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‘Burning Britain’ and has kindly been reproduced on the site below the flesh and
sinew....warts and all.
The Dolls’ story begins way back in the immortal year 1977 at which time the would
be Dolls had not even become teenagers but were all very much part of the then
embryonic Welsh punk movement. Age of course was truly against them and the best
they could hope for at that time was for this punk thing to go from strength to
strength and last until they reached an age where they could make their presence
felt.
During the summer of 1979 in sunny old Cardiff, on a street that no longer exists, the
prototype Dolls were formed. We’re not going to say that this early formation was
fuelled by angst, boredom, an intention to set the world on fire, it really was just one
of those things, a bunch of 12 year old spotty young kids got together and started
jamming. They called their ensemble Animation; the Dolls’ name came much later.
None of these kids had any musical background whatsoever; all they had was
enthusiasm and time on their hands. So who were these ambitious kids? On drums
was Dave Evans, guitar Dave Alderman, vocals Andrew Mae and Mark Isaacs and
Marc Saltmarsh also on guitars and Gareth Davies on bass. They produced, if that’s
the right word, a god awful noise, just imagine a 6 piece band that literally could not
play or tune their guitars individually let alone to each other!!! Of course they were
not deterred, they plodded along rehearsing and eventually developed some songs
and even did a show sometime at the end of 79 or early 80 at a place called the
Mission in Cardiff. They even got a demo together and hounded Z Block Records (a
la Young Marble Giants and Reptile Ranch fame) to listen to them, Phil John of Z
Block pronounced their sound as ‘having strange chords which sound like a dog
barking’, the truth was there was a dog barking on the recording as someone rang
the front door bell and Isaacs’ dog (a Dalmatian called William) let one rip.
As time marched on Evo decided to focus on other musical projects and Fester and
Saltmarsh took turns at drumming and signing. The band recorded a demo in Fester’
s bedroom in 1980 of a few songs, ‘Friday Night’, ‘Your Choice’, ‘People Who’ and
‘Prophecy’, with Fester drumming and Saltmarsh singing, great song titles, the rest…..
mmmm, let’s just say there’s only one copy of the demo tape in existence unless (the
now defunct) CBC radio still has its copy, and that copy is firmly in Fester’s control,
he is going to use it for blackmail if any of the band members make some money and
don’t spread the wealth with him.
No-one knows exactly when the Soldier Dolls’ name came into being, but its believed
that it was sometime in 1980. With the passing of time and dementia having firmly
taken its grasp the band cannot recall when the name came about. The name came
from TV documentary about Northern Ireland the words ‘British Soldier Dolls Go
Home!’ were sprayed on a wall. It was as simple as that. The band never had any
political affiliations or non political affiliations whatsoever, maybe this was one of the
reasons why they never truly fitted the mould of the so called ‘second generation of
Brit punk’ which of course was a very political animal. The band that became the
quintessential Dolls was a leap away from Brit punk, drawing on early American
influences such as Black Flag and heavy metal before Flag hit it big in the UK and
before metal meshed with punk.
Things started to fall apart in 1980, different agendas, tastes etc and somehow DKA
and Fester managed to hook back up with Evo and (Slow) Bob Humphries and got
the Dolls thing going again.. The sound took on a non conventional style (for the era)
pretty quickly. DKA was heavily influenced by the fledgling US hardcore scene,
Fester was major ‘old school’ patron, while Evo and Slow Bob were heavy metal
maniacs, so put all of these genres in a bowl, mix them and hey presto the Dolls’
sound. Nowadays this sound is pretty much the norm for bands of that ilk but at the
time it was off the beaten track.
The first show of the mark 1Dolls was at Eastmoors Hall in Splott, Cardiff. The show
lasted a few songs over 4 before a neighbour to the hall called the police due to the
noise….fantastic start, stuff legends are made of.
The Dolls hit the studios on two occasions, recording the Ten Track Sampler tape
which was recorded on a mobile studio owned by Dean Poole of the anarcho punk
band the Living Legends. The ‘TTS’ was released and sold by the band privately
through ads in the music papers and at shows..remember kids this was the days
before cdr’s and all these funky hi tech recording devices, so this was state of the art.
Another outing to Movie Music studios in Tonypandy, Wales resulted in a 4 track
session which was released again on tape as ‘From The Cradle To The Grave’. Joe
Bacon of the Living Legends helped with production.
Now here’s some trivia, we’ve mentioned the Living Legends twice now. They played
many shows with the Dolls. Through their front man Ian Bone they headed the Class
War anarcho movement. Bone loved the Dolls’ skull and crossbones logo and asked
if Class War could use it in their fanzine, sure thing, suddenly this logo is appearing
(without the Dolls’ name on it) in anarcho mags all over the world…Evo drew the logo
in school during an art lesson and it’s the same drawing that’s being used today.
Here it is again…
The mark 1 line up gigged with most of the other Welsh bands, ..you name them,
they played together! They also played a few shows with the likes of the Subhumans,
Chaos UK, Disorder. Most of the time the Dolls were not invited to play the out of
town bands, they would simply show up, bullshited someone about having been
asked to play and getting the support slot, sounds like sheepshit but it’s the truth (in
fact this modus operandi even succeeded in later years getting to support the UK
Subs during an era when major punk acts were pulling big crowds).
