It was easy, it was cheap, go and do it!
Posted by Larry Heliotrope on 8 July 2008 - 2:51pm.
Anyone here remember legendary advocates of DIY music The Desperate Bicycles? They pioneered the punk/post-punk ethic of putting out your own records, but are seldom heard or written about these days, largely, I suspect, due to their refusal to allow any of their recordings to be rereleased. Anyone know the whereabouts of mainman Danny Wigley these days?
I never knew (or even really thought about) the origin of their name, but the morning I was reading J B Priestley's 1930 novel Angel Pavement and up popped the phrase, 'that crazy jumble and jangle of buses, lorries, drays, private cars and desperate bicycles.’ Coincidence?
Anyway, here is arguably their finest two-and-a-half minutes:
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Tune!
I haven't heard that since working upstairs at The Record & Tape Exchange at 38 Notting Hill Gate in the summer of 1987. Funny how these things come flooding back to you.
Each to his own
But it sounds dreadful to me.
Maybe a case of…
… you had to be there! But they were a Very Important Band…
I remember them
I was at Tech in Manchester at the time - but more of a Pink Floyd/Led Zep/muso type fan so really not my bag. I think they might even have played the college - St. Johns.
I like that track
But I wouldn't describe them as very important. Or even important without the very.
Well, maybe not for themselves or their music…
… but for kicking off that whole DIY ethic. Could easily have been someone else; it just happened to be them (although someone will probably plead the case for another…)
Surely...
Buzzcocks did that with Spiral Scratch?
Two wheels good
I think there was something on them in Rip It Up by Simon Reynolds
DON'T!!!
Invoke the spirit of punk round these parts - they don't like it. They'll have you in a punky wickerman before you can say Damned Damned Damned!!!!!