ELECTRIC GUITARS - Interview

It's noon and there isn't a lot happening in the dilapidated Redland house which until recently served as HQ for the Electric Guitars. I had been let into the house by Rachel, who was setting about clearing up some of the debris in the kitchen - the result of five ravenous souls returning in the early hours after a recording session in London. But of the five Guitars there was as yet no sign, Rachel informing me that Andy was tucked up in bed in his flat somewhere in Clifton, Matthew was out jogging - well drummers must keep fit! - and the others were away in the Land of Nod.

After a couple of cups of tea my patience was finally rewarded by the appearance of a haggard and drawn Richard staggering into the kitchen, followed shortly afterwards by an equally worse for wear Dick. An adequate reflection of the perils of trying to become rock stars, I take pity on their condition and wait a few minutes more before plunging into that time-honoured journalistic ritual of discussion of developments and problems. Fortunately once life-giving fluids and the first cigarette of the day had been consumed the grey matter made a brave attempt at re-assembling themselves and some form of coherence asserted itself.

Electric Guitars were formed two years ago and made their recorded debut on the first volume of the innovative and imaginative 'Bristol Recorder' disc/magazine. The four Guitars contributions were, as with the other, recorded 'live' and display a more jagged and XTC-style attack than the more sophisticated and varied angle they use now. (As a point of interest the record is due to be re-released this year due to the Guitars popularity). 'Magic Surfaces' and 'Dumb Words' rarely feature on current outings, but the inimitable hassle in 'Le Camping' is still a stage favorite and 'Continental Shelf' appeared on the flip-side of their first single for local label Fried Egg - now sadly somewhat hard-boiled and dealing more with Shoes for Industry output. 'Health' is a wicked dissection of the calorie and cholestorol conscious fads of the jogging and fitness freaks and was an over-looked gem from last year and one of the reasons for its poor showing was a lack of effective promotion and distribution.

The follow-up 'Work' has of course faired far better having figured in the lower reaches of the indie singles chart and has received a respectable volume of radio exposure - a fact that can largely go down to the efforts of Recreational Records, run from the back office in Revolver Records. In spite of its instant appeal 'Work' did create some confusion in the mind of one reviewer - yes.Barney Hoskyns - due to the split recording credits, and behind its production lies a tale of amusement and frustration.

Dick: "The single was initially recorded with Denis Bovell. He was fun to work with but wasn't the right sort of producer for our kind of music really. For one thing the bass and bass drum sound were all wrong. Things weren't helped by the studio being flooded after we'd done our first session! That delayed further recording by a couple of weeks and after that Denis seemed to lose his enthusiasm, and certainly his normal spontaneity in the studio.

It seemed to us that his energy and interest only extended to a limited period, and with the way he works it's more a question of bursts of inspiration rather than a consistent application. It was a shame, so in the end we had to finish off the single in Steve Street's SAM Studio which is where we rehearse, and the single sounds as good as it can be given the circumstances but isn't completely what we wanted."

There are several parties interested in the Guitars distinct brand of mutated reverberations, and this has led to several visits to London to record demos. Fortunately with the groups finances being in a perilous state the money to do this has been put up by the companies concerned, such as EMI and Pre. But in spite of this Richard wasn't altogether satisfied with the arrangements and the results. "It was ridiculous," he said "in the EMI studio we were given just enough time to enable us to finish putting down the music and vocals, and in the end we were left with just half an hour to mix down each track. Still we didn't pay for it and the experience won't all be to waste."

While Richard was speaking a breathless Matthew came in and quietly sat down on a chair in the corner of the room. Even though his Feelies-style coiffure was extremely out-of-sorts he was suitably refreshed by his exertions, his mind was alert and he quickly picked up on the conversation. "Do you want to know about one of the songs we recorded?" he asked me. "It's called Ja-Ja and has Andy and Neil reading extracts from The Empire Strikes Back over a lot of 'star-track' voices. It really came out well and I think it's one of the best things we've done." So what were the other songs you've recorded then? Matthew continued: "Well if my memory serves me right we did several of the newer songs like 'Lovely Statues', 'Beat me Hollow', 'Language Problems' and 'Voice of Sound'." (These songs were also done for the Kid Jensen programme and broadcast on December 15th last year)

The Radio One session will be the culmination of processes which have enables the Guitars to reach a wider audience than has been the experience of other talented Bristol bands in the past. One of the most significant break-throughs for them last year was supporting the Thompson Twins on their twenty-date British tour last year. This came about through Neil and Dick meeting the band at the Granary and when the Twins commented that they were pissed off with the standard of the local support acts they were getting lumbered with Neil suggested the Guitars would be interested and would be a sympathetic foil to the Thompson Twins equally energetic stage act. This tour in its aftermath led to some flak being aimed at the Guitars, the accusers saying that they ripped off the Twins. Dick strongly disagreed and pointed out that although one or two features may have rubbed off it was a reciprocal process, and that was an inevitability considering the two bands were on the road together for three weeks. For example in a more physical form clothes and instruments were swopped round freely, and at some gigs so were the musicians! These jibes are really total non-starters and best treated with the scorn they deserve.

"What we do tends to be an anti-response; for example a lot of bands are very static on stage, so we decided to be very active. It was very difficult to break down our inhibitions at first. What you say about Neil seeming to be aggressive isn't strictly accurate. He had less of a problem because he was a martial arts instructor at one time, and he's into throwing himself around on stage. Also he's not hampered or restricted by having to hold and play an instrument. It's good fun for Neil as he likes revving up an audience anyway, particularly if their reactions to us are too sluggish!"

Matthew laughed and commented on how different the content and approaches of the two groups are, admitting there were some similarities but highlighting the emphasis the Guitars put on vocal arrangements:

"It's not so much a question of what we sing, as some of the lyrics are in a deeper sense quite banal, but it's more down to how they're sung. A similar point was made by Elvis Costello on that Southbank programme and it's an important disitinction to make.

Dick: "I think we will be using Jo and Wendy a lot more too, especially on the older songs as having them singing gives the songs a new lease of life. We tried them out on stage first of all at a gig at the Venue which worked quite well and since then as long as we get the sound balance right its been sounding better and better."

In fact the Electric Guitars are by now as familiar to London gig-goers as they are in Bristol, having spent many evenings in the capital, supporting the likes of U2 and Our Daughters Wedding, as well as headlining in their own right. The 'Wedding' gig took place at the Venue and is an evening they would sooner forget as they came up against the narcissic and hyped aspects of the biz which disgusts anyone with integrity.

Richard: "ODW were this hip synthesiser group from the States who took five hours over their sound-check, and during most of that time were sitting around eating McDonalds and generally pratting around. We were getting so fed up with hanging around that we almost decided to push off and forget about the gig. Fortunately we didn't as although we weren't able to do a proper sound-check we played well and were told afterwards that we'd blown them off stage!"

Perhaps not a surprising result considering the fact that the Guitars 'live' are a powerful combination of an invigorating instrumental capability mixed with an action packed physical presence. It's a busyness which has spilled over into the business and right now the band are being checked out by prospective managers and involved with the never ending battle with the bank manager. But they are keeping cheerful and patient, certain that the right offer will come along. Dick wryly commented, mindful of how many other bands in the past in their position have said the same thing:

"We've not been hasty and taken the first offer that came our way. We did come very close to signing something a few weeks back and we're very glad we didn't as now we're in more of a position to take the highest bidder with the least strings attached. ! hope."

(Dave Massey Interview in 1981)