At one show with a host of punk bands headed by the Subhumans someone was
stabbed in the toilets while the Dolls were playing their set. Violence became a
growing factor at punk shows in the early 80’s and ultimately this violence drove Evo
and Bob to call it a day. The last Evo/Bob show was on the 5th August 1983 in
Presteign with Offensive Weapon and The Condemned as support. The decision for
Evo and Bob to quit was announced sometime before the Presteigne show and the
hunt was on for the replacement members.
DKA and Fester tried out some replacements but to no avail.
Meanwhile Ev played drums in a glam rock band RANkelsen and managed to score a
10 album deal (they only recorded two) and get himself voted as the third best up
and coming drummer in Europe in some metal mag. Kudos to him, he even got to
support Gary Glitter, long before his (i.e Gary’s) lack of hair and penchant for the
younger generation became public knowledge.
Bob just disappeared off the face of the musical earth.
The Condemned, who had played many shows with the Dolls told them about a
young drummer from Machen, which is a small village 10 miles or so outside Cardiff,
called Matt Grey (Morph, due to his resemblance of a plasticene cartoon character).
Contact was made, he had the right number of fingers and he knew a bass player in
the solid form Jamie Richards. The mark 2 line up was born, within a few months they
were gigging and recorded their first single at Movie Music. ‘What Do They Know?’ E.
P. was self released by the band on their label Scream.
The release of the E.P got the band more recognition and credibility. The band has
often commented that the What E.P is not the strongest of releases. Despite the
band’s lack of appreciation of What, it was distributed by Revolver/Cartel who offered
to part finance and distribute the next single.
So back to Movie Music studios the Dolls trekked and recorded the ‘Taste of Blood’ E.
P. Four pulsating songs released on red vinyl.
More trivia, the acetate for Taste was done on the very same machine that Live Aid’s
‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ the week after Live Aid’s record was made. More
trivia Fest and DKA had a good peak at the art work for the Smiths’ ‘ Meat Is Murder’
and the Toy Dolls’ ‘ Nellie The Elephant’ as the art work was being done in the same
place as the Taste artwork.
Taste pinnacled at 13 in the HMV indie charts.
Time marched on, the band continued to gig, but as with all bands ‘musical
differences’ started to play a factor. Jamie wanted to play guitar and decided to leave
the band, DKA and Morph were getting heavily into some cutting edge music and
Fest had starting writing more commercially minded songs. The band, though not the
friendship, starting falling apart, when Jamie left the remaining three soldiered on for
a few months with Fest doing the ‘Sting thing’ --- playing bass and singing, but it just
wasn’t working. The band did their final show in Bristol with the Folk Devils on the
27th September 1985. There are no pics of the show as some toss pot stole the
camera after the show, but the show was recorded and some of the songs have
ended up on the 81285 vinyl album (Pure Punk Records, release date January 2006)
and others onto the Grand Theft Audio CD called 'Gotham City Is Dead' (release
date March 1st 2006).
DKA and Morph formed I Mobster and in 1998 are joined by Darren Davies and
become Slowjam and recorded heaps of stuff, including a John Peel session. Morph
moved on from Slowjam to eventually join the Darling Buds and got himself signed to
Sony and gets to spend some time Stateside recording and doing video shoots (what
a popstar).
Fester and Jamie formed Highway 4 along with Wayne Horton (drums) and Irish John
Mckernan on rhythm guitar. They record one session of four songs which included
Prisoner Of Paradise one of the last Dolls’ songs penned in the 80’s.
The other early Dolls members (see their names above) formed the June Days a
Theatre of Hate cum UK Decay style band.
In 1994 DKA emigrated to Paris, France. He stayed in touch and had visits from Fest,
one trip being curtailed by Fest’s luggage being nicked from his car. DKA now fronts
Warehouse 99 Project.
Some major disasters happened in the Dolls’ lives. Mark ‘Polo’ Alderman, a great
friend/roadie and DKA’s cousin to boot, and Chris ‘Maeo’ Mae another great fan and
Fest’s baby bro, both left this mortal world far too quickly for their tender years.
In 2002 Ev departed the UK for Spain, and in early 2003 Fest took up residence in
Canada. Before Ev and Fest fleeing the UK they did hook up and do a session of 8
old Dolls’ songs, Ev did what he did best..drummed, Fest improvised and did the all
the other musical roles (and not to give Fest all the credit, Ev did do the bass intro on
Gotham). DKA would have been there but he decided to use his trip to Cardiff to go
and watch the football…shame on him, however the three of them took time out to
answer Ian Glasper’s questions to enable him to do a chapter on the Dolls in his
book.
