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
Once More
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I swear I heard laughter
An empty gloom and some forbidden room
And a window to shatter
And does your heart begin to fail
When the moment gets closer?
You always turn the other way
It doesn't really matter at all, oh no
A crashing blow, does somebody know?
They must've heard my heart beating
And we're in tonight but there'll be a fight
Can you tell what I'm thinking?
And does your heart begin to fail
When the moment gets closer?
You always turn the other way
But it doesn't really matter at all
It doesn't really matter at all, oh no
Once more
Oh I know that I've said this before
Oh but this time I'm changing for sure
Just let me go out there
Once more
Oh I know that I've said this before
Oh but this time I'm changing for sure
Just let me go out there
Once more. Once more
Once more
Oh I know that I've said this before
Oh but this time I'm changing for sure
Just let me go out there
Just let me go out there again
Just let me go out there again
Once more, just let me go out there once more
Once more
The Wedding Present's song "Once More" is a heartfelt anthem about the desire for a second chance. The lyrics express feelings of regret and the need to make amends. The song opens up with a mysterious scene set in an empty gloomy room where a gang of thieves has just left, leaving the singer questioning if he heard laughter. The use of this imagery creates an unsettling mood that helps to set up the rest of the song's theme.
Throughout the song, the singer expresses his inner turmoil about the moment he is in and the fear of what may come. He highlights the fear of failure and the need to overcome it. The refrain "Once more" is a plea to be given another chance to try and make things right. The lyrics, "Oh I know that I've said this before, but this time I'm changing for sure" show the desire to improve and do better.
Overall, the song is a powerful expression of self-doubt and the desire for redemption. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of the struggles that people face when dealing with their inner demons, and the need for hope and perseverance to overcome them.
Line by Line Meaning
A gang of thieves, somebody leaves
Amidst the chaos of thieves leaving and running away, I can hear laughter.
An empty gloom and some forbidden room
The atmosphere around me is full of sadness and hopelessness, and there's a room we're not supposed to enter.
And a window to shatter
There's a window that can be broken.
And does your heart begin to fail
Do you start to panic and lose hope?
When the moment gets closer?
As the moment of truth approaches?
You always turn the other way
You tend to avoid facing the problem.
But it doesn't really matter at all
But that doesn't make any difference.
It doesn't really matter at all, oh no
In the grand scheme of things, it's inconsequential.
A crashing blow, does somebody know?
Did anyone hear the sound of the hard impact?
They must've heard my heart beating
I'm sure they could hear my heart pounding in my chest due to the stress.
And we're in tonight but there'll be a fight
We're here for the night, but there might be some confrontation.
Can you tell what I'm thinking?
Can you read my mind and know what's on my mind?
Once more
One more time.
Oh I know that I've said this before
I'm aware that I've made this promise in the past.
Just let me go out there
Allow me to handle the situation.
Oh but this time I'm changing for sure
I'm convinced that I'll be different this time around.
Once more. Once more
One more time, again and again.
Just let me go out there again
Allow me to take action once more.
Once more, just let me go out there once more
One more time, please let me handle it.
Contributed by Elena A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Simon Bishop
The band that gave a hundred more bands hope encouragement and belief. Thanks WEDDOES
Ray Karma
Still lovin this in 2020!!! The Wedding Present rule!!! Happy to find a copy of it still in my old 7" record box!
Jeremy Watts
Wonder how many strings they broke recording this? lol So much energy comes through in this. Haven't heard it in ages, sounds as good today as 30yrs ago.
Aaron Francesconi
Man, I needed this in 86 when I was 10 years old.
579enact
How cool is this! Never knew there was a vid for this one, wonder why it wasn't included on the *punk VHS. Is this the earliest footage of the band? And is there a video for Go Out And Get Em Boy?
Chris in Sacramento
My favorite line up...gone, like my hair.
Julian Digby
Fabulous. Saw them at the Princess Charlotte in 87?
Geebert
I don't think I've seen this video before. Mr Gedge with a decent mop of black hair. :D
mini motsu!!!!
If I'm correct, prior to being uploaded here, this has never been seen before?
Nitemirror
sick video