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
What Have I Said Now ?
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You know, your clothes on the floor
I never meant to hurt you
I got carried away
I guess I've had a long day
Look, I'd sooner die than lose you
Over something like that
Oh, please, next time just shout back
I think sometimes you forget
And now look how we're up
Let's talk about it later
[Chorus:]
Why can't I ever say what I mean
Why can't I ever say what I mean
Oh no I don't know her name
And no, it's not just the same
I just thought she looked quite pretty
What do you want me to do
Smile at nobody but you
Well, if you're going to be that petty
I'm not being unfair
Okay, I am, but who cares
Well, now at least we're talking
And what about all of those friends
And all of those letters they send
They can't all be that boring
[Chorus]
Of course I take it all back
I never said that
And I think you know
I said I'm sorry alright
Look, will this carry on all night
Because I think I'll go
I take it all back
I never said that
And I think you know
Sorry, alright
Will this carry on all night
I think I'll go
The lyrics to The Wedding Present's song What Have I Said Now expresses the typical conflicts that arise in romantic relationships. The singer admits to being carried away, letting his emotions get the best of him in the heat of the moment. However, he never meant to hurt his love interest, and he is willing to do anything not to lose her. He implores her to shout back at him next time instead of withdrawing and stewing in her feelings. The chorus highlights his difficulty in expressing what he means, and he is fraught with frustration at not being able to articulate his thoughts and feelings appropriately.
Furthermore, throughout the song, the singer attempts to justify his actions and words in the face of his partner's accusations. For instance, he claims that he did not hate her, and he was not flirting with the woman he saw in public. These justifications, however, only exacerbate their problems as his partner sees right through his excuses.
Overall, the song portrays the struggles that arise from miscommunication in relationships and the difficulties that individuals face while trying to articulate their thoughts and feelings.
Line by Line Meaning
About what I said just before
I want to address the previous comment I made
You know, your clothes on the floor
I saw your clothes on the floor and it caused me to start this conversation
I never meant to hurt you
I did not intend to cause you any pain
I got carried away
I became overwhelmed and said things I did not mean
I guess I've had a long day
I have been under a lot of stress today
Look, I'd sooner die than lose you
I value our relationship and do not want it to end
Over something like that
Ending our relationship over a small incident would be a mistake
Oh, please, next time just shout back
In the future, please communicate with me instead of internalizing your frustrations
And I didn't say that I hate you
Contrary to what you may have thought, I do not hate you
I think sometimes you forget
I feel like you forget that I care about you
And now look how we're up
Our conversation has escalated to a point that neither of us wants
Let's talk about it later
Let's take a break and continue this conversation at a later time
[Chorus:]
Refrain from chorus
Why can't I ever say what I mean
I struggle with expressing myself accurately
Oh no I don't know her name
I do not know the name of the person you are referencing
And no, it's not just the same
This situation is different from what you are assuming
I just thought she looked quite pretty
I found her aesthetically pleasing
What do you want me to do
What is your desired course of action for me?
Smile at nobody but you
I will only show affection towards you from now on
Well, if you're going to be that petty
If you are going to be that sensitive to these types of situations
I'm not being unfair
I do not believe that I am treating you unjustly
Okay, I am, but who cares
I am admitting my fault, but it should not be a big deal
Well, now at least we're talking
At least we have opened up communication about our issues
And what about all of those friends
And what about the other people in our lives?
And all of those letters they send
What about the correspondence we receive from them?
They can't all be that boring
They must be interesting to some extent if they are reaching out to us
[Chorus]
Refrain from chorus
Of course I take it all back
I am retracting everything I said earlier
I never said that
I did not make the comments you are referring to
And I think you know
You know that I am not maliciously attacking you
I said I'm sorry alright
I have apologized for my actions
Look, will this carry on all night
Will this argument continue endlessly?
Because I think I'll go
I would like to leave if this conversation cannot be resolved
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind