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It has been a while

It has been some time since I last looked through these pages and I see that there has not been much happening since I last entered a text onto the site.

Perhaps I might just tighten up the historical accuracy of the very excellent information offered by Matt a while back, which concerns the Versatile Newts.

It is interesting to note that Maurice and Lawrence had already joined forces before the inception of the V.N.; they had tried a couple of times to get something going before the inauguration of Felt in January 1980. In other words, M.D. came before N.G., and not the other way round.

Re: Felt improvising?

This actually reminds me of something that will not be known by the general public. It has started a chain reaction of thought processes in my mind, and it seems of interest because it is something that goes against the entire ethos of the Felt approach to music composition.

This digression from Felt's crafting of original music was only ever going to happen once, and it almost did very shortly after the appearance of the Newts.

When Felt rehearsed in their practice room in Erdington (north Birmingham), shortly before the first Fall concert, they realised that they were no going to be ready for a first performance. In the course of that particular practice session, MD started improvising avant garde style with a heavy distorsion. LH and NG then joined in, and by all accounts the extemporising endured for some considerable time; enough, in fact, for LH to suggest to MD that this compositional/performance approach be the sole basis of the first ever Felt performance supporting the Fall. MD agreed, but for some reason or another they never went ahead with the plan, and somehow managed to improve the originally planned performance to a level that was deemed suitable.

So why was this extraordinary idea so contrary to the Felt attitude towared composition and performance? I am afraid that I have run out of time, but I will try and finish the text next time.

Re: Felt improvising?

Hope you do finish NS. Keep me visiting here whilst the interminable wait for GKM3 and 4 continues....

Re: More Felt improvising

The following is only relevant to the Deebank era.

The reason why it is so suprising that Felt made the decision to go ahead and improvise a whole set is because every single note of the entire Felt musical texture was written with the utmost care and precision, and cast in stone once finally decided upon.

Many bands find that it an unacceptable practice to perform their songs the same every time, but each time a Felt composition was realised in its final form, no one, including the two writers themselves, would or could change a single not (I am not sure about the word component it must be said at this point). It was like a deist god who established the laws of existence and then let creation run itself without the possibility of any of those laws ever being changed - not even by the god itself.

This may be because of Deebank's classical training which accustoms practitioners of the art to writing (if they are composers) everything down on manuscript, and playing the music note for note each time it is performed. Or it may be because both MD and LH were extremely loving of what they wrote ( I can feel a Phd thesis coming on the more I think about this subject - a pity that time is so short. Oh the tyranny of this confounded computer system); so much so that once written, nothing else was ever going to be as good. Indeed, one can surmise that these pieces of music were like children to them, and even if one of their offspring were disabled in some way, that one off act of creation was never going to be improved upon simply because of the love and uniqueness that were involved. A third possibility is that both of these ideas were involved. Whatever the case though, we can wonder as to why such a decision (albeit an unrealised one) to improvise a 30 minute set was ever made. I was told of this event a very long time ago, but I am quite sure that the reason was never revealed to me and I obviously was not mindful of asking for the reason at the time; but my own view is that desperation set in. They quite simply wanted to take their children out of the nursery and show them off to an unsuspecting public, but did not think that they were old enough to speak for themselves. The result being that a foot in the door would give them a start in the public arena (and what a good start it was) and give them some more time to teach the children how to be in public.

I have so much more that I could say, and I shall return with one or two other items pertinent to the above subject matter at another time.

More Felt improvising

And now for an example of how it is that the casting of stone principle worked where Felt songs and instrumentals were concerned.

It was during the production of the string version of "Sunlight" that the principle was demonstrated in a most forceful way.

As forum followers may well be aware, Mr. Deebank's bass line to this song is both convoluted and highly melodic like his guitar writing. But when it was actually played against the other parts in Woodbine studios of Royal Leaminton Spa, and Mr. John Rivers said that there was a wrong note in the bass part, a court of enquiry was held. This is how the enquiry went (and I am quite confident that my memory serves me well, because it was told me in order to serve as an anecdotal basis that was in support of a certain technical principle during a music lesson, the latter of which I shall naturally not give details of; so I can give assurance that what was imparted to me is being accurately conveyed).

Mr Rivers stated that one note in the bass line was incorrect; that it sounded wrong. Because of the great power of the hitherto disclosed principle that Felt followed, Mr. Hayward immediately pounced on JR's declaration and began to fiercely argue that the note was correct. But JR persisted and insisited that it was wrong. LH then retorted, "very well I'll just ask our expert." He then turned to MD and asked, "is the note all right?" MD, stated that it was merely a major sixth interval relevant to the tonal root and that he had employed that particular pitch class event for added colour at that particular point in the song.

