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
Octopussy
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Take off your clothes and lie down over there, oh that's just right
I sat by this window and just watched for you. No you weren't late
There was a thousand things I had to do, they can all wait
You don't take away my hand, like you ought to
You've become my family
I don't want to understand why I need you
You've just become my family
You laughed and pulled your knees up to your chest if I came near
God knows I've always had to fear the worst, but not that time
You brought me home and then you kissed me first, and you were all mine
You don't take away my hand, like you ought to
You've become my family
I don't want to understand why I need you
You've just become my family
You don't take away my hand, like you ought to
You've become my family
I don't want to understand why I need you
You've just become my family
We don't have to do anything
We don't have to do anything except watch the leaves
Turning in the wind
Say what you want to say
We don't have to go anywhere
We don't have to go anywhere let's just sit and talk
About the usual things
I couldn't move anyway!
The lyrics of The Wedding Present's song "Octopussy" describe a moment of intimacy between two people in a private space. The singer describes their pleasure at watching snow falling outside, but nonetheless feeling warm and comfortable inside with their partner. The relationship between the two seems to be deep and familial, as the partner has become like family to the singer. This closeness is described as not being fully understood, as the singer does not want to understand why they need their partner -- they just do. The memory of being with their partner is vivid, and the singer is comforted by it; they felt safe and loved. They suggest that they can stay still and simply observe their surroundings, or speak about the "usual things" -- anything to spend time in this comfortable space next to their partner.
The lyrics of "Octopussy" are full of emotions and intense feelings, yet they are also ambiguous in some ways. The song seems to be about a momentary experience of pleasure and the desire to hold onto that feeling, both physically and emotionally. The references to snow, time, and the wind all suggest a transience to this moment, and the lyric "I couldn't move anyway!" suggests that the singer is aware of this. However, the song also suggests a depth and meaning to this moment that goes beyond the immediate experience. The idea of a partner being like family is an intriguing one, and it is left open-ended as to what exactly this means. Perhaps the singer has found a kind of emotional stability with their partner that they have not found elsewhere. Overall, "Octopussy" is a beautiful and layered song about a moment of connection between two people.
Line by Line Meaning
Some bits of snow still hanging in the air, but that's outside
There are still remnants of a past storm outside, but irrelevant to us indoors
Take off your clothes and lie down over there, oh that's just right
Undress yourself and relax over there, that feels perfect to you
I sat by this window and just watched for you. No you weren't late
I waited for you by this window and you arrived on time
There was a thousand things I had to do, they can all wait
There were several pressing matters to tend to, but they can all be postponed
You don't take away my hand, like you ought to
You don't let go of my hand as customary
You've become my family
You have evolved into a family member
I don't want to understand why I need you
I don't comprehend why I depend on you
You've just become my family
You've simply turned into family
I lay down there and watched you getting dressed. It's still so clear
I had watched you dress and the memory remains vivid
You laughed and pulled your knees up to your chest if I came near
You giggled and hugged your knees when I drew near
God knows I've always had to fear the worst, but not that time
I usually dread the worst, but not then
You brought me home and then you kissed me first, and you were all mine
You escorted me back home and initiated our first kiss, and I felt totally possessed
We don't have to do anything
We don't have to participate in any specific activity
We don't have to do anything except watch the leaves
We just need to observe the foliage
Turning in the wind
Twisting in the gentle breeze
Say what you want to say
Express whatever you want to
We don't have to go anywhere
We don't have to venture out anywhere
We don't have to go anywhere let's just sit and talk
We can just chat here without any specific agenda
About the usual things
About regular topics
I couldn't move anyway!
I was not able to move at that moment
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: David Lewis Gedge
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind