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
Make Me Smile
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You've broken every ....
Robbed the rebel .... the ....
You ... the game
No matter what you say
... .. . ... . . . .
Your lies, your lies
How can you tell so many lies
I'll do what you want for a while
There's nothing left, oh ... and run away
Oh maybe you'll tarry for a while
It's just a test, a game for us to play
Win or lose, it's hard to smile
Resist, resist, it's ... you have to hide
Come up and see me, make me smile
I'll do what you want for a while
There ain't no more, you've taken everything
... ...
Can you ignore my faith in everything
'cause I know what they do, what it's worth
..., ..., don't say maybe you'll try
To come up and see me, make me smile
I'll do what you want for a while
Come up and see me, make me smile
I'll do what you want for a while
The Wedding Present's song Make Me Smile is a quintessential post-breakup song that encapsulates the confusion and heartache that follows a failed relationship. The opening lyrics, "You've done it all, you've broken every code," suggest that the singer's former lover was untrustworthy and deceitful, leaving him feeling betrayed and disillusioned. The lines "You pulled the trigger of my / Love gun, oh no / You broke it down" reveal that the relationship was emotionally and physically draining, and that the singer feels used and discarded. He then pleads with his former lover to "come up and see me, make me smile," indicating that despite everything, he still craves her attention and affection, even if only momentarily.
The repeated refrain of "Your lies, your lies / How can you tell so many lies" underscores the central theme of dishonesty and deceit, suggesting that the singer's former lover was never truly honest with him. The lines "There's nothing left, oh no / You've gone and taken everything" suggest that the singer's former lover not only betrayed his trust but also took away everything that was once meaningful to him. The final lines "Don't say maybe you'll try / To come up and see me, make me smile / I'll do what you want for a while" reveal the singer's desperation to have his former lover back, even if he knows it's only temporary.
Overall, the song presents a poignant and relatable portrayal of the complexities of post-breakup emotions, from hurt and anger to longing and desperation.
Line by Line Meaning
You've done it all
You have accomplished everything
You've broken every code
You have violated every rule and expectation
Pulled the rebel to the floor
You have reduced the rebellious people to a subservient position
You've spoiled the game
You have ruined everything
No matter what you say
Your words are not to be trusted
You've played your part
You have done what was expected of you
And you broke my heart
You have deeply hurt me emotionally
But how do you say
But how can you possibly claim
I'm sorry when you laugh over me
To be sorry while at the same time deriving pleasure from someone else's misfortune is insincere
You've lied, lied
You have told countless lies
You can kill with a smile
You are capable of being manipulative and hurtful while appearing pleasant
You can wound with your eyes
You can cause emotional harm through your looks and actions
And all you did was wonder why
Despite causing so much harm, you never considered the impact of your actions
I'm wondering why
I am questioning my own feelings and motives
Come up and see me, make me smile
Come spend time with me and make me happy
I'll do what you want, running wild
I'll comply with your wishes, even if it means behaving recklessly
There's nothing left, all gone and run away
Everything is lost and has disappeared without a trace
Maybe you'll tarry for a while
Perhaps you will stay for some time
It's just a test, a game for us to play
Our interactions are merely a test and a form of entertainment
Win or lose, it's hard to smile
Regardless of the outcome, it's difficult to be happy
Resist, resist, it's from yourself you have to hide
Resist temptation and the inclination to hurt others; the true danger comes from within
Come up and see me, make me smile
Come spend time with me and make me happy
I'll do what you want, running wild
I'll comply with your wishes, even if it means behaving recklessly
There ain't no more, it's empty on the shelf
There is nothing left to take or to give
And I'm without love, goin' through hell
I feel unloved and I am going through a difficult time
And I'm thinking, oh, how you've changed
I am reflecting on how much you have changed for the worse
And how you've lost your way
How you have become misguided and lost sight of what is important
And now I can't trust a word you say
I have lost all trust in you
And you know, we're gonna have to live through rain and the pain
We will have to endure difficult times together
Before we can laugh again
Before we can experience joy and happiness once more
Come up and see me, make me smile
Come spend time with me and make me happy
I'll do what you want, running wild
I'll comply with your wishes, even if it means behaving recklessly
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Steve Harley
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind