New Fast Automatic Daffodils coalesced in Manchester in the late 80s and were signed to Play It Again Sam, a record label based in Belgium who had early electronic rock groups on their books- Front 242, The Young Gods and Meat Beat Manifesto all released records on PIAS. New FADs fitted in with that sound in some ways, a groove based sound, drums and taut basslines to the fore, lots of percussion and bongos with clipped, spiky guitar and the gruff, economical vocals of singer Andy Spearpoint. As such, a rock band making kids dance, they had some crossover appeal with the Manchester sound of the late 80s even if they weren't really part of the scene. They had a run of singles after their debut (Lions) and a 1990 album, Pigeonhole, that all stand the test of time and really don't sound like thirty two years have passed since they were recorded.
Big is a swirling five minutes of dance rock, starting with feedback and bongos and then some frenetic drumming takes over. This is the churning, speeding album version. The 12" has a different version, with Andy's echo laden vocals, 'The desert grows three miles a year/ It just grows/ It just grows', and the Big (Baku) remix by Jon da Silva, both well worth seeking out.
Big appeared on the Happy Daze compilation, a 1990 album released by Island to cash in on the flavours of the month/ year with Primal Scream's Loaded heading the album and The Soup Dragons, Pixies, Ride, The Charlatans, Shamen, Carter USM, Inspiral Carpets, James, Soho, The Wonderstuff, Jesus Jones and Happy Mondays all present. It sold by the bucketfull and likely many people's exposure to the New FADS was from this album.
Fishes Eyes exists in multiple versions too, a slower take on the New FADs mutant dance rock. The 12" came with this one produced by Slow Bongo Floyd, with some skronky saxophone to make sure everything doesn't get too obvious.
Get Better (Martin Hannett Mix)
They were a phenomenal live act, totally engrossing and could get a whole venue dancing, not just those few diehards down the front. I saw them a few times round the period and a couple of years later briefly worked alongside Andy Spearpoint's partner (an English teacher in Failsworth, a school where I did a teaching practice). Andy was a drama student and has appeared in Coronation Street as well as being the New FADs frontman. Their second album Body Exit Mind came out in 1992 but by then grunge had done for Manchester and then a year or two later Britpop showed up. The New FADs split in 1995. They deserve a bit more than to be an early 90s footnote.
