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Part 2: Rusholme Ruffians: The Solem Bar to The Solent Suite
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 With
Dan in Manchester, Baz on a year off and Alfie and Sam still
studying at college, the band had far fewer opportunities to rehearse.
They kept gigging, however, playing a couple of memorable evenings in 'The Solem Bar' at Manchester University Union and venues such as Goblets
and The Joiners Arms in Southampton during the college holidays. During
the trips to Manchester, the band met a new friend of Dan's, a multi-
instrumentalist called Rufus Grig. Living opposite each other in halls
of residence, Rufus and Dan had started writing songs together, including
'Garden of Persuasion' and 'Making Bombs'. We haven't heard the last
of him in our saga! |
| By the Easter of 1989 the band
had saved together enough money to record at Mike Godden's studio again.
This time round they recorded 8 songs, including brass-driven versions
of 'Silas' and 'Parking Meter', an early, folky take of 'Mother's Day',
and an accidentally breathtaking recording of 'Big Blue Sea'. The songs
were never released, which is a shame, but the mini-album they would
have been was called Oceans
and Automobiles. As it was, the band nearly broke up when founder-member
Baz announced that he was leaving. Dan, Sam and Alfie decided to continue
and looked for someone to come and help flesh out the sound. Sam's step-sister's
boyfriend proved to be a mean guitarist in the blues-folk tradition;
Matt Grace became a Stanley. Proving that you can take the man out of
the Stanleys, but you can't take the Stanleys out of the man (or something!)
Baz rejoined during the summer, and the band continued as a 5-piece.
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 Accrington
Stanley played gigs in Southampton, Cirencester (bizarrely) and
London the Summer of 1989, booked into the Dublin Castle by John and
their friend and (temporary!) manager, Ceri Evans. The gig was an experience,
probably more memorable for the extemporaneous cowbell performance by
Dan's cousin Dave than any musical merit, but it was good to take the
Stanley sound to a new audience. Any description of this period of the
Stanleys' touring habits would not be complete without a mention of
Kevin Wallace, friend and part-time roadie. |
| The band
suffered a setback at the end of 1989. Booked to play another
gig at Manchester Student Union, the Southampton contingent had driven
a van up the night before. Sadly, the lure of food, drink and smokable
products proved stronger than the lure of unloading the van ('who's
gonna break in on such a misty night anyway?") and the band awoke in
the morning to find their guitars had all been nicked. They managed
to play the gig anyway with borrowed equipment, but it wasn't until
Easter of 1990 that Dan, Sam and Matt had all managed to replace their
instruments. John recorded a weekend's worth of sessions 'straight to
tape' at his family home in the New Forest, and the John's Barn recordings
capture the band just starting to experiment with fuzz-pedals and harder
sounds. At this point, Dan managed to save up enough to buy a 4-track
recorder, meaning that he could write more songs and forget fewer. The
band would never be short of material again...
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| The Summer of 1990 saw the band
in Mike Godden's studio for the third (and, thus far) final time. They
began work on a new album that was to see the light of day as Fathom.
The sessions went well. Earlier in the Summer, they had played two gigs
when Alfie was away. Baz covered the drum duties and Rufus stood in
for Baz on keyboards. Baz's 'Keith Moon on shandy' approach to 'Scaffolding'
and 'Lonesome Valley' forced Alfie to take up the mandolin, and this
new string to his bow featured on several songs on Fathom. Rufus also
found himself drawn further into the Stanley web when he was invited
to come and play cello on the album, recording perfect takes of 'Just
Tell Her That I Called', 'Scaffolding' and 'Lonesome Valley' within
half an hour of arriving. The band also recorded a cover version of
the Happy Monday's track '24hour Party People' (which somehow included
'Groove is in the Heart' and 'Roadrunner') for the cassette 'Bobby Stokes
Salutes The Fall of Manchester'. |
 The
band felt that Fathom had moved their sound into an interesting,
slightly darker place and decided to go all out to release it on vinyl
instead of cassette. Kind-hearted friends 'invested' gratefully received
sums to get the first official 'Beepsounds' release off the ground (thank
you: Rob Walsh, Brendan Rogers, Kev Sheriton.). After much scrimping,
saving and mugging old ladies, the band had enough to press 500 LPs
in Black and White covers, and Fathom was finally for sale. |
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At some point over this period, the band had become increasingly friendly
with a local guitarist called Kevin Sheriton (aka MC Kevski). Kev worked
at Our Price in Southampton and had become interested in promoting and
managing local bands as well as playing in them. Kev wasn't the only
person interested in managing the Stanleys. John had played some of
the band's tapes to a sound-man at the Royal Court Theatre. Steve Hepworth
had been the front-man and guitarist in a successful 'hard rock' band
in the early 80's ('Vardis') and had already dabbled in management.
He and John proposed to become the band's joint managers and, after
a certain amount of contract-induced panic, the band signed on. |
 Now
officially a six-piece, with Rufus playing guitar and cello,
the band enjoyed the first fruits of Steve's experience with a week
in a rehearsal studio in Acton courtesy of Go- Discs records. Go-Discs
A&R man (Chas Smash of Madness fame) was keen on the band's demos but,
in a pattern that was to become frustratingly familiar, was called to
Germany to sort out The La's when he was due to check the band out,
and sent someone else in his stead. He seemed oblivious to the band's
manifold charms! Returning from the London rehearsals in Easter 1991,
the band played at a gig arranged by Kevin at 'The Solent Suite', beneath
Southampton Guildhall. Living in the memory as one of the most impressively
fly-posted concerts in the history of flies, Accrington Stanley had
a great night premiering their new, 'polished' sound on a bill that
included Jane Pow, Trip, The See-Saws and The Buttons. The Southampton
music scene seemed pretty vibrant for once, and the queues at door-opening
time stretched around the block. The band felt they were on the brink
of something huge.sadly, it was an abyss! |
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