Thanks to Peter Stone, by way of Neil Edmunds, for telling me a bit about The Sweetest Ache. I guess it makes sense he didn’t know the answer to some of my most curious questions! I’ll have to bug Simon about them. For now please check Peter and Neil’s new band The Milestone Band.

++ Hi there! Thanks so much for doing this interview! It’s hard to keep it short for blog standards as there is so so so much to cover about The Sweetest Ache! I guess I’ll take the chance to ask what seems to be the most mysterious things about the band! Though I’d love to do a second interview. But let’s rewind. Let’s go to the 80s. The Sweetest Ache started as The Spirals. Why did you change names? Care to tell me a bit about those early days? Are there any recordings from The Spirals by the way?

You would have to ask Simon Court about the Spirals sorry.

++ How did you all knew each other? How did the band come together?

Simon, Dave and Stu were in school together. Jimmy (Geraint Morriss) came for an audition as a drummer and got the job, and Peter was jamming with another band when Stuart asked him to join The Sweetest Ache.

++ Who came up with such a good name: The Sweetest Ache? Where did the inspiration came?

You will have to ask Simon on that one, but there is some truth in it.

++ Most people remember your releases on Sarah Records, so that’s a must-do question. How did you end up signing to the Bristol label? How was your relationship with Matt and Clare?

We made a demo tape in the flat Stuart was living in and sent it to Sarah and they signed us, we then went down the beach to celebrate…

++ It’s said that Simon said once he was a former member of Inspiral Carpets, how true is this?

Sorry again… I will ask him as I see him sometimes around.

++ How was the Swansea scene back then? Did you like any other bands from town? What were your favourite spots there?

Swansea was ok, but not as cool as Cardiff. We had lots of metal and punk bands as i recall, the underground dance scene was kicking off and we came then and totally shocked everyone with our mellow sounds at first.

++ On “Briaris”, one of your fans’ favourite songs, there’s a girl singing. Who is she? And how did you decide female vocals for it? And what does “Briaris” mean?

The girl was called Louise and she was Stu’s friends Nathan’s girlfriend and she had a stunning voice so we asked her to sing…there are a few other songs with her on, but unreleased., and the title was named after Phil Briaris another friend of the band..

++ And now I do have to ask you about my favourite song: “If I Could Shine”. Any story behind it?

The best song of the 90s, Simon and Stu wrote it. We recorded it in Vons studio in London and were late as our van caught fire on the way up, but what a song…

++ Also I’m very curious about why you called one of your songs and first album as Jaguar, why was that?

Pass. Sorry there was a reason but it escapes me. I’m sure Simon or Stu would know…

++ You will later release on what was considered the American Sarah, Sunday Records. But on this single “A New Beginning”, your music had changed quite a lot! What had happened in between? Maybe it was really a new beginning? Where did the jangly guitars go?

We had done all these mellow songs and slowly started listening to Neil Young, Bob Dylan and harder rock. So we just evolved into a heavier direction.

++ And the album that came next, was Grass Roots on Vinyl Japan? How did you end up signing for the English-Japanese label? And is it true that this record sold 10 thousand copies?!

++ So why didn’t you get to be more popular?!

The new album came out very overproduced and polished and the raw sound we had started with in the recording studio was ruined. And i think it sounded too soft rockish and people lost interest. We then reformed under the name of Freedom and made about 7 songs with a great dirty rock sound and we went down well. We then go back together as The Sweetest Ache and started making a 3rd album, but we never finished it due to band commitments, oh well…

++ Looking back in time what was the biggest highlight of The Sweetest Ache?

Playing in the underworld in Camden, London. And playing in the Sarah events. We were a bit naughty but we loved going on tour.

++ Why and when did you call it a day? What do you all do nowadays aside from making music?

Simon, Stretch  and Stu are in Shooter. Jimmy and Dave are in France playing. I’m not sure about the others but me, Rob and Neil are in The Milestone Band.

++ So one final question for now, can you make laverbread? Do you have your own recipe maybe?

Get some seaweed, clean it, cook it with butter and eat up.

++ Thanks again! anything else you’d like to add?

One day I’m hoping to get the original band back together to tour.

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Listen
The Sweetest Ache – If I Could Shine

Thanks so much to Geoff Suggett for the great interview! It’s brilliant to at last know more about The Lavender Faction!

++ Hi Geoff! Thanks for the interview! So let’s start from the beginning, you were first involved with Bulldozer Clarts right? Was that your first band? And then you left and started the Lavender Faction? Why did you take this decision?