Without a single split second passing between MD's last phonetic utterance, LH turned back to JR and practically shouted, "that's it, our expert says that it is correct." The finality and force used by LH was a clear indication of how sacrosant this principle was to MD and LH. They may have been far away from each other where many issues were concerned, but where this particular principle was concerned, they were completely unified. It is also of interest to note that despite their incessant warring, they did actually respect each other and were together on more issues and policies than the unsuspecting member of the public might think. And I am sure that they must still have a mutual respect for each other, despite their many differences.

And so it was that despite the fact that JR continued to argue for a few seconds more, he was finally beaten down by an increasingly ferocious LH, who simply realised that his colleague knew exactly what he was talking about, and took the answer purely on faith without ever understanding the true nature of the technical answer that was given him.

These ferocious outbursts were frequent in the studio. They occurred between band members often enough, but where the music was concerned, their was usually unity between LH and MD, and between them they exercised an authority that NOBODY could ever hope to usurp. I am sure that all readers will join me in a collective - "thank heavens."

I wish I could say more , but the computer says no.

Re: More Felt improvising

Relevant to Felt's disciplined writing method are other highly rigorous working practices that impinged on their ability to do what they did best anywhere and at anytime. An example willl now ensue. Please note however, that where certain details are concerned in this particular anecdote, memory has somewhat faded. Nevertheless, the principle will not be degraded in any way.

After performing in a concert somewhere in London, Felt were approached in the dressing room by someone in the music business who was involved with a club in another part of London. While at the Felt concert it had come to his attention that the support band at the other club had pulled out at short notice. He found his way into the dressing room and boldly asked if Felt would go straight to the club and fill in for the other band. This was agreed to and the four of them packed their own equipment into their hired Transit van (Shirley Van Hire was the name of the company that Felt hired their vans from; Shirley being quite a good area in Birmingham), and drove to the club together with the man who had asked them, and a journalist from Melody Maker who had been talking to Felt when this unusual turn of events transpired. With LH at the wheel, the six of them arrived and the two passengers watched the ensuing events unravel before their eyes.

Within minutes the four Felters had removed all of the equipment from the van - no roadies - Felt did all their own roadie work. They carried it into the club and straight onto the stage, setting it up without pause, right in front of a full house of punters (it was already late in the evening by that time). Next came the instruments out of the cases to be tuned. 15 minutes later, the band was anounced and a half-hour set followed.

The Melody Maker journalist later commented to the band how impressed he was with the way Felt had handled the entire situation. It must have been far more impressive to witness first-hand than to read anything that I am able to write about it. But this is another indication of just how disciplined they were. Both MD and LH had, and undoubtedly still have, personalities that like to see things stripped of all that is superfluous and unnecessary. Economy and efficiency are very much the order of the day with both of them. They remind me very much of the S.A.S. which often works in small platoons of four: a very highly skilled group who know not only themselves very well, but also their equipment, and each other.

Felt would make their sound recordings in much the same manner. They would not even hire a van for such an event. During the making of "Strangel Idols Pattern", Mr. D would go on the bus each day; although he did allow himself the luxury of a taxi to carry his equipment on the first and last days.

Sorry for the abrupt ending, but time is up.

Re: More Felt improvising

I mentioned the other day that MD and LH had a certain respect for each other. This should be commented on.

I am not saying that the two of them like each other. I do not believe for a single moment that they would get on at all these days. But nevertheless, there was an artistic integrity that they are both very much in possession of, and it is this particular aspect of their personalities that was, and undoubtedly still is, the reason for the mutual respect between them. I know from long ago that MD admires LH's poetic prowess; he always thought very well of the latter's lyrics. It is wrong to hold the widely held belief that MD never listened to LH's words. He had full familiarity with them. Indeed, can we believe that someone who is so musically competent would go for 5 years without ever listening to the words in his own compositions (it is yet again another Felt myth)? And we all know the admiration held by LH about MD's musical ability.

It is interesting to note, though, that in the days when this most dynamic duo led the world in Indie Art Pop, they actually used to regularly socialise with each other. I remember MD explaining to me about specific social exploits that the two of them would engage in. They would often go to public drinking places in Birmingham city centre, as well as Indie nights at certain night clubs and discuss all things relevant to music, and of course, Felt. LH once said to MD that he was the only person who he could go out with. This may surprise Felters, but the fact is that MD was the only one who LH could get on with in a social kind of way. I just thought that I would mention it.

Proceed to the "New Post" for a mini Moz/little Loz fact combined.