Blast From The Past #1 - 1987 : Somebodys Brother

.

5 students, 1 house: from left to right there are three bloggers, then two musicians -

RR-registered but never-commented PurplePasty, gordonimmel, DarceysDad, Andy, Mikey

Ah, the student days! Four years of pub lunches, beery evenings, gigs, scuzzy clubs, parties - often all on the same day! Grotty houses, jealously-guarded coffee stashes, health-hazard kitchens, more coffee, Neighbours & Blockbusters on the telly, cheap circuit-training or a swim just to get a free hot shower, laundry once a fortnight, yet more coffee to fuel those cod-philosophising all-nighters . . . and I'm sure there was something else too: Gordon?

gordonimmel: "*SIGH!* Studying, Richie, studying!"
DsD: Oh no no no, never that!
gi: "[wearily] And that's why you and Andy failed, and we didn't!"

That's it! The mention of Andy reminded me: SOMEBODYS BROTHER.

Originally from Sunderland, the pub-gig level band of that name had moved to Bradford in the early 80s, and were playing the sort of places that meant we were bound to run into them. To cut a long story short, they were looking for a keyboard player, and got together with mine & Gordon's aforementioned housemate. Shortly thereafter, they needed a new bass player too, and so joined another resident of our fondly-remembered terraced home, who we'll call Mikey.

Playing predominantly Dylan/The Band, Little Feat, Grateful Dead covers, Somebodys Brother (lazily but deliberately missing the apostrophe) were a typical small-time band: perfectly-competent players, but not a lot of ambition. Singer/guitarist Denny Austin could write, and had an OK singing voice made distinctive by that Mackem accent; guitarist Vince Deary had a lovely blues feel to his playing, but hey-ho, they weren't even setting Bradford alight at this point.

But then two things happened fairly simultaneously - they started to play more of their own songs, and they acquired some extra players. Whilst part-timers Brett (congas/percussion) and Tony (aka "Shipwreck", sax) brought some variety, singer Carol Neen was just awesome: equal parts sassy&steel, and WOW, what a voice!

Fairly disciplined rehearsing (a lot of which was at our house), persistent gigging (that was hindered only marginally by having yours truly as the usual van driver / technically-clueless roadie), and a little bit of luck raised the band's profile to the point where they were getting heard about as far away as London.

Replacing Mikey (who, on leaving Uni, buggered off to the US) with local ace bass player Cecil Zinyuku (who had then just had another daughter, Chenai: ring any bells, X-Factor watchers?), the quality, profile, and indeed sound of the band all changed for the better yet again.

They got some better management, better transport (I got sacked, much to my relief!), and funding for a single, the 3-track, 7", beautifully-sleeved So Damned True EP.

As well as the title track, there were two other songs - Soweto and It's Not For Long - both of which have remained DsD faves ever since, and have been pointlessly recommended on the mothership for various topics.

Now it is fair to say that Soweto hasn't stood the test of time very well. The lyrics betray the apartheid-era age of the song, and fairly amateur production leaves Andy's keyboards too far back in the mix. The latter issue in particular robs the song of much of the power and danceability that made it a live favourite, But I still love it, AND it DID get played by John Peel. Ach, judge for yourselves:

Somebodys Brother - Soweto

But It's Not For Long still tugs at the heart strings. It may well be that I have a particular reason for saying that - I was engaged at the time to someone who lived 150 miles away - but I am absolutely overjoyed that I now have this digitally, thanks to borrowing Gordon's Ion deck. Not my usual style, I'm sure you'll agree, but see what you think.

Somebodys Brother - It's Not For Long

For what it's worth, this is the one song in my entire 50,000+ collection that I am least likely to accept criticism of, so be careful what you choose to say to me!

Sadly, soon afterwards it all fell apart. Vince left, all their gear got nicked from one of Bradford's venues, they got money troubles (including getting stiffed after a support slot for Desmond Dekker), Carol left to find fame and fortune in London (she has a MySpace page, if you're interested). Oh the band continued, into this millennium in fact, still with Andy (now Company Secretary for one of Bradford's biggest employers) on keyboards, but it's never been the same.

What could have been . . .

I'm left with just two copies of the vinyl EP, one of the follow-up cassette Sunderland EP, various live recordings, some photos, and a lot of fond memories!

:o)