Well actually The Lavender Faction was the third band after “XeX” and Eating Crow.

XeX were post punk and sort of a bit like early Cure and Joy Division recorded demo’s for EMI whose A&R rep Tony O’Conner was trying at the time to sign an unknown Manchester band called” The Smiths”, the history of The Smiths is well documented, XeX were promptly dropped like a hot turd. On the upside though I got to hear The Smiths before they signed to Rough Trade, “bonus”.

Bulldozer Clarts was a side project (to the already up and running Lavender Faction) that me and Stephen ( of This Almighty Pop!) started, he had a four track portastudio and as I was into the DIY ethic and decided to record some stuff together, I think we only recorded one song (”She Walked Away”). I still love that version of “She Walked Away” that we did on the four track.after that steve moved up a notch and got Mark in the band i was kicked out and resigned to being a lavy for the rest of the 80’s +early 90’s.

++ How did The Lavender Faction come together? Who were the bandmembers and how was the recruiting process?

Me and Rick were in a band called Eating crow who were a sort of Orange juice meets Echo and the Bunnymen with a bit of the Fall thrown in for good measure, we did some half decent tunes and once at a gig in Coventry were introduced to Roddy Radiation and Linval from the Specials they took us to a nightclub where we were told to fuck off by the doormen,and everyone went home, so close to fame yet so far away again, “ah well”!

After our brush with infamy rick and me left the band and formed the Lavender Faction who were: Andy Lee (drums), Marc Patterson (bass), Rick (guitars + voc), Geoff suggett (guitars + voc). Marc Patterson left to work as a journalist he was replaced by Richard miyers (bass)

The recruiting process:

As far as I can remember Rick knocked at my door one night and said “I’m leaving the band (Eating Crow) to form a band (The Lavender Faction) I want you to come and play guitar in the band and sing and write with me, that was just what i wanted so now i was in another band, we telephoned our friend Andy who had never been in a band but was a good drummer so now he was in the band, then we contacted a bass player we all knew called Jeff Macallum who also joined the band he was not punctual for rehearsals so he was out of the band I was friends with Marc Patterson he was a great bass player and joined the band.

++ Where does the name The Lavender Faction comes from?

The name comes from the idea that if we had something with a softer feel as in Lavender and something more edgy like faction and put together it seemed to create the feel we wanted to come through our music.

We were originally called The Angel Asylum we played our first gig under this name and then deemed it to be a bit heavy metal so The Lavender Faction it was.

++ Your first single, “Ride”,  is said to have influenced some guys to later name their band “Ride”! Do you know how true or false is this rumour?

This is a falsehood perpetrated by an unscrupulous type for the benefit of self promotion, namely me, after a serious acid session at Stephen Maughan’s bedsit, “what a night that was man”! I was telling Steve about my trip that had somehow traveled through Oxford where I met four guys who had a band and after watching our gig and buying a copy of the single decided to call their band Ride, well Steve was still on the comedown from the acid and believed the story to be true and wrote it up for the fanzine.

++ This single, as well as the other ones, were released on Lust Recordings, the new project of Stephen Woosh. Were you a usual at his Woosh club? How did you end up being signing to his new label?

To be honest at the time I wasn’t aware of the Woosh club ,only the fanzine which was always on sale in my favourite record shop “volume records” in Newcastle and other indie record shops in the city . I never even bought a copy. Then by chance I met Stephen (This Almighty Pop!) who told Steve Woosh about us and sent him a demo tape, Steve liked the songs and came to one of our gigs in Newcastle ,that night he asked us if we would like to release the first single on his new “Lust label” and shortly after that Woosh club became Lust club to which we became regulars whether it was playing gigs at the club or going to see other bands like Feral, The Keatons, The Sunflowers, St James Infirmary and getting off our face, the venue was the legendary but sadly no more Broken Doll .

++ He seems to have disappeared from the face of Earth, do you know where on Earth is he? Any anecdotes you can share about him or the Newcastle scene in general, like who were those people that were always at gigs? Or like the biggest Lavender Faction fans?

I haven’t seen Steve for about 4 years, it was at a Penetration (70’s punk band) gig out of town but we chatted for a good while about what we were both up too, he hasn’t changed much , still a snappy dresser in his white denim jacket and hoopy T-shirt although like me he is a little folically challenged these days but at least the mop top has gone or he would have resembled a Trappist monk, I think he said he was living with his partner, the girl from out of the Sunflowers and they have a child or children, and he works as a full time guitar tech, touring, ect, with major acts although I know he used to roady for My Bloody Valentine. I don’t know if he toured with them when they recently reformed .

