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[1] From amazingforums.com [2] When the song is done live, I'm told that Ed changes the name to more modern targets. [3] S*M*A*S*H Website created 29 July 1998. [4] Guardian Friday January 28, 2005. |
I couldn't hold back my excitement when I got the new S*M*A*S*H album, Icon, in the mail the other day. The album will be available in stores October 8th, 2007. However if you attend their concert on September 28th at Viva La Punk in Cambridge, you can pick up the album weeks earlier.[1]
Although I've mentioned S*M*A*S*H here a couple of times already, I think it's about time that they got a full featured article. You are in for a treat down memory lane!
Back in 1994, in my DJ days, my music director gave me Self Abused to listen to to pick out the "good" tracks so she can add it to our playlist. Usually I'll find one or two good songs, but I swear, this album was AMAZING! I loved ALL the songs, especially the hidden track, which was an acoustic version of "Lady Love Your C♥♥♥" (of course, I didn't know the title back then).
So after buying as many singles as I could find on S*M*A*S*H, I did discover that the song title was actually stolen from an essay written by Germaine Greer, published in 1971. The essay in its entirety was reprinted in the Spring 1994: Real Surreal single.
So, S*M*A*S*H is from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. The trio consists of Ed Borrie (vocals/guitar), Rob Hague (drums) and Salvatore Alessi (bass), who found each other through political ideals in 1984. By 1992, they were playing gigs and eventually releasing their records through their own label, Le Disques de Popcor Records. Their debut single, Real Surreal was picked by both NME and Melody Maker, as Single of the Week.
This was an explosive start for the band.
Their most controversial song is "I Want to Kill Somebody" which was released and deleted on the same day. The single didn't do too well in the charts, mostly due to the fact that the song was heavily censored and outright banned on radio stations. It is because the song named people that needs to die:
Margaret Thatcher, Jefferey Archer, Michael Heseltine, John Major, Virginia Bottomeley, Gill Shepherd[2]
Although to be fair, the lyrics states: "it's not that I want them dead, it's just that the world will be a better place if they never existed."
After they released their final single, Rest of My Life (Dec 1995), the band split and was never heard again.
You have to remember that back then, the internet was in its infancy and there was nothing on S*M*A*S*H on the internet. I didn't know what happened to S*M*A*S*H, so I decided to put up a little website on them with nothing more than a discography and lyrics section.[3]
Things were pretty silent on the S*M*A*S*H front until 2002 when I received an email from a L.Hague. He said he was the son of Rob Hague and he was searching online for bands that his dad was in. As it turned out, he didn't realize how big S*M*A*S*H were!
He asked his dad about the band and pretty soon, Rob tracked down Ed and they were talking to each other again! In some strange ways, I was kind of responsible for getting the band back together.
This quote from Ed, pretty much sums it up:
We were built up as the leaders of a scene dubbed the New Wave of New Wave. I didn't complain because it focused attention on the records. It went wrong for us fairly quickly, mostly as a result of my worsening drug addiction. Being in the spotlight didn't help. Rob and Salv were my two best friends since we started in a scout hut. They weren't prepared to watch me kill myself so they said goodbye. I ended up in despair, then rehab. Eighteen months ago I went round to Rob's house, had some tears and said a few apologies. We've started playing again but we have no aspirations to go through that shit again. We'll play a few gigs, make a little record and it'll be as innocent as it was in the beginning.[4]
Once again, Icon, will be released October 8th, 2007 through a small independent label, MLP, which mostly specialized in live recordings. They are headlining Viva La Punk on September 28th, at the Cellar bar. Also on the bill: Out of Nowhere, Psycho Bombs, and The Cougars.
Here are some selective S*M*A*S*H songs and rarities for you to listen to:
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09/25/2007 22:34:15
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
www.s-m-a-s-h.net
