L-R: Adrian "Ace" Carter, Simon "Bees" Beesley, John O'Neill (who produced the album ), "Big" Jon Hunter, Phil Wilson
L-R: Adrian "Ace" Carter, Simon "Bees" Beesley, John O'Neill
(who produced the album ), "Big" Jon Hunter, Phil Wilson
(Chapter 4 - by Jon Bandit - parp master extraordinaire)
The June Brides became five with the arrival of Frank's viola and six with the gradual introduction of Jon's trumpet.
The first gig with the complete line up was at the Three Johns, Saturday 12th May 1984 although the Junies had been playing for months before-hand (see gig guide). For two years the band played hundreds of gigs up and down the country, sometimes arriving by tube with the gear coming in the back of a Morris Traveller, but more often in a transit with the gear scattered around three armchairs in the back and the drunken James Brown cadging a lift to future wealth. This mercurial character was a frequent guest on tours, always loud, invariably drunk but never less than entertaining. The gigs were tight, the songs were short, and the early audiences gradually created their own favourites; Every Conversation seemed to be one, as did In the Rain. These were the first two singles - although Every Conversation was only a late choice to accompany Disneyland. Bees' track had been recorded first and then the band members were split about whether to record Heard You Whisper or Every Conversation. Phil and Frank wanted the latter, Ace and Chris (the first drummer) wanted Whisper. Jon's opinion didn't really count, as he had only joined the fray a few months before, so it was Bees' switch from Whisper to Every Conversation that finally led to that being recorded.
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Interestingly the mixing, which took place a few weeks later, concentrated on Disneyland which took 4 hours to finish; Every Conversation being mixed in only 1 hour. A Janice Long session followed later that year as a bolt from the blue, and it was recording this that made the Junies realise just how cheaply Pink were allowing them to produce the singles. The collective might was working out how to get John Peel interested when Janice Long announced on her Saturday show that she was keen to get the boys in for a session; news that reached the band on the following Thursday by word of mouth. |
Neil Taylor of the NME did the first big interview for the NME in January 29th 1985, with photos taken around the flats where Ace lived near the Oval. By this time Chris had left and Brian had joined the band after answering an ad; he was about the only one who did. If the first two singles had been produced cheaply then it was with the mini-LP that Simon 'Lardo' Downe really 'pulled the boat in', getting it recorded and completed in just a few days in the dingy, depressing and dull Alaska Studios in Waterloo. In fact five of the tracks were recorded in just one day, May 11th 1985, including the 'live' version of Enemies. The recording was beset with problems such as power cuts and a dodgy engineer who seemed strangely indifferent to the habit of spooling the tape of the LP onto the floor in some out of season festive heap. The recording also took place against the backdrop of 53 people being burned to death in the Bradford fire. John O'Neill produced the thing and was also a source of top stories during the long power cut. The mini-LP had a whole hunk of titles before the boys finally settled on 'There are 8 million stories', a testament to the junk television that the Junies specialised in watching.
| The nearest running mate was 'Destroying Capitalism with the June Brides' which would have been a sideways swipe at the ridiculous posturing of the Redskins whilst also representing some of the Junies political leanings. Jane, Phil's partner, designed the sleeve, and when the LP was pressed (now September 4th 1985) the band took a trip down to the Rough Trade depot at Kings Cross to write little messages on the square insert and then insert the insert into 1,000 LPs. Anyone with these copies will know they have one of the original 1,000 pressed. |  |
In a particularly mean spirited and un-ambitious manner Lardo, the Pink supremo (almost a contradiction in terms), had not seen fit to print enough inserts for the thousands of LPs sold later. A cheaper A4 copy was designed. Seeing as the LP stayed top of the independent charts for at least a month and was in the charts for the best part of 1985 this meant very few fans got the original insert. All these irksome parts of the Pink Records strategy, including the splashing of large amounts of cash all over the bland Jamie Wednesday, meant that by the end of 1985 the Junies were jumping ship to InTape Records of Sale in Manchester. The move to the Creepers, Janitors, Yeah Yeah Noh and Terry & Gerry stable did not come about until the Junies had been feted by Go! Discs, Stiff and Parlaphone.
What would have happened if they had gone to Go! Discs at that time is worth speculation. This was a Go! Discs that only had Billy Bragg, a pre-Happy Hour Housemartins, and 'Porky the Poet' a lardy tea maker that later emerged from the mess of poetry reading to become Phil Jupitus. At the time the Junies were big news having been front page news on the NME and a big draw wherever they played, but Go! Discs were offering peanuts. With hindsight these peanuts might have been worth taking as Go! Discs clearly had the intention and bottle to actively promote bands.
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In Tape got the Junies for their last two singles, No Place Called Home and This Town, and that was the end of it, as it transpired, in more ways than one. The final two singles had a very different sound to the first two on Pink. The reasons behind this were simple; In Tape got more money into the recording and production. The June Brides recorded these eps at studios that The Petrols had used for their second single and borrowed the services of Geoffrey Perrin and a better engineer.The band were also a little more clued up about the production and recording of singles; less insistent on the dry guitar sound of the LP and more willing for the use of effects. |
The singles were certainly more radio friendly, which was the thing needed to match the anticipated plugging money In Tape insisted they would invest in the singles. The end result of this plugging was hard to notice - although we were once given the shock of being played on daytime Radio 1 by Simon Bates!
Phil, Ace and Jon had more fortune when they marched into the BBC in September 1985 demanding to see Janice Long. Walking into her office as she was pencilling in her play list for that evening's show they presented her with a copy of the LP and insisted she play a track that evening. Well, she selected Sick Tired and Drunk and with a fat eraser took out another band to write in the June Brides name, (history does not record which band were erased but divine justice would have decreed it was The Housemartins). Off they skipped down the corridor, deed done; like most times during this band's life it had proved more profitable to act on their own behalf rather than depend on others.
When the Junies returned to Go! Discs after leaving In Tape in the early summer of 1986, the label's initial interest evaporated once The Housemartins got wind of the possibility of sharing their label with a rival. By then the rot had set in and Phil was already courting a solo slot with Creation Records.
If you had really wanted to appreciate The June Brides full range of talent during this time then it would have meant going to see a live show. By the time the European tour came around in early 1986 the band were playing as well as they ever had across a range of about 18 songs. The third drummer, Dave 'bonker' Bickley, had long since joined the band hot foot from 'Kaja', the rump end of pop star outfit 'Kajagoogoo', and his solid playing gave the performances something less chancy than Brian's hit and miss approach. However it is Brian that the Junies have to thank for two priceless moments. One happened, and is immortalised on the LP, when Brian comes in too early for Enemies during the 'live' recording, and the second happened on a boat in Bristol. The band were midway through Sick Tired and Drunk when Brian produced a drum-break on his toms, instruments that had until this time been mere ornaments. Phil, Jon, and Ace all spun round as one in amazement at the injection of this overdue piece of originality in the drumming only to see the cause of it, Brian's battered snare drum, rolling slowly off stage.
The European tour of 1986 with support act Janitors had proved that a well marketed and promoted June Brides could have sold one shop full of a lot more records and made it over to the New Music Seminar gig in New York to launch American sales. As it was, without good record company backing the June Brides blew themselves away too cheaply, far too cheaply, and sacrificed themselves on the virtuous altar of independent labels.
Big Jon's thoughts on being a Junie
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