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
Venus
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I just thought that you were joking
Well he didn't last for long
And yes that's, kind of, thought provoking
I know what you've come to do
So you can stop your persistent smiling
I'm not going to look at you
You used to hold me
And pretend that I was him
Well, that's what you told me
Oh you may forget but I'll always remember
No, let's not try again
I'm sure you'll manage somehow
You were too good for him
But that's just not good enough for me now
You used to hold me
And pretend that I was him
Well, that's what you told me
Oh you may forget but I'll always remember
The Wedding Present’s song Venus is about a complicated love triangle that involves the singer, their current partner, and their ex-partner. The lyrics tackle different themes, including jealousy, insecurity, and moving on from failed relationships. In the first verse, the singer is talking to their current partner and defending themself against accusations of being unfaithful. The partner seems to suspect that the singer is still in love with their ex, and the singer tries to deny it, saying that they only thought the partner was joking. The second line, "Well, he didn't last for long, and yes, that's kind of thought-provoking," suggests that there might be some truth to the partner's suspicion.
In the chorus, the singer acknowledges that their ex still has a powerful hold over them. They mention that they know what their ex wants and that they're not going to look at them because they're too beguiling. The use of the word "beguiling" suggests a mix of attraction and danger or deceit. The singer seems to be resisting the temptation to go back to their ex and argues that it's best not to try again. They acknowledge that the ex was too good for the partner, but that's not enough for the singer anymore.
The second verse repeats some of the lines from the first verse, and the chorus is sung again. The final lines, "Oh, you may forget, but I'll always remember," add a note of bitterness and regret to the song. The singer seems to be holding a grudge against their ex for playing with their feelings and pretending they were with someone else. The song ends on that unresolved note, suggesting that the singer is not over their ex yet and that their current relationship might be doomed.
Line by Line Meaning
No, you didn't hear me wrong
Clarification that a previous communication was received without error
I just thought that you were joking
Initial assumption about another person's intentions
Well he didn't last for long
Indicates that someone's romantic partner did not continue the relationship
And yes that's, kind of, thought provoking
Acknowledgement of the significance of the previous statement
I know what you've come to do
Awareness of another person's motives
So you can stop your persistent smiling
Request to another person to stop acting friendly, likely due to previous romantic history
I'm not going to look at you
Deliberate avoidance of visual contact
Because you're positively too beguiling
Acknowledgment that another person is attractive, but remains uninterested
You used to hold me
Recollection of physical affection from a past partner
And pretend that I was him
Reference to a previous partner and the act of mistaking the artist for that partner
Well, that's what you told me
Restatement of previous statement as a fact presented by another person
Oh you may forget but I'll always remember
Admission that the artist remembers a particular event despite the other person forgetting
No, let's not try again
Denial of a potential romantic reunion
I'm sure you'll manage somehow
Assurance that the other person will find someone else
You were too good for him
Compliment to an individual in comparison to another person
But that's just not good enough for me now
Honest admission that the artist's standards have changed and the compliment is no longer sufficient
Contributed by Tristan M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Marc Jackson
great song!
אלית טודריס
ho my god its so good. this song is yours?