Another dip back into the world of late 80s alternative culture as filtered through the lens of Snub TV, an early evening independent music show of the kind that seems inconceivable now. In December 1988 The House Of Love were filmed playing live at Top Rank in Brighton- the seven minute clip opens with a ferocious take on Destroy the Heart, Terry Bickers' guitar and Guy Chadwick's vocals in some kind of war to be the most ragged and fraught. Bickers was a really talented guitarist, capable of slow burning shimmer and understated pyrotechnics. The clip then has an interview with a fresh faced Chadwick. The rest of the band look like they'd rather be anywhere else. Snub then cut back to the gig with Man To Child.
I loved The House Of Love, saw them live several times in the late 80s including one occasion at the Queen's Hall in Widnes just a few days before they kicked Terry out of the band, abandoning him at a service station as they were driving to Wales. Relations were fraught and Terry called Guy a breadhead and set fire to a £5 note and then drummer Pete Evans punched Terry in the face- I might be misremembering the details but it was along those lines. The first album, released on Creation in 1988, was possibly the last gasp of this kind of indie guitar music before acid house and indie dance came along the following year.
Throwing Muses were on Snub in 1988, filmed live at The Town And Country Club in Camden in May. There's a brief interview section at the start of this clip, step- sisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, facing the questions and Kristin talking about feminism. The clip then goes to the gig, an intense performance of Downtown (a song from their 1988 album House Tornado). They were a powerful live band- they'd been going since 1981 so by '88 they were pretty seasoned performers.
Manic Depression is a cover of The Jimi Hendrix Experience song. This is a live instrumental version, no vocals- I've no idea where or when it's from but a version of the song was on 1992's Firepile EP.
Ha, I saw the House Of Love at Portsmouth Poly, where I happened to be studying, the day after they kicked Terry out of the band. I remember there being a hastily handwritten sign on the door outlining that he wouldn't be appearing, such was the esteem in which he was held. It was a bit of a tentative performance to say the least but they just about carried it off. They'd been fabulous with Terry in the band, quite compellingly unhinged at times, and they were just a bit unlucky with their timing really. it's a shame that there was a lot of revisionist crap written (once acid house had kicked in) by people who were there about how the real hipsters at Creation never really liked them that much. Nonsense. I've got tape of this whole Brighton show somewhere and it's excellent, recorded from BBC Radio Sussex's superb "Turn It Up" evening indie show...must try to dig it out and digitise it.
ReplyDeleteWould love to hear that NickL.
ReplyDeleteI think they probably played/ didn't play Bristol rather than Wales now I think about it and then headed to Portsmouth and you the following day.