White China, great unknown band from Scotland

Early 1984 White China signed a record breaking major production deal with Island Records and Stiff Music in the UK, an American Deal with MCA was complete by the middle of that year.

It became quickly obvious to the Band that things werent all they could be, after spending 6 days in RAK Studios in London with Steve Brown as producer and Pete Glenister as co-producer, "Real World" the first single, was delivered to Dave Robinson owner of Stiff Music and now MD of Island Records.

Robinson wasnt happy with what he heard so, he asked Steve Brown to remix the song at Wessex Studios in London, but again he didnt like what he heard.

Robinson then had the single remixed a further 17 times with various producers and different studios, the final version being done in Rockfield, Wales with Julian Mendelsohn as producer, Robinson was heard in conversation stating, the success other artists like U2, Bob Marley, Frankie Goes to Hollywood were having on Island meant he had to delay the Bands debut single, due to no staff being available to push the band to radio and tv.

The Band werent happy with his decisions or this version of "Real World" and let Dave Robinson know in no uncertain terms, it appeared at that time Julian Mendelsohn was the prefered producer in Robinsons eyes, but on his first efforts the Band didnt want to work with him, Peter Powel of Radio 1 agreed that the Bands efforts with Steve Brown were by far a better version.

The tapes were then sneaked up to Scotland for Neil Ross at REL studios in Edinburgh to remix and complete a 12" version, Neils remix was considered good by the Band and management, he had origionally produced the Bands demos that had attracted so much attention from various major labels, but again Dave Robinson rejected this version.

At this point producer Martin Rushent stepped in, he was willing to do a new version of "Real World" at his Genetic Studios, this session didnt better that of the first Version by Steve Brown, so Dave Robinson decided to release Julian Mendelsohns version against the bands wishes.

The Band then Toured for the 3rd time with Big Country in the UK, Eagerly awaiting to find out how there first single was doing in the charts the band were given a bombshell blow, they had been penalised for selling to many copies in Scotland, indications of an initial top 40 with the first single were now in tatters.

The Band went back to the drawing board to find another producer to do a second single "Too Young", this was to be released 2 weeks into the Steeltown tour the band had agreed with Big Country.

Producer Howard Gray was then chosen, the Band then went to CBS Stusios in London, and then to be haunted in, The Manor Studios and Ridge Farm, again with co-producer Pete Glenister to complete the second single "Too Young", the Band were happy with the results, but Dave Robinson was not, his mention of Julian Mendolsohn again drove the band out of Islands offfices in disgust and off to tour with Big Country with no single to promote.

On this Tour the Band decided that this time they would find a producer to record the first Album "The Innocence" with or without Islands approval.

The Band were introduced to producer John Punter, instantly they struck up a good relationship with John and decided to go back to Genetic Studios, Phil Tennant was to be the engineer who the Band had previously worked with on Martin Rushents version of "Real World" so things were looking up!.

Now late 1985, the album was finished, the final mixes were to be completed in Air Studios, Oxford Street, London.

The Band were happy with what John Punter had finished for them, at last after having to record 48 track for most of the album it sounded close to how the Band did live.

Dave Robinson was given the album early 1986, this time he liked what the Band had done, he quickly released "Smiles and Jokes" to be followed by "Too Young" but sadly disaster struck, Dave Robinson was given his marching orders from Island and Chris Blackwell wasnt going to be back incharge for some time, so all Island releases were shelved for the time being.

The Band completely disolusioned by this time, and feeling very much a good TAX loss for Island, refused Dave Robinsons offer to move to Stiff to release the first album, a move that they might be thankfull for, Stiff Records/Music shortly after went bust, and the Band negotiated to get off Island, sadly the Band went there different ways at this point never to reform, but still remain good friends to this day.

The first album "The Innocence" is now being persued by the Band, it is hoped that Universal will honour Islands contract and return the master tapes, a release date of early 2007 is the target, the Album Island didnt want anyone to hear may eventually make it to cd, all be it some 20 years late.


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April Showers, Pure Pop Bliss!

April Showers were a short-lived Glaswegian pop duo comprised of Jonathan Bernstein and Beatrice Colin. Releasing their only known single “Abandon Ship” on Big Star, a subsidiary of Chrysalis, in 1984 it quickly gained a cult following due to it’s sparkling production from Anne Dudley (Art of Noise) and string-heavy arrangements. This quality was echoed on B-side “Everytime We Say Goodbye” with the 12-inch featuring an instrumental of Abandon Ship. - Tunesbag

At the time Abandon Ship was released, she was the girlfriend of James Grant who was then part of Friends Again and later the lead in the acclaimed Love & Money - thevinylvillain

Beatrice Colin is also a novelist who also writes for radio. Her novel, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite (John Murray), has been published in the UK in July 2008 and in the US as The Glimmer Palace (Riverhead).

