Full story part 1
Posted September 24, 2006
THE Story : The Method to Our Madness
The Aphrodisiacs
Experimental, Electronica, dance, rock from Motherwell Scotland
The band are Stephen McFall, Kevin Carlin & John Cairns
Ive at last got round to typing out the history of the band, its a daunting task as most of the stuff we do gets lost in a haze of madness Ill give it a go. The Aphrodisiacs existed in a couple of forms prior to 2002, to imagine what we sounded like then picture a band trying to be Mogwai with a shit Casio keyboard thrown in for good measure. First of all Why the name? Well aye wish aye could make a cool story but the truth is aye was listening to a talk show one night on the radio and they where discussing Aphrodisiacs and how they acted as a stimulant and stuff. I thought it would be really cool to be an aphrodisiac, so there ye go! Anyhow 2002 saw the start of the band as it is this now. The three of us would spend Saturday nights getting drunk together so we thought it would make sense to try and make some tunes while we done this . The first song we ever recorded was This is a Campaign in April, it took one night to record on a Zoom Palmtop studio
The studio on which we recorded the demo of this is a campaign...................................
Not far off its actual size
Its a tiny piece of gear! It was really good fun recording the song, while one of us laid down a guitar track, the other two where battling it on Super Mario Cart on the SNES. We played the recording to a couple of our friends who where really positive about the song so I decided we should aim high and sent a one track cdr to the one person we wanted to hear it, Mr John Peel. About a week later ( forgetting totally that Id sent anyone a copy of the song) I got a phone call from the man himself saying he wanted to play the song in the show. It was really hard to believe but we listened in to his next show to see if he would play the song. The first time Peel played one of our songs is probably one of the best moments weve experienced, it was total madness! Aye remember being totally stunned that the first song we had ever wrote and recorded together was getting played on UK nation-wide radio. The other thing was we hadnt even played a gig! Ill get the original recording up on the site to let everyone hear, its my favourite recording that weve ever done. We sent a couple more tunes we recorded ( Against the grain + Sordid secrets) down to the show in June 02, shortly into July we had been invited down to record a session for the show! We where booked to record the session on Sunday 1st September 02. Wed still never played a gig. The journey for the Peel session was really special, it was the most fun you could possibly have. We where 19/20 respectively and we went down with the soul intention of getting fucked, we succeeded. Now we didnt have much in terms of gear, we didnt have transport so we kinda had to wing it. The three of us and our good friend Martin Lennox set off for our first trip to London on Sat 30th Aug to record a Peel session, and we had to get the bloody train.
Onto the train we bundled :
1 x large H&H guitar amp
1x Fender guitar amp
3 x Guitars
1 x bass
1 x Korg MS 10 wrapped in a blanket
Booze for journey
Note the lack of bass amp, drum kit. You know the things you usually associate with a band. We had fuck all, what we did have in abundance was the determination to succeed despite the lack of gear. We where all pretty drunk when we arrived at Kings Cross, we had to make it to Paddington to find our digs. aye remember us trying to squash all of our gear into a black cab but little else. We where staying at the Atlantic Paddington Hotel, ma baws it was a hotel! Its a total dive but it was only costing 15 each a night. We totally destroyed the room we where staying at, we thought we were gonna get kicked out at one point in the middle of night ( aye dont know why we where only dancing about on the hotel roof, blasting music out of a stereo at 3am, running about the corridors, throwing stuff out the window to see what made the biggest noise - a 3 litre pint of milk is the answer to the last conundrum). On the Sunday we made it to the glorious studios in Maida Vale, its was freakin beautiful. Id never recorded in a studio but Maida Vale must be the best studio in the UK the desk is like something out of the millennium falcon. We recorded four tunes :
Against the grain, Backbone of society, This Is A Campaign, Sordid secrets
The session went out on air on Radio 1 on 25th September. Fantastic. The real hard work did not start until after this when we wanted to play gigs and stuff. We had a lot of work to do. Played our first gig in the 13th note in oct 02 which we really enjoyed, think we played in Edinburgh before the end of the year but aye really cant remember. The session got repeated again on Tuesday 10th December 02 which was a real surprise for us. We where in Glasgow doing a live session for Glasgow student station Sub City on the same night. The biggest surprise for 02 ( and probably to date) was when we heard This is a Campaign had been voted into the festive fifty at no49. we where absolutely stunned. Aye still cant ma head round the fact we made it into the chart for 02, its pretty nuts. That was probably one of the most satisfying moments to date and the one thing that meant a lot the three of us. 2003 was one of those years where not a lot happened, we had a bit of growing up to do but it was a year where aye think we still made a lot of progress. In January we recorded our adaptation of the Robert Burns love poem Red Red Rose for Radio 1 ( Ill try it get a mp3 of this online soon). That was cool as the other Scottish bands to contribute where Belle and Sebastian, delgados and ballboy. In march 03 we got asked to play some gigs with ballboy which we really enjoyed in King Tuts and the Edinburgh Venue. Summer 03 is pretty vague, think we recorded the demos of The Tomorrow People and 15 Pillars of Despair about that time. In August we played the worst gig ever in banner mans in Edinburgh, we actually went on stage to a room where not one single person was in, even the sound guy had fucked off! Eventually Ed fro SL Records walked into the room, for a while we where playing only to him and his 2 friends which was pretty bizarre. The same month we played a gig with Terra Diablo which was an enjoyable night. The latter part of 03 was fairly quite, we recorded a demo version of If you want me which gained some airplay at the time. .
