Tim Readman from the Watt Government just got in touch! He wrote me a bit more about the band and it’s quite interesting, so please have a read! Also you can find a live video for the song Working My Fingers to the Bone here! And while there please check a video of their previous band Arthur 2 Stroke and The Chart Commandos! Tim confirmed me there was only one single released but that there were many recordings made. Hope I get to hear them soon!
Watt Government were originally formed to do some opening spots on comedian Alexei Sayle’s tour of England in around 1982. At that time the band was me on electric guitar and vocals, Debbie Byron on lead vocals, and Steve Nash on acoustic guitar and vocals. Over time the band was reinforced by members of a band Steve and Tim previously played in called Arthur 2 Stroke and the Chart Commandos – Ian Thompson on bass, Graham Easthope on sax, Ross Winning on trumpet, Stevie Lee on percussionist and Davey Bruce on drums.
The name Watt Government comes from a few different places. First it is a play on words because it sounds like what government? That was a question we were asking a lot in the early 8o’s during Thatcher’s reign.
We wrote a song called What Government which dealt with the actions of police outside the Orgreave Colliery during the historic coal miner’s strike of the 1984-5. Orgreave was a coal mine situated adjacent to the main line of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway about 5 miles south east of Sheffield. A widely reported clash during the strike took place at the Orgreave Coking Plant near Rotherham on 18 June 1984. This confrontation between striking miners and police, around 10,000 on each side, was dubbed ‘The Battle of Orgreave’. Violence flared after police on horse-back charged the miners with truncheons drawn and inflicted serious injuries upon several individuals. In 1991, the South Yorkshire Police were forced to pay out £425,000 to thirty-nine miners who were arrested in the events at the incident.
Watt also refers to Watt Tyler – Watt Tyler was one of the leaders of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. He was a slain by the King’s supporters after drinking a jug of beer “in a very rude and disgusting fashion before the King’s face.”
Watt also refers to the Watts riots – The term Watts Riots of 1965 refers to a large-scale race riot which lasted 6 days in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in August 1965. It was a landmark event during the development of the Human Rights movement.
I think by now you will be getting the point!
Waiting for a Phone Call is a song about an imaginary phone conversation between Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Working My Fingers to the Bone is a song about not being able to switch off after work. It was inspired musically by African music- stuff like King Sunny Ade, Rochereau, Manu Dibango, The Super Rail Band and Fela Kuti.
Martin Brammer and Dave Brewis are school friends of mine who had success with The Kane Gang. Martin is from my home town of Seaham and Dave is from Whitburn, just north of Sunderland. They produced the first version of the song, which was originally to be released on the Kitchenware label. It was sent to be manufactured to our publisher, Hugh Phillimore, in London. His BMW was stolen with the master tape in the boot and never recovered so we had to re-record it. I had to talk the guys at Volume records in Newcastle into giving us the dough to re-record and release it.
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