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Bash Out The Odd v.1

Bash Out The Odd February 1989
Pic: Matt Page.
(The Gallery)

Version #1 : 1988-1989

Version #2 : 1989-1990

Version #3 : 1990-1990

Gallery of Images

Musical Genre/Type: Indie Rock

Formed: 1988 Split: 1989

Band Members:

Lead Vocals/Guitar:
Mark "DeHavilland" Brindley (Glascote)

Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals:
Julian Amos (Stonydelph)

Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals:
Mark Mortimer (Tamworth)

Drums:
Stuart Pickett (Stonydelph)

Keyboards:
Alan Hodgetts (Stonydelph)

Brass:
Martin Cooper - Trumpet, Eb trumpet (from Solihull), Mark Allison - Trumpet, Cornet (Mile Oak), Bryan Hurdley - Bass trombone, Euphonium (Birmingham)

Memories

Bash Out The Odd was the direct descendent of The Space Seeds and started out with the same set of tunes. I remember bumping into Mark Brindley on Lower Gungate one day - he was no longer part of World Intelligence Network and we decided to get a project together and that's what started the Space Seeds. Once Martin Kelly had left the Space Seeds and Rob Cross headed off to Liverpool we continued moving forward with new ideas and were delighted to get a drummer involved as talented as Stu Pickett who has always been one of Tamworth's premier musicians.

Alan Hodgetts wasn't a native "Tammie" but had moved here and answered an ad in the local paper as we wanted a keyboard player. He was coming from a more prog rock background and looked it, so image-wise he didn't fit in but, being brutally honest, he had his own rehearsal studio in Birmingham we could use and he was a nice fella so he was in!!

Julian Amos was recruited as we were still in touch and friendly since the days of the Great Express and he sang lead vocals on a few numbers including his own composition "Bug" which was his tribute to the Volkswagen Beetle car and was a song that had first been aired towards the latter stages of the Great Express era.

The brass section was the jewel in the crown so far as I was concerned! The desire to have horns came partly from my mod/northern soul roots but I was determined to steer clear of the traditional soul brass section, particularly as Dance Stance had such a hot section at that time locally. I have always been massively into the late 60s psychedelic scene and some of the stuff that bands at that time had experimented with regarding classical influences had a big effect on me. I loved the "Penny Lane" type trumpet sound and that whole Bach thing that had been so influential during the 60s rock band scene, the same thing had been mirrored when the Teardrop Explodes had released stuff like "Reward" which had that classical vibe too.

So we couldn't believe our luck when I stumbled across three close mates who were PHENOMENAL musicians and among the most talented people I've ever had the good fortune to play alongside. Mark Allison was the local link as he lived in Mile Oak and he was a peripatetic brass teacher. He roped in his close mates Martin Cooper and Bryan Hurdley. Cooper was an outstanding player who could play notes most other trumpeters wouldn't get near. Hurdley was acknowledged as one of Britain's best young euphonium players but his second instrument was trombone (he played both tenor and bass) which he also excelled at. The effect of the three together and without any reeds (ie no saxes) was simply brilliant. They could sound a bit northern soul at times but more than that we wrote parts that were classical in origin and this gave the band a really interesting sound that no one else was trying to do. And we were quite adventurous and tried experimenting all the time with different ideas, brass-wise.

On one song called "Heavenly Angel", for example, Martin and Mark played this Tijuana brass kind of Mexican trumpet thing which really blended well with the orchestrated Scott Walker-influenced feel to the song and took the tune into a whole new territory. I remember Mark Brindley constantly had to fight against comparisons with Julian Cope's voice (something I always particularly felt awkward about considering one of my best friends, Donald, was Julian's guitarist and also because I was a good friend of Copey during that time) and I think this, as well as the fact both Mark and I had totally immersed ourselves in Scott Walker, led to him really going for a Walker-esque baritone vocal. This was really quite unfashionable in a way because we were seen as a straight down the line indie type band and when people saw us they got quite a powerful, slightly quirky indie type sound from the guitars and drums but then there was this lovely, luscious classical brass section coupled with Mark's Scott Walker-meets-Cope voice and that set us apart from other people.

