Eraserhead is fear, it’s dread, darkness and a glimpse of a place and a time that never was.
I remember the first time I ever watched, it was on a tourbus and it’s no exaggeration to say it didn’t go down well at all with the captive audience. I never forgot those mini-chickens though 😄
So glad I returned to watch again, a little older and maybe you know…
One day I’m going to fix this site but for now it’s a bit shite, a webshite with an off the shelf theme just to get it back up and running.
One day…
It’s funny you know because I’m forever torn on the concept of blogging because it’s a bit “me, me, me” but then again, if you don’t have confidence in your writing then why write, but I love that bit.
Remember when Twitter appeared as the new “microblogging” platform, whatever happened to that then?!
Perhaps it’s not “really” the origin story but anyway. We had some uncharacteristic downtime while recording, either finishing early or waiting on someone, I can’t recall the studio but Paul has told me it was when we were at Genetic Sounds, so probably while recording The Celtic Soul Brothers. Seb and I were in the studio kitchen, Seb probably squirrelling away the best of the biscuits and me making my 50th tea of the day, proper tea not like the stewed brew preferred by the London contingent of Kevin and Spearsey. In pops the rest of the band, Brian singing “We are the famous Dixons and we’re here to entertain you”, “we’re doing it, are you coming?”
Seb and I sat it out but everyone else was so up for it, it was a sight to behold. Absolutely hilarious, every one of them camping it up to the max.
Imagine a tune similar to the theme tune from “It Ain’t Half Hot Mum”, but with the words below:
We are the famous Dixons and we’re here to entertain you
Here to entertain you
And you, and you and you
We are the famous Dixons and we’re here to entertain you
And this is what we’re going to do
We’re so glad to be here and welcome you here,
With plenty of laughter and plenty of cheer…
…
…on repeat like that for a bit
…for ages actually…
…then
So we’re here for you, and what’ll we do,
So let’s get on with, let’s get on with the, let’s get on with the show, oh oh!
Kevin wanted to do a verse in French too, so Spearsey being the most qualified – with a French O-level pass to his name – sat down and did a literal translation of a verse. Kevin had a go at it but decided that it didn’t sound French enough and did an entire verse in mock French filled with Gallic sounds instead of actual French words. A nasal “Ho hee Ho”, zut alors, it was brilliant. The icing on the cake though was Brian’s tap dancing intermission that he played on a mic’d up piece of wood or glass on the studio floor with drum sticks.
The plan was for the “Famous Dixons” to go on stage before our live set, dressed in shorts and t-shirts to perform it like a cheesy song and dance number. Apart from me and Seb who took ourselves far too seriously to get involved in this particular caper, it was pure Brian, Micky B, Spearsey, Jimmy and Kevin R theatre, like I mentioned earlier, as camp as a row of tents and hilariously surreal.
Just imagine the audience reaction when the curtain pulled back to the sight and sound of “The Famous Dixons”, alas tragically never performed, but not forgotten. Not by me anyway.
A while back I met up with Paul “Spearsey” and I had to ask, “you know The Famous Dixons, that DID actually happen didn’t it?”, he laughed himself silly, “yes, yes it did, I’d forgotten about that.”
Someone out there must have a cassette hidden away, a lost classic…
We were known as purists but all the same not averse to trying new technology when it suited and through early 1981 Seb spent some time working with Dave Simmons trying to put an electronic kit together to use with the band.
The main thinking at the time was to reduce the amount of gear on stage, having a smaller kit meant less obstructions, you’d be able to see the drummer performing instead of just a head and waving arms above the kit. We often hid amps and other gear behind backdrops and stage props over the years too. So working with Dave Simmons, Seb had an even smaller kit built, instead of the large hexagonal bass drum head and smaller snare and tom hexagonal pads, he had these smaller “lunch box” sized pads built.
The technology of the time though meant that the sound source or brain of the Simmons kit was an analogue drum synthesiser. This was before affordable digital memory chips would make drum sampling cost effective, the Linndrum was still a year or so away yet. Interestingly Seb also got himself a Linndrum after he left the band in 84, and did some session work with it. The Simmons was strictly analogue though back then and the sounds mimicked the real thing but didn’t quite cut it. The kits worked brilliantly within electronic music but sadly didn’t quite work out for us at that time. Such a shame it was a fantastic piece of kit.
After all of that work the kit got used just one time to mime on a TV show (Boom Boom… Out Go The Lights – my first ever TV, we performed Plan B alongside an amazing “alternative” comedy showcase. Including a send up of ourselves by Alexei’s Midnight Runners) and then one time in the studio, sadly just for a door slam effect. It was brilliant for that door slam though. DerThunk.
More info on the kit itself at – https://blog.simmonsmuseum.com/?m=201305