Beatrice was born in London and moved to Scotland as a child. After graduating from the University of Glasgow, she worked as a journalist for the arts and features pages of publications including The Scotsman, Sunday Herald and The Guardian. Her first novel, Nude Untitled, (Toby Press, 2000) was short-listed for a Saltire Award. Her second, Disappearing Act (Toby Press, 2001) was published in the US. She has written six plays and dramatised three novels for BBC Radio 4, and her short stories have been broadcast and published in anthologies and literary magazines such as Ontario Review and The London Magazine.

She has taught creative writing for Strathclyde University’s English Studies Dept and for Glasgow University’s Department of Adult and Continuing Education, and completed her doctorate in 2008. She currently works at Strathclyde University as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She lives in Glasgow with her two children. - www.beatricecolin.co.uk


Interesting bits:



O P T 0 2 4
APRIL SHOWERS "While The City Sleeps" ~ 7" (UNRELEASED)
Release date: N / A (1983)
Tracks: While The City Sleeps / Wasn't That A Rainbow
PM: Can't remember much about this, except that I liked it alot. Another groovy Scottish combo. Managed by Charles Cosh. Notes: Written by Jonathan Bernstein; published by Fishersongs. Recorded* but never cut. Base artwork for sleeve and labels delivered to OT.

http://home.wxs.nl/~frankbri/ot_discog1.htm#opt024


APRIL SHOWERS (November 1982)

Newlands. The Sleepy Hollow of the North. It would be a wise traveller indeed who, strolling through this plush suburban outback, detected the first stirrings of a new pop phenomenon. The cynical onlooker might suggest that the musical matrimony of teen misanthropist JONATHAN B. BERNSTEIN, stocky stoic HUBBLE and shambling Rodney Bewes acolyte BOBBY CALDWELL is damning proof of Fate's warped sense of humour. "However", muses Jonathan, "the only important thing in Pop is the Song. That's what people hear first and that's what they're going to remember".

April Showers have a repertoire built to last a lifetime. Waiting, wanting, lying, loving, losing, crying... all human life is here. Tunes like "Any Wednesday", "Don't Stay Away Too Long", "All Of The Stars In The Sky" and "Once In A Blue Moon" truly are songs for all seasons. Working within a flexible framework allows the three-man team scope to work with a variety of instrumentalists and singers, the vocals on their sample tape feature ex-French Impressionist, Beatrice Colin. The team are currently engaged in recruiting new accomplaces and hope to take to the boards in early October.

On receipt of a number of early demos, "Don't Stay Away Too Long" appears to have been OT's initial choice for the debut April Showers single, but by November '82 it seems that the band were thinking of saving this song, at least until such a time as it could be transformed by a "bigger production" into a proper "pop hit", one which would perhaps be "more suited" as a second single. In its place a new A-side, "While The City Sleeps", would pave the way for later and greater things whilst the original B-side idea, "Something To Shout About", was also to be replaced by another newer composition, "Wasn't That A Rainbow". The sure existence of any of these final recordings, however, has yet to be varified.

http://home.wxs.nl/~frankbri/ot_opt024.htm

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The Desert Wolves: What happened next...

It is said that hindsight is a great thing, I venture that may not to be true. That said I guess looking back the Desert Wolves would have been a lot more successful if they had slogged there way around the country building a legion of fans to go out and buy lots of records. They didn't, but that isn't to say they were not successful.

To the contrary, with the first single released, they were cutting quite a dash and garnering a great deal of support and adoration in the printed media. Locally the Manchester Evening local music writer Mick Middles was fulsome in his praise of the band

"It becomes obvious that The Desert Wolves are poised to become another important outpost in Manchester's flourishing left field pop scene"

and nationally Record Mirror gave "Love Scattered Lives" the honour of record of the week. No mean feat when you consider that also reviewed that week, and considered secondary, Aztec Camera and REM (yeah that REM)

Such things build careers and the important action now was for us to get another single out and into the shops. Here was band with songs and a repertoire and great personal charm to share with the record buying public.


"Speak to me Rochelle" was another deliciously light pop moment crafted by Marin King and his Platten brothers song writing partners. Again the highly stylised 60's pop tune was supplemented by a lavish full color sleeve art directed and design by one of Martin's friends. It was quite a production and the press continued to build

"Another Record of the Week in the Record Mirror. Wow!!!!
"The groove of Summer days - sounds so great you just have to chew it"

proclaimed Johnny Dee the famed music writer in his review of the week's releases, which must have deeply hurt those who weren't record of the week. I'm guessing Pet Shop Boys, Aha, Nina Simone, Everything but the Girl and ...... The Beatles could console themselves with extensive amounts of radio airplay to help get their records out and into the public consciousness and ultimately into the charts the following week.

