Greenfield Leisure eh? Famous contributors to the fabulous "East of Croydon"
compilation from 1981.Such was the great
wealth of fantastic music in the late seventies early eighties, that
many acts we would give our eye-teeth for now,were swept under the
hideous carpet of stuff like "New Romantic" or "Goth"....urrgh!
One
such victim of this crime against culture, was the aforementioned
Greenfield Leisure. Someone has likened them to the Monochrome Set, of
which there are hints of, and they even have a suggestion of
"proto-indie" lurking within their catchy toons.(been playing this
whilst I work,and i'm damned if I can't stop singing "Too Fat to
Frug"......good toon though!)
(Hear John Peel Introducing 'Too Fat To Frug' by clicking HERE!)
Check a video on youtube here
The history of the band is best explained by band member Rory Manchee:
"The
band all came from Orpington (part of the "east of Croydon" in-joke...)
where we were at school together in the 1970's. The band started as an
exercise in home-recording (i.e., endlessly "jamming" in our suburban
living rooms) and evolved into an attempt at becoming a pop group, but
with songs coming out of improvisations rather than traditional
verse/chorus and middle eights. Inspiration came from the likes of The
Swell Maps, Buzzcocks, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Faust, Eno,
Pere Ubu, Marc Bolan, Magazine, Bowie, Can, Devo, Kraftwerk, The Damned,
Joy Division, A Certain Ratio and post-punk
indie-funk/noise/electronica and dub reggae. Even if we never managed to
sound like any of our influences.
We
recorded 2 EP's ("L'Orange" and "Those Far Off Summers"), released on
our "own" Strange Orchestra label (ultimately backed by the IKF pressing
and distribution network). I think there was a trend at the time for
"vanity" labels, and through an accident of geography, we were connected
to an interesting bunch of musicians, producers and record labels -
e.g., the Normil Hawaiians released some early stuff on Dining Out
Records (which Guy Smith ran?) before signing to Illuminated Records;
the East of Croydon comp came out on "Nothing Shaking" records, which
was probably "owned" by one of the other bands on the album; and Kevin
Armstrong (Local Heroes SW9) became something of a "local hero", ending
up playing on records by Prefab Sprout and Thomas Dolby, playing with
Bowie at "Live Aid", and being a member of Iggy Pop's touring band.
Through
this vague network, there were also some tenuous links to Charlie
Gillet's Oval Records, as well as to Illuminated Records, plus Dave
Anderson (ex-Hawkwind) who ran Foel Studios - it was probably through
these contacts that Steve Goulding ended up being our drummer for the
"Summers" EP, and for live work.
We recorded
the "Summers" EP at the original Ariwa studios in Thornton Heath, run by
Neil Fraser, otherwise known as The Mad Professor. You can hear his
touch on the unreleased versions of "Too Fat To Frug". I would love to
have heard him give that track the full "Dub me Crazy" treatment....
The
main reason the third EP was never released (let alone recorded
properly) was because IKF went bankrupt in either 1981 or 1982. However,
rather weirdly, the EP did get a catalogue number, and was "scheduled"
to be released on Illuminated Records. According to the entry I have
found (link below), the title was going to be "Candies EP" - in honour
of several pet dogs all called Candy - but really it should have been
"The Dead Candies", as the dogs had passed away by then, and it would
have been a nice pun on Jello Biafra's group. I can only think that
this blog entry was sourced from a trade publication which used to list
forthcoming releases on indie labels:
(scroll down to find the entry for Greenfield Leisure):
Greenfield Leisure
7P L’Orange/Sally Strange Orch. CAMP1 81 4
7P Those Far Off Summers EP Strabge Orch. CAMP2 81 4
12P Candies EP Illuminated ILL912 81 6
Another
reason for the non-release of the "Candies" EP is that the band all
went our separate ways to work/study/start families - plus there were
probably the usual "musical differences". Simon Marchant and Simon
Pritchard (along with Cliff McLenehan, part-time bass player for
"L'Orange") joined the Normil Hawaiians on their journey into post-punk
prog/psychedelia - http://www.normilhawaiians.co.uk/
Simon Pritchard self-released some albums on cassette ("Handle Had A Candle" and "Dog-Like Jeans"?).
Nick
Kenway and myself played in various line-ups with Richard Formby
(guitarist with Religious Overdose, In Embrace, Jazz Butcher, Spectrum,
Dakota Suite, etc. and indie producer at large) and Alaric Neville
(Bridewell Taxis, Cud, Ukrainians, Oyster Band), and even a spin-off
group from the Hamburger All-Stars (check the classic "One-Million-Hamburgers" HERE!)
called the Mumbling Maracas. Sadly, apart from some bedroom demos, and a
dreadful live tape or two, nothing survives from these ventures.
That probably takes the story up to about 1983, and a good place to finish."
The complete Grenfield Leisure Recordings:(including the two ep's,the unreleased ep demo's,and unreleased mixes:
Track Listing:
1/ L'Orange
2/ Sally
3/ Orange Cut
4/ Greenfield Leisure
5/ Bat Baby (release Mix) mp3
6/ Eveready (release mix)
7/ First Time (release mix)
8/ Too Fat To Frug (release Mix)
9/ Bat Baby (original mix)
10/ Eveready (original mix)
11/ First Time (original mix)
12/ Too Fat To Frug (original mix 1) mp3
13/ Too Fat To Frug (original mix 2)
The Mousehole Demo's for unreleased "Candies" ep3
14/ The Man With The Prehensile Nose
15/ The Old Man Cried
16/ Yellow Socks
Download These Eighties DIY Classics HERE!
Hear them live:
Greenfield leisure Live(?) at the Old Queen's Head, Brixton 28th June 1981.zip
"P.S
While the band decide whether to get back together, at least one
member of Greenfield Leisure has been back in the studio after a
lengthy hiatus...as Wharf99, with a very sucessfull angle on the style
of electronica persued by Dave Jones and Colin Potter etc in the early 1980's.
Check Wharf 99 out at the links below:
c) http://soundcloud.com/wharf99
