Loop Ride

More from the Snub TV archives, indie and alternative culture from the late 80s and early 90s as filtered and recorded by the BBC 2 youth culture team. First up, Loop, walls of guitar noise from Croydon, South London, formed by Robert Hampson along with his girlfriend Becky Stewart and James Endeacott. John Wills replaced Becky and Endeacott left to work at Rough Trade where he played a key role in launching both The Strokes and The Libertines. He's also a crate digger with some interesting compilations out (Unlock Your Mind With Morning Glory from last year is a good starting point). Some of the photos of early Loop touring the UK are in Sam Knee's photo book The Scene In Between are definitive shots of the era. Loop are on the cover and a certain subset of indie '88 encapsulated- narrow black jeans and winkle pickers, brown suede, long bowl cuts, leather biker jackets, amps, guitars and Transit vans. 

In 1989 they appeared on Snub, a seven minute clip with interviews, visuals and their music. The interview with Robert is very of its time, maybe the origin story for the 'we make music for ourselves and if anyone else likes its a bonus' line but the music is a blast, overloaded guitars, single minded riffs and glorious repetition. 

Other band members came and went. Loop released three albums of loud, very noisy, psychedelic space rock, all volume, fuzz and three chord riffs- 1987's Heaven's End, Fade Out in 1989 and Gilded Eternity in 1990. The Stooges, Krautrock, late 60s counter- culture re- imagined in late 80s south London. Can you imagine this being on early evening, mid- week BBC 2 now? 

Got To Get Over It was the final song on Fade Out, a blaze of guitars playing the same riff over and over while sludgy drums and distant vocals compete in the background. It breaks down into a swirl of FX and noise, thunder and feedback, a guitar wailing as a weather system closes in around it. Simplistic and purist, an idea taken to its end point.

Got To Get Over It

Also on Snub in 1989 and also very much into distorted guitars and noise but a little younger, were Ride- their first TV appearance was on Snub, the Oxford teenagers playing live at The Town And Country Club. The clip shows them playing Drive Blind, released on their first EP on Creation in January 1990. 

Drive Blind is a Mark Gardener song, one the reformed band still play live now, a little more able to hear themselves and each other now than they were back then. God, how young they were. And we were. 

Drive Blind