++ What about the city in general, do you still live there? If so, has it changed a lot? What were the best venues back in the day for pop music?

Actually none of the band were from Newcastle, we all live about twenty miles south nearer to Durham city but we nearly always went to Newcastle to see bands or buy records, its still a great place for music, art, food etc, there is still a great scene but the venues have all changed, we had The Riverside which got most of the best acts its now a shit rave club, then there was the Mayfair suite, The Broken Doll, the Dog and parrot, The Bunker in Sunderland, etc etc, now there’s “Head of Steam” the Cluny or the Other rooms, not much else really.

++ The sound of the Lavender Faction is a mix of indiepop and shoegaze, what were you listening at that time?

When the band started I would think it was bands like The Wedding Present, The Marychain, Sonic Youth, Public Enemy, M.B.V, Buffalo Tom, Mazzy Star, Pixies, House of Love, Dinosaur Jr, Band of Suzans, Cocteau Twins, Loop, Wire , The Fall, Yellow, Del la soul, Stone Roses, Nwa, Nirvana, Babes in Toyland , Blue Nile , Neil Young , Bob Mould, Grant Heart, Throwing Muses, Spacemen 3, Husker Du, The Sundays, R.E.M, Ride, The Pale Saints, Primal Scream, Red House Painters, Lush , The Edsel Auctioneer, Drive, Swervedriver, Teenage Fanclub, Julian Cope, The Woodentops, St Etienne, Blue Aeroplanes, Chapterhouse , Slowdive, Leatherface, Midway Still, Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips , Spiritualized , The Field Mice, The Pooh Sticks, Stereolab , Curve, Felt,  Sugar, the Lemonheads, Ministry,  Juliana Hatfield, PJ Harvey, Pavement, Belly ,etc, etc, etc, etc.

I think that about covers a lot of it .

++ Your last single was the “Four Riffs for Joe” 12″. What are those four riffs and who is Joe?

Really the “Four Riffs” are the four songs on the 12″ and Joe was Joe Girvan our roady, Rick wanted to call it this as a thank you for Joe’s help while we were on tour with” The Wedding Present” so that was how that came about. .

++ What are your memories of recording all these records? I bet there were also many songs that were left unreleased, will there be any sort of retrospective album some day?

My memories of the recording sessions are mixed ,it was always a laugh and a pain in the arse at the same time.

Although we saw the band as a bit of a democracy the final decisions always came down to me and Rick but many an argument would arise over levels of one instrument or another but in general it was good times and hearing something that was self produced played on John Peel was the best feeling in the world. As far as the band having more material there were a few tracks that never made vinyl but nothing I can remember being outstanding and I don’t own any masters if there actually is one, I haven’t spoken to the other guys in the band for a while but Rick and Andy work together they might be planning a comeback for all i know but don’t hold your breath. No there aren’t any plans for a retrospective .

++ You also released a couple of flexis, the one with Stephen Maughan’s This Almighty Pop Fanzine that included the track Harbour Me, but there is another flexi that is not very well known, one shared with St. James Infirmary. That one had the song “Take Down the Walls”. Care to tell me a bit more about it?

Yeah! The original “Take Down the Walls” was a lot more melodic and we had recorded the tune at one session or another but rick decided he wanted to change the music and made it a lot harder sounding , we used the original lyrics with the new music and the magazine “Paint it Red” which was a free “What’s On” mag for the Newcastle arts scene asked Stephen Lust to provide tracks from bands on the label to go on a Flexi to be given away free with the mag, they did a spread on us and we were on the cover, I think I’ve got a couple tucked away in the attic, funny enough it was one of our favourite recordings by the band although i still prefer the original tune, its on one of our early demos.

++ Did you gig a lot with the band? Any gigs you remember the most?

We toured all over the UK and supported some great bands ,The Wedding Present, Buffalo Tom, Swervedriver, Carter USM , but the best gig of all had to be Liverpool Uni. We were supporting the Wedding Present and they said we could go second on the bill for that gig much to the disgust of the solo acoustic performer and vocalist and bass player in the Chameleons Mark Burgess. He didn’t speak to us after that but we went down a storm with the crowd great memories.

++ Why did you call it a day? What did you all do after?

The Lavender Faction ‘as most bands of the time before the internet’ had to rely on the press (Sounds , N.M.E and Melody Maker) radio airplay, fanzines, and you had to be prepared to gig constantly Rick unfortunately had no stomach for this and decided to call it a day .

