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
I'm From Further North Than You
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I am from further north than you!"
With that you kissed me full on the mouth
And that was when I knew you were either drunk or you wanted me
And, you know, either way I wasn't going to disagree
But how did one crazy night turn into six weeks
How can we be going out if neither of us speaks
And I admit we had some memorable days
But just not very many
I just think we both need more, and we can't ignore how unhappy we were
I'd been abandoned by her and you needed a friend
All right the night we walked into the sea I guess that was okay
And when we bought that weird pornography yeah that was a good day
The first time I saw your red bikini I just couldn't help but stare
And when we counted planets in the sky I was just happy you were there
The Wedding Present's song "I'm From Further North Than You" is about a short-lived, passionate relationship that took place over six weeks. The song is narrated by a man who reflects on how the relationship started, evolved, and ended. In the first verse, he recalls the moment when he met the woman, and she told him that she was from further north than him. They kissed, and he was unsure whether she was into him, or she was just drunk. In the chorus, he expresses his confusion about how the relationship developed despite their inability to communicate. He also notes that they are similar in many ways.
In the second verse, the man acknowledges that they had a few memorable moments during their six weeks together. However, he reflects on how they were both unhappy and needed more from each other. He also reveals that he had been abandoned by someone else before entering the relationship, and she needed a friend. In the final verse, the man highlights a few of these memorable moments, such as walking into the sea, buying weird pornography together, and counting planets in the sky. He notes that he was happy to be with her during these moments.
Overall, the song captures the fleeting, bittersweet nature of a relationship that was doomed from the start. Despite the intense attraction and chemistry between the couple, they ultimately couldn't overcome their fundamental communication issues and emotional baggage.
Line by Line Meaning
And then you said "No, I'm not from the south,
You denied being from the south.
I am from further north than you!"
You claimed to be from a more northern location than the other person.
With that you kissed me full on the mouth
You kissed the other person passionately.
And that was when I knew you were either drunk or you wanted me
The other person's behavior made you wonder if they were intoxicated or romantically interested in you.
And, you know, either way I wasn't going to disagree
Despite your uncertainty about the other person's motives, you were willing to go along with it.
But how did one crazy night turn into six weeks
You were surprised that your brief encounter with the other person turned into a six-week relationship.
How can we be going out if neither of us speaks
You found it strange that you were in a relationship with someone who you didn't communicate well with.
I think we're the same in many ways
You believed that you and the other person were similar in many respects.
And I admit we had some memorable days
You acknowledged that there were some good moments in your relationship.
But just not very many
Overall, you felt that your relationship wasn't very fulfilling.
I just think we both need more, and we can't ignore how unhappy we were
You felt that both of you needed more out of the relationship and that you couldn't ignore how unhappy you were.
I'd been abandoned by her and you needed a friend
You were dealing with a recent abandonment and the other person needed companionship.
All right the night we walked into the sea I guess that was okay
You remembered walking into the sea with the other person and feeling that it was a decent experience.
And when we bought that weird pornography yeah that was a good day
You recounted a day when you and the other person bought odd pornography together and considered it a positive memory.
The first time I saw your red bikini I just couldn't help but stare
You recalled being captivated by the other person's red bikini the first time you saw it.
And when we counted planets in the sky I was just happy you were there
You reflected on a time when you both counted the planets in the sky and felt content just to be in each other's company.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
bossanova
Wonderfull ... i saw'em back in old 1987 & 1989. Great Time, great music
j a z
love this band! thanks mate :)
Deni Scho
David Gedge is a legend in his own lifetime :o)
john falvey
The wedding present at their best
mspendl828
Absolutely love the WP and Cinerama lyrics in the speech bubbles.
yal100
Classic. The best.
54spiritedwill54
simply the best!
fallen zero
Never heard anything by this band before - not bad.Can see where The Libertines have taken some of their ideas from.
LW
Far better than the Libertines but you are working it out yourself.
donning
Yes, they are. Good to read comments from somebody that knows what they're talking about after reading other comments describing Noel Gallagher as a 'genius'