Thanks so much to Andrew Culf for a nother interview! When I interviewed him about his band Blanche Spooner it was a true surprise to know that he had been in yet another terrific indiepop band! Reuben Kincaid was around in the mid 80s and even recorded a 12″ single which seems to be very rare. I didn’t know much about the band, so asked Andrew many questions to learn a bit of the story of Reuben Kincaid!!
++ Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for being up for another interview! How are you? Any resolutions for the new year?
Hi Roque, I’m very well thanks. No real new year resolutions, but this may be the year that I eventually get round to digitizing all the old demo master tapes, something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.
++ Last time we talked about Blanche Spooner and it was very cool to find out you had been in another indiepop band called Reuben Kincaid. Were there more similarities or differences between both bands?
There were definitely similarities as some of the same people were involved. The main differences were that Reuben had a two electric guitar, bass and drums line-up and Blanche used acoustic rhythm guitar and no drums. By the time we became Blanche Spooner we had a settled line-up and had evolved more of a band sound, whereas due to frequent changes in personnel the Reuben sound tended to a bit schizophrenic.
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
Dates will be a little vague, but I think the band came together in the Summer of 1986. The line-up was Mark Fincher (vocals/lyrics), Richard Foulser (guitar), Glenn Stevens (guitar/harmonica), Harry Hemingway (drums) and John Kericon (bass). Mark, Richard and Harry were friends from Southend and they met Glenn through his girlfriend (another Southender) and John may have been recruited through a Melody Maker ad, but no one is quite sure. The band was originally called Skew Whiff and their first gig was played under that name at the Latchmere pub in Battersea. They played a few gigs including the Bull and Gate and the Enterprise in Camden. I joined a little later and Andy Squire and Lorna Ryan came along very soon afterwards. Lorna and I both knew the others from Southend and we met Andy via Lorna.
++ How was the creative process for Reuben Kincaid? Where did you usually practice?
Initially Richard and Glenn would play their ideas to Mark who would write the lyrics/melody line and they did some rough demos at home and then the songs would be worked on in the rehearsal room. A little later when I joined Richard and I would work on tunes together at home and occasionally a song would be written during a rehearsal. The first rehearsal I went to was somewhere just off Borough High Street and later we regularly used a place in Brixton (I think it was called Electric Studios). In the last days of the band we were using a place near the Oval which had bigger rooms and better gear and we carried on rehearsing there as Blanche Spooner.
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
Reuben Kincaid was the manager of the Partridge Family in the TV show. This was Mark’s idea and I always thought a pretty good name for a band. Later David Cassidy’s ‘Mae’ became a regular Blanche Spooner live number.
++ So The Partridge Family, was that a favourite TV show of yours? Or what were your favourite TV shows back then?
Mark was definitely the Partridge Family fan. I don’t recall watching a great deal of TV during this period, I think I was out most of the time. I do remember watching ‘The Tube’, ‘French and Saunders’, ‘Black Adder’ and ‘Top of the Pops’ other than that my memory is very hazy.
++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
We all had such varied tastes in music it’s difficult to say. The sound was a fairly natural blend of everybody’s playing styles. I don’t think there was any conscious effort to create a particular sound. Just to give you an idea of my musical tastes at the time – going through old concert tickets from this period I saw amongst others Madonna, Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim, Edwyn Collins, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Fall, The Pogues, The Wedding Present, Julian Cope and Wham!.
++ At the time you started, 1986, there was this explosion of guitar-driven indiepop bands, which would later be called C86. I was wondering if you felt part of a scene then? And if you were friendly or fans with any of the bands that would emerge from this scene?
The bills we played on at places like the Bull and Gate were often so varied it was hard to feel part of any scene. I first gig I played with Reuben Kincaid was at the Union Tavern, among those also on the bill were Timothy London and Soho (later just Soho) who were a pretty polished indie dance act, and a rock band who reminded me a bit of Thin Lizzy. We were certainly friendly with some of the regulars at the Bull and Gate and we knew the Black Cillas, particularly Nick and Ben pretty well, but other than that we really didn’t do a lot of hanging out with other bands.
++ Something that surprised me was that you actually released a record. I had never heard of it. Care telling me a bit about it? What songs were on it? What format? What year? How many copies? Did it have a sleeve? And what songs were on it?
This would be around Spring 1988. We now had a line-up of Mark, Richard, Andy, myself and a new drummer called Mark (sorry I’ve forgotten his surname). In hindsight it was all a bit of a rush, but it seemed like a good idea at the time! I think we were under-rehearsed and hadn’t really worked up decent arrangements. The A side was (Delicious) Cling (Peaches) with Adrienne Posta and Riff (Around the Collar) on the B side. We pressed (I think) 250 copies on 12’’ and the first 30 or so had hand stenciled covers – not any artistic statement, we just didn’t have enough money to have sleeves printed.
++ The songs were recorded in Cowfold. How was it? Did you stay in this small town while recording? How was that experience?
