‘S’ IS FOR…….

Stitched-Back Foot Airman started in the early eighties as a side project to the Southampton-based band Games to Avoid led by guitarist and singer Simon Vincent. “Stitched” was initially an “occasional” band Simon formed with his younger brother Robin Vincent and Mike Farmer and film maker/visual artist Crimp Beringer.

The name was taken from a headline in the Southern Evening Echo relating to a small plane pilot who had crashed and had his foot re-attached to his leg, the full headline was “Stitched-back Foot Airman on the mend”.

The three-piece toured regularly during the mid-eighties and dazzled audiences by swapping instruments for virtually every song. This was borne out of their songwriting process, with all three members writing and creating music, riffs and instrumentals through swapping instruments and improvisation.

Two EPs were released in 1986 on their own Very Mouth Records which led to airtime from John Peel and support slots for many of the key bands of the era such as Stump, A Witness, The Mekons, The Shop Assistants, and Primal Scream.

Manchester-based In Tape Records signed the band in 1987 and there would be two more 12″ singles before they seemingly called it a day, as it seems they never actually formally split up, and still get together on the odd occasion to record music.

This is the song on the C87 box set:-

mp3: Stitched-Back Foot Airman – Tears In The Gutter

This scratchy, psychedelic and occasionally inventive effort was actually one of the b-sides on the Shake Up single.  I’ve tracked the rest down:-

mp3: Stitched-Back Foot Airman – Shake Up
mp3: Stitched-Back Foot Airman – Tip The Wink
mp3: Stitched-Back Foot Airman – Keep Away

It’s fair to say that they had a sound which made it difficult to pigeon-hole them.