The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present are an indie rock group formed in Leeds, England in 1984. Th… Read Full Bio ↴The Wedding Present are an indie rock group formed in Leeds, England in 1984. They evolved from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. Their music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, Buzzcocks and The Go-Betweens, to more varied forms. Throughout their career, they have been led by vocalist and guitarist David Gedge, the band's only constant member.
The Lost Pandas fell apart in 1984 when guitarist Michael Duane (later of dustDevils) was sacked, and Panda's drummer Jaz Rigby followed in protest. Gedge and the Pandas' bass player, Keith Gregory, decided to continue the band, renaming it The Wedding Present.
Gedge wanted to use the name "The Wedding Present" in honour of one of his favourite bands,The Birthday Party.
Gedge and Gregory recruited an old schoolmate of Gedge's, Peter Solowka, to play guitar and auditioned a string of drummers, including Mike Bedford, with whom they recorded a demo tape, before settling on Shaun Charman. The country's clubs and bars were toured as the band prepared for the recording of their first, self-financed single.
After some consideration, "Go Out and Get 'Em, Boy!" was chosen over early favourite "Will You Be Up There?". The A-side features drumming by hired hand Julian Sowa with Charman on its B-side. The single was released on the band's own Reception Records label with distribution through Red Rhino. Although Reception was only intended to be a vehicle for the release of their own material, it also released a number of singles by This Poison! and Cud.
Two more singles followed that did well on the independent charts and the band was spotted by veteran BBC radio DJ John Peel, who immediately started championing them and invited them to do a radio session, starting a long collaboration.
By the time the band started work on their debut album, a number of independent and major record companies showed interest, but the band declined all offers and decided to keep releasing their material themselves. The album was released in 1987 and titled George Best after the well-known Northern Irish football player. Disagreement on production values with the record's producer, Chris Allison, led to the product being remixed by the band and their engineer, Steve Lyon. The larger part of these conflicts seemed to lie with the personal and musical incompatibility of Allison and Charman.
Upon its release, the album was critically acclaimed and the band were soon lumped in with some of their peers as the 'shambling' or C86 scene, a categorization that they vehemently declined (although they were featured on the original C86 compilation). Musically, the album featured fast-paced rhythm guitar attacks; lyrically, apart from a few tentative excursions into social critique ("All This and More") and politics ("All About Eve"), Gedge's main concerns (which would become his trademark) were love, lust, heartbreak and revenge. Soon after the release of George Best, the early singles and radio sessions were compiled and released as Tommy (1985-1987).
With the departure of Charman very early on in 1988, Simon Smith took up the drum stool and follow up album, 1989's Bizarro was again popular with the music weeklies.
When Solowka, who has Ukrainian roots, started fooling around with a Ukrainian folk tune during one of their many Peel sessions, the idea arose to devote some of their radio time to recording their versions of Ukrainian and Russian folk song, encouraged by Peel. To this end, two guest musicians were invited, singer/violin player Len Liggins and mandolin player Roman Remeynes, and three Peel sessions were recorded with Gedge temporarily limiting himself to playing rhythm guitar and arranging the songs.
The band planned on releasing eight cuts from the Ukrainian sessions on a 10" LP and an initial batch was pressed when Red Rhino went into receivership. Rather than trying to find a new distribution company, the band decided to fold their Reception label altogether and sign with a regular record company: RCA. Solowka, Liggins, and Remeynes later split from the band to concentrate on the Ukrainian material as the band The Ukrainians.
Seamonsters is the third studio album by English rock band The Wedding Present. It was recorded in ten days in 1991 by American producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Albini had previously recorded two EPs with the group, Brassneck and 3 Songs and, like those records, Seamonsters has a rougher, harsher overall sound than the group's earlier two albums.
Solowka was replaced by Paul Dorrington and the band in 1992 released a single every month, and each of these songs charted before being released as compilations of both the A and B-sides. Each of these 12 singles hit the UK Top 40 and the band tied Elvis Presley's record of most Top 40 singles in the span of a year.
