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
Corduroy
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Before you even say a word, I already heard
No, someone told me, but don't speak now just hold me
You wandered up a cul-de-sac, and now you've come back
So did you leave him? I'm sure you didn't deceive him
Just the same you're here today, wanting to stay
Have I upset you? Well I tried hard to forget you
I'll make you laugh, when you see this photograph
It's not from that day, I threw all those away
Its just some boy, probably dressed in corduroy
He grew up fast, but you've not changed at all
How can I trust you? No, I'm not trying to rush you
But I was here when you ran; I don't think I can
I won't desert her and I'm not about to hurt her
I worshipped you once before, and you slammed the door
I'll make you laugh, when you see this photograph
It's not from that day, I threw all those away
Its just some boy, probably dressed in corduroy
He grew up fast, but you've not changed at all
The Wedding Present's song Corduroy is about a man who has reunited with a former lover, after she had previously left him for someone else. The song explores the emotional complexities of their reunion, with the singer questioning whether he can trust her or not. The lyrics evoke a sense of vulnerability, uncertainty and longing.
The opening lines, "And now I've kissed you, I'll show you how I've missed you, Before you even say a word, I already heard" suggest that the singer is overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of his former lover. He is desperate to show her how much he's missed her, before she has the chance to tell him anything about what she's been up to. The next few lines, "No, someone told me, but don't speak now just hold me, You wandered up a cul-de-sac, and now you've come back" imply that the singer has heard about his former lover's current situation from someone else, but he doesn't want to hear the details from her directly. He seems to be accepting of her return, however, as it's clear that he's missed her.
The chorus, "I'll make you laugh, when you see this photograph, It's not from that day, I threw all those away," reveals a bittersweet sentimentality. The singer wants to make his former lover happy by sharing something from their past, but the photograph is not a recent one. He clarifies that it's just some boy, probably dressed in corduroy" indicating that it's not even a photograph of the two of them together. The next lines suggest that, while the boy in the photograph grew up fast and changed, she has remained the same over the years. This juxtaposition is perhaps emblematic of the singer's desire to regain the past and reconnect with her.
Overall, the song offers a poignant perspective on the complexity of relationships and the uncertain and messy nature of human emotions. It highlights the desire to reconnect with someone from the past, while acknowledging the difficulties and pain that may be involved in doing so.
Line by Line Meaning
And now I've kissed you, I'll show you how I've missed you
I am so glad you are finally here with me, and I will make sure you know how much I have been missing your presence now that I can show you.
Before you even say a word, I already heard
I already know all about what happened before, so before you even try to explain yourself, just let me hold you.
No, someone told me, but don't speak now just hold me
I have heard things about what happened while you were gone, but right now, it doesn't matter. Just hold me and let's enjoy being together.
You wandered up a cul-de-sac, and now you've come back
You left without knowing where you were going, but now you have found your way back to me.
So did you leave him? I'm sure you didn't deceive him
I want to know if you left the person you were with, but I trust that you were honest with him about your feelings.
Just the same you're here today, wanting to stay
Regardless of what happened before, you are here now and you want to be with me for good.
Have I upset you? Well I tried hard to forget you
I know I hurt you when you left, and I spent a lot of time trying to move on and forget about you. Did my actions upset you?
Now you say "Look, I came, let's try again..."
I am happy that you came back to me, and I am ready to give our relationship another chance.
I'll make you laugh, when you see this photograph
I have a funny picture to show you that will make you laugh and forget about any possible tension between us.
It's not from that day, I threw all those away
The picture is not a remnant of the past that I have been dwelling on, I actually got rid of any previous reminders of you.
Its just some boy, probably dressed in corduroy
The person in the picture is a boy, most likely wearing corduroy clothing.
He grew up fast, but you've not changed at all
The boy in the picture has aged over the years, but you look just as beautiful as the first time I saw you.
How can I trust you? No, I'm not trying to rush you
I want to trust you completely, but I know that takes time. I am not trying to pressure you into anything.
But I was here when you ran; I don't think I can
I was here waiting for you when you left, but I don't think I can go through that pain again if you decide to leave once more.
I won't desert her and I'm not about to hurt her
I am in a current relationship and I won't leave her or hurt her just because you have come back into my life.
I worshipped you once before, and you slammed the door
I loved you deeply before, but you broke my heart when you left me behind.
Contributed by Max T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.