of 12″s. Having a bit of a local following, supporting bands I owned records by. All while still a teenager and into my early 20s. I didn’t consider the future too much, was just loving the moment, signing to a major label wasn’t really in my mind.

Me, aged 15 in The Essential Extras.

Bluetrain ‘Land of Gold’ released on Dan Treacy‘s (The Television Personalities) Dreamworld Records in 1987.

By now though, a decade later, things were starting to get a bit dark. I was getting old. Old in the eyes of the A&R people and therefore, old in terms of ever signing a record deal. People we were hanging out with or playing gigs with were signing to major labels. They were always a couple of years younger than us now too. Musically, I had wasted years since moving to London in 1989 (although was working hard and enjoying myself). Always a band, never any real drive or creativity. Just enough to keep going, playing gigs, recording demos. Being in a band was a huge part of my identity and it had been on the back burner for too long.

I realised time was running out. I thought that meant getting a record deal, I didn’t really think beyond that. If we can sign a deal, everything will be ok. That’s what I have to do to prove myself. We started to get pro active. I was a press officer and radio plugger by trade, so knew how to go about getting things moving at an early stage for a band.

We started to get mentioned in the music papers – an On piece in the NME, live reviews and singles reviews in both the NME and Melody Maker.

It was becoming a bone of contention between myself, Maurice and Andy though. My head was clearly getting deeper into jump-rope and less into Ultimate. Sometimes, if we played The Falcon across the road, I’d store my gear at the office overnight, and sometimes I’d get picked up from the office, to drive to gigs outside London. When I started to appear in the N.M.E. and Melody Maker, it was going too far. I was employed as a press officer and my band was getting in the papers. I got it. I knew the clock was ticking.

Our second single, ‘Burn’, was released on 6th February.

We were Single of the Week in ‘Melody Maker‘ and drove up, straight from work, to Birmingham to support a really cool German band called 18th Dye.

I sensed the bad atmosphere I was leaving behind me, as I closed the door and walked out on to Royal College Street into the waiting car.

Here’s ‘Burn’ – musically, you can hear our hard work paying off, the end from 2:33 onwards is particularly cool.

I’m delighted to say that John Peel played ‘Burn‘. It’s the only thing by me he ever played. Gary Crowley gave it a few spins on his Sunday afternoon show on BBC Greater London Radio (G.L.R.). We were just parking the car outside the flat the first time he played it. He read all our names out and it felt great.

I sent this press release plus a 7″ to my parents (my family used to call me Jo-Anne). My brother Sam found it in Dad’s desk, clearing stuff away after Dad had died. It’s lovely to think he had kept it all those years.

I had to make a decision . We had to make a decision. Danny was becoming unpopular at Cherry Red, where he worked too, because of the band. Lugging the guitars into the office with him if we had a gig, which was getting more frequent. We started to talk about leaving our jobs to pursue music full time. We were 2/3 of the band, so we had to both take the leap. It didn’t take long to make our minds up, we knew what we had to do. A combination of not wanting to waste another minute and self-belief drove us forward.

7 February – Rumbelows, the electrical goods retailer and former sponsors of the Football League Cup, closes its 311 stores with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.

And we did it, we both resigned. Really insane when I look back on it now.

I think Andy and Maurice were relieved to be honest. We agreed I’d work for another month or so, stay around to show who ever was replacing me the ropes.

I figured, if we put everything into jump-rope, we’d have a deal by Christmas.

‘Ten Storey Love Song‘ by The Stone Roses was released on 27 February.

A band who had played their third ever gig at the Buzz Club in 1989, The Beautiful South, had a great start to the year.

Their album, ‘Carry On Up The Charts‘ was number one for all of January, by the summer it was certified as 5× platinum in the UK. Such was the album’s popularity, it was claimed that one in seven British households owned a copy.

These first few months of 1995 had some strange Buzz Club related incidents. Bands who had played for us in Aldershot were news worthy in a few different ways.

On February 1st Richie Edwards from The Manic Street Preachers, who had played The Buzz Club in 1991, disappeared, still never to have been found.

This footage of The Manics at The Buzz Club was unearthed 20 years after they played, it shows a young band full of energy and excitement. Their single ‘Motown Junk’ had just been released on Heavenly.

28 February – The Diary of Bridget Jones column first published in The Independent.

Then in March, Reni left The Stone Roses. They were our favourite band and we had also put them on at The Buzz Club.

I had been disappointed with ‘The Second Coming‘ which had been released the year before. Reni was vital to the band’s sound, so this left me feeling worried about the long awaited tour dates they had coming up.

Another Buzz Club band, Elastica, who were filmed for the first time when they played in 1993, were top of the album charts in March. The album had actually entered at number one, becoming the fastest-selling debut album since Oasis’s ‘Definitely Maybe’.

jump – rope supported Quickspace Supersport at the Dublin Castle in Camden on 22 March.

(Thanks to Pete Cole for spotting this gig in these listings)

Quickspace Supersport had just released their debut single on their Kitty Kitty Corporation label. They were friends with bands Sebadoh and Stereolab, both of whom they toured the UK with later that year, when they also signed to Domino.

23 March – Eric Cantona is sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment at Croydon Crown Court for his assault on a Crystal Palace fan two months ago. He remains free on bail pending an appeal against his sentence, but if this is unsuccessful he will be the first footballer to be jailed in Britain for an on-field offence.

My replacement at Ultimate was found – a teenager called Paul Kennedy, he and Sarah Lowe were to take care of the press, tv and radio together.

I worked a couple more releases, Sidi Bou Said ‘Wormee’ single (topp31cd) Banco De Gaia ‘Last Train To Lhasa’ album on Planet Dog.

There was a leaving do for me at the Spread Eagle on Royal Collage Street. Various members of Dodgy and Senser were there along with my friends and work mates.

And then, that was that. After four wonderful years at Ultimate Records, where I learned so much and worked with so many great people, I left the pub and headed home.