Following a quiet 1993 in which Gregory left and was replaced by Darren Belk, they followed up their record-breaking 1992 year with a new LP in 1994 called "Watusi". Following this, Dorrington left, Belk moved to guitar and they temporarily became a 3-piece before Jayne Lockey arrived. A mini LP, helpfully called "Mini" drove up early '96 shortly before "Saturnalia" zoomed in Summer '96 (along with the addition of new guitarist Simon Cleave after Belk's depature).
Following a gig in January 1997, Gedge decided to rest the Wedding Present name and started performing as Cinerama however while recording a new Cinerama album in 2004 he decided to resurrect the name the Wedding Present.
The first Wedding Present single in 7 years was released in November 2004 followed by an album in February 2005. This line-up was Gedge, Cleave, bassist Terry de Castro and drummer Kari Paavola. Paavola declined to tour and subsequently left replaced by Simon Pearson and then Graeme Ramsey. Simon Cleave left early 2006 but rejoined in 2009. His 3 year void was filled by guitarist Christopher McConville.
In more musical chairs, guitarist Cleave departed again later in 2009 due to ill health. The vacant guitar position was actually snabbed by the drummer, Ramsay, who was replaced on the drum stool by Charlie Layton (who had previously served for a very short time in 2006). Following this in Summer 2010, long-serving bassist, Terry de Castro, also vacated to be replaced by Pepe le Moko. A year later, in late 2011, after the recording of the band's 8th studio album, Valentina, Ramsay departed to be replaced by (ex-The Young Playthings and The Pipettes), Patrick Alexander.
The band emerged in February 2013 with yet another new line-up after the sacking of le Moko and Alexander - bassist Jen Schwartz (from Me of a Kind) and guitarist Geoff Maddock (from Goldenhorse).
For more information please visit www.scopitones.co.uk
The Lost Pandas fell apart in 1984 when guitarist Michael Duane (later of dustDevils) was sacked, and Panda's drummer Jaz Rigby followed in protest. Gedge and the Pandas' bass player, Keith Gregory, decided to continue the band, renaming it The Wedding Present.
Gedge wanted to use the name "The Wedding Present" in honour of one of his favourite bands,The Birthday Party.
Gedge and Gregory recruited an old schoolmate of Gedge's, Peter Solowka, to play guitar and auditioned a string of drummers, including Mike Bedford, with whom they recorded a demo tape, before settling on Shaun Charman. The country's clubs and bars were toured as the band prepared for the recording of their first, self-financed single.
After some consideration, "Go Out and Get 'Em, Boy!" was chosen over early favourite "Will You Be Up There?". The A-side features drumming by hired hand Julian Sowa with Charman on its B-side. The single was released on the band's own Reception Records label with distribution through Red Rhino. Although Reception was only intended to be a vehicle for the release of their own material, it also released a number of singles by This Poison! and Cud.
Two more singles followed that did well on the independent charts and the band was spotted by veteran BBC radio DJ John Peel, who immediately started championing them and invited them to do a radio session, starting a long collaboration.
By the time the band started work on their debut album, a number of independent and major record companies showed interest, but the band declined all offers and decided to keep releasing their material themselves. The album was released in 1987 and titled George Best after the well-known Northern Irish football player. Disagreement on production values with the record's producer, Chris Allison, led to the product being remixed by the band and their engineer, Steve Lyon. The larger part of these conflicts seemed to lie with the personal and musical incompatibility of Allison and Charman.
Upon its release, the album was critically acclaimed and the band were soon lumped in with some of their peers as the 'shambling' or C86 scene, a categorization that they vehemently declined (although they were featured on the original C86 compilation). Musically, the album featured fast-paced rhythm guitar attacks; lyrically, apart from a few tentative excursions into social critique ("All This and More") and politics ("All About Eve"), Gedge's main concerns (which would become his trademark) were love, lust, heartbreak and revenge. Soon after the release of George Best, the early singles and radio sessions were compiled and released as Tommy (1985-1987).
With the departure of Charman very early on in 1988, Simon Smith took up the drum stool and follow up album, 1989's Bizarro was again popular with the music weeklies.
When Solowka, who has Ukrainian roots, started fooling around with a Ukrainian folk tune during one of their many Peel sessions, the idea arose to devote some of their radio time to recording their versions of Ukrainian and Russian folk song, encouraged by Peel. To this end, two guest musicians were invited, singer/violin player Len Liggins and mandolin player Roman Remeynes, and three Peel sessions were recorded with Gedge temporarily limiting himself to playing rhythm guitar and arranging the songs.
