It’s time to partially close down the blog for the period over Christmas and New Year. This time around I’m going to put up a re-posting from times gone by, and I’ll try my best to have all of them feature musicians whose appearances have been infrequent.
What follows is from June 2017, and is taken from what was a longer post that was part of a year-long series looking at #1 hits in the Indie Charts of the 80s, 90s and 00s.
THINK INDIE
But back first of all to 1987.
Gaye Bikers On Acid. One of the greatest band names of all time. Just a pity that I cannot for the life of me recall any of their songs.
Wiki tell us they were an English psychedelic rock band from Leicester, and one of the founder members of the Grebo music scene. They later released both thrash punk and dance music albums under various aliases and consisted of:-
Mary Byker (Ian Garfield Hoxley) – vocals
Tony Byker/Phlegm Lubricant/Tony Shuttleburger/Sven Eleven– (Tony Horsfall) – guitar
Robber Byker (Ian Reynolds) – bass guitar
Rocket Ronnie (William Samuel Ronald Morrow) – turntablist
Kev Byker/Cubehead Buffalo Hyde/Gavina Hyde/Kenny Pride – (Kevin Hyde) – drums
Their first two releases – the single Everythang’s Groovy and the Nosedive Karma EP – were both recorded with the help of Jon Langford of The Mekons, and released on the InTape label which was run by Marc Riley (then merely an ex-member of The Fall and not yet one half of a terrific radio duo).
The success of these releases led to them signing to Virgin Records and releasing the albums Drill Your Own Hole in 1987 and Stewed to the Gills in 1989. Initial quantities of the vinyl version of Drill Your Own Hole was pressed without a hole in the centre, so it was necessary to literally drill your own hole to play it.
They also played gigs (dressed in women’s clothing) under the name ‘Lesbian Dopeheads on Mopeds’, supporting themselves, and thus getting paid twice. They also performed as a fictitious East German thrash punk band “Rektüm” (they claimed to have jumped over the Berlin Wall), recording an LP Sakredanus and an EP Real Horror Show under the name.
However, management problems and poor sales meant that they were dropped by Virgin in 1989. They subsequently released the album Cancer Planet Mission on their own record label, Naked Brain. They also recycled and used the band name ‘The Purple Fluid Exchange’ (PFX) to release their dance cross-over material. It was at this time that Rocket Ronnie joined the band as DJ, sample player and dance advisor.
In 1990 they released Pernicious Nonsense, their last studio album, again recorded with Jon Langford . Poorly attended tours in the US and UK caused friction and the final blow came when Rough Trade, who distributed their Naked Brain recordings, went bankrupt owing them and many other bands considerable amounts of cash.
A band who, understandably, generated a loyal following who revelled in the fact they were far from predictable and by all accounts a bonkers and occasionally brilliant live act.
mp3 : Gaye Bykers On Acid – Nosedive Karma
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 