sound of the suburbs

Those of you that have read the side bar will know that I spent six years promoting gigs. This came about very much by chance, at the time I was a dj for a radio station that was part of a concert hall/disco. One day while hanging around in the office a fax came through from a national promoter trying to sell a date for the New Fast Automatic Daffodils, having read the fax and knowing the band very well, I was smitten by the idea, I could already see my self promoting U2 in the years to come! What did in fact happen over the next six years was that I lost more money than I owned but had some wonderful times, met some great people and stocked loads of good memories in my brain. We chose a name to operate under, Luna Tic, anyway we thought it was good, and off we went on a long voyage of learning all about the ups and down of entertainment business.
So what made us trust the New Fads? it was 1992 and they were touring to support their second album. Having formed in Manchester at the tail end of the eighties after meeting at that city's Polytechnic poetry society, their name is taken from a poem by Liverpool's Adrian Henri. They were much more serious and less hedonist than their peers at the time and this attitude was rapidly rewarded by a contract with the Belgian label Play It Again Sam, us europeans have always loved 'Cassablanca'. Their debut single 'Big' set their manifesto with this infectious slice of dub influenced goove toped by singer Andy Spearpoint's melodica and odd lyrics. 'Pigionhole' was to to be their first album, in 1990, Strongly praised by the press for its strong spoken word vocals over fast and furious rhythms, subject mater was influenced by their interest in history and philosophy, and you could dance to it, just listen to 'Get Better'. The band set off touring the album while at the same time preparing the songs for 1992's 'Body Exit Mind' an altogether moodier and more caustic affair but a very strong album all the same kicking off with 'Bong' which was also a single that for some unfathomable reason failed to ignite the charts. Their final LP 'Love It All' was to see day in 1994, the bands interest in new music technology was aided by the albums producer Jeremy Allom (Massive Attack), a satisfactory album that lacked the little bit extra that made its two predecessors so interesting. One of my favorites from this album is 'Left Right', give it a spin. Their by then accustomary good reviews failed to have any effect on record sales and I'm sad to say that the New Fads, they abbreviated their name for their last album, have disappeared from the musical radar.



What I can tell you is that they stood out from the pack with their distinctive attitude and edgy sound and that they deserved more, if you don't already know them do your self a favour and check them out. There are actually no tangible New Fads records on catalogue but PIAS have firmly embraced the digital age and 'Body Exit Mind' is available in downloadable form from a number of sites I can Recommend emusic, who have a very large and diverse independent label based catalog. If you can't live without the original cd or vinyl I'm afraid it must be a search through the usual sites or shops, good luck.
As for the gig, well despite their being only around 150 people we enjoyed ourselves so much that we were to promote them two years later. I can remember talking to the band after the second gig and asking them how they managed to get by financially, to which they laughed and said all this was paid for by a publishing advance that they had no idea how they would pay back!