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NORTH EAST LIVE |
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Keeping Music Live! |
That's a Renault
#1 Andrew Mellor (gtr/vox), Michael Baines (keys), Alexis Mitchell (synth), Andrew Addison (synth), Stephen Kirk (guitar), Ian Leggett (drums)
#2 Andrew Mellor (gtr/vox), Michael Baines (keys), Alexis Mitchell (synth), Andrew Addison (synth)
#3 Andrew Mellor (gtr/vox), Michael Baines (keys), Andrew Addison (synth)
#4 Andrew Mellor (gtr/vox), Michael Baines (keys), Andrew Addison (synth), Glenn Whitfield (drums)
#5 Glenn Whitfield (drums), Andrew Mellor (gtr/vox), Ranvir Verma (bass), Michael Baines (keyboards), Stu Harrison (lead guitar), Samantha Tuffs (backing vox), Mark Burchill? (drums - London gig only).
That's a Renault started at Coulby Newham School in mid-1983. Alexis Mitchell had become the proud owner of a new JEN SX-1000 synth, and of course we were having great fun messing around making wind and helicopter noises with it! School was just about out, 'O' Levels done, nothing else to do.
We convened in drummer Ian Leggett's kitchen for the grand total of one rehearsal. Ian was in a club band, and couldn't really be bothered with us, as we patently weren't going to be making any money very soon. Neither could Kirky, because we weren't playing heavy metal.
So a few weeks later, we regrouped in Andrew Addison's house - an old farm in a village called Thornton, on the outskirts of Middlesbrough. His room was on the second floor of the house, and had been a meat store in the past, so it came complete with sharp hooks on the ceiling beams, the cause of many a bleeding head. His mum used to cook us Sunday lunch, and in between helping out on the farm, we played with our new toys and made droney electronic music à la Human League/Ultravox.
Addy had written a drum machine program for the BBC Micro, so we used to play along to that. Then we got ourselves a Synsonics. Which, of course, made all the difference. We made lots of tapes for ourselves, but didn't gig, though - the world wasn't quite ready for our 20-minute synth 'explorations' and Bowie covers. We went through a few names before settling on That's A Renault - fond memories of the time we seemed to go through a new name every week ... "Zenahaa", "The Black and the Blue" to name just two.
Can't remember exactly how we lost Alexis, but he probably got bored, although he still hung out with us at college and down the pub. He certainly wasn't an active member of the band by the time we made our first forays into a real recording studio. In late August 1984, we spent a day at Teesbeat studio in Stockton, with the legendary Damien "Dimmer" Blackwell behind the mixing desk. We recorded a couple of tracks, including a rather short and restrained version of "I Turn Away", and a song about America called "The Medal Song" (later renamed "The (Other) Medal Song" to avoid comparisons with Culture Club). A chap called Paul Stirk filled in on drums, and the rest of the sounds were provided by a Yamaha DX-7 we'd borrowed from Sav, a friend of Alexis'. By the time we next entered the hallowed Teesbeat doors, however, we were a different proposition entirely...
When Glenn Whitfield came back from his stint with a marching band in America, we got back in touch, and brought him along to a few rehearsals, which initially didn't work out that well. The synth bass we were using seemed OK with a drum machine, but not with Glenn's more, ahem, 'fluid' style (who said out of time?). Realising we had to get a proper band together, with a proper bass player, Addy was left somewhat in the lurch. We offered him a job playing percussion, but he gracefully declined. Or told us to F-Off. We remained friends with him throughout college, and spent many happy hours in the back of his 2CV listening to Icehouse. True to form, he had the last laugh - he's now a VP with a well-known investment banking company.
Ousted from the farm, we relocated to Michael Baines' loft in Stainton, just up the road. Sticking with Glenn on drums, we expanded the line-up and recruited Ranvir Verma on bass, Stu Harrison on lead guitar and Sam Tuffs on backing vocals. We soon became the sound of 1984-85 around the hallowed halls of Marton Sixth-Form College. This was definitely our most successful line-up, and the first band I was in that did regular gigs.
