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
Rekindling
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your smile was sweet, we ate ice-cream
And we didn't have a fear
Made some vows like lovers do
Then came the rows and I blamed you
You said I'll always be here
Of days that I left behind me
And then, can't do it again
I'm not seeing anyone as such
You'll agree, yes I thought as much
We both need some romance
Let's just relax, take it a day at a time
There are no going back's but if you bear that in mind
I'm sure we've got a chance
The danger with an old flame is
That it's never gonna have the same fizz
Oh but I, I want to try
The Wedding Present's "Rekindling" tells the story of a couple trying to reignite their lost love. The song starts with the memory of a past experience where they sat by a stream and had ice cream with a sweet smile on their faces. However, soon after, their relationship was plagued by arguments, and the singer blamed the other person for it. However, the chorus suggests that there's still something there between them, and they can't help but reminiscing about the good times they had.
The lyrics talk about rekindling an old flame and how it can be dangerous because it may not have the same spark as before. However, the singer wants to try despite the risks. The song's lyrics are relatable because many people have tried to rekindle a past relationship, only to find that it didn't work out. The track's theme is that love is always worth a try, even if the circumstances aren't perfect.
The song's structure and the melody are simple but catchy. The upbeat guitar riffs and the choruses elevate the message of the lyrics, making it an enjoyable and memorable listen. The vocals give the song a raw edge, and David Gedge's singing style perfectly encapsulates the emotions in the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
We dangled feet into a stream
We sat by the stream, enjoying each other's company.
Your smile was sweet, we ate ice-cream
We shared a moment of happiness, enjoying some ice-cream together.
And we didn't have a fear
We were carefree in that moment, without any worries or concerns.
Made some vows like lovers do
We made promises to each other as lovers often do.
Then came the rows and I blamed you
Later, when we argued, I blamed you for our problems.
You said I'll always be here
Despite the arguments, you promised to always be there for me.
You can't help but remind me
You bring back memories of the past, whether good or bad.
Of days that I left behind me
You remind me of days that are now in the past, and can never be recaptured.
And then, can't do it again
We can't go back in time and relive those moments again.
I'm not seeing anyone as such
I am not currently in a serious relationship with anyone.
You'll agree, yes I thought as much
I assumed you would agree with me on this point.
We both need some romance
We could both use some romance in our lives.
Let's just relax, take it a day at a time
We should take things slow and not rush into anything, enjoying each day as it comes.
There are no going back's but if you bear that in mind
We can't turn back time, but we should keep that in mind moving forward.
I'm sure we've got a chance
I am hopeful that we have a chance to rekindle our romance.
The danger with an old flame is
There is a risk when revisiting an old relationship.
That it's never gonna have the same fizz
It may not feel the same as it did before.
Oh but I, I want to try
Despite the risks, I am willing to give it a try.
Contributed by Christian T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.