Day 46. How’s everyone?
Not much news on my side. Will keep sending records this week,as you know things are a bit slower at the moment. So please be patient to receive your fanzine or any other records you might have ordered from me. I am only going to the post office once a week now.
Also these past few days I’ve written a few more interviews for the blog. Hopefully we’ll get answers soon. That’s going to be great!
New music, yeah, there’s new music.
Candace: the Portland all-girl trio will be releasing their album “Ideal Corners” on May 29. It is going to be out on vinyl and the label releasing it is called Little Cloud Records. Right now we can preview two tracks that appear on the album, “DM-100” and “Still Phase”, both sounding great!
No Suits in Miami: this Lund band is a favourite of mine. I really want a record by them. As far as I know there was a cassette some time ago. But no other physical records. Sure there was some digital ones, but not the same. A band that sounds this good should be releasing something. Maybe I should get in touch? Something to think about. In any case their new song is called “What We Have” and it is a gorgeous track.
Весна Весна: here’s a new track called “Венера” by this St. Petersburg band. I wish I could understand what they are singing of course, but it doesn’t matter, the vocals are terrific and the galloping guitars sound as good. This is their latest digital single though there is a few more to explore in their Bandcamp.
The Proctors: there is some great news from the classic UK band. They are going to be releasing “Summer Lane”, a retrospective album on Sunday Records this year. There is one song they have uploaded to Soundcloud for all of us to preview, “A Part I Never Knew Existed”. The only one thing that worries me is that there seem to be only 12 songs on the album. Is that true? then it is not a proper retrospective? There are songs missing! I can’t read the tracklist, but as soon as I find out what’s happened here I’ll let you know. This is terrorizing the completist in me!
Seazoo: the Welsh band released a new song on their Soundcloud two months ago called “The Pleasure” and it is the first time I’m checking it out. It sounds very good, so I would say you should check it too. It is called “The Pleasure” and it should be included in their forthcoming album.
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This might be a long post. I usually write about obscure bands as you know, and I believe today’s one is. But I do think there is much more information about them on the web than the average obscure band. Also they had appeared on “The Sound of Leamington Spa vol. 4” (FST 06) on Firestation Records, that’s how I discovered them through the superb song “Love House”, and that means there is information about them on the booklet. So maybe, we’ll end up finding out all we need to know about them?
Aside from that compilation the band contributed the same song to another compilation much much earlier. In 1990, Adrian Gibson who was the programmer at the North London’s Powerhaus venue put together a cassette compilation called “What the World Is Waiting For”. The Powerhaus was owned by the Mean Fiddler Group who turned a pub called the Pied Bull into a live music venue for a limited time from 1989 – 1995. The idea behind the compilation is to showcase 10 of the hottest new bands who were coming through the ranks of the venue around that time. All of the songs were mastered from the band’s demo tapes. This tape is quite special and perhaps expensive, you see this was the first official release by Suede before they changed musical direction. But yeah, Nautical William were on this one with their standout track.
The Leamington Spa compilation booklet tells us quite a lot.
Nautical William formed from the musical partnership of Jim Cemlyn-Jones and Damian Dingley in 1987. Although they had been writing songs together for several years, it was not until meeting David Oliver (drums), and eventually Pete Bray (bass), that the band were able to play live. Jim and Damian grew up in the small Victorian town of Clevend. The band’s early gigs were in nearby Bristol which they eventually made home. Nautical William’s early music was loosely based around traditional English pop with the classic lineup of guitars, bass and drums. They quickly located rehearsal and recording space at PIJ, already occupied by other Bristolian contemporaries such as The Brilliant Corners, The Montgomery Clifts and the legendary Moonflowers.
