A few days ago a New Jersey indiepop fan shared with me his discovery of a little known band from the UK: The Bed Bugs. At first I thought they were The Bedbugs, who I wrote about time ago. But no, these were different. Not only their name was different, with a space between bed and bugs, but they hailed from somewhere else in the UK, York.
The Bed Bugs were active between 1990 and 1995. They were formed by Gordon Doherty on vocals and guitar, Paul Banks on guitar, Dan Broadbent on drums and Nick Cooper on bass. It is mentioned that some slight lineup changes happened over the years, but I don’t have that detail.
Paul would then go to be in Shed Seven.
There is a nice little video with a history of the band here.
There are tons of songs uploaded to Youtube:
“Heart Attack“, “Mourning Has Broken” and “Silent Night” were part of the first cassette the band released. This tape was called “Dandelion Daze” and was recorded at IC Studios in Tollerton, York on July 23, 1991.
“Break Me“, “Catherine Wheel“, “Fence” and “Bogey Man Parts 1 & 2” were part of the band’s second cassette “Daisy’s Chains” that was recorded at IC Studios on March 1991.
The band’s third cassette was “Why Can’t Monsters Be Pretty?”. That tape that was also recorded at IC Studios, on July 1991, included “Sugar Plum“, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs“, “Sophie“, “Exorcist“, “Catherine Wheel Spinning“, “Scary Notion” and “You Can’t Call a Monster Arnold“.
“Argy Bargy“, “As Large as Life“, “Well to Do“, “Twisting” and “Shooting Stars” were part of the band’s fourth tape called “Shudder” which was recorded also at IC Studios on February 3, 1992.
“Fused“, “Exorcist” and “Catherine Wheel” were part of the “Fused EP” that was released on November 2nd, 1992. This EP had the first two songs recorded at Fairview Studios in Hull on August 14th while the third track was recorded at IC Studios in Tollerton on March 21st of that year. This EP was the one and only that was released on vinyl. It came out on T.S.D Records (B.Bug 1) and I should look to track it down!
On top of that there are unreleased tracks that were recorded at IC Studios like “Tongue Tied” that was recorded on March 21, 1992, “Blow” and “Libertine” on February 1st 1993, “Joyriders Manifesto” and “As Large as Life” on March 29, 1993, “Lovebite” on June 18, 1993, a rerecorded version of “Honeymoon Couple” and “Beggars Blanket” from January 25, 1994 and “Bogey Man” re-recorded on May 1st, 1994.
And then there are unreleased 4-track recordings. Here we find “Marbles“, “Falling Star“, “Heart Attack” from April 1, 1990, “Leeches“, “There is No Cure“, “Stand By Your Man” and a cover of The Stone Roses’ “She Bangs the Drums” also from 1990,
There are live tracks too of “Heart Attack“, “Break Me“, “Bogey Man” and “Open Wide (And Let Me In)” at the York Arts Centre from November 30, 1991.
A live gig, at the Bonding Warehouse in York, dating from March 6, 1992, sees the band play “Argy Bargy”, “Well to Do”, “Twisted”, “Break Me”, “Exorcist”, “Sugar & Spice” (which later would be renamed to “Tongue Tied”), “Sugar Plum”, “Thick Skinned”, “Catherine Wheel”, “As Large as Life” and “Bogey Man”.
Then there’s a full gig of the band playing at the York Arts Centre on April 16, 1992. That night the band played the following songs: “As Large as Life”, “Argy Bargy”, “Sugar Plum”, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs”, “Tongue Tied”, “Thick Skinned”, “Sophie”, “Twisting”, “Exorcist”, “Well to Do”, “Break Me”, “Libertine”, “Vulnerable”, “Heart Attack”, “Shooting Stars”, “Catherine Wheel”, “I Should Be Lucky” and “Bogey Man”.
Then there is an undated live gig again at the Arts Centre in York playing the Indie Rave. That night the band played “Libertine”, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs”, “Argy Bargy”, “Sugar Plum”, “Sophie”, “Thick Skinned”, “Exorcist”, “Well to Do”, “Vulnerable”, “Catherine Wheel”, “Freedom” (Wham cover), “Fused” and “As Large as Life”.
Then we can head to Facebook where the band has a profile page with lots of goodies.
We can see that the band played in The Duchess in Leeds, the York Barbican Theatre (twice), the Spotted Cow, The Winning Post, The Garage in London and at the HMV in Coney St in York.
We also learn that the band used a number of rehearsal rooms including the changing rooms at Knavesmire Racecourse.
It also looks like there was some sort of reunion of the band members not too long ago. Would that mean that they are planning a comeback? Would be great to find out!
It looks like the band had a following in York in the early 90s. I am not too familiar with York bands to be honest. I can think of St. Christopher, and not many more! Would be great to hear more about this band, learn their story!
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Listen
The Bed Bugs – Argy Bargy
