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
Interstate 5
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I need to stay near, in case you suddenly remember that I'm alive
But I have this nagging fear that sex was all you needed
I've tried to persevere; I guess I've not succeeded
And is it sexist to say that I thought just boys were meant to behave in this way?
And though you seemed quite sincere, will you even recognise my face this time next year?
Well I'll remember how your eyes sparkled in the moonlight
You can surely sympathise; I just wanted more than one night
And yes there was one particular glance that made me afraid
That you were just seeing me as a chance of getting laid
The Wedding Present's song Interstate 5 is a mournful and conflicted piece that delves deep into the emotions of heartbreak and unrequited love. The singer is struggling with whether or not to leave and forget about their lover or stay and wait for a chance to be with them again. They feel the need to be close by in case the person suddenly remembers that they exist, but at the same time, they fear that the sex they had was all the other person needed and they will never truly be wanted. The singer's thoughts are in disarray and they question whether their feelings are justified, whether it's wrong to feel the way they do and whether their lover will even remember them in a year's time.
The song captures the desperation of waiting for someone who may not return the same feelings, and the fear that they may never see them again. It also touches on themes of gender roles and the perils of mistaking lust for love, as the singer wonders whether they have been reduced to nothing more than a sexual conquest. The haunting melody, together with the morose lyrics, creates a melancholic atmosphere, fitting for its themes of heartbreak and disillusionment.
Line by Line Meaning
I should just get out of here and start driving south on Interstate 5
I am considering leaving this place and heading south on Interstate 5.
But I need to stay near, in case you suddenly remember that I'm alive
I want to be close by, in case you remember that I exist.
But I have this nagging fear that sex was all you needed
I am worried that you only wanted to have sex with me.
I've tried to persevere; I guess I've not succeeded
I have tried to move past this, but I haven't been successful.
And is it sexist to say that I thought just boys were meant to behave in this way?
I am questioning whether it is sexist to assume that only boys act in this manner.
And though you seemed quite sincere, will you even recognise my face this time next year?
Even though you appeared genuine, I wonder if you will remember me in the future.
Well I'll remember how your eyes sparkled in the moonlight
I will always remember the way your eyes shone in the moonlight.
You can surely sympathise; I just wanted more than one night
I know you can understand my desire for something more than just a one-night stand.
And yes there was one particular glance that made me afraid
There was one look that you gave me that made me feel uneasy.
That you were just seeing me as a chance of getting laid
I am afraid that you only saw me as an opportunity for sex.
Contributed by Thomas K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@NigelMontezuma
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This is not about going out of business.
This is about getting down to business.
Because the only chapter we're focused on is Chapter 1.
@nickday8030
Probably the best band in the world 🎸👌
@adamrmoss
probably
@bryanquinn1122
Love ❤️🙏
@paddyrobinson7916
What an amazing band, man.
@abstractholiday
“There was one particular glance, that made me afraid, that you were just seeing me as a chance, of getting laid”. Brilliant stuff.
@MrCkfox1
Man.... I love this song/video so much.
@silvanacolavita1195
Absolutely love this track, last saw them live in Blackpool over 10 years ago …….. and what a pleasure !
@dj_grim
The song was released near the end of 2004 just around the time John Pell died, and as the Wedding Present were a band much played on the John Peel show and often in his Festive 50, this song totally reminds me of John Peel's passing
@bigjay539
Great song cool video.
@emmanuelblanc9390
This is 100% Energy 0% fat Rock music ! The Wedoz reign !