KARL BLAKE, DANIELLE DAX.
(previously Gary Thatcher, Julia Casson, Tony Furze, John Pyne, Baz Wall, Phil Thornton, Phil Forster, Mark Perry, Jon Paddick, Pete Mason, Tracey Carroll, Geoff Hawkins, err and maybe others - subsequent to becoming a two-piece feat. KB & DD the following were not members of the band but performed with us when live and occasionally on record (cake beast, hoisting t.b.f.) - Mike Barnes, Ian Sturgess, Peter Fallowell.
Influences
huge list - BLAKE = Henry Cow, Faust, Chrome, King Crimson, Black Sabbath, Devo, XTC, The Residents, Soft Machine - errrr...
DAX = The Pop Group, Yes, Caravan, Devo, errrr...i must ask! and what about you, way back then, gary?= David Bowie, Roxy Music, Captain Beefheart, Devo, MX80 Sound, Stanley Clarke, Tomita, Pop Group, Parliament, Funkadelic, punk, reggae and 12" funk/dance records.
Sounds Like
nothing on earth after all of the above have been thru' the LK wringer.
JUST A NOTE TO SAY this is the actual truth instead of those oft-repeated load
of crap potted histories made by some mullet-headed musos with tinted specs and bad beards (are there good ones? well, not the 'ergh- look at that mouth freudian thing' that chuck norris sported in all his films, fer instance) back to subject, man!
the crap that says 'they couldn't play but...' - the stupid lazy twaddle that says
Blake AN OPEN-MINDED STUDENT (wrong!) met dax when she was playing in a band called Amy Toytal and The Croixroads and dressed only in a balaclava and a lab coat - WRONG, she was fully clothed with the ADDITION of a balaclava and a lab coat (she wore the former to not be recognised by friends!) AND i was on stage with her as this was Lemon Kittens doing their first gig under an assumed name.
We formed, as it says in Reading, Berkshire NOT Richmond, Surrey (where later on we had a post box) or Guildford University - where we were supposedly both students BECAUSE WE WEREN'T students there or anywhere else for that matter) (i repeat this as it seems some people need to be told more than once), and that formation was about a year before Dax came on the scene, and she could play wind instruments really quite well, in my estimation; and Gary was pretty nifty with the bass (and the clarinet) too; but this misses the point somewhat - the gist of what one of these supposed journalists says is, and i almost quote verbatim though from memory here 'we (lemon kittens) couldn't actually play any music' - seeing as how Lemon Kittens released two albums and two eps what was recorded on these? bird calls? - as Hindemith said, 'any music to an unreceptive mind is a meaningless noise' - so whats an unreceptive mind doing writing music journalism? hack-work, I guess. asking. So much for punk changing attitudes; some maybe. History deserves accuracy not shoddy, half-assed that'll-dos - look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves - if you see such rubbish - and can be bothered - write and tell them that on the basis of what you've read in this instance - you doubt the veracity of ANY of their entries; such is the level of innaccuracy here on display - personal opinions are one thing - facts are another.
PLEASE! PROVE THAT THERE IS LITERACY IN TODAYS WORLD BY READING THIS AND ACTING ON IT AND NOT MAKING ME WANT TO DO BAD THINGS TO YOU FOR MAKING ME LOOK AT YOUR PROFILE AND WASTING MY TIME!!
NOW - IF YOU DON'T GET ACCEPTED
ITS BECAUSE OF ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
THE PERSON IN CHARGE THINKS
a) that they cannot be bothered to trawl through more than 1500 friends to see if you are 'untainted' - therefore, unless you've sent a letter showing you have some knowledge of the band other than can be gleaned here that may get you the extra mile.
b) you are carrying nazis and other undesireables in amongst your friends.
and believe you me - THERE ARE MANY ON HERE - OPEN YOUR EYES AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE...
c) you are the 'undesireable' in 'b' - and this isn't a sexual thing, although
d) is. IF YOU HAVE A LARGE NUMBER OF SCANTILY CLAD WOMEN IN YOUR FRIENDS LIST ETC. YOU Will not GET ON HERE (1 concession made to GT thou' - hrumphhh!!) so - I suggest you GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY to the awfully named SPEARMINT RHINO INSTEAD.
NOW, DOWN TO THE PROPER STUFF.
Lemon Kittens were formed by Karl Blake and Gary Thatcher (the latter ex-of local hard rock band Nightporter) on the 5th of April, 1978 whilst Blake was still in the group Maggots (Peter Fallowells group, and also featured future Shock Headed Peter, John Duffy) - a group that also previously briefly featured Gary Thatcher on bass.
Thatcher and Blake recruited Thatchers work-colleague Julia Casson as singer and clarinettist.
GT and KB then embarked on a series of recording sessions in Blakes bedroom on tuesday and thursday nights, whilst going through the attached list of musicians. They used Blakes Akai 4000DS to capture the sounds they made with the help of a vast array of percussion, guitars and effects - some modified or devised from scratch from the mind and skill of Nick Mercer in conjunction with a wish-list of Blakes.
The duo would recruit potential members from amongst friends or by at times casting the net wider by answering ads in local shops or the Melody Maker music magazine (on one noteable occasion both going to London to attempt to get Laura Logic of Essential Logic to join Lemon Kittens when having replied to her advert for musicians to join her band!).(Tracey Carroll was one such recruit, who used to trek for a short while from East Ham to Reading and back).
The group continued roughly in this way until a chance meeting of Blake and sometime Faulty Products/Step Forward a & R man and sniffin' glue/ Alternative T.V. leader Mark Perry at a concert in Acklam Hall, Ladbrooke Grove (latterly Bay 63, Subterrania), engineered by the 'outgoing personality' of keyboardist Phil Forster; who tried to argue the importance of Ian Dury and the Blockheads with Perry, until the latter was rescued by Blake TO BE CONTINUED....
Divine Agency presents a Club Integral Benefit Gala for Resonance Radio
at Cross Kings, 126 York Way, N1 - on Saturday 31st March.
ENTRY FREE!
Performances start at 8.00pm
Featuring music from:
Shimmy Rivers and and Canal
Duke Garwood and The Lady Woodsmen
Superstrings and Karl Blake
Bing Selfish
Kay Grant and Chris Weaver
I am a Kamura
The Boycott Coca Cola Experience
Jaw
Kenny Process Team
Nigel Noise
Louisa Martin, Ben Drew and Alisdair Leslie
Naked Ruby
Chris Cornetto
For more details go to www.divineagency.org or call Angelo on 020 7737 0884.
Dear LEMON KITTENS!
Thank you so much for being friends!
Bought my first "LEMON-EP" in '79.
Still enjoying!
Best wishes from Hamburg St.Pauli
Jens
SAAL2 opens for THE FALL
Hamburg 1982 Photo: Ilse Ruppert
LEMON KITTENS, it's an honor to be seen on your page, and a pleasure to be among your friends!
Shout out!
Brete
PS: Hope you'll keep this CD in mind for your Stocking Stuffers! (Currently available at CD Baby) www.MadNutcracker.com