Around about that time DKA was contacted by Brian from GTA who wanted to put out
a Dolls’ retro release, things were up in the air with Fest and Ev about to bail from the
motherland and things fizzled out…until…
The Glasper book came out and there became a renewed interest in the Dolls both
from the band and others. Ev and Fest, despite the geographical distance started
talking about ‘what if?’ and by some shear quirk of fate DKA decided to take a trip to
New York City. Fest jumped into his car, got wired on Tim Horton’s coffee, drove 9
hours (after watching MC5 play in Toronto) and started a marathon 48 drinking
session with DKA which resulted in (1) attending the launch party of a porno mag (2)
gatecrashing a Manhattan loft party (3) paying way too money for a drink at CBGB’s
(4) having to queue in Starbucks for 20 minutes to take a leak (5) DKA agreeing to
record an album. All in all a successful excursion.
So the plan is taking shape, a search on the internet finds Jamie’s phone number, a
call out the blue to Jamie went something like this: Fester ‘ Hia J, long time no speak
we’re thinking of doing an album are you up for it?’ . Jamie ‘Sure’.
A few weeks later Morph emails Fester about the Glasper book and the sudden
resurgence of interest in the band. Fest says we’re talking about doing an album,
would you like to play guitar on a few songs, Morph is up for at and reveals he part
own a studio, so the die is cast, back to Newport Wales to record the long awaited
album.
Logistics now play a part, we have a band living in 4 different countries, who haven’t
played together in 20 years……and in the case of Jamie and Evo, never at all…risky
business. A date is set, flights are booked, cdr’s of old songs fly around, our intrepid
heros embark upon a task of mammoth proportions…..learning old songs and new
ones to record an album with potentially one day of rehearsals, and to add to the
task, why not through in a show at the end of the week…talk about living dangerously.
The Dolls at this time decide to have 200 cds pressed up of oldy and mouldy songs,
they call it Comp:End: Ium 1981-1985.
Back to the motherland. Jamie picks up Fest from Gatwick, back to Jamie’s pad,
guitar out of the flight case..Fest’s beloved Les Paul is damaged in flight, after some
serious swearing through the jet lag Fest and Jamie fix the axe and have an
impromtu jam in Jamie’s kitchen amid loads of Nescafe , sounds good so far..two
members have learned the songs.
Meanwhile Ev flies in from Spain and DKA does the train thing in from France after
having played a gig in Rennes.
Fest and DKA hit the pub with ex Animation/June Days members and get steemed
up..this is a bad/good start, they roll home in the wee hours worse for wear.
The group starts to assemble, DKA calls to Fest’s mum’s house and asks if Fest can
come out to play, they hook up with Mr Ev in the Clifton Pub (yes he’s had a few,
after all it’s 11am) , they walk to Chrome Inc (the piercing studio of Ed Fleming---bass
player of the Icons of Filth, former member of the Demented Are Go , godather to
Fest's youngest daughter (Ed's bro Frog is the godfather to Fest's eldest) and the
only man to hold Fest’s big Johnson in his hand….nope not in that way…he was
responsible for Fest’s Prince Albert), so yes back to the story, they borrow Ed’s drum
kit, then meet up with Morph….Morph would not make a good spy, he’s sat in his car,
happy as Larry looking for the others and listening to some funky country music, they
creep up, hit fuck out of his car window, Morph shits his pants…
A few hours later the band meet up and move into LeMons studio Newport, spend a
day rehearisng…they have all learned the songs…as tight as gnat’s chuff…great?
Well almost Fest has lost his voice, all that clean air in Canada did not prepare him
for the previous night’s crawl around smoke infested pubs…hell his voice is so bad
no-one will notice…or it will get better by the time the vocal tracks are laid down, or
modern mastering technics will make him sound like Julie Andrews so no-one’s
worried.
Day 2, the band start recording the new album. 5 days later the tracks are laid and
later subsequently mixed by Morph, Jamie and Chris McDonagh (ex Darling Buds)
and 4 songs are overdubbed and remixed by Fest and Bob Gilbert at Mr Digital
Studios in Canada and this is what your are listening, about to listen or have listened
to.
The show…Le Pub, Newport, 5th March 2005. The PA is awful, Fest’s voice is still
lost (and probably the fact that he and DKA were out on the pop the night before
watching Ari Upp play in Cardiff does not help) sound check….. bloody awful by any
standards…., before the show Fest and DKA go to grab some Chinese scoff, while
waiting for their egg fried rice (slight detour here…Ev is the only musician in the world
to have a Chinese meal named after him…it’s called The Evo…egg fried rice, sweet
and sour chicken and a pankcake roll)…Fest says to DKA ‘We’re gonna suck
tonight’, the response ‘Yep I know’…but the show must go on.
See the review of the show elsewhere on this site. This opinion was not shared by all
and sundry and one or two very minor members of the Punk Police weren’t
impressed, one brave soul declared the the Dolls ‘the worst band he had ever seen’
……evidently some people don’t get out much….but..there's no such thing as bad
publicity and this negativity has spurned the Dolls to keep recording and playing….
these boys just love a challenge.
Don’t listen to mock punk. (that’s an ‘in’ joke’)
Ground Zero
Animation,the Dolls,
Slowjam and the June
Days enjoy Cardiff's
nightlife 2005
McDonagh
