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
Niagara
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Until your call, was it only yesterday?
I can't believe the things we've done
Since then, and God, I love the way you taste
But does it have to end right now?
Well can't you stay for another day?
Just say you're ill and come back out
I've got this feeling, oh it's like nothing I know
You've sent me reeling, and I don't want you to go
Don't say a word it's almost light
I'll always remember how you look right now
We must have talked and talked all night
All I heard was Niagara falling down
I've got this feeling, oh it's like nothing I know
You've sent me reeling, and I don't want you to go
The lyrics of The Wedding Present's song Niagara tell a story of a romantic encounter that is full of excitement and passion yet inevitably fleeting. The singer speaks of how their life had not truly begun until they received a call from their lover, implying that their existence was incomplete and lacked direction until that point. From the moment they got together, they embarked on a whirlwind romance filled with unforgettable experiences and sensations. However, as the night progresses and the dawn approaches, the singer feels a sense of dread that this encounter will soon come to an end, and they must part ways. This realization causes them to beg their lover to stay for another day and come up with an excuse to leave, promising to meet them again and disappear together.
The lyrics of Niagara are evocative and full of poetic imagery. The use of the metaphor of Niagara falling down symbolizes the unstoppable force of nature, and the way the singer experiences their feelings. The sense of urgency and desperation in the lyrics is heightened by the repetition of the chorus, which emphasizes the singer's emotional state, making it clear that they don't want this moment to end. The song captures the intensity of an ephemeral romantic encounter, conveying both the excitement and the sorrow of a brief but unforgettable love affair.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh no my life had not begun
The singer feels like their life hasn't started until meeting the person addressed in the song.
Until your call, was it only yesterday?
The singer met their love interest very recently and wonders if it was just yesterday.
I can't believe the things we've done
The singer is amazed at how much they've accomplished with their love interest in such a short period of time.
Since then, and God, I love the way you taste
The artist is enamored with their lover and how they physically taste.
But does it have to end right now?
The artist is concerned that their time with their lover is ending too soon and wonders if it can continue.
Well can't you stay for another day?
The singer asks their lover to stay for another day to prolong their time together.
Just say you're ill and come back out
The singer suggests that their lover pretends to be sick so they can come back and spend more time together.
I'll meet you here, then we'll disappear
The artist agrees to meet their lover and run away together to prolong their time together.
I've got this feeling, oh it's like nothing I know
The artist is overwhelmed by their emotions for their lover and cannot compare it to any other feeling.
You've sent me reeling, and I don't want you to go
The artist is so in love with their lover that they cannot fathom being apart from them.
Don't say a word it's almost light
The singer wants to prolong their time together and asks their lover to stay quiet until morning.
I'll always remember how you look right now
The artist wants to freeze this moment in time and always remember how their lover looks at this moment.
We must have talked and talked all night
The singer and their lover spent the night talking to each other.
All I heard was Niagara falling down
The singer was so swept up in the conversation with their lover that they may have missed everything else around them.
I've got this feeling, oh it's like nothing I know
The singer reiterates that their emotions for their lover are overwhelming and unparalleled.
You've sent me reeling, and I don't want you to go
The artist declares their love for their lover and the desire to not be separated from them.
Lyrics © A SIDE MUSIC LLC D/B/A MODERN WORKS MUSIC PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: DAVID GEDGE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind