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
Swingers
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Because you know precisely what I'm talking about
All those meaningful sly glances and that long embrace
You had 'come and get it' written all over your face
I'm not exaggerating; I saw it happening
You don't have to flirt with everyone just because you can
You know exactly what I mean; your behavior borders on the obscene
But you were still my girlfriend
My one and only until the end
The last time that I checked
Or, are you telling me, in your own way,
Is this how you say that you're desperate to be single again?
Well, yeah, but 'til then…
You were still my girlfriend
My one and only until the end
The last time that I checked
You were still my girlfriend
And I just can't comprehend
Is self-control too much to expect?
In The Wedding Present's song "Swingers," the lyrics describe a relationship in which one person is accusing the other of flirting excessively and behaving inappropriately. The opening lines address the issue head-on, with the singer telling his partner that there's no need for her to pout because she knows exactly what he's referring to. He notes the "meaningful sly glances" and "long embrace" that suggest she's interested in someone else. He even goes so far as to say that she had "come and get it" written all over her face. The singer insists that he's not exaggerating; he's simply stating what he's observed.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the fact that despite his partner's behavior, she's still his girlfriend. He contrasts her behavior with that of Brigitte Bardot in the 1956 movie "And God Created Woman," suggesting that she's similarly provocative and flirtatious. He accuses her of crossing the line into being "obscene," but nonetheless insists that she's his "one and only until the end." However, he acknowledges that perhaps she's trying to break up with him through her behavior, and wonders if self-control on her part is too much to expect.
Overall, "Swingers" is a song about jealousy, suspicion, and the challenges of maintaining a romantic relationship when one partner is behaving in ways that suggest they're interested in someone else. The singer is clearly frustrated and unsure of what to do, but still hopeful that the relationship can survive.
Line by Line Meaning
Honey, really, there's no need for you to pout
You don't need to be sad or upset
Because you know precisely what I'm talking about
You are fully aware of the situation I'm referring to
All those meaningful sly glances and that long embrace
The way you looked at and hugged the other person was very suggestive and intentional
You had 'come and get it' written all over your face
Your facial expressions made it clear that you were interested in the other person in a romantic way
I'm not exaggerating; I saw it happening
I'm not making this up, I actually witnessed it
You don't have to flirt with everyone just because you can
You shouldn't indulge in flirting with others just because you have the ability to do so
You're like Brigitte Bardot in 'And God Created Woman'
You have a similar seductive and irresistible charm as the character played by Bardot in the movie
You know exactly what I mean; your behavior borders on the obscene
You are fully aware of how you are acting and it is crossing a line into being inappropriate
But you were still my girlfriend
Despite everything, you were still officially together with me
My one and only until the end
You were the only person I truly loved and intended to spend my life with
Or, are you telling me, in your own way,
Perhaps you are trying to communicate to me in a subtle manner
Is this how you say that you're desperate to be single again?
Are you subtly indicating that you want to break up and be single again?
Well, yeah, but 'til then…
Yes, that is true, but until we actually break up…
You were still my girlfriend
You were still officially together with me
And I just can't comprehend
I can't understand or process what you are doing
Is self-control too much to expect?
Is it unreasonable to expect you to exercise some self-control in your actions and behavior?
Contributed by Bentley Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.