And that sadly was it, in terms of The Desert Wolves and Ugly Man records. In an ideal world a third should have been released and then an LP. "Passion in the Afternoon" would have been that 3rd slice of the perfect pop cake, had my personal resources not started to evaporate. It was the best thing they ever did and stands the test of time listening to it today.

Post Ugly Man The Wolves shed bassist Richard Jones, who had always appeared on the periphery of the group and it's essential core. He had become increasing interested in developing a career as a working musician and initially worked as a session trumpeter with Black, and The Pasedenas, appearing on Pebble Mill at One, at one point. He had always shown an interest in the business side of things and how the whole process worked. More of Richard later.

Having seconded a friend Stuart Bowman, in on Bass the group became more tight knit but sadly nobody showed interest in continuing their recording career. As with most student bands the end of studies heralded the end of the band. A legend died but a legacy lingered.


As the internet was born, so was the ability for people who live all over the world to share common passions for obscure musical forms. The call them "communities" in the world of commerce and just such a community existed and was called Tweenet. Driven by Peter Hahndorf a guy from Hamburg who was building the internet, it became the central point for a world of people consumed by the guitar scene of the late 80's and all that it inspired.

In the late 90's Peter was based and working in London and I met up with him. As a result he introduced me to some of his fellow Desert Wolves fans, who ran a wonderful record label and were based in Berlin - Firestation Tower records. A plot was hatched there and then to release an LP of all the available tracks that the Desert Wolves had ever recorded. The band were delighted to be able to chronicle the past and Pontification was born and released in 2000. The CD is now every bit a valued and sought after as the vinyl that spawned it, as people snapped up the limited edition release.

The joy now is that people from all over the world - east and west of Stretford - listen to those songs each day and get the same joy they engendered in 1987 and 1988 and inspire another generation of songwriters.

http://uglymanlittlebird.blogspot.com/2008/02/desert-wolves-what-happened-next.html

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Yeah Jazz, Six Lane Ends Here...

From the band's myspace page:

Before they phased out, two musical albums were published. The first album was named "Six Lane Ends" published only in LP and tape forms (There was a CD released in Japan only - see Pictures for details), the second album was called "Short Stories" initially on cassette only later rereleased under the new band name of "Big Red Kite". A single (EP) was lifted from the album entitled "April" in CD format containing 5 tracks including "Distant Trains". The "April" EP came out on Tubecroft Records in 1992 and also included "Rainbows" and live favourite "Lorraine & Duane".

The line up of the band at this point was Kev Hand (Gtr/Vocals), Chats (Gtr), Stu (Bass), Dave Blant (Accordion / keyboards) and Fred Hopwood (Drums). The song titles of "Six Lane Ends" are: .. Sharon .. Stones .. Lee Marvin .. All of My Days .. Freeland .. Step into the Light .. Heaven .. The Girl the Years Were Kind to .. Dirty Windows .. Make a Fist .. Stranger Than Fiction .. All the Stars .. This is Not Love (bonus track in some editions) Of these, "Sharon" was released as a single. Also on Cherry Red came "Morning O'Grady", "She Said" and "This Is Not Love". The "She said" single managed an impressive No34 in the independent charts and remained active within it for 4 weeks. Cherry Red provides on-line download services for "Six Lane Ends" in MP3 format. Customers can download single by single or the whole album at different prices.


Based around the affecting songwriting of Kevin Hand, Uttoxeter's best ever pop group released a single - Julie and the Sea Lions - on their own label, then recorded for Upright and Cherry Red. Peel and Long favourites for a while, especially with the classic This Is Not Love, it never translated to commercial success. The band returned to live action and recording in the early 1990s, releasing a 5 track CD EP on the Tubecroft label.

The band then changed their name in 1996 to 'big red kite' and released an album called "Short Stories" on the German record label Scout. The band played at the 1994 Heineken Music Festival. The band split up in 1999 although singer Kevin Hand still writes. Releases: Julie and the Sealions (7") 1984 on Distinctive records - Julie and the Sealions - American Planes She said (12") 1986 on Upright records This Is Not Love (12") 1986 on Upright Records Sharon (7"+12") 1987 on Cherry Red Records - CHERRY 100 - Sharon - The Girl The Years Were Kind To Six Lane Ends (LP) 23.May 1988 on Cherry Red Records - BRED 82 - Sharon - Stones - Lee Marvin - All My Days - Freeland - Step Into The Light - Heaven - The Girl The Years Were Kind Too - Dirty Windows - Make A Fist - Stranger Than Fiction - All The Stars Morning O'Grady (12") 1988 on Cherry Red Records - CHERRY 101 On compilations: Imminent 5 (LP) 1987 on Food Ltd - Bite 5 - Probably This Winter

http://www.myspace.com/yeahjazz

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