PEEL SESSIONS

SESSION ONE

RECORDING DATE - 31/7/79

FIRST BROADCAST - 9/8/79

Producer - Bob Sargeant
Engineer - Mike Robinson
Studio - Maida Vale 4

TRACKS

WELCOME

WHO'S IN HERE WITH ME?

PRESSURE SELLERS

PRECINCT

LIVE FOR NOW

LINE UP

THE SHEND - BASS/VOCALS

ROB DALLAWAY - GUITAR/VOCALS

RICHARD YEHUDI - SAX/OTHER BITS

DAVE BENNETT - DRUMS/VOCALS

SESSION TWO

RECORDING DATE - 23/9/80

FIRST BROADCAST - 6/10/80

Producer - John Sparrow
Engineer - Mike Robinson
Studio - Maida Vale 4

TRACKS

STILL

IN YOUR EYES

TRIPLEX ZONE

YOUR'E DRIVING ME

LINE UP

THE SHEND - BASS/VOCALS

ROB DALLAWAY - GUITAR/VOCALS

RICHARD YEHUDI - SAX/OTHER BITS

DAVE BENNETT - DRUMS/VOCALS

SESSION THREE

RECORDING DATE - 10/8/81

FIRST BROADCAST - 19/8/81

Producer - Tony Wilson
Engineer - Dave Dade
Studio - Maida Vale 4

TRACKS

RUB ME OUT

TERMINUS

FIREMEN

ICECUBIST

LINE UP

THE SHEND - BASS/VOCALS

ROB DALLAWAY - GUITAR/VOCALS

F-REG - SAX/CLARINET

DAVE BENNETT - DRUMS/VOCALS

SESSION FOUR

RECORDING DATE - 6/11/82

FIRST BROADCAST - 15/11/82

Producer - Dale Griffin
Engineer - Mike Robinson

TRACKS

THE STATION

WORKING DOWN UNDERGROUND

THERE IS NO INTERNATIONAL RESCUE

DADDY'S SHOES

LINE UP

THE SHEND - BASS/VOCALS

ARTHUR - GUITAR/VOCALS

BAIRD SMART - SAX/CLARINET

31 - DRUMS/VOCALS

I can clearly remember the excitement of trundling down to London in our big red battered Transit van, to the BBC studios at Maida Vale, to record sessions for the John Peel show. Entering the warren of studios and corridors was like stepping into another world, a kind of time-warped, Ealing Films kind of world where blokes in brown
stockmen's coats scurried around fixing stuff and plugging our gear in. It felt like a thrilling culture clash, taking our abrasive jazzy punk mash up sound into this gentile, serious world. It felt like being in school after hours, wandering the corridors in our crumpled dinner suits, sneaking into vast orchestral studios, weird rooms and
cupboards and going to the canteen that felt like stepping back into the 1940s. We loved it.

Being invited to record a Peel session felt like a badge of honour, like a huge endorsement, it meant everything to us. We were young and arrogant and cheekily pushed the boundaries a bit when recording, rewriting and arranging some stuff in the studio, spinning in found sound samples, playing children's toy instruments and playing with all the ancient keyboards there. But nothing phased the Beeb crew.
They respectfully and patiently helped us while we tested their patience way beyond the session finish times, into the early hours of the morning. We particularly owed a lot to engineer Mike Robinson. He was brilliant and really got the best out of us and helped achieve some special results. Hurrah for John Peel and the Peel Show sessions. It was such a very very special thing for us to do and for so many other bands.

Robin Raymond Dallaway.

If memory serves me right, we were lucky enough to do 4 Cravats sessions, a Very Things one and another as DCL Locomotive. Going to Maida Vale studios was a weird experience. Huge aircraft hangar-sized soundproofed rooms full of cables and microphones and an odd musty smell of the fifties that impregnated your clothes for weeks. I remember a bored engineer reading 'Caravan Monthly' all the way through one session, but who cared when you had a BBC subsidised canteen. 70p for a top notch scoff!
Then spend 80% of your allotted time miking up the bloody drums, blast through four tracks, whack on a couple of overdubs, mix it in the remaining 49 minutes and then load the van at midnight and head off up the M40 towards
Birmingham. They always somehow ended up sounding great though and when they were broadcast, you'd all sit there with your finger poised over the record button on your crappy cassette player trying to catch John's witty intro to your masterpiece. I've still got most them somewhere. We also discovered that your BBC fee depended on the amount of musicians in the band which is why, ghostly flute player, Bob and Colin the invisible Xylophone wizard appeared on the later sessions as far as the BBC contracts department were concerned.

The Shend.

I have very few memories of the actual recording of John Peel sessions. They were always a pleasure to do because you had at your disposal sound equipment that you would never normally have access to. Plus you got paid for it and there was a canteen you would see people like Arthur Askey in there.

The engineers were irritating though because they would all be slouching around, showing zero interest in the music and reading recording engineer magazines.

I do recall something of the first session from 1979, I think Peel had suggested that Bob Sargeant produce as he had produced our previous record 'The End'. Bob Sargeant is a great producer (The Beat,The Damned) but, we had not been happy with the production of this record so we were not too keen on him producing the session. I gather that Pete Stennett (Small Wonder boss)had taken Bob aside and had a few words. As a result Bob had little involvement in the overseeing of the session. At the time I thought that this session was really good,but a few years on I changed my opinion. It just sounds like a complete mess to me-the Saxophone overpowers everything else and the vocals aren't so good. I love the Saxophone solo on 'Live for Now' though. The other three sessions, particularly the second and fourth are really good.

Svor Naan.