The first demo, released in 1988, contained four tracks and quickly circulated around the indieclubs in Bristol, including the Thekla and The Tropic, where Nautical William played some of their early live shows. The band was joined by Damian’s younger brother, Corin, on percussion whose own career saw him focus on sound engineering and the formation of his band, Alpha, in 1995, signing to Massive Attack’s label Melancholic. Nautical William released their first single, “Love”, on their own label, Mojo Filter, in the spring fo 1991, and began playing further afield in places such as The Powerhouse, London, Mole’s Club, Bath and the Jericho Tavern, Oxford. A strong local fan-base was building and the band began to pick up positive press reviews and invitations to numerous west country radio stations, even making an occasional TV appearance. Nautical William’s second single, “Love House”, was released on the 16th September 1991, just as the band ventured on their first European tour including gigs in Holland and the UK. Love House was well received nationally with coveted airplay from BBC Radio 1, and attention from Melody Maker and the NME. A video for the single was made and aired on such shows such as MTV’s 120 Minutes. The band were now sharing stage with the likes of Pulp, Suede, Airhead and the Mock Turtles. All was building for chart success but distribution problems with the single hampered availability in the record stores. Coupled with the departure of Pete Bray, the band struggled to capitalize on their musical success. George Shilling, producer for The Soup Dragons and Yazz to name a few, became aware of Nautical William and went to see them at one of their London dates in the spring of 1992. Ian McLaren replaced Bray on bass and the band were in the process of rebuilding. They spent several weeks with Shilling working on an EP in Kent which unfortunately was never released. Both Corin Dingley and dave Oliver decided their interests lay elsewhere and Nautical William were forced to re-think their future. By Autumn of 1992 three new members had joined Nautical William, John Miller (drums), Trevor Francis (percussion) and Diane (vocals) bringing with them new influences and ideas. Damian and Jim embraced this new funky sound and the fresh challenges it brought. They used a new EP, “Tubular Bellbottoms”, to launch the sound, and made a second tour of Holland together with DJ Professor Bays. They gained interest from record labels such as Acid Jazz and toured the UK with Mother Earth and Corduroy making the round of summer music festivals in 1993. A new fan base volved but a heavy touring schedule brought on by new management began to take its toll. By spring 1994 the band called it a day.
Something the band doesn’t mention is that they made a video for their first single “Love”. You can watch it here. The video was made in 1990 according to its first frame. Before releasing the 12″ on their own Mojo Filter (NWTS 1). “Love” of course was the A side. On the B side we find two songs, “She’s Been Changing” and “Got to Find a Way”. “Love” was recorded at Loco Studios in South Wales while the B sides were recorded at PIJ by Fat Paul. The producer for all these songs was John Parish of PJ Harvey fame. They even say that PJ almost sang in the song “Love”.
That same year they released “Love House”. I am linking to the video they made for the A side. This time, the B side was “Fourteen Days in May” and the catalog number was NWTS2. The songs were recorded at Loco Studios and produced by Jessica Corcoran. The engineer was Tim Lewis. There was not just a 12″ vinyl release, but also a CD single for these two songs. Both versions’ artwork was created by Alice Harfield.
Lastly, their third release and also third one on Mojo Filter Records (NWTS3) was the “Tubular Bellbottoms” 12″. This record didn’t have a cool sleeve like the previous ones, it is a black sleeve with the songs listed. They were on the A side, “Eye Know” and “Sexy”, while the B side had “Mmmm.” and “Funk it Out”. It is pretty clear that they had changed their style at this point. I haven’t heard the songs but you can tell by what they said on their biography and by the looks of the record and the song titles.
The very good website Bristol Archive Records has more information about them. It mentions that at the earliest period of the band, when it was just Damian and Jim making music, they recorded a two song demo at Foxhole Recording Studios in Hanham, Bristol with Martin Hyler. Two songs were recorded then, “This Sinking Feeling” and “Sea of Sighs”. Would love to hear them.
We also know that their first ever gig happened at Bristol Poly in late 1987. They had already moved to Bristol at this time. While there we know they got a rehearsal space at PIJ. There they recorded another demo cassette with two songs “Go Back and Start Again” and “Railway Track”. Cool! Again, would be great to listen to them!
Then came a third demo, which is the one they mention in their bio on the Leamington Spa booklet. This one included “Love House”, “Backbreaking” and “Splutter”. These were recorded at The White House in Weston-Super-Mare in the spring of 1990.
About the first Netherlands tour, we know now that they played the cities of Amsterdam (along the wonderful Rorschach), Utrecht and Rotterdam.
Damian Dingley moved to the US. At least in 2010 he was living here. Ian is still local in Bristol and was in a band called Sunna. I can’t seem to find any other information of other bands they might have been. Maybe Nautical William was their one and only band?
