ACCRINGTON STANLEY

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Part 3: Doumo Origato - The Dorchester to Yo-Yogi Stadium

The second half of 1991 saw the band gigging in some amazing places. A truly wonderful night in Lampeter (with Kev standing in for Matt on guitar, and Alfie standing in for Jesus in a white sheet) gave way to sell-out gigs at the West Indian Centre and The Escape Club in Southampton, and a great night at The Rock Garden in Covent Garden. By the Autumn, the band had also earned a residency at The Dorchester pub. Used to traditional Irish music and Country and Western, the landlord of The Dorchester had originally booked the band as 'Accrington and Stanley', folk duo. Although not initially impressed with the 'wall of sound' emanating from the band when they started playing, the bar takings started to rise and the band found themselves booked every week.

The Dorchester gigs gave the band something to rehearse towards and gained them many followers around Southampton. The line-up was flexible; Baz was back at University on his final year and Alfie was often similarly indisposed. Rufus moved to Southampton and joined Dan, Sam and Matt as the nucleus of a floating collective. In a fateful moment, Rufus showed Kev the rudiments of drumming (as he saw them) and Kevin frequently found himself behind the kit at the Stanley sessions.

In early 1992, after an unpleasant experience at the band's first attempt at 24 track recording, Alfie Baker left the band to concentrate on his art course in Wales. Missing his eccentricities greatly, the band cast around for a new drummer and hooked up with Dylan Clarke. Dylan had drummed in Southampton band 'Who's in the Kitchen' and also played double bass in the Italian folk band 'La Cucina'. His drumming style was perfect for the band and they quickly started gigging with him. One performance at The Rock Garden in London caught the eye of Nick Raymond of RCA records, an ex-producer of Steve's. He courted the band and put them in a rehearsal room, announcing his intentions to record them. Once again, however, nothing came of the interest in the end and, moreover, the climate of frustration stirred by this rejection led to the band parting company with Matt Grace. Matt continued as an accomplished singer, songwriter, guitarist and lives in York (having been nowhere near the "York folk circuit" which has been erroneously reported in these pages, however).

The near-signing to RCA told the band that they were on the right track and they enjoyed successful recording sessions at studios in Camden. Dan had moved to a squat in London at this point, regularly returning to gig in Southampton. Having finished his degree, Baz did the same and Sam followed soon after. Were the streets paved with gold? Not quite, but the band and management's hard work paid off finally when Accrington Stanley found themselves booked to play in Japan at the Sumitomo 'World Student Pop Festival' in November 1992.

The trip to Japan gave the band a brief look at the world of pop stardom. Met off the plane by camera crews, they enjoyed a week of cosseted sight-seeing before playing to 12,000 people and TV film-crews at The Yo-Yogi National Stadium in Tokyo. It was a buzz, and it made the trip back to the dole office in Kilburn fairly painful.

Once the excitement of being 'big in Japan' had died down, the band found themselves in good enough financial state to start recording Lovebound....

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