Jon Beast recommended the studio in Cowfold. I think it was 16 track and set up in a converted double garage and conveniently close to a pub. Mark and Richard were based in South London at this time so we would drive down from there. We may have recorded and mixed it in one day, it was certainly done very quickly. Throughout the Reuben Kincaid and early Blanche period we were always working on very tight budgets and I think in this case the end result suffered a little.
++ Aside from the 12″, you recorded some demo tapes. Do you remember how many? Any chance we could do a demography?
There were three demos recorded, the first one I can no longer find a copy of was recorded in Surbiton and contained five or six songs including Sheep, Useless Pig and Dog.
The line-up was Mark Fincher (vocals), Richard Foulser (guitar), Glenn Stevens (guitar/harmonica), Harry Hemingway (drums) and John Kericon (bass).
The second one was recorded in Brixton in Winter 1986/87. All six songs were recorded in a one long evening session and mixed the in a few hours the following day.
- Taken to Bits
- Gail
- Agnes Moorehead
- Emilou
- Shame
- Cranes
The line-up was Mark Fincher (vocals), Lorna Ryan (backing vocals), Richard Foulser (guitar), Glenn Stevens (guitar/harmonica), Andy Squire (bass), Andrew Culf (banjo/harmonica) and Harry Hemingway (drums)
The third one dates from sometime in 1987 and was recorded in Finsbury Park. In the absence of a drummer we recorded this one with a drum machine, we also did a few gigs using it.
- Pizza
- Mercedes McCambridge
The line-up was Mark Fincher, Richard Foulser, Andrew Culf and Steve (bass)
++ Was there any interest from any labels to release your songs? And what about releasing more records by yourselves, self-releasing. Was that not an option after the first single?
No, there was no record label interest and we were at a bit of a low ebb, but Andy Squire had rejoined the band and shortly after Sally George joined and the idea of forming Blanche Spooner started to take root. I don’t recall us considering recording another single, the band came to an end not long after it was recorded and we were just concentrating on getting Blanche established.
++ And so I am terribly curious, are there copies of this record still available?
No, I’m afraid not. I hung on to three boxes of the single in plain paper inner sleeves for many years, but they ended up in the bin outside my flat in Brixton. We sold very few and we gave some away to friends and family, so it’s probably quite rare, but as I hinted at earlier it’s not my proudest recording achievement.
++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Taken to Bits”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
Yes, I’m fond of that one too. I ashamed to say I can’t help you on this one. Apologies to Mark, but thinking back I can rarely remember discussing the lyrics with him and it seems very odd now not knowing what most of our songs were actually about, next time I speak to him I’ll have to ask!
++ If you were to choose your favorite Reuben Kincaid song, which one would that be and why?
I always enjoyed playing Emilou and Pig, but I think an unrecorded song called Pluto was my favourite.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many? And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share? Were there any bad ones?
We played fairly regularly. When Jon Beast was running Timebox at the Bull and Gate he started Timebox II at the Union Tavern and Club Bastard at the Hammersmith Clarendon. We were regulars at the Clarendon’s small basement venue, but playing upstairs in the big ballroom venue stands out as one of the best gigs for me. We were on the bill with Birdhouse and The Milk Monitors and it was the largest venue we played and there was a pretty big audience. The first gig we did after Glenn left was not great, I was trying to learn the lead parts having never played lead before.
++ When and why did Reuben Kincaid stop making music?
I’m not sure exactly when, but sometime around Summer 1988, I think we realized that we’d reached a bit of a dead end so we decided to start again with a new name and no drummer, so we took a break, wrote a whole set of new songs and became Blanche Spooner.
++ Were the band members involved in any other bands after other than Blanche Spooner?
I think Steve, who played bass briefly when Andy was on a trip abroad, went on to play with the Friday Club, and as I think I mentioned in the Blanche Spooner interview Sally sings with the Kitchen Drinkers.
++ Has there been any Reuben Kincaid reunion?
No, but at various times different combinations of ex members have got together to play for fun, but no serious gigs.
++ Was there any interest from radio? What about the press? Did they give you any attention? What about from fanzines?
I don’t recall getting any interest at all, that was one of the reasons for the band coming to an end. There was no interest in Reuben Kincaid, so we thought we’d start again with a clean slate and a new name.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
For me personally, the gig upstairs at the Clarendon would be the highlight, and my first gig was pretty exciting.
++ You were telling me last time that music is still your main obsession. Are you a record collector? Own many instruments? How does your passion translate to your daily life?
I wouldn’t call myself a serious record collector, but I have a fairly large record collection. I’m commuting by car for the first time in over 30 years and it’s giving time to work my way through a pile of neglected CDs. As for instruments, I still have the acoustic and semi-acoustic guitars I used in the 80s along with an old classical, a couple of mandolins and a ukulele. These days I listen to a lot of jazz, but my tastes are fairly wide ranging, I pick up a guitar most days but I don’t have as much time as I’d like to dedicate to playing – roll on retirement!
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