I did find a TV interview that was aired in 1992 on Music Magazine. Not sure which song they are playing, but it is a bit too rocky for my taste! Not as great as the sublime “Love House”. And then I stumble upon a special edition tape released in June 1992, I believe for their second Netherlands tour. Why? because a user from Almelo, Holland, bought this tape there at a show in the venue Poort van Kleef. It included funkier sounds indeed. The songs on it were “Fight On”, “Funk it Out”, “What do You Know” and “Rollercoaster”. I guess guitar pop, the baggy sounds, were not fashionable anymore.
Well, that’s quite a bit. There are a few early songs that I’d love to listen. And what a song “Love House” really is. A true classic. Who remembers them?!
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6 Responses to “:: Nautical William”
Yes, ‘Love House’ is a classic. Especially the 12″ version which is different from the CD version. It’s got this 1991 vibe, I can sense it.
One correction please — it’s Ian MacLaren who then joined the band Sunna, not Jim Jones.
Jim Cemlyn Jones is now an independent singer-songwriter with a few releases under his belt. And looks like he’s keeping a high profile these days and is more famous now than in his Nautical William days.
Thanks! I have updated the post about Sunna.
I can add a little detail to the pre-history of Nautical William.
Jim and I attended Ravensbourne College in southeast London between 1985-87, where we were training to work in the TV industry. In ’86, we gained experience recording bands in the college studios, including London based three-piece, The Great Unwashed. When no bands were available, Jim and I and fellow student Andy Tapley, would bring in our instruments and put something together on the spot; often playing Jim’s songs.
Over the Xmas holiday of ’86, Jim and Damian got together to record the second Nautical William demo. I believe this was recorded on a Fostex 1/4″ 8-track belonging to Ben Cooper, who was guitarist with The Great Unwashed and I think had become something of a mentor to Jim and Damian at the time. Andy Tapley was also involved with the demo recording and brought in drummer Dave Oliver, with whom he’d played keyboards in the Folkstone based jazz fusion band, Cumulus. Dave played on five of the six songs on the demo, which included Fire, In the Crunch, All These Dreams, I Can’t Sleep, Tess and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Corin Dingley was credited with the drums on Tess, while all other instruments and vocals were handled by Jim and Damian. Cassette copies of the demo were unleashed on Ravensbourne students in ’87 and proved popular.
With our training coming to an end in the summer of ’87, an idea was hatched to have Nautical William play at a final college party. A proto version of the band was assembled for the occasion, comprising Jim and Damian on vocals and guitars, Dave Oliver on drums and percussion and Andy Tapley on keyboards and guitar. I was invited to stand in on bass and we all played together for the first time in May, when we rehearsed in Bristol over several days. I have very fond memories of that time.
There were one or two other rehearsals before the party gig on 16th July. The set included This Sinking Feeling from the ’84 demo, all but Tess from the ’87 demo and a handful of other songs. We could have done with more and had to repeat part of the set, but nobody seemed to mind.
Up to this point, Jim and Damian’s songs were largely acoustic guitar based and what I’d describe as melodic, folk-influenced pop.
Having finished college, Jim found work as a cameraman, Andy joined the BBC working in sound and I began working with NHK in London. I lost track of the others for a while and had no idea that Nautical William was continuing as a band. That was until the early 90s, when Jim started sending me tickets and flyers promoting gigs and record releases.
I think the next time I saw the band was at the Powerhaus in ’91 and I was in for a big surprise! Their songs, appearance, musicianship and stagecraft had evolved beyond all recognition and they’d become very hip in a late 60s via Manchester kind of way. While Damian remained on vocals and guitar, Jim was mostly playing keyboards, with Dave on drums, Corin on percussion and the very capable Pete Bray on bass. I remember them doing Love House and a great cover of Come Together.
The rest of the band’s history has already been well documented. It’s unfortunate that they ran into setbacks at some crucial moments. The material on the Tubular Bellbottoms EP marked another significant transformation in the band’s evolution, but my sense is that Jim and Damian were likely heading in different directions musically by then. The material that Jim has produced in more recent years (as Cemlyn Jones) is much closer to the 1980s Nautical William.
Thanks so much for this info Simon! Pretty interesting.
Wondering of course why you didn’t up in the band? And if you were in any bands in that period?
Thanks Roque, I’ve enjoyed recalling those old days.
Why didn’t I end up in the band? Well, I wasn’t invited to continue and neither was I up to the task. Maybe those two things were correlated!
I wasn’t in any other bands after that, but over the past few years I’ve been recording; initially with Expanding Circle. Since 2020, I’ve been working on my own material, which I’m sharing on YouTube.