Andy and me decided to move on and we formed Montana Hood who released one single.

++ Are you still making music nowadays? What other hobbies does Geoff Suggett has?

I still record stuff at home on my 16 track, and recently got Together with my old friend Stephen Maughan and reformed Kosmonaut for one gig to support White Town in Newcastle . Steve has kindly offered to release a track of my solo stuff “Neon Man” with a future release of his fanzine.

I snowboard when I can ,I walk a lot in the lake district and still get out to see the odd band or two when I can, oh and Ive recently taken up oil painting .

++ Thanks again, anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah! I would like to take this chance to say thanks to anyone who was a fan of the Lavender Faction , Thanks to you Roque for your interest in the band and especially thanks to Stephen Maughan who’s good friendship gave us the chance to do what we did .
ps. keep off the Acid Steve.

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Listen
The Lavender Faction – Ride

Thanks so much to Karl Moseley and Carl Bedward for the great interview about Where Garden Falls and bit of their previous band Leopold Bloom! Please check more songs by both of their bands on their myspace!

++ The band started after Leopold Bloom -which maybe should be another interview! -was over. What happened? Why did you decide to continue under a different name?

Karl: LB was a band in the purest sense; it relied on the input of four individals to create the sound of the band. However, it became quite obvious as time progressed that the band were increasingly falling back on mine and Carl’s songwriting skills. It was also very apparent that Carl was also doing all the background work for the band such as publicising the band, getting gigs, even ensuring that band members brought their equipment to rehearsals etc. It was also at this point, when we recorded a song called ‘The Convert’. This song was solely penned by Carl and myself as a songwriting duo. I think that this song is very much a hybrid of the LB and WGF sound, and so, together with Carl having to do all the logistical stuff as well, it felt like a good time to wind the band up. There ended LB.
It was very easy to make the transition from LB to WGF. Myself and Carl just reverted to a song writing partnership; I did all the lyrics and he did all the music. We did everything in our way and avoided all the egos etc that go with so called ‘democratic’ bands.

++ I had a German friend who for years asked me and asked me if I knew anything else from your band aside from what we’ve read from the Leamington Spa booklet. Now out of the blue you are on myspace! How did you decide to come to the social network nightmare? And how did you all knew each other?

Karl: WGF are/were just Carl and I. We enlisted help and we had some great musicians and friends to help us. You can see who they are on our MySpace profile.
As to how we came together, that’s not hard to explain, as Carl and I are cousins.
In terms of MySpace etc…someone told us that  there was an in-depth blog about LB penned by Stephen Davies (The Cudgels) that described a gig we played in West Bromwich (just outside of Birmingham). He said some very complimentary things about us and told us we still had an audience of sorts twenty years on. Incredible.

++ Where does the name Where Gardens Fall comes from?

Karl: The name WGF was the title of one of the first LB songs we ever wrote. I can remember a bit of the chorus…
‘Gardens fall without a sound,

I think I was about 16 at the time of writing that lyric/poem!

Carl: I remember a bloke who did a bit of 4 track recording with us commenting that the song sounded a little ‘Rolling Stones’ I was offended and subsequently we never recorded with him again!!! 

++ Why did you decide to self-release your Postcard 12″? And what about the Freak Out label? Why the name? and was this the only release?

Karl: With regard to ‘Postcard’ we did not  see the point of signing to a “little indie label” etc and as all the distribution networks (The then ‘nine mile & the cartel’ took on the distribution) were already in place, we just decided to do it ourselves. The ‘Freak Out’ label, well that was ours. Carl resurrected the label in 1998 for a release by a  band he was managing at the time called ‘Shamefaced’ for their debut single ‘Stereo Sister’(Cat No Freak 2 Postcard by WGF having been Freak 1)

++ I love the song “Search” that you included in the Sound of Leamington Spa compilation! It’s just the perfect mix of guitars, keyboards and passionate vocals. Care to tell me a bit more about this song?

Karl: Yeah, this is a very interesting song and links LB with WGF. The lyrics to the song are very ironic in  type, especially the last verses…
‘Books and records piled on shelves,
Discarded scenes from films
over-spill into my head,
Into everything we did and said…
And all I do is laugh along to the last abstract pop song’
After this song everything was written about charecters and not myself

Carl: I remember just messing around on the guitar one day with the intention of trying to play ‘Cemetary Gates’ by The Smiths and coming up with ‘Search’

++ “The Property Guide to Humanity” is such an intriguing title for a song. What does it mean? And what about the fantastic song that is “A Horse on Fire”?

