LEFT TO RIGHT: NICK ALDERSON
(Aka.Billy Rumour;Bass); JOHN "JUICE" MAYOR (Drums);
IAN "STRANG" BARNES(Guitar,vocals)
; PHIL HENDRIKS (Lead vocal,Guitar )
The history of this line-up dates back to August
1981 , when, in the
aftermath of the original band splitting up
and with no record deal,
Phil and Strang decided try to re-invent the
STIFFS sound.
As a pre-requisite of their publishing deal
with Marla music, the guys
were still entitled to free studio time to
"demo" new material - probably
much to the chagrin of Marla music who could
see little point in wasting
studio-time just for Phil and Strang to fill
up their filing cabinet.
They decided to work on some new material
and recruited drummer "Juice"
and bassist Mark Hurlbutt to help out on the
session.
It was an under-rehearsed band that turned
up at the studio to record the
2 songs ; "Your Passenger" and "Standing Ovation".
In fact they hadn`t
even completed the lyrics but that was usually
the case anyway.
Halfway through a vocal dub , Phil went into
the control room to listen to
the playback. At this point , the usually
placid engineer, Paul Adshead,
jumped up from his chair and pulled down all
the faders on the mixing
console, exclaiming..."I`m not listening to
any more of this f... shit !!!"
The crestfallen guys begged him to at least
make a quick cassette of the
work-in-progress and that is all that remains
of the session.
Juice decided to stick around
, while Hurlbutt continued to work with his
band, The Strides. Nick Alderson became the
new bassist and the band started
writing new material and gigging regularly
at the likes of Dingwall`s,The Venue
and all stops in between , though ,with 2
of the band working dayjobs in Lancashire
it was always going to be difficult.
The band did manage to record seven tracks
for a Radio Lancashire session in
February of 1982. Later that month the band
were called
at 12 hours notice to record a John Peel session
for BBC Radio 1.
PHIL takes up the story:
"Old friend Dale Griffin (formerly drummer
with Mott the Hoople} was working
as a producer for the John Peel sessions at
that time and had a band cancel a session
at the last minute.He duly called up the Stiffs
and offered them the session if they
could make it to London by the following morning.
Frantic phone calls ensued but
Juice was unable to get time off work at 6
hours notice , as he was a nurse!!!
I called Dale straight back and told him that
Yes,we could do the session if he
didn`t mind playing the kit , fully expecting
him to say "no" and that would be
the end of the issue . Dale said "You must
be **** joking...I haven`t played drums
for 4 years !!". Purely by coincidence he
had a brand new drumkit in the
back of his Mini.
I explained that this was our only option
,so Dale told us to get down
to London. He would listen to a "live"
tape of the songs overnight to try and
learn the drum parts.When we arrived at the
Maida Vale studios we found Dale
thrashing along to the "live" tape in preparation
for what was to follow.
Dale was great on the session - a true proffessional
-although he did lose
his temper with me for stopping him part-way
through a song to explain some
minute detail, shouting "Let me play the f***
song through a couple of times
before you f**** stop me........",or something
of that ilk".
The band recorded 4 tracks for the session:
"Hook in your heart","Child`s play","Standing
Ovation"
and the ridiculous Rock-waltz , "Over the
balcony".
The band also re-recorded "Best place in town",which
was intended to
be released on Dork records. The B-side would
have been "Stand up",
a song conceived by bassist Nick Alderson,
which was later recorded
by IDOL RICH and released as a Dork records
B-side.
The single even got as far as having a cover
designed , before
it was mutually agreed that the recordings
lacked any spark and they were
consigned to the great Stiffs filing cabinet
, where so many of the band`s
projects already lay.
Before the end of 1982 Strang , who had obviously
lost heart in the band , handed
in his resignation. Nick Alderson left shortly
afterwards leaving Phil and Juice.
Phil and Juice took up the opportunity to
team up with three members of rival
band The Strides - a liaison which became
known as IDOL RICH.
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