We did one recording session at Teesbeat with this line-up, in October of 1984, recording the tracks "One in Five", "Hopefully" and "Loving Charlotte". Dimmer Blackwell was once again behind the desk, and Bill Reyer of the band "Good Question" guest-starred on lead guitar for "One in Five". These three tracks were collected, together with the results of the previous Teesbeat session, on our first real demo tape. Addy was still credited on that tape, but only gets a "thanks". The tape was entitled "Exploding Combine Harvesters In The Bowels Of Ocean Liners", inspired by a comment we heard, made by a radio DJ, about the German noiseniks Einstürzende Neubauten.
Two sessions were done on digital recording gear with Ralph Dagleish from Huntcliff Recording Services of Saltburn, one in the front room of his house, and the other after converting Bainesy's house into a studio. We laid down the tracks "Soap in my Hair", "Caravanland" and "Good Question" over those two days with Ralph. "Soap in my Hair" was included on one of the Middlesbrough Music Collective's "Aims and Objectives" cassette compilations.
Several tracks were recorded by ourselves in Bainesy's loft to two-track reel-to-reel, generally live and "unplugged"; our alter-ego lounge act "Dave and Rodger" also came into being and laid down a few songs during this period.
Our crowning glory, however, was the mini-album we made, which coupled the best of the Teesbeat and Huntcliff recordings to other self-produced songs recorded on a four-track portastudio. With a full line-up contributing to a tight, focused, energetic sound, it was a legendary piece of quarter-inch tape, if you were lucky to get your hands on a copy. We didn't sell it, but just gave a few tapes to mates.
We did loads of gigs around the area, both with and without backing vox and second guitar. Our 'sound' all depended who could be bothered to turn up! I've been trying to figure out how to describe it - a real mish-mash of styles. Michael was a reggae and ska fanatic, so we had that Jerry Dammers vibe coming from the keyboards. Ranvir was into his slap-bass, very '80s, so there was that going on too. Glenn's patent Keith Moon Rock God Animal drumming. My jangly guitar. Stu's wah-wah mayhem. Sam's girlie backing vocals.... oh, yeah, and the violin and sax in there as well.
The high points gig-wise (or low, depending on your perspective) were the two Thornaby Snooker Centre gigs we put on ourselves, and a support slot for The Mekons at the Pindar of Wakefield - now The Water Rats - in King's Cross, London (10th August 1985, IIRC). Glenn was otherwise occupied, so we rehearsed Mark, a substitute drummer, for the London gig. He did as well as he could, but it wasn't the triumphant trip we had hoped it would be. Michael was so let down by the whole experience; he walked off stage and heckled us from the crowd. He also did this at our last official gig in September 1985 at the Town Hall Crypt in Middlesbrough, at a benefit organised by Middlesbrough Music Collective. That organisation was just forming towards the end of our time together.
We actually did one more gig after that, a family do, somewhere in Stockton. My girlfriend came along, and I tried to show off. I ended up the gig with four strings on the guitar, and even fewer on the violin. Pretty intense stuff, though. We finished with a 10-minute funkathon version of an old song we'd written during Addy's time: "Hopefully". Perhaps it was just because the crowd were pissed (not to mention the band), but it went down pretty well. And that was it for me, all over by October 1985, after just over two years together, as I disappeared off to Keele University.
It wasn't *quite* the end for That's a Renault as a band. Michael carried the TAR name on for a little while with a new guitarist/singer and a new bass player (yer man JT). I think perhaps Glenn had had enough by this time as well. Michael played me one tape they recorded at a local studio, which showed some promise, but it obviously wasn't meant to be. Mike and I did one more gig together - early 1986, probably - as "Dave and Rodger", before which, I had foolishly drunk 7 pints of Carlsberg Export, and could barely stand. Don't think he's ever quite forgiven me for that, although he denies all knowledge of it. He did quite a bit of engineering whenever my future bands recorded at Studio 64 in Middlesbrough, where he had ended up working. He kept in with the local music scene, released records with Spit the Pips and Retardot, and has recently been trading under the names Woolcraft and Burnt Dennis and the Injuctions. Glenn is still drumming in the Northern workingmen's club scene as far as I know. Ranvir was a member of Sonik Gurus - a big name on the Asian scene - and is currently solo under the name Universal Taal Project. Stu joined the army, realised it wasn't for him, and settled to down to domestic bliss - currently in New Zealand.
Write up by Andrew Mellor for North East Live
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