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
You Should Always Keep in Touch With Your Friends
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We fled across the fields, until we were alone
To a bridge, that stood close by the sea
The day that we spent there, is ours eternally
I don't have to tell you
I'm sure you understand
The first who lay beside me
A smile, in these ungrateful times
Makes all that you left me seem more worthwhile
But no, I couldn't really dare
To show how much I miss you
Isn't that unfair?
I don't have to tell you
I'm sure you understand
The first who lay beside me
Made me what I am (oh you made me what I am)
And no matter how it ends
You should always keep in touch with your friends
The Wedding Present's song "You Should Always Keep in Touch With Your Friends" tells the story of a past friendship that remains cherished and memorable in the present. The first stanza describes how the two friends used to walk home from school together and escape to a bridge by the sea, where they shared an unforgettable day. The second stanza talks about how the memories of that day and the first romantic experience of the singer have stayed with him and influenced his present-day self. The concluding line of the stanza emphasizes the importance of keeping in touch with friends, regardless of how things may have ended.
The chorus of the song repeats the importance of maintaining friendships, even if they may not end up lasting forever. It speaks to the value of the memories and experiences shared with those friends and the impact they have on our lives. The final line of the song, "And no matter how it ends, you should always keep in touch with your friends" is a reminder of the significance of these relationships, and that even if they change over time, they are still worth maintaining.
One interesting fact about the song "You Should Always Keep in Touch With Your Friends" is that it is based on a true story. The band's lead singer, David Gedge, has said that it was inspired by his own teenage experiences, specifically a day spent with a friend on a bridge near their hometown in Leeds. Another interesting fact is that the song's distinctive guitar riff was based on a melody from a traditional Finnish song that Gedge had heard while touring in Finland.
The song was released in 1992 on the album "Hit Parade," which consisted of 12 singles released by the band over the course of a year. "You Should Always Keep in Touch With Your Friends" was not originally released as a single, but it became a fan favorite and a staple of the band's live shows.
Another interesting fact about the song is that it has been covered by several other artists, including Billy Bragg and Kate Nash. Bragg's version, which was released in 2005, features a slower tempo and more stripped-down accompaniment than the original version by The Wedding Present.
Chords:
Verse: G D C G
Chorus: D C G D C G D C G D C G G D C G.
Line by Line Meaning
After school, a friendship walking home
We were friends who walked together after school
We fled across the fields, until we were alone
We ran across fields until we were isolated
To a bridge, that stood close by the sea
We went to a bridge near the sea
The day that we spent there, is ours eternally
That day we spent together will always be special to us
I don't have to tell you
I'm sure you already know
I'm sure you understand
You know what I mean
The first who lay beside me
The first person I had sex with
Made me what I am (oh, she made me what I am)
Had a big impact on my life and who I became
A smile, in these ungrateful times
Even a simple smile means a lot in this unappreciative era
Makes all that you left me seem more worthwhile
Your leaving seems more justified with just one smile
But no, I couldn't really dare
But I don't have the courage
To show how much I miss you
To express how much I miss you
Isn't that unfair?
Isn't that unjust?
And no matter how it ends
Regardless of what happens
You should always keep in touch with your friends
You should always stay connected to your friendships
Contributed by Christopher A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Manuel Cabral
After school, a friendship walking home
We fled across the fields, until we were alone
To a bridge, that stood close by the sea
The day that we spent there, is ours eternally
I don't have to tell you
I'm sure you understand
The first who lay beside me
Made me what I am (oh, she made me what I am)
A smile, in these ungrateful times
Makes all that you left me seem more worthwhile
But no, I couldn't really dare
To show how much I miss you
Isn't that unfair?
I don't have to tell you
I'm sure you understand
The first who lay beside me
Made me what I am (oh you made me what I am)
And no matter how it ends
You should always keep in touch with your friends
HenryVilla
One of THE great bandest this country has produced. The Weddoes are still awesome to this day. A real indie band.
Herbert Richard
Geddie is Jesus.
hyena131
@HenryVilla
Kindly stop that "Weddoes" nonsense.
Lee Rothwell
Agree 1000%❤️
thesmithselvis
Some times words aren't enough to describe how much you love a band, so I will just say, I fucking love The Weddo's, as much now as I did back then.
Roxana Dorneanu
My favorite band!!
Herbert Richard
Geddoe is Jesus.
Lee Rothwell
Same here ❤️
mrellio
But the good thing Steve, David didn't want it. They were offered mega money at the end of the 80's to go big, but he turned it down because he wanted control over his music, not some exec. Makes him even more of a hero.
Steve
If there was any justice in the world, they would have been massive. Gedges lyrics, the original sound, the strong songs.....deserved much more.