OK, so I lied. I posted the files a couple of weeks ago and then didn't have time to add all the other stuff around it. Let's try again though.
I can't remember how I first got into the Poppies but it was many years ago when I was at school and just starting to get into the more 'alternative' bands having previously been a follower of Duran Duran and Five Star (I can't believe I've just admitted to that in such an open way). I have a vivid memory of borrowing a tape from a school friend (Andrew Little) which had the debut album's from The Wonderstuff and The Stone Roses on it (at the time I thought the Roses album was shit - that soon changed). In return I know that I offered the first PWEI album that I had which was 'This is the day...' and I have a feeling that it was one where I just took a punt on it as I was experimenting with new music and never looked back from there. At that time the Poppies had moved on to a major label after spending their early years in the West Midlands 'Grebo' scene. I think I first heard of them through The Chart Show on ITV when Beaver Patrol was released and was just listed in their Indie Top10 but there was no video and they had to be careful to not play too much of the song with its lovely PC lyrics. 'This is the day....' was a big step forward and brought with it not only wild guitars, breaks, samples and catchy lyrics but also some great images and designs courtesy of the Design Republic. In fact PWEI were part of the breed of bands at the time who probably sold more T-shirts than records (other examples being Carter, Neds etc.)
I only saw them live once but what a gig it was. Live at The Marquee in London (legendary venue) - a small venue, packed to the rafters, the gig certainly wore ni my leather jacket and I was soaked to the skin by the end. I think they were supported by Yeah God (and the lead guitarist 'The Buzzard' smashed his guitar to pieces at the end of the set) and TAD (and Tad himself threatened to crowd surf during his set and for those of you who remember TAD he was not a small chap!.
Follow up album 'A Cure For Sanity' increased the dance/beats element and reduced the guitars but was still something special. However I think their best stuff was certainly from the 'This is the day...' era where apart from the obvious standout singles (Wise Up Sucker, Can U Dig It?) there was some great album tracks and then my favourite piece of vinyl ever was the 'Very Metal Noise Pollution EP' shaped picture disc pictured here which also featured some of their best tracks 'PWEIzation' and 'Preaching to the Perverted'.
The band broke up in '96 with the most famous offshoot being when Richard March and Mike Stokes formed 'Bentley Rhythm Ace'. Most of the stuff I had from the Poppies was on vinyl (inc. the multi-formatted singles that record companies churned out at the time) so its been great to rediscover a lot of the albums by getting digital versions from Blogs.
For more information:
PWEI on Wikipedia
PWEInation
Essential Listening:
PWEI Product 1986-1994: The Pop Will Eat Itself Anthology
This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This!
No comments:
Post a Comment