Just when you thought it was safe, here's another Nightingales-related post.
Short-lived quintet featuring Tank and Maria from The Gales whose output consists of one 7" single and this here session. After T&M departed to concentrate on Rumblefish, the band became The Cantels, releasing a 4 track 12", I Want To Be Alone, in 1988. At one time they traded under the name The Sue Capitols. Other than that, I know nothing about 'em.
1. Every Time 2. Who Can Tell 3. I Want To Be Alone 4. Falling Again 5. Born Yesterday
Many thanks to Mr. Thacker for Born Yesterday, and for providing the missing tracks to The Nightingales final Peel session from 1986, which you will find here.
You're welcome. Sorry the sound quality's a bit ropey, it's the best I can do with old cassettes and my Roxio 'tape to mp3' converter.
ReplyDeletenot a lot more to know about us. We originally had a keyboard player Simon Maragh (later to surface in L'Augmentation), but he and Sue fought a lot so he sadly left. We probably played about 15 gigs, did one single, a Peel session,and recorded a second single called 'Grimness' which never came out. The band had already split acrimoniously with singer Sue by this point and it'd got unpleasantly litigious by the point Grimness was recorded. We eventually changed our name to Rottenswines but that petered out as I got busier with Robert Lloyd and The New Four Seasons.
ReplyDeleteOf the others, Maria played with me for a while in a band called GORGEOUS (Cursed With Being album released on Iron man Records in 2000); Jimbo moved to London, (we think), Phil gave up drums and moved to Wales, Sue lives in London and still sings, (theres stuff on You Tube under the name Tasha Emilon) and since 2000 I play with John Robb in Goldblade and The Membranes, (though I was in the reformed Nightingales till about 2006 and have also played with UK Subs, which was a right laugh). There you go....
You forgot to mention Rumblefish and Box 'Em Domies! Anyway, here are my recollections from the completely overlooked book I self published in 2004...
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PIGBROS
THE ATOM SPIES
THE CAPITOLS
Burberries
Tuesday 31st March
This was billed as ‘the cake records night’ and was a showcase
for the up and coming local talent. The record label ‘Cake’ was
run and operated from a house on Portland Road (the same road
where I went to a party with Jan and Mark was playing spoons)
by Fuzz Townshend, the drummer with Pigbros. They’d released
two records by this time and I’d bought them both (see later on in
this chapter for a full discography, band histories and
anecdotes!). Upon entering the gig, each punter was handed a
small cake on a napkin (which I thought was a nice touch).
First up were THE ATOM SPIES and I really enjoyed their
quirky polemic little songs, especially the track ‘Now The adverts’
from their 12” EP.
Next were THE CAPITOLS and I was overjoyed to see that they
had two band members who used to be in The Nightingales!
Maria and Tank (real name: Peter Byrchmore) were the violinist
and guitarist respectively on the final Nightingales album and
tour. I think I’d probably seen them both around at Burberries but
it was great to see them performing again in such an energetic
band. The lead singer, Sue, stomped on and off the stage and
sang into the faces of the audiences (including Mark and myself),
very intimidating even though she was only about four feet tall!
The Capitols, prior to audience intimidation. From l to r; Maria, Phil, Sue and Tank.
Finally came the mighty PIGBROS. I think I’ve waxed eloquent
about them enough already so I’ll just say they were an
unstoppable force of indie post punk pop that you could dance to
and leave it at that. Until the next PIGBROS gig of course!
(p.59)
THE CAPITOLS
Who Can Tell/ Every Time
Cat no Slice 2
I went straight out and bought this after seeing them play live
and realising ex-Nightingales were involved. One night, the DJ
played this record at Burberries and Jan and I danced to it alone
as usual and were suddenly joined on the dance floor by Tank
the guitarist, who also danced to it before handing us a free
badge each! The band recorded one radio session for John Peel
but never released any more records and there was some
acrimonious break up at the end, the ins and outs of which I can
(and will later on in this book) only speculate at.
Thanks for sharing this Lee. I feel a revised edition of your book is long overdue, complete with juicy lowdown on the acrimonious split!
Delete(P.103)
ReplyDeleteTHE ROTTEN SWINES
Piranhas, The Cod Club
Sunday 22nd November
THE ROTTEN SWINES were fronted by Maria and Tank from
The Capitols and they basically performed all the songs The
Capitols used to play with different lyrics (and Maria taking over
the vocal duties from Sue).
I never get tired of seeing Tank in action, prowling around the
stage with an evil glint in his eye that is both intimidating and
endearing. I’ve seen him play countless times in many different
bands, most recently in the newly reformed Nightingales with his
old protégé Robert Lloyd. He’s also a member of Gold Blade, the
formidable group put together by John Robb of The Membranes
and he has his own band G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. which saw him
reunited musically with Maria after a lengthy time apart.
His philosophy, credited to something Robert Lloyd said, is :
‘Be hated for what you are rather than loved for what you’re not’.
I’d go along with that!
There was one song that both The Sue Capitols and The Rotten
Swines played live at the time that ended up on a record by none
other than Robert Lloyd. The Capitols originally recorded it for
their John Peel session (when Tank was still in the band) but it
was eventually released on the b-side of Robert Lloyd’s first 12”
single during his brief tenure on Virgin records as a solo artist. It
was called ‘The Last Laugh’ and, from the title, I gathered it was
Tank’s two fingered salute to The Sue Capitols. He played it on
the week of its release some time in 1990 at The Swamp Club
(where he used to DJ) and Jan and I got up and danced to it as
the dance floor cleared. All the more room for us!
THE SUE CAPITOLS
Synatras
Monday 23rd November
It was interesting to see both bands on two consecutive nights,
but in terms of ability and entertainment The Rotten Swines were
a much better band. I’m not sure how long THE SUE CAPITOLS
carried on for after this gig, but I never saw them play live again
after this. I get the feeling they were completely ostracised by the
other local bands for some reason. They released a 12” EP that I
looked at a couple of times in a record shop but I never bought it.
Wow - absolutely brilliant to hear these after such a long time. Can't add much to the information above apart from the fact the session was produced by Dale Griffin.
ReplyDeleteJimbo
A better version of Born Yesterday is available at http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/RF_Sessions_1 and this includes some John Peel comments
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