Ben reminisces about the band supporting The Chesterfields at The Richmond in Brighton 1988.
Yes, I Remember It Well
Brighton
A town on the Sussex coast. Formerly Brighthelmstone. Centre of the area's 'music scene' but a bit of a dead end until it became more fashionable in the 1990s.
A Curio – June 89 Gits Set List
From supporting The Brilliant Corners in Brighton, as given away by the Medley at the end.
Numbers = drum machine sequences. Chords are unrelated.
We did too many newer songs.
Also given away by having the video.
Ah Yes, The Hair
In a rare outing without a video camera in tow The Gits (UK) next supported The Man From Del Monte and The Grooveyard at The Escape Club on 28th March 1989.
I remember The Grooveyard when they played in Horsham but not from this gig. No doubt we were still recovering after giving our all for the minor placings.
Luckily a quick trip to Cloudberry Records explains amongst other things why I used to get them confused with Blow Up as some of the same people were in both. Here they are in the flesh a couple of years later:
I fair little better with the Man From Del Monte. I recall walking into The Escape Club as they sound checked, t’ singer Mike West sat on stage waiting for some technical difficulty to be sorted out, but that’s yer lot. To be fair I’ve nothing from the rest of the band either so you can sit back and consume a little music from the headliners without prejudice:
Mike West still plies his trade from a base in New Orleans though there’s no mention of his past indiscretions with The Man From Del Monte on his website so I shall crib from LastFM…
The Man From Delmonte formed in Manchester, England, UK in 1986.
The band’s members were Australian Mike West (vocals and acoustic guitar), who used to be seen around Aflecks Palace with a little dog, Sheila Seal (bass), Martin Vincent (guitar), and Howard Goody (drums).
They released 3 singles on Ugly Man Records: Drive Drive Drive, Water in my Eyes and (Will nobody save) Louise. Water in my Eyes had the honour of being the cheapest video ever shown on ITV’s chart show at the time of Michael Jackson’s Video for his Thriller single that had cost a reputed 1million US Dollars.
The band formed part of the pre “Madchester” movement, enjoying much local success at gigs in the Manchester area although failed to go on from their local popularity to achieve the commercial success of contemporaries James.
I’ve a suspicion it was after this gig we introduced the limit on pre-gig drinks for Ben the bass player; one pint of brown & bitter, the Gits tipple of choice. That we had put the effort into deciding on an ‘official’ drink but had no plan for success perhaps explains a lot.
As Seen In Brighton
Our first trip to the seaside towards the end of May 1988 to support The Chesterfields and Ever at the Richmond in Brighton which later became the Pressure Point before being closed a few years ago.
A favourite of Uwe at Firestation Records who released The Gits Retrospeculative, The Chesterfields from Yeovil had a number of Top 20 Indie Chart hits from the mid to late 1980s. They were certainly better known than the scant amount of information about them online would suggest. Indeed as their biography on LastFM puts it:
For a while, the Chesterfields’ charming, jolly guitar pop, was very much in vogue.
Second on the bill that night were Ever from Crawley.
To my ears Ever had a sound and style that was their own and fantastic songs that would sit in the top 10 alongside The Psychedelic Furs and Echo & The Bunnymen – I was a fan basically – but sadly the A&R men weren’t really interested in those things.” Jonny Dee, Manager, in 2012.
And a from a review of the Gits:
With performances as energetic and professional as this, The Gits are fast becoming a much respected and popular local band.
A completely unbiased appraisal from a friend of the band who later wrote the sleeve notes of the CD compilation.
Ben E. Git on the proceedings:
All I recall about the Chesterfields gig is I slept through their set and being told they heard me snoring between numbers. Which is a shame as I rather liked them.
In Local News…
English Mature Cheddar Cheese £1.39. per lb
Fresh Pork Chops £1.09 per lb
Standard Frozen Turkey 52p per lb
Pampers Ultra Maxi Plus pack of 40 £6.99
at Tescos.
Note for younger readers: Pounds or lb were an imperial unit of measurement used by cave men before the invention of the internet when dinosaurs roamed the suburbs.