Still editing...

Happy New Year, all ye fans of Dimple Pinch!

I am still in the process of editing the podcast; stay tuned.

LOLLIPOD MINDS Podcast with Dee -- Coming Soon

If all goes to plan, I'll be recording the first Lollipod Minds Podcast this weekend.

My first guest will be the principal songwriter for the band, Dee Christopholus.

Stay tuned.

The Complete Ashall, Part 2: The Bass-ic Facts

THE LAWRENCE ST. JAMES BAND
NEXT UP FOR BARRIE was a stint in the 3-piece Lawrence St. James Band (organ, bass, drums), a slightly jazzier concoction he describes as a "bluesy, heavy, fresh sound."  Although a "good, tight unit," the band failed to develop an original voice, and splintered after keyboardist Mike Parks left to join a post- "& the Mindbenders" Wayne Fontana.


BARRATTS OF MANCHESTER
B.B. King has his string of Lucille(s); Eric Clapton's had his beloved Blackie.
A musician's devotion to his/her instrument may seem ridiculous to a non-player, but the truth of the matter is musicians court their instruments, chase them, hunger and lust for them.

Here's Barrie's story of finding his one true four-stringed love, the GIBSON EB-3, on Oxford Street in Barratts of Manchester :


"Worraninstrument!  Neck smooth as silk -- low frets, double pick-up (one special) medium length, hardly had to press on the strings to get a real connection, just pure percussion.  Tried it through a 200-watt Marshall amp and I guarantee that every instrument in that store vibrated when I started a mean slap on them thar strings -- better than any woman, sex, booze or drug -- that bass alone drugged me."


Notwithstanding the presumed (and, well, rather understandable) response of Barrie's spouse to this remark, I must say that as a musician myself, I understand the allure, the devotion to one's instrument.  I am moved by the fact Barrie's recollections of this event are so clear to him over forty years later.
It's not for nothing instruments are often named after women.
But while I do understand the allure, the devotion, the romantic myth-making that surrounds legendary instruments, as a drummer it's a little more difficult to experience first-hand the same passion---there are simply too many parts.  
The idea of naming a snare stand or a stick bag "Maisie" just wouldn't cut it.


JUST FORMIN' JUST FOUR MEN
The visit to Barratts would become fateful for another reason.  Barrie's volume-heavy snogging session with his new love drew the attention of Adrian Barratt himself, who threatened to eject Barrie from the store.  He was recognized, however, from one of his appearances and Barratt told him Just Four Men were looking for a fourth---"Just Three Men" wasn't nearly as clever-sounding.


JUST FOUR SCRUFFY GETS
Oddly enough, that same night Just Four Men were making an appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars.
"I thought they were SHIT!" says Barrie.  "Really commercial--glittering suits and all."
Barrie was awoken by his father the next afternoon who said, "Four scruffy gets at the door; sound like bleedin' Scousers to me."

Now that's a rude awakening for any Mancunian!

But after a brief audition, Barrie was in.

New Podcast Feature Coming Soon- Send in your questions for the band!

In the very near future I intend to create a downloadable podcast featuring interviews with the members of Wimple Winch.
Entitled Lollipod Minds: The Sinking Ship Resurfaces, it will essentially be a continuing series of fifteen-minute shows dedicated to answering any questions you and I want to ask of the members of the band.

Send all questions to me in the "Comments" section, and they will be forwarded to the band.

Barrie: A Complete Ashall, Part 1

“What was I doing before Winch?  Nothing.  I was born a Winch, or that’s how it seemed and still does.  My memories and musical achievements with that band will never be surpassed---only the experience can explain that.”

Barrie Ashall

One of the unexpected joys to emerge from my involvement with the lads from Wimple Winch has been the ongoing correspondence between Barrie Ashall and myself.  He’s a consummate jokester, our Barrie, a relentless punster and entertaining raconteur, who possesses, much like Dee, a fine memory for specific details from over forty years ago.

When I sat down to write the Shindig piece I had no appreciable biographical information about Barrie to incorporate into the piece.  I had gleaned, however, from my conversations with Dee, and from listening to the select tracks on which he played, that his contributions to WW were an essential element in upping the group’s collective ante. 

Barrie Ashall began playing music at the age of 10.   As often is the case with adolescent boys, it eventually boiled down to a tossup between music and sports. Music would eventually triumph over football, of course, as it would eventually take precedence over the more practical career choice of electro-mechanical engineering. *

Barrie’s first band was The Resounds (terrific name!), a trio formed for the specific intention of playing a Christmas party.  A chap named Albert Massey played lead guitar, with Barrie on bass.   The also band featured an asthmatic drummer who sang lead vocals (!).   According to Barrie, he was an “Archie Andrews lookalike,” who left an indelible impression in his mind:

“The room stank of inhaler and his eyes spun round their sockets uncontrollably every time he played a roll (looked really cool as well as hilarious).”