At the beginning of 2004 we decided we really wanted to make something happen and we where gonna work hardly to ensure that wed be successful. Played a couple of gigs in Stereo (good), QMU (shit). We where Beatbreakers on Beat 106 in April which was a good experience. We recorded two new songs in this month, Ghost in the shell + The hour is late but please consider which convinced SL to release our album. We recorded this during the month of May in a house in Motherwell, it was abit frustrating as we really wanted to go into a studio to record it properly but it just wasnt to be a t the time. We finished the album in a three weeks. It was pretty easy to pick the title of the album as it had been called This is a Campaign from day one, the title is perhaps more relevant today than it ever has been. With the album recorded we could get on with playing some gigs over the Summer this year, had a good time in Stereo, Dr Drakes, Bongo Club and enjoyed ourselves when we played for the first time in London in August . Also in August we recorded our second session for John Peel. We where more organised this time! Two years is a long time and we where more composed this time and more professional ( but just as determined). Drove a van down to London this time, even had a drum kit with us. We didnt drink the night before the session this time so we where as fresh as possible for the session which we recorded on Thursday 23rd August. We recorded four tunes :
TerraHawk , The Tomorrow People, The hour is late but please consider & Pulps Do you remember the first time.
The session was broadcast on Tuesday 5th October 2004.
October 26th 2004 - John Peel
This indeed was a very sad day as news filtered through that Mr Peel had died on holiday in Peru. Well its now the end of the end the year and I still dont know what to really say about this. Peel introduced us all to our favourite bands. I used to listen to his show every now and then up until the delgados got voted in at no1 in the festive fifty in 1999, after that I was hooked to his show. The list of bands he broke to the world could fill pages ; Pulp, the Smiths, Pink Floyd, velvet underground, joy division, nirvana etc. Despite discovering many a major band it was his enthusiasm for new music which could not be rivalled by anyone and is why so many loved the man :
"People say, what's gonna be the next big thing?" Peel once said. "But the pleasure for me is in not knowing. I like to be taken by surprise myself."
On the 28th of oct we played in the barfly with the next big thing which was supposedly called do me bad things. Think the darkness and erm well thats about it! They are on the same label, had one decent song and had about 10 members. Pish .pish .pish .I actually really enjoyed the other support bands ( I hate that word! I also hate bands that write in there bio the more well known bands that they have played with in the past. Ive never understood how this reflects on how good a band is : ie, just because a band played a gig with say Franz Ferdinand 2 years ago that means what exactly? - fuck all!). Anyway, Im diversing a bit here, De Rosa and O.B.E were very good which made the night slightly more enjoyable.
Remember November? Well, not really! We started rehearsing once a week which is an absolute turn up for the books. Think we really felt the benefits of rehearsing regularly fairly quickly. It sounds silly when Im writing this but its surprising what happens when you actually practice! Nothing else really happened in this month so well move swiftly on..
December - The tunnocks tour, the aphrodisiacs take to the road.