The band planned on releasing eight cuts from the Ukrainian sessions on a 10" LP and an initial batch was pressed when Red Rhino went into receivership. Rather than trying to find a new distribution company, the band decided to fold their Reception label altogether and sign with a regular record company: RCA. Solowka, Liggins, and Remeynes later split from the band to concentrate on the Ukrainian material as the band The Ukrainians.
Seamonsters is the third studio album by English rock band The Wedding Present. It was recorded in ten days in 1991 by American producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Albini had previously recorded two EPs with the group, Brassneck and 3 Songs and, like those records, Seamonsters has a rougher, harsher overall sound than the group's earlier two albums.
Solowka was replaced by Paul Dorrington and the band in 1992 released a single every month, and each of these songs charted before being released as compilations of both the A and B-sides. Each of these 12 singles hit the UK Top 40 and the band tied Elvis Presley's record of most Top 40 singles in the span of a year.
Following a quiet 1993 in which Gregory left and was replaced by Darren Belk, they followed up their record-breaking 1992 year with a new LP in 1994 called "Watusi". Following this, Dorrington left, Belk moved to guitar and they temporarily became a 3-piece before Jayne Lockey arrived. A mini LP, helpfully called "Mini" drove up early '96 shortly before "Saturnalia" zoomed in Summer '96 (along with the addition of new guitarist Simon Cleave after Belk's depature).
Following a gig in January 1997, Gedge decided to rest the Wedding Present name and started performing as Cinerama however while recording a new Cinerama album in 2004 he decided to resurrect the name the Wedding Present.
The first Wedding Present single in 7 years was released in November 2004 followed by an album in February 2005. This line-up was Gedge, Cleave, bassist Terry de Castro and drummer Kari Paavola. Paavola declined to tour and subsequently left replaced by Simon Pearson and then Graeme Ramsey. Simon Cleave left early 2006 but rejoined in 2009. His 3 year void was filled by guitarist Christopher McConville.
In more musical chairs, guitarist Cleave departed again later in 2009 due to ill health. The vacant guitar position was actually snabbed by the drummer, Ramsay, who was replaced on the drum stool by Charlie Layton (who had previously served for a very short time in 2006). Following this in Summer 2010, long-serving bassist, Terry de Castro, also vacated to be replaced by Pepe le Moko. A year later, in late 2011, after the recording of the band's 8th studio album, Valentina, Ramsay departed to be replaced by (ex-The Young Playthings and The Pipettes), Patrick Alexander.
The band emerged in February 2013 with yet another new line-up after the sacking of le Moko and Alexander - bassist Jen Schwartz (from Me of a Kind) and guitarist Geoff Maddock (from Goldenhorse).
For more information please visit www.scopitones.co.uk
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
The Wedding Present Lyrics
A Million Miles I must have walked past this doorway thirty times Just tryin…
All About Eve "Tom" I've read this page a thousand times It's the only w…
all this & more I wonder what our kid has bought her I think…
Always the Quiet One When I held back the doors and accidentally my hand…
Anyone Can Make a Mistake When I set foot upon the bus you laughed And said,…
At the Edge of the Sea We lie in this salty embrace A sunny day, this special…
Back A Bit...Stop Every single thing about My so-called life was boring Unti…
Bad Thing And when I kissed her, she tasted of beer She…
Be Honest This is all because you didn't like my mum Well…
Better Than You And then you said "No, I'm not from the south, I…
Bewitched I'm not sure and I'm not asking But I thought…
Big Boots I know you've put those big boots on because they're…
Big Rat And there's something I've got To tell you and I'm not Sur…
Blonde I'm just some name in your book That's why you gave…
Blue Eyes I don't think I've ever mentioned this before But I couldn't…
Boing! Why do you say you care? Well you don't show it And…
Boo Boo Well yes, it's late; the waiter's stacking the chairs But, …
Box Elder Wasn't the question you asked me It wasn't the answer I…
Brassneck No, I sent you that letter To ask you…
California Let's go to California now We've got to cross this great…
Carolyn Just before you go today There's something that I've got to…
Catwoman No I'll just lie here in your warm fur Oh look,…
Click Click You ask me how I feel, well suddenly this is…
