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).
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Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We've got to talk. You going to be about?
Oh you don't have to tell me where you've been
It's bad enough I know you were with him
What made you want to take him there?
What made you think I wouldn't care?
And did you walk from the town into the heather
No, I walked by, I sort of knew
I don't know why, maybe I'll ask you!
You don't have to tell me lies today
I saw him sat there waiting anyway
But what made you want to take him there?
What made you think I wouldn't care?
And did you walk from the town into the heather
To where we used to lie down when we were together
And I know I said I wouldn't be the one
But an empty bed, your clothes all gone
I didn't know how much I'd miss you until now
I didn't know how much you mean to me somehow
But what made you want to take him there?
What made you think I wouldn't care?
And did you walk from the town into the heather
To where we used to lie down when we were together
The Wedding Present’s song “Heather” is a somber ballad with lyrics that speak to the pain and confusion of a relationship on the brink of collapse. The song seems to be narrated by someone who has been left behind by their significant other, who has moved on with another person. The singer has tried to contact their partner, but they are not available, and they wonder where they have been and who they have been with. They seem to have a particular concern about a place called “the heather,” where they used to go together. The lyrics suggest that the singer suspects that their partner has taken the new person to the same spot, which devastates them.
Line by Line Meaning
I tried to call. You'd just gone out
I attempted to contact you, but you were already gone
We've got to talk. You going to be about?
We need to have a conversation. Will you be available?
Oh you don't have to tell me where you've been
You do not need to disclose your whereabouts to me
It's bad enough I know you were with him
It is distressing enough to me that you were with another man
What made you want to take him there?
What motivated you to bring him to that location?
What made you think I wouldn't care?
What made you believe that I would not be bothered by your actions?
And did you walk from the town into the heather
Did you travel on foot from the town to the heather?
To where we used to lie down when we were together
To the place where we used to lie down when we were a couple
No, I walked by, I sort of knew
Actually, I happened to pass by there and had a feeling
I don't know why, maybe I'll ask you!
I am unsure why, perhaps I will inquire about it from you
You don't have to tell me lies today
You do not need to fabricate falsehoods for me today
I saw him sat there waiting anyway
Regardless, I saw him sitting there waiting
And I know I said I wouldn't be the one
I acknowledge that I previously claimed I would not be affected
But an empty bed, your clothes all gone
However, an empty bed and your absence make it a challenging reality
I didn't know how much I'd miss you until now
I did not realize how much I would yearn for you until this moment
I didn't know how much you mean to me somehow
I did not comprehend the depth of my affection for you until now
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Nick Brandon
When I heard this for the first time I went and bought it on 7 inch vinyl the next day and played it 28 times non stop. Still love it now 30 something years later. Top 20 of all time for me.
J Sheriff
Tune
Annenisa
Bro that’s my chemistry teacher right there
Mr Soloka
Watts660
I've always liked the Wedding Present. I used to live in Leeds back in the 80s/90s so I saw them live a few times, great live band. We used to rehearse at the same rehearsal space as them, nice bunch of lads, very down to earth. They definitely created their own sound, good mixture of jangly and distortion topped off with great lyrics. By far one of the best bands to come out of Leeds.
Steve
The Wedding Present created a unique sound (not easy with just guitar, drums and bass to work with) - and Gedges lyrics were clever, clear and direct. He didnt leave you guessing as to what he meant, or worse, talked a load of bollocks.
Sean
Exactly, unlike all that Oasis shite
Arielle Greenberg Bywater
Love this so much. Loved them back then and love them now. Gedge is the hottest guy in rock n' roll to my mind. I saw them live back in the early 90s and kept the water bottle he drank from on stage for YEARS.
Gutterpoet
If I heard of The Wedding Present 30 years ago, I would have started a band.
Simon Gill
Brilliant! Still love this band today!
CLEMO FUNHOUND
The time I first heard this one, I was so into the Jesus&Mary Chain that I serioulsy thought nothing could equal them. Along came TWP and they blew up my mind. They still do, up to this very day. My son, who is thirteen and mostly listens to rap and R&B, says they are wicked ;)