Bridal Sweet
(Record Mirror Interview: 9 November 1985 )
The June Brides declare war on drabness:
Story: Stuart Bailie
Altered Image: Joe Shutter
Urchin pop, that particularly spotty brand of music that charmed its way into the charts in the late Seventies, has been resurrected, and very successfully too, by indie darlings the June Brides.
Like their favourite bands, the Undertones and the Buzzzcocks, they favour a scratchy, careering musical attack, while brandishing sublime melodies and an inventive use of trumpet and viola for good measure.
Style-wise, with their Oxfam costumes and Doctor Martens, they also refuse to concede to trends, and their efforts have been endorsed by the many punters who have put their album, 'There Are Eight Million Stories' to the top of the independent charts. Indeed, success has been so overwhelming that instead of wearing his army surplus specs to the dole officee, bass player Ade now wears contact lenses, 'as a disguise'.
Singer and guitarist Phil tries to make sense of the band's popularity. "There are two records in the charts now - the dance record and the American rock crossover. There's so much dross about that people go over the top about something a bit clifferent." His disdain for the drabness of the music business is shared by Jon, the trumpet player. "You watch theTube and see Elton John and Robert Palmer. What are these 40-year-olds doing on a programme that's suposed to be new and exciting? It's so worrying. They're ignoring everything that's really good at the moment. All they want is recycled rubbish."
Like a gang of resistance fighters plotting to carry off some musical coup, they talk of recreating a short time post-punk when the major record labels were completely upstaged by the more creative independents. Viola player Frank talks about 'catching record companies with their trousers down again', but admits that this is now less likely to happen.
Jon disagrees. 'When the record companies pump all their money into bands like Eighth Wonder, and see the Roaring Boys fall flat on their faces, and then pay a million pounds to Sigue Sigue Sputnik, you wonder ... they obviously don't know what they're doing."
And when I ask about major company interest in the band, it emerges that there hasn't been any. You're right, boys, they don't know what they're doing!
Two raw, but well-acclaimed singles, 'In The Rain' and 'Every Conversation' have preceded the album. Indeed, during the two years since their inception, the music press has been almost unreserved in its praise of the June Brides, though there has been a tendency to portray them as a bunch of gloomy boy outsiders. This stems partly from their shyness and their sombre attire. But it can also be traced to Phil's morose lyrics. Lines like "When everyone soars why I feel low' or 'in back street desolation, brittle bones are cracked,' add to the impression that they are intense, fragile chappies. Bees, the guitarist, denies this. "We're sensitive to things, sure, but not sensitive as in ... wimpy." Phil pulls a Normon Wisdom grin and adds, "Most bands go out of their way to project a big macho image, and just because we don't say that, they say we're wimps. I try to write about the problems of human relationships just because it's more natural to me than singing, 'I want your body, baby' or 'Let's get it on'. If I sang that, I'd feel such a fool!"
Anyway, their new single, 'No Place Called Home', finds them more confident and positive than ever, while the flip side, "We Belong', is positively cheerful. Was this a conscious development, Phil? `
"Yes, I was worried about being seen as a bit of a moaner, so I thought I'd write about something that's a change. 'No Place Called Home' is still moaney, though. What we actually do on stage is a statement in itself. We try to bring about the joy of communicating a feeling."
And as the band insists, their music is far from being depressing, as is proved on stage. Awkwardness and reserve gives way to unbridled abandon as six slightly ugly ducklings unveil themselves in all their soulful finery. And this, claims Jon, is the whole point of it all. 'We want people to go away from a gig smiling and thinking, 'God, I want to be in a band like that. I want to buy a guitar - or a viola tomorrow'."
So, should you hear the screechings of scores of viola apprentices in your area, don't be alarmed. It's only the influence of the June Brides, trying to bring a little variety to everyone's world. Ladies and gentlemen, let us toast the Brides.