The Wedding Present are an indie rock group formed in Leeds, England in 198… Read Full Bio ↴The Wedding Present are an indie rock group formed in Leeds, England in 1984. They evolved from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. Their music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, Buzzcocks and The Go-Betweens, to more varied forms. Throughout their career, they have been led by vocalist and guitarist David Gedge, the band's only constant member.

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

Shatner
The Wedding Present Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Wear something bright & turn away
Imagine girls behaving in that way
Why don't you pack your bags & leave?
Look here's another bruise I didn't see
You can't say "it doesn't really matter"
This isn't t.v., he isn't William Shatner
Oh I've told you before
These days you look so pale & thin

Wave down a bus & let's be rid of him
You've spent this night beside you t.v. set
Remember when you used to laugh at it
You laughed a bit
You can't say "it doesn't really matter"
This isn't t.v., he isn't William Shatner
Oh I've told you before

You can't say "it doesn't really matter"
This isn't t.v., he isn't William Shatner

Overall Meaning

The Wedding Present's "Shatner" is a hauntingly evocative portrayal of an abusive relationship through its bleak and unyielding lyrics. The opening verse alludes to the frustration and despair the singer feels as she implores her partner to notice the ways in which she is being mistreated. As the song progresses, the verses gain momentum, climaxing with the repetition of the chorus which serves as a form of punctuation, an exclamation of anger and frustration at the narrative's abusive partner.

The singer's plea to "wear something bright and turn away" serves as an ironic contrast to her situation, as if she's imploring the world around her to distract itself from her misery. The use of the line "This isn't t.v., he isn't William Shatner" is particularly poignant, as it serves as a sobering reminder to the listener that this isn't a fictionalized or romanticized portrayal of domestic abuse; it's an unvarnished look at the subject. The final verse serves as a depressing coda to the story, with the singer remembering a time when things were better but unable to muster any hope for future improvement.

Line by Line Meaning

Wear something bright & turn away
Put on something colorful, distract yourself and avoid the real problem

Imagine girls behaving in that way
Think about how it would feel if the situation was reversed and women were the ones mistreating men

Why don't you pack your bags & leave?
Suggesting the victim leave the abuser, but acknowledging that this is not always a realistic or desirable option

Look here's another bruise I didn't see
The victim is trying to hide the abuse, but the bruises are becoming too numerous to ignore

You can't say "it doesn't really matter"
Minimizing the abuse is not an acceptable response, it does matter

This isn't t.v., he isn't William Shatner
Real life abuse is not like the easily resolved conflicts found in tv shows, and the abuser is not a charming character played by a beloved actor

Oh I've told you before
The singer has tried to help the victim before, but they are not taking action

These days you look so pale & thin
The victim's health is deteriorating due to the stress and abuse

Wave down a bus & let's be rid of him
A drastic but tempting solution to the problem of the abuser

You've spent this night beside you t.v. set
The victim is trying to escape reality by immersing themselves in tv shows

Remember when you used to laugh at it
Pointing out how things have changed, the victim is no longer able to find joy in things they used to enjoy

You laughed a bit
Reflecting on a past when the victim was able to find happiness, even momentarily

You can't say "it doesn't really matter"
Restating that minimizing the abuse is not an acceptable response, it does matter

This isn't t.v., he isn't William Shatner
Repeating that real life abuse is not like a tv show and the abuser is not a charming actor

Oh I've told you before
Repeating again that the singer has tried to help before, but the victim is not taking action

You can't say "it doesn't really matter"
Repeated for emphasis, it is important to acknowledge the severity of the abuse and not minimize it

This isn't t.v., he isn't William Shatner
Repeated to drive home the message that real life abuse is not like a fictional drama and the abuser is not a loveable character played by a famous actor

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: DAVID GEDGE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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