The company that managed chart-hitting indie stars The Primitives and Kingsbury's indie/punk/garage band Birdland were really into Bash Out The Odd and on several occasions came to see us live in London (and in Tamworth would you believe!?) and were interested in signing us but it never quite happened. We had several labels courting us for a while too and things seemed to be "happening" for the band but for one reason or another it never QUITE got there which is a great shame as there was great potential and as the band developed Mark Brindley started writing songs to go with the ones I wrote and we had some good tunes under our belts.

Originally we started playing Mark's excellent song "Memories" from his days with W.I.N. and then he started writing a whole batch of new numbers. Various line up changes followed (listed separately) and eventually the group turned into The Strangeloves around the turn of the year 1990/1991. Mark Mortimer

Songs

Bug (Julian Amos)	The Hanging Man (Mark Mortimer / Mark Brindley)
Love Walks Away (Mark Mortimer)	The Rain Garden (Mark Mortimer)
Heavenly Angel (Mark Mortimer)	Switchblade Love (Mark Mortimer)
Mother Sea (Mark Mortimer)	Saturn In Her Eyes (Mark Mortimer)
Climbing Pain Palm (Mark Mortimer)	Memories (WIN)

Gigs

The Carleton Inn, Morecambe
The Greyhound, Burntwood
Lichfield Arts Centre
The Rathole, Tamworth
The Bull's Head, Lancaster

Memories:
We always had good reactions at gigs but not often did we receive rapturous receptions which often disappointed us because we genuinely believed we were a really good band! But live it was always VERY TIGHT, the musicianship was superb and the songs were almost always adapted and re-written from gig to gig which I always thought was healthy. Mark Mortimer

Recordings

Title: Love Walks Away
Track List: Love Walks Away (Mark Mortimer) Heavenly Angel (Mark Mortimer) Mother Sea (Mark Mortimer) Bug (Julian Amos)
Format: Demo

Right-click and Download	Play
Love Walks Away

Other Recordings: Further recordings were made with other line ups of the band (see other entries)

Memories:
The session for this demo was a fantastic affair, very exciting and very creative. It happened at The Expresso Bongo Studios in Tamworth under the guidance of Paul Speare. Paul also played some excellent baritone sax on the tracks to add even more bottom end punch to the bass trombone of Bryan Hurdley.

On Julian Amos' "Bug" tune, Mark Brindley used his portastudio to record the sound of his own Volkswagen Beetle car engine which was then used, tagged on to the front of the song. On "Mother Sea" I had this grandiose idea of a Bach-esque piccolo trumpet part, not dissimilar to the famous part used on the Beatles' "Penny Lane" but twisted somewhat. However, neither Mark (Allison) nor Martin (Cooper) played piccolo trumpet. But Martin produced a stunning performance on Eb trumpet and played what was a complex and extremely difficult-to-play line that fitted beautifully on the end of the track as we changed from a straight 4/4 feel into a 3/4 waltz-time section.

On "Heavenly Angel" we had a definite Scott Walker vibe going down. We couldn't afford real strings so Alan Hodgetts played synth strings and Mark really went for a Scott performance vocally which he does so well. The chorus was a catchy little pop thing and we had those Mexican trumpets in the background which remind me a little of Arthur Lee's Love from "Da Capo" and "Forever Changes." I am a bit predictable really with my songs - you can always hear these old 60s influences whether they be northern soul, mod-related or psychedelic undertones!!!! Just can't help myself!!

"Love Walks Away" was actually a very sad song for me lyrically as I was going through a very difficult time in my personal life while living in an unpleasant, dirty, freezing cold bedsit near QEMS on Upper Gungate and the song is all about trying to get through that period of my life without going crazy (which I almost did). For me on a personal level it was a powerfully emotional song and so it was really fitting that Mark (Brindley) sang it with so much gusto and the horns were brilliantly powerful. Although looking back now the sound of the song is quite "dated" it still has a special part in my heart on several different levels and I recently re-wrote part of this song for my current band DC Fontana. Mark Mortimer

Thanks to: Mark Mortimer - www.jazzfish.co.uk


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