Come Play With Me Take a look at this note I can't throw it away No…
Convertible His You know that I could make you very happy…
Corduroy And now I've kissed you, I'll show you how I've…
Crawl Everyone here can be a millionaire Just take these wings and…
Crushed Somewhere, sometime I've got to say this somehow Oh no, it's…
Dalliance You've told him lies now for so long Yet still he's…
Dare And there's one more thing just Come inside, no I'm all…
Don I never thought I could live here on my own …
Don't Be So Hard He became a man at twenty-three & now he's got…
Don't Laugh I never thought I could live here on my own …
Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk The heavens were alive with stars She pointed out which one…
Don't Talk, Just Kiss He didn't see me He sort of looked uneasy But I'm sure…
Don't Touch That Dial Don?t say a word, don?t make this even more absurd Anyway…
Don't Touch That Dial (Pacific Northwest version) Don't say a word, don't make this even more absurd Anyway…
Dont Laugh I never thought I could live here on my own …
Don’t Be So Hard He became a man at twenty-three & now he's got…
Don’t Laugh I never thought I could live here on my own …
Dreamworld I don't know how many times that I've tried to…
Drive You drive, no, no, I want you to Because I've only…
Every Mothers Son You could hardly hope to please me You haven't got that…
Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft Oh why do you catch my eye, then turn aw I…
Falling Don't cry no tears around me Don't cry no tears around…
Felicity I objected When they took it away from here Honesty that c…
Fleshworld Hey you don't come near me But how did you find…
Flying Saucer She waited there just like she said she would But it…
Gazebo I knew it was you from the minute You strolled into…
Getting Better I used to get mad at my school (No, I…
Getting Nowhere Fast You're not looking forward and you are not looking back You'…
Give My Love to Kevin Why should I want to know his name? What difference does…
Go Man Go Here comes my go-go dancer I called out but she wouldn't…
Go Out and Get 'em Boy! You were a survivor after all You never even called (I…
Go, Man, Go By the time you read this I will be a world…
Go-Go Dancer Here comes my go-go dancer I called out but she wouldn't…
Gone You could tell me how he saved the world again Well…
Granadaland Can't you come up with something better than that? Oh…
Heather I tried to call. You'd just gone out We've got to…
Hula Doll You said there's nothing that turns you on more Than waking…
I Found You And then you said "No, I'm not from the south, I…
I Lost the Monkey No, I don't know why Well, I was feeling hurt and…
I'm From Further North Than You And then you said "No, I'm not from the south, I…
I'm Not Always So Stupid Every time a car drives past I think it's you Every…
Interstate 5 I should just get out of here and start driving…
It's a Gas The sun's already rising I guess that's not surprising Becau…
It's for You No, it's for you but then you didn't need me…
It's Not Unusual It's not unusual to be loved by anyone It's not unusual…
It's What You Want That Matters This is for you, you must know it's for you,…
Jet Girl Oh I could call you now But I know you won't…
Kansas If none of this was ever planned That explains why I…
Kennedy Lost your love of life? Too much apple pie Oh have…
Larry's It was here in this aisle that I first heard…
Let Him Have It Give it to him Give it to him Give it to him Give…
Living and Learning If you said that it was nice, would you feel…
Love Machine You are obscene But I'm not your love machine Turn it off,…
Love Slave I know what you're going to say You want to do…
Lovenest I heard another voice this morning on the phone But just…
Make Me Smile You've done it all You've broken every .... Robbed the rebel…
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) You've done it all, you've broken every code And pulled the…
Mars Sparkles Down on Me So yeah I've got my brand new girlfriend And she's great…
Mercury The air is so cold tonight Here, let me put my…
Montreal You know I can't stop dreaming about you I could never…
Mothers It's really not the ... ... Step on other people's feet Now…
My Favorite Dress Sometimes these words don't have to be said, I know how…
Never Said I haven't heard this song in years It never fails to…
Niagara Oh no my life had not begun Until your call, was…
No Why can't you pick up the telephone? Oh I know…
No Christmas I wonder if you're going to ask me why I…
Nobody's Twisting Your Arm I tried to call. You'd just gone out We've got to…
Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm I tried to call. You'd just gone out We've got to…