Karl: ‘The Property Guide to Humanity’ is a song about humility and integrity. Whether you live in an urban slum  or a palatial home you can still lead a honest life. Life is not all about owning things!
‘Horse on Fire’ is possible my favourite WGF song. I read a magazine  article about a guy who’s daughter was abducted in Iran(?). The song is full of anger and self reproach. I think the loss of a son or daughter and not knowing where they are, must be an unbearable burden to carry. Anger is the key to this song.

++ Where did the songwriting inspiration come for you guys?

Karl: I have to start with LB here, who were a post-punk band who were profoundly influenced by the music around them…New Order, James, Julian Cope, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure…However, all that stopped with WGF.
I can honestly say that all I/we listened to was WGF. I sold all my records, except for a few Nick Cave and Microdisney albums, I enjoyed our music to the exclusion of all others. But I would say at that point I was more into books…James Joyce (see Postcard), Virginia Woolf, Martin Amis, Will Self, Graham Swift, Ian McEwan, Keats, Auden…too, too, many to mention!

Carl: For me when in LB it was early punk and some of those Karl mentions above..but when we formed  WGF like Karl says above it became the be all and end all and other bands music was of very little influence/importance to us.

++ Also I’m wondering, as you only had one release, and it seems you have a bunch of unreleased tunes, three quick questions: how many songs you recorded? how many demo tapes were there? and will there be any sort of retrospective compilation?

Karl: LB recorded 2 demos containing a total of 7 songs WGF recorded 4 demos containing 12 songs plus a session for the single in which ‘Postcard’ was re-recorded and a a song called ‘Big Night Noise’ which appeared on the single release.
A retrospective compilation has been mentioned on a number of occasions tho that’s a far as it has got so far… I think that we would do it if it was going to be done properly giving the songs a chance to reach a wide audience.

++ I’ve been having a hard time finding this record! From what I’ve listened on last.fm and myspace, it’s really fantastic! No wonder it’s so sought after! How many copies were pressed and how was it received by the music press?

Karl: There were a 1000 copies pressed (Some of which are in my attic!!!) the music press were indifferent as at the time the whole Madchester thing was starting to happen so there wasnt much interest to be honest but we did have a few major record/publishing companies sniffing around but it all came to nothing in the end.

++ The Birmingham scene from the late 80s seems to have been vibrant with some favourite bands of mine like Mighty Mighty, The Sea Urchins, or The Cudgels. How did you enjoy the city back then? What were your favourite venues?

Karl: Yes I remember these bands and others…. we only knew the Cudgels who were based near to ourselves and were very good at what they did..Birmingham itself was a very different city then but we loved it and the few venues that would let us play ..especially ‘Synatras’ where we became good friends with the DJ/Promoter Tony Reynolds who went on to help us quite a bit.

++ Did you gig a lot? Any particular gigs you remember?

Karl: We didn’t gig prolifically but tended to play college shows out of town good ones I can remember are ..Gloucester College of Art & Tech, Luton College of HE, Cheltenham College of St Paul & St Mary..Bath University, University of London Union..the electric brrom cupboard in Sherbourne Somerset

++ What was the highlight of being in Where Gardens Fall?

Karl: Really just seeing these songs being transformed from just acoustic guitar & vocals to being full blown band songs going down well at gigs and being released… and people who didn’t owe us a thing i.e. people we didnt know appreciating them.

++ If I was visiting Birmingham as a tourist, which places would you recommend me to visit? Maybe some of your favourite spots?

Karl: Birmingham today is so different to way back then and is really tourist friendly. a lot of the old band haunts we knew have gone…. maybe in band terms a place like JB’s in the nearby town of Dudley as that is still a place dedicated to live music without ever having  being sanitised by ‘progress’.

++ And what about your favourite balti house?

Karl: Really cant comment too much on this, as far from an expert on such matters more than to say I did spend many an evening in ‘Imrans’ on the Ladypool Rd in the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham.(B’hams balti mile)

++ When and why did you decide to split? Were you involved with bands after?

Karl: We split in April 1990 after a gig in Tamworth in Staffordshire….personnel probs really which should not have been a prob at all considering the way we wrote but we felt we needed a break from it and just never returned to take it further.
No there were no bands after this for either of us.

++ Thanks again so much! Anything else you’d like to add?

Karl: Just one again thank you for the interest that you have shown in LB & WGF and that over the 2 bands we had some great times and hopefully produced a few songs that people enjoyed.

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Listen
Where Gardens Fall – Search