Next installment: The Lawrence St. James Band

* (Incidentally, for those who are interested in my particular music-sports dilemma, music triumphed over basketball.  Seeing The Who’s anarchic bio/concert-pic The Kids Are Alright in 1979 was the revelatory game-changer; one of the defining points in my life.)

Tom Sandford

Tom Sandford

The Freakbeat Manifesto, by Brian Neavyn

Below I present the full, unexpurgated text of The Freakbeat Manifesto, as recited by Dee Christopholus on that rainy evening in September, 2009.

Now go live it.

The “Freakbeat Manifesto” Sep 1966


Beat Music has served us well as entertainment but it is now some time since the heyday of Merseybeat , BrumBeat, Mancbeat and all other scenes.


R’n’B too has passed its highpoint in these Islands .


Beat and R’n’B must evolve , mature, grow up and change structure. Innocent boyhood is over


This is Sep 1966. Wimple Winch have recently released ‘Save my Soul’ , the second in a trilogy of 7” singles that will be seen to define a new musical genre ……called Freakbeat.


I hereby state the “Freakbeat Manifesto”


1. Freakbeat is futuristic and yet it is about the present as seen from the future.


2. Freakbeat is the liberation of the machine known as the instrument in the hands of road -hardened and newly informed musicians.


3. No longer will guitars strum along benignly behind the voice. The Freakbeat guitarist will be the main instrumentalist like John Kelman of Wimple Winch. Such is their dominance in a song that they will take equal standing with the vocalist. Such is their creativity that their composition will match for importance the vocal melody. The guitarist must invent riffs or chunky chords that paint a raw sound and will issue on occasion short biting solos. Guitars may increase their presence by the use of effects like distortion, fuzz or tremolo. This will deepen the musical picture. Second guitars will have purpose to chop alternative rhythms into the melee.


4. No longer will bass be a melodic support holding root notes to strumming guitars. The Freakbeat bassist like Barrie Ashall of Wimple Winch will be the catalyst to map out the transformation. Bass will challenge the lead guitar for prominence. It will direct an alternative path that will stand alone, will introduce hooks and riffs that will lift the song whilst agitating for its own space. Together with drums it will create a rhythm section that has a new dynamic like a powerful engine.


5. No longer will a drummer simply be a time keeper. No longer will the metronome sit at the back of the stage quietly counting and tapping out beats. The Freakbeat drummer like Larry King of Wimple Winch will control the songs, the ebb and flow, will temper the song with rhythms that shift and compliment, will drive the song towards frenzy but will drag the band back from overkill. The Freakbeat drummer will emerge as a key component of the new genre and will impose personality on the song.


6. No longer will the vocalist use the band as a backing for their vocal performance. The Freakbeat Vocalist like Dee Christopholus of Wimple Winch must establish a style that has the power to survive the maelstrom being created by the instruments. The singer must deliver the song with a level of passion that befits the lyric, at times dispassionate, at times emotional. The singer must exist as part of the freakbeat experience and not be a detached limb. Backing vocals are not limited as sweeteners of harmony but may be thrown as independent entities at the main vocal.


7. No longer will songs be structured in the limited format of recent years. Freakbeat songs like those of Wimple Winch are encouraged to abandon middle eights that are inserted for pop enhancement. They are best avoided unless they shift the dynamic to allow new tensions to emerge.


8. The recorded performances in freakbeat will not have a glossy over produced glare. We must continue to record live, to capture the moment when music machines and humans connect in a deeply spontaneous event.


9. Freakbeat will have at its core a dynamic tension created by the instruments and voice challenging each other. This tension may be enhanced by the punctuation of sudden stops or by the drama of quiet/ loud volume shifts.


10. Pure Freakbeat as described in this manifesto will never change, it is a new root, its origins are not obvious. However if it grafts with other musical styles then sub-genres may emerge with hybrids like Mod Freakbeat, Soul Freakbeat, Psychedelic Freakbeat. The new root that is Pure Freakbeat will always exist to inspire originality; adventure + ‘outside the box’ thinking.


Do not be afraid to ignore/challenge so-called rules, which restrict or dampen creativity.


* *(Written by: Brian Neavyn).


*******************************THE END****************************************


@Copywrite: Brian Neavyn + Dee Christopholus


23 September 2009