The guitarist's tale
Sean has played guitar on Real PD recordings stretching back as far as The D Factor in 1988. His rockin' contributions can be heard on the new album For Those About to Pop on the songs 'Ethics Girl' and 'Principles', the latter of which he cowrote last year with Alistair. Here's his candid perspective on the band...
I assume I have the honour of being the longest-term collaborator with the band. Adrian was the first member of the band that I met. It was in the school scouts on a week-long camping holiday at Kielder Water in Northumberland. From memory, I had just joined, knew one person and was thrown into a tent with a load of kids I had never met before. I remember walking up a hill to the tent hearing someone screaming abuse at some poor unfortunate. Upon my arrival it stopped and I interjected with the rationale that there was really little to be gained from such abuse – and it was poor Adrian who was at the receiving end. Fairenufski – Adrian was giving as much as he was getting! We then spent seven glorious days being eaten alive by midges and getting very wet! How fun.
Sean with engineer David E and departed band member Guy in 1988
My next memory is with Adrian in school in the music O level group that I subsequently quit….due to musical differences with the teacher [I would like to suggest it was a case whereby he thought I was rubbish and I didn’t. The reality being somewhat different - it was more a case of me realising I stood more chance of being elected as a Maori Warrior Chief that of passing]. I suspect that Adrian, with his classical piano and viola training passed and no doubt got a grade A. Ho hum.
I was generally aware of the PD in their various guises as I guess we all were at that time. There were a few bands knocking around the school and the PD stood out for a few reasons: they made no pretence, they continued to make music no matter what anyone thought, they didn’t particularly follow any trends, they were genuinely a nice bunch of guys, and looking back, they had great loyalty, support and affection for one another. I on the other hand was a member of The Antioch Brothers….a band that actually did get paid occasionally. We even played in a church once and I remember Adrian attending and recording that gig. I’ve a copy somewhere. We’d caused so much of a rumpus within the local press due to our being banned from pubs that the church censored us. We did have a bit of a cult following though and would be recognised in the streets which was a bit of an ego boost to say the least. But we weren’t there for the long term unlike the PD.
These points made there was an element of naffness to the whole PD shebang. This really came down to little more than the lack of technology and equipment which we all suffered from I guess. The saving grace for us other “musicians” being that once one took a guitar, an amp and added enough distortion to make a Harrier jump jet blush……it was easy to hide a multiple of sins! Casio keyboards on the other hand had their limitations….and they were blindingly obvious for all to see. So that was the reason behind the production values of the day. That and of course the fact that Alistair insisted on try to make musical accompaniment out of things like a flushing toilet! Can’t say nobody tried.
I really became involved with the music prior to a gig when they wanted a bit of guitar playing. The remotest opportunity in those days to play live and I was your man, so there I suddenly was – guitar man for hire. We got a rehearsal room, I got a PA system, plugged in and the songs came alive. I was amazed. The Casio naffness was now loud, live and throbbing to get out. It was brilliant. My only concern being that the gig was to be in front of an audience of about 600 people and that was new territory. What about a warm up gig? Nope – we were going to do it cold. And what’s more, it was not going to be a very forgiving audience. Cue Exam Relief Take 2 – all proceeds going to the Band Aid Trust [which very nearly included the PD].
To say there was an element of nerves that day is a bit like suggesting that chucking a piano out the back of a Boeing 747 would depreciate its value. But we were ready to deliver. Trouble was – so too were the audience – without restraint. The sound engineers messed up, nothing was balanced, and the audience……well the less said the better. I can still see the bottles flying through the air in the general direction of those of us daft enough to be on the stage. I still sit and ponder in awe at why we remained there for anyone wishing to use our heads for target practice. What I can’t understand is where the balls of paper came from. There must have been a sudden sales surge at the local stationers. The stage had to be swept at the end of the set. We could barely see the floor. Folklore has it that part of a rainforest was felled and aimed at us that night. But……….and I think this is the true nature of the PD……..we finished the set. Despite having to duck flying bottles, cans, balls of paper and phlegm [I cringe when remembering Guy asking people to stop spitting on him!] we got through.
We came off stage. I was a bit shocked. Frankly I was angry. The PD went into a corner and pretty much instantly announced they were splitting. Moments later the audience were informed and they took the roof off. Hmm. Just as well they’d waited until we finished – if they’d thrown roof tiles we would have been in trouble.
That could have been the end of the story back in July 1987. For most bands it would have been. But the PD were something special. The following day round at Adrian’s house we held a post mortem but I can’t recall much being decided. What I do know is that arguments followed between band members and Alistair and I spent a good deal of the summer working together with my old Fostex X15 4 track studio writing at the now semi-famous Appleby House studio, recording and revamping songs. I remember getting a drum kit for my 18th birthday so that had to be incorporated into the music too. I was flattered a few years back when some of these recordings were put onto a PD compilation.
I bumped into Alistair and Adrian just before Christmas that year in a Pizza Land restaurant in Liverpool with our old friend David Jones [not seen or heard from him for years….if you read this Dave – hiya!] and that was the last I saw of them for about 15 years I’m sorry to say.
One quiet day in work round about 2002 I was moping around the internet and signed up to Friends Reunited whereupon I came across Alistair’s link. A bit more searching on the net and I found his email address and tried it. We’d found each other again!
In June 2005 I was in the latter stages of a divorce when Alistair emailed and asked if I wanted to join them again on the latest recording – the first studio album for years. I didn’t really know what to expect. It was nice to be met with the statement “you’ve not changed at all.” A great day followed. Since then we’ve kept in touch and have written a few songs together, one of which I’m reliably informed is a hit on a few mobile phones in the playground.
I’m coming full circle now when I say we completed the final recording session for the For Those About to Pop album yesterday. The music? Well structurally it has changed over the years but it’s still certainly a PD album. It’s just more sophisticated. And as time goes by and Alistair insists on trying to get more notes into the same time signature, it will no doubt progress further. No mistaking that. Equipment? We now produce something that is of digital quality rather than I don’t know what back in the old days. In terms of production I guess it’s Alistair who runs the ship and keeps things on track. Sometimes being jibbed along the way by the others. Alistair’s the one who then spends months mixing. Adrian’s the eclectic one with the video camera who manages to edit a group of people miming and dancing out in the street with people watching [with us pretending they’re not there!] into a pretty good video to accompany a song. It really is awkward standing in the front garden playing an unplugged electric guitar pretending it’s the most natural thing in the world. Mark is always in the background writing and editing bits here and there almost as an executive producer. And everyone else does their bit around that. Seems that skills and talents are brought in whenever needed and away we go. Trust me though – nothing gets into the final edit until it’s deemed to be right. And the ultimate executive producer is the band itself – get it right or don’t do it.
If I had to say what makes the PD special... self belief that what they’re doing is good. Enjoying each other’s company and the times they have together. And probably most of all, the love and affection they have for one another that has seen the band through births, deaths and marriages. This is a very special group of friends with a unique bond. Are the songs always the best? Quite possibly not – as far as I know nobody’s made any money from the band. But frankly who cares? Music is all in the ear of the beholder. And it all sounds the same to your mum anyway. The PD are about far more than that.
So where to next? I guess Alistair’s started the mixing process. Adrian’s on the editing machine drumming up a video. The rest are doing whatever they’re doing – thinking about new songs and ideas.
And in a few weeks time, we start writing for the next album!