Trots - guitar
Johnny - bass
Duncan - drums
Dung, Grebo, Pod - vocals
I have a lot of info in my diaries I just need to get down and read them. But the material I introduced, for a time, was the bulk of the songs and it was a platform where “Business Controlled” could expand and experiment with several other musicians.
We did mainly original material and we not perform many cover songs, we did “Smash it up” by the Damned as a last number like a ritual, the chords were taken from the “Machine Gun Etiquette” LP on the back cover. I dreaded playing it as I could never play the solo, in fact I was terrible playing all solo parts, I used to pick a fret and hammer it with runs, but after that I was lost and you can hear it…it would sound like an out of tune “Gang of 4”. I was a rhythm guitarist for a reason! I used to envy the guitarist who could play a descent instrumental, I could not and did not want to, I loved chords and rhythm.
Instrumentals were a mystery for me and still are. I sounded out of tune and I was… but in the end I accepted the fact and celebrated it by not caring…it became an “out of tune” instrumental, not only a “chicken guitar” (Buzzcocks) solo.
A Day in a Million
This was the 1st song of our live set, it was preceded by a taped recording of instrumental music, this was conveyed to the P.A. by ramming the vocalist’s microphone into the speaker of the cassette machine, and it worked quite well.
I am not sure where this came from or the idea came from of pre-recorded music, perhaps the Ramones or The Clash? When it stopped playing I came in with the guitar riff played on the top 2 strings of the guitar using the phaser and the rest of the band were right on queue. The song was written after too many drunken nights, too much theorizing, idealizing, too much listening to The Doors, too much wanting change and nothing happening. Too much wanting a relationship and not having one… musically, I intended this song to be based around 1 chord only and I tried to build it upon the chord of E, by using 7ths, 6ths, 9ths, diminishes, aug etc. then breaking away from it in the chorus and using conventional power chords. The end phrase is a breakdown of those E chords and playing different inversions.
It was one of my songs that worked well (in my mind and on stage), Pod gave his all on this song and I was very pleased with other band members for creating their own interpretations, Johnny’s bass riff was his invention and Duncan’s drums matched the ideal magically. I hope the recording matches the energy we felt by performing it, I remember people dancing to it at Stars and Stripes and thinking “bloody hell” it was a nice feeling to have ones musical ideas appreciated.
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain "A Day in a Million" from Carlisle Punk Bands
We also performed The Clash’s “Safe European Home”, I would have played this in “Business Controlled” and I think we did a good job of it in Havana Affair too; the ending was well executed in a live performance I think.
I Wanna Change the World
We also did a cover of The Animals’ “I'm going to change the world”, this would have been my choice as I loved listening to The Animals, and the Angelic Upstarts had covered “We gotta get out of this place” by them also, which I liked a lot, but the title was good also. I saw it as a cynical view of many things. This feeling that you are full of ideals, bravado, philosophies, educations and that you think you can change anything in life, society and your environment, we could not but we think we could. Musically, I open the riff with the phaser and did the solo with it too. It was a good version in my opinion, full of energy and as an R’n’B track it worked well with distortion.
Also, in those days at the gigs, as well as on the streets, there was a lot of violence. This recording has a rare example of it happening when we were on stage playing. For it records “Nigel got kicked in”, I guess at the time it was his world changing! I think this sort of thing happened quite often, I was at a few gigs where violence took place and if your face did not fit it would was the reason; it was taking place all over. The reasons behind him getting beat up in the boys toilets I do not know exactly? He was the manager of the band D.O.S. and perhaps that group was not liked by certain members of the Punk/Psychobilly community…maybe it was for this? Who needed a reason anyway in those days? The voice is of Pug, coming through loud and clear is that “Nigel got kicked in”…while the tape recorder is standing on the table next to the stage, I did not know until afterwards what had happened.
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain "I wanna change the world" from Carlisle Punk Bands
Escape From Reality
I wrote the words after watching too many films on day time TV, it is simply about escaping from life by watch films and TV, and how sex and violence dumb us and excite us at the same time. How life is not as exciting, how life is boring and we need “drugs” to live a little. The music was based around a technique of deadening the strings on the down stroke of the strings and then letting go on the up stroke while picking the chords. The verse is based on this technique and the chorus is full on thrash. Duncan’s drumming is excellent in this he mimics the style of the guitar with his snare work.
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain "Escape From Reality" from Carlisle Punk Bands
A Slow One
I could not think of a title for this one, so it was called how it is! The meaning is my frustration at music and my ability not to play it the way I wanted. How I had spent years learning and yet not getting to a level I wanted to be at. The riffs are pure RnB, and the solo is worked out note for note…no improvising on this track. Johnny’s bass holds the thing together as it can be quite an “empty song”.
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain "A Slow One" from Carlisle Punk Bands
No comments:
Post a Comment