Not From Where I'm Standing Oh well of course I shouldn't be here watching people…
Nothing Comes Easy I knew that something must be up I'm not as daft…
Octopussy Some bits of snow still hanging in the air, but…
Once More A gang of thieves, somebody leaves I swear I heard laughter …
One Day All This WIll Be Yours And they were left all alone On that fateful day…
One Day This Will All Be Yours And they were left all alone On that fateful day…
Palisades I knew something wasn't quite right; you haven't said a…
Perfect Blue And when I turn round to glance at you You're staring Your…
Pleasant Valley Sunday The local rock group down the street Is trying hard to…
Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable? Tu ne mavais jamais dit ca Toujours le dernier a savoir Je…
Queen Anne When you push your hair away and stare at me…
Real Thing This is the real thing, there's no doubt This is what…
Rekindling We dangled feet into a stream Your smile was sweet,…
Ringway to SeaTac No, I sent you that letter To ask you…
Rocket Well-a well-a you changed your name To Abigail Rocket Blast …
Rotterdam I thought you'd come round And I know how this will…
Santa Ana Winds We keep exchanging glances all night long until at last…
Shake It I've been through this already And I don't care what you've…
Shatner Wear something bright & turn away Imagine girls behaving in…
She's My Best Friend She's my best friend, certainly not your average girl Yeah, …
Silver Shorts She's not talking to me now Not since we had our…
Skin Diving I know you said not to call Well, so what, I've…
Snake Eyes And stop saying that I can't understand And stop pretending…
Snapshots I really don't have any right to complain in this…
So Long Baby No, this is me! Well are you still there? Well tell me…
Something and Nothing You're not such a nice girl after all It's as…
Soup She can't believe that's the fourth bottle he's uncorking H…
Spangle I'm glad you found the time to ring I just spent…
Spider-Man On Hollywood I thought I saw a superhero but it was just…
Sports Car It's okay, I know you've got to go Because he's walked…
Step Into Christmas Take one step from everything We could walk together We co…
Sticky I don't want to hear it, there's nothing left to…
Suck We've talked so long Suddenly it's Tuesday We still don't kn…
Sucker I knew something wasn't quite right The way you were drinki…
Swimming Pools Movie Stars I'll stand over here and when You walk past me again…
Swingers Honey, really, there's no need for you to pout Because you…
Take Me I've spent all day trying to decide About the things you…
Thanks I bumped into Joe on Victoria Road And he told me…
The Girl With the Curious Smile She moves and speaks with so much grace and poise…
The Queen of Outer Space She's a mixed up girl from a very different world She's…
The thing I like best about him is his girlfriend (Me to her) It's been in my head but I've never…
The Trouble With Men You walked right up to me with such a knowing…
Theme from Shaft Making your way in the world today Takes everything you've…
This Boy Can Wait Let me stay and talk with you and John We could…
Three Yes. I want to, I'm down here on my knees Well…
Unfaithful And what's your game? Arm in arm by the garage wall Oh,…
Up You've done it all You've broken every .... Robbed the rebel…
Venus No, you didn't hear me wrong I just thought that you…
Wake Me Up You've done it all You've broken every .... Robbed the rebel…
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? And this is for you You must know it's for you What…
What Did Your Last Servant Die Of Is that a letter you're hiding from me? Well I…
What Have I Said Now About what I said just before You know, your clothes on…
What Have I Said Now ? About what I said just before You know, your clothes on…
What Have I Said Now? About what I said just before You know, your clothes on…
What I've Said Now About what I said just before You know, your clothes on…
Where Everybody Knows Your Name Making your way in the world today Takes everything you've…
Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now You've never mentioned this before It seems I'm always the…
Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? You've never mentioned this before It seems I'm always the…
Why Are You Being So Unreasonable Now? You've never mentioned this before It seems I'm always the…
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah I really don't believe that this is happening I've tried an…
You Can't Moan Can You? I was just trying to hide a yawn I think I've…
You Should Always Keep in Touch With Your Friends After school, a friendship walking home We fled across the f…