THE FULL STEAL:
We began rehearsing in the garden of an old rectory, where
mattresses were rammed into the windows of a village hall as
we tried to sound like a band. Pretty soon it was obvious
that the young lad with the tasseled strap was out of his
depth & I have to credit him with coming to the conclusion
on his own & handing himself in. One guitarist down, we
limped on for a week, then, having broken up the Soft Centres
by nicking their drummer I went back in on another raid
& stole their singer. Stuart joined us on guitar & vocals
adding extreme attitude, skinny jeans & pointy shoes.
And that’s the way we stayed, becoming ‘The’ band (for a while)
in Cardiff.
I painted a backdrop, we discussed & designed stage clothes,
called ourselves ‘The ScreenGemz’ (spot the Z) & set to work
playing bars & college halls all over town, growing an enthusiastic
audience who warmed to our locally promising generic power pop.
We found some one to call manager, gave him a hard time & when
Radio One broadcast for a week in the window of a Cardiff store
I spent all night designing the cover of a folder of press shots
with a cassette box of demos covered in pink Latex. The music was
a shadow of what the artwork work promised & a paler shadow of what
was already on the radio – no one played it, but they praised the
presentation.
Eventually we were contacted by Ex-Ross-band bass player Alex Burak
who had moved to London to work in a small rehearsal/recording studio
in Victoria called ‘Point’. He was one of the few musicians I knew who
had escaped Wales & made it across the river, long enough to claim
true residency in England. Alex needed to practise his engineering
skills & was offering us free time in a real studio. We were there
within the week, cutting two sides of a single, ‘Can’t Stand Cars’ &
‘Teenage Teenege’. The studio was basic & smelled, but was authentic
heaven, we slept in sleeping bags on the floor amongst our gear &
dreamed we were out there on the front line, doing it for real.
Surviving on chocolate, crisps & coffee, we were in London & on our way!
As ever, I spent time working the sleeve up into a minor masterpiece &
we pressed up a hundred copies paid for by our manager- we set about
selling them….we still have a few boxes lying around. I vaguely
remember hearing the A side on a radio somewhere & of scratching a
message on the pressing plate like I read all the legends did, everything
‘looked’ right for a band on the up, but the music….the music was
little more than try-hard pop, full of good intentions, but with no heart,
no identity, no risk.
We returned to Cardiff & carried on gigging, reaching our zenith
one summer playing on the roof of the Student Union building
with our stage set of broken TV’s & giant yellow American fridge
covered in Red spots that opened to disgorge party balloons. Like the
original roof top gig the police closed this one down, but not before a
young student on an electronic engineering course had become temporarily
smitten with the band. The young man’s name was Rick Smith.
(K)
Karl Hyde 
Best ending sentence ever – dum-da-da-dum! – eagerly awaiting the next chapter!
If any of those boxes of 7″s wind up in the shop, I’d be interested in a copy…always a pleasure to hear how things evolve.
seconding the comment above! also, lovely entries, it’s a nice way to start the day before i submerge myself into coding.
Would love to have audio to go along with your posts Mr. Hyde. Any chance of brief snippets so we hear how you sounded back in the day? thanks in advance.
Don´t know what is more fascinating, his story or his memory of all those names from the 70´s. 🙂