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
Living and Learning
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Or was it me who said, "There's no forever"
When the twilight's in the sky, there's a twinkle in your eye
God knows just why they seem to go together
When we're walking in the park, and staying out til dark
You know I've got to face the world tomorrow
If we feel a slight disgrace, it's well hidden in that case
You must know that, wrong or right
I'm going to need your help tonight
I don't care what she says
We can do it anyway
Oh, we can do it anyway
If you're standing in the light, make sure I'm out of sight
I can't afford to be seen from your window
And the closeness that we feel, is surely never real
Its what we are, not what will be tomorrow
You must know that, wrong or right
I'm going to need your help tonight
I can say without a doubt, it's going to be the end when she finds out
The Wedding Present's song "Living and Learning" is an introspective piece, exploring the complexities of relationships and the inevitable pain that ensues. The opening lines suggest that the singer is questioning the sincerity of their partner's affection, wondering if their admiration is fleeting and impermanent. The lyrics contemplate the idea of forever and the futility of trying to maintain a lasting connection, which becomes even more apparent as the song continues. The singer is aware that the relationship itself is unsustainable and destined to fail, but they are still clinging to it, in spite of what may come.
The middle stanzas juxtapose moments of happiness with the reality of the situation. The two lovers are enjoying each other's company and trying to make the most of their time together, but there is an underlying sense of dread and melancholy. The phrase "the furthest thing from both our hearts is sorrow" seems to be a desperate attempt to convince themselves that what they are doing isn't wrong or harmful.
The final verse is the most poignant, as the singer acknowledges that their actions will inevitably lead to heartbreak. The line "If you're standing in the light, make sure I'm out of sight" is a plea for secrecy and discretion. The singer knows that their affair will ultimately be uncovered, and there will be consequences for all involved.
Overall, "Living and Learning" is a melancholic and introspective song that explores the complexities of love and relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
If you said that it was nice, would you feel the same way twice
If you told me you enjoyed something, would your opinion remain the same if you experienced it again?
Or was it me who said, "There's no forever"
Did I say that our relationship wouldn't last forever?
When the twilight's in the sky, there's a twinkle in your eye
There's something special about the sunset that causes you to light up.
God knows just why they seem to go together
It's impossible to say why these two things seem connected, but they just do.
When we're walking in the park, and staying out til dark
We're enjoying each other's company well into the night, even if it means we'll be tired the next day.
You know I've got to face the world tomorrow
Even if we stay up late, I still have to go out into the world the next day and face its challenges.
If we feel a slight disgrace, it's well hidden in that case
If we do something that might be considered shameful, we're good at hiding it from others.
The furthest thing from both our hearts is sorrow
Neither of us wants to feel sad or unhappy, so we focus on the positive things in our lives.
You must know that, wrong or right
Regardless of whether I'm correct or mistaken, I need your assistance tonight.
I'm going to need your help tonight
There's something important that I can't handle alone and I'm counting on you to help me.
I don't care what she says
Someone else's opinion or thoughts won't prevent us from doing what we want to do.
We can do it anyway
We have the power to make our own decisions and act upon them as we see fit.
If you're standing in the light, make sure I'm out of sight
If you're in a place where you're easily seen, please ensure that I'm not with you.
I can't afford to be seen from your window
I can't risk being spotted by someone who might cause trouble or drama.
And the closeness that we feel, is surely never real
Despite how emotionally intimate we might feel, the relationship we have isn't genuine or lasting.
Its what we are, not what will be tomorrow
Our current relationship is defined by what's happening right now, not what might happen in the future.
I can say without a doubt, it's going to be the end when she finds out
If the person we're both worried about ever discovers the truth, our relationship will certainly come to an end.
Contributed by Audrey O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.