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
It's for You
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
â??Cause you already knew, how many times is it today that
He's had to call? It's as if you're still together
I don't care at all, I'm just wondering whether
You think you and he will ever run out
Of things that you have to talk about
You said everything you will ever need so
OK I lied, sometimes it's like you never met me
Oh I've really tried, but all these in-jokes just upset me
Do you think you and he will ever run out
Of things that you have to talk about
You said everything you will ever need so
Why can't you just let him go
Just tell him â??goodbye' and put down the phone
And for once we can be on our own
You think I'm making this up but darling it's true
It just feels as if I'm sharing you
The Wedding Present’s song It’s For You is a painful exploration of a love affair that is not yet over, but has already begun to decay. The lyrics paint a picture of a man who is struggling to come to terms with the fact that his lover is still in contact with her former partner, and it’s beginning to have an impact on their current relationship. The singer is painfully aware of the number of times his lover has had to answer her ex’s calls and is frustrated that their ex-partner seems to be always present in their relationship, despite them being apart. The repeated calls are an indication of the hold that her ex has on her, and the singer is left wondering if they will ever run out of things to talk about.
The lyrics also suggest that the singer has tried to confront his lover about the situation, but his attempts to do so have had no impact. He feels as though he is being dragged into a relationship he never intended to be a part of, and the in-jokes that they share remind him that he will never be able to be fully part of this relationship. As the song progresses, the singer concludes that it might be time for his lover to finally let go of her ex-partner and move on with their relationship, but he remains unsure if she is ever capable of doing so.
Overall, It’s For You is a painful and emotive portrayal of a love triangle that is tearing apart a relationship. It captures the sense of frustration and loneliness that comes with being second-best, and the unending presence of an ex-partner in a new relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
No, it's for you but then you didn't need me to say that
I realize you already know this, but just to confirm, this song is for you.
Cause you already knew, how many times is it today that
I know you've heard it before, but how many times today has he called you?
He's had to call? It's as if you're still together
It seems like you and your ex are still in a relationship with each other.
I don't care at all, I'm just wondering whether
I'm not bothered by it, I'm just curious about something.
You think you and he will ever run out
Do you ever think you will run out
Of things that you have to talk about
Of things to talk about with each other.
You said everything you will ever need so
You mentioned that you have everything you need in a partner, so
Why can't you just let him go
Why can't you just move on from him?
OK I lied, sometimes it's like you never met me
I admit, sometimes I feel like you don't even know me.
Oh I've really tried, but all these in-jokes just upset me
I've tried my best to understand, but these inside jokes between you and your ex make me upset.
Just tell him 'goodbye' and put down the phone
If you could just say goodbye and hang up the phone,
And for once we can be on our own
We could finally have some quality time together.
You think I'm making this up but darling it's true
I know you might not believe me, but it's really true.
It just feels as if I'm sharing you
It just feels like I'm not the only one in this relationship.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: David Lewis Gedge, Simon Christopher Cleave
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Giulio Stissi
No, it's for you but then you didn't need me to say that
'Cause you already knew, how many times is it today that
He's had to call? It's as if you're still together
I don't care at all, I'm just wondering whether
You think you and he will ever run out
Of things that you have to talk about
You said everything you will ever need so
Why can't you just let him go
OK I lied, sometimes it's like you never met me
Oh I've really tried, but all those in-jokes just upset me
Do you think you and he will ever run out
Of things that you have to talk about
You said everything you will ever need so
Why can't you just let him go
Just tell him a goodbye and put down the phone
And for once we can be on our own
You think I'm making this up but darling it's true
It just feels as if I'm sharing you