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
Nothing Comes Easy
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm not as daft as I might look
But if you can't be good be careful
If you don't brush your coat that hair will
Give the game away
I knew you'd think of going there
Oh I can lend you both the fare
You don't know what you need until you lose it
I've done the same myself
I wish you knew for sure
I don't understand you anymore
Before you slam that door
There's so much to lose and you will lose it all
Oh you will lose it all
You know that I'll always stand by
But don't ask me if I'll lie
I don't see any guilt on your face
I wouldn't like to be in your place
You don't know when you're well off
I wish I knew for sure
I don't understand you anymore
Before you slam that door
There's so much to lose and we will lose it all
Oh we will lose it all
The Wedding Present's song Nothing Comes Easy speaks of a complex dynamic between two individuals, where one is aware that something is going on but the other is not quite aware of the potential consequences of their actions. The opening lines of the song indicate that the singer has picked up on something that is not quite right, but they are not surprised as they consider themselves to be 'not as daft as [they] might look.' The singer proceeds to offer advice to the other individual, warning them to be careful and suggesting that their appearance might give away their intentions.
The second verse of the song sees the singer offer to lend the other individual money, but again urging caution and emphasizing the importance of making the right choices in life. The singer reflects on their own experiences and mistakes, suggesting that they understand the potential pitfalls of making careless decisions. The chorus of the song sees the singer express confusion and a sense of loss, admitting that they do not fully understand the other person anymore, but urging them not to make rash decisions and lose everything.
There is a sense of melancholy to the lyrics of this song, which are tinged with regret and a sense of loss. The singer seems to have a deep understanding of the complexity of human relationships and the importance of making the right choices. Perhaps the most striking aspect of this song is the sense of desperation and fear that underpins the lyrics, as the singer urges the other individual not to throw everything away.
Line by Line Meaning
I knew that something must be up
I had a feeling that something was wrong
I'm not as daft as I might look
I am not as foolish as I might appear
But if you can't be good be careful
If you cannot behave well, at least be cautious
If you don't brush your coat that hair will
If you do not groom yourself, that unkempt hair will give you away
Give the game away
Reveal your secret or true intentions
I knew you'd think of going there
I anticipated that you would consider going there
Oh I can lend you both the fare
Oh, I can lend you enough money to cover the travel expenses
But if you've got a choice then use it
But if you have an option, exercise it
You don't know what you need until you lose it
You do not realise the value of something until you have lost it
I've done the same myself
I have been in a similar situation before
I wish you knew for sure
I wish you were certain about something
I don't understand you anymore
I cannot comprehend your behaviour or thoughts anymore
Before you slam that door
Before you leave or end our relationship suddenly
There's so much to lose and you will lose it all
There are many things at stake, and you will lose everything if you leave
Oh you will lose it all
Oh, everything will be lost
You know that I'll always stand by
You know that I will always support you
But don't ask me if I'll lie
But do not ask me to deceive or lie for you
I don't see any guilt on your face
I cannot detect any sense of remorse or shame in your expression
I wouldn't like to be in your place
I would not want to be in your position or situation
You don't know when you're well off
You do not appreciate what you have or how good you have it
Before you slam that door
Before you leave or end our relationship suddenly
There's so much to lose and we will lose it all
There are many things at stake, and we will lose everything if you leave
Oh we will lose it all
Oh, everything will be lost
Contributed by Hudson K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@MatDurrance
The Wedding Present played this tonight in Kingston upon Thames. 2019. Amazing.
@Zeddzdedd
love this. sweet memories
@dinoramone6761
Ever wondered what it would be like listening to The Fall if Morrissey wrote and sang the lyrics?
@angelariley.9963
If Morrissey wrote and sang the lyrics it wouldn't be The Fall