I bin away a country mile, Now I'm returnin' showin' off a smile. I met all the girls and loved myself a few, Ended by surprise like everything else I've been through. It opened up my eyes and now I'm
One toke over the line sweet Jesus One toke over the line
One Toke Over The Line, Brewer & Shipley
What a song, what a song. Its kinda the song we put on whenever were on a journey somewhere to get ourselves going, so in December it was never off the tranny in ma car. That was of course because we finally got ourselves out of Motherwell and tried playing in various places around Scotland, it was very enjoyable. Still going to have a to sort out an aphro love wagon at some point to transport our gear more easily but were getting there slowly. For this trip it was just my car packed to the gunnels with all our equipment. We were surprisingly organised, we had cds to sell at the gig ( at freakin last!) and some biscuits courtesy of our sponsors tunnocks ( we were armed with 48 caramel wafers, 48 caramel logs and 36 teacakes ). Fist destination on our trip was Newcastle. It was an interesting gig if nothing else. The venue was nice enough ( Night 1 : the Cumberland arms in byker) although the PA was slightly small, Much like the turnout but lack of numbers is nothing which we cant handle. At this gig we played with the worst band ever, and I have no hesitation in writing that statement because a. the chances of anyone related to the band reading this is none because they wouldnt know new music if jumped up and slapped them on the dish b. they were a bunch of cowboys! Actual freakin cowboys dressed in all the gear! Yell never guess what they opened with ---- a beastie boys cover, except the words were YOU GOTTA FIGHT, DUM DUM, FOR YOUR RIGHT, DUM DUM TO HOE DOWN ! aye shit ye not, ye couldnae make this stuff up! The person who booked us for the gig was really nice to us however ( a recurring theme throughout our trip it must be said as everyone we met was really nice and helpful) which stopped the gig being a disaster.
One disturbing fact did arise - did you know that byker grove is NOT filmed in Byker. Wits that all about? Its alright though , apparently they are home to the only in city farm in Newcastle, whoopee doo.
( Cds sold -1 ! ,Busy ? - not really , Alcohol consumption - minimum, Venue - 6/10 )
Straight after the gig we drove up to Edinburgh to crash at eds. Negotiating the A1 between Newcastle and Edinburgh is some challenge, especially when it is really misty and you can barely see two feet in front of you. That was hard going, we had Pink Floyd on the cd played ( Pulse) which got us through it
Night 2 - Edinburgh bongo Club - Here @ bongo club with swimmer one, the magnificents, dirty hospital, Hoboken & luxury car.
We were really looking forward to this night as it is one of the best line-ups which we have been involved in and were really looking forward to seeing the other bands. We were on first but it wasnt too bad as that wasnt until half ten or something. Missed luxury car and buboken as we had to watch the cd merchandise stall, got a copy of the Hoboken album which is very good. We had to abandon the cd stall to drop the car off so we could get drunk so we put up our Gone Fishing sign and made our move. Really good night was had by all, swimmer one had some technical difficulties but came through in the end which was good to see as they had put a lot of hard work into organising the whole night. The magnificents were fantastic ( no chance Im writing magnificent as every reviewer has probably used that at some point), really high tempo tunes, ideal when you out to have a good night. There a chance they might be remixing one of our tunes next year so keep a listen out for that as it could be pretty special. Last up were Dirty hospital who also seemed to have some tech difficulties. The ex-bis boys were very good though and kept me dancing all the way home.
( Cds sold -2/3 ,Busy ? - at its peak it was packed, Alcohol consumption - more than merry!, Venue - 9/10, bongo club is tremendous )
Night 3 - St Andrews student union with Motormark.
Slightly hungover from a shenanigans the previous night we made the short journey up the coast to ST Andrews. Had a bit of difficulty finding the place but got there eventually. its a really nice union they have up there ( better than the QMU me thinks), spent the hours before the gig in the bar playing pool ( nice big American pool style tables - just what the doctor ordered). The gig was fuckin superb if we dont say so ourselves, really enjoyed the gig, enjoyed the sound and the aphrodisiacs actually hit a bit of live form ( huraah I hear you cry). It was satisfying as we had put a lot of practice in over the last couple of months and I think it showed its head in st Andrews. So the gig went well, off stage things went out of control a bit ( nothing ever runs smoothly ) . Two of our friends ( Mr Lennox - mad man from London trip 1 and accomplice MR Shug) came up for a bender. Aye think everyone from Motherwell has the same problem when they go somewhere new ---- they are just so happy to be out of the place that they just want to get really drunk and cause chaos in the new town. And chaos did inevitably followed. Subject A launched a teacake at a watching punter and got swiftly ejected by bouncers. Subject B got drunk and ended up lost 20 miles away in Cooper. And Thats the short story. (A big thank you to John and co for putting us up for the night in their living room - thank you and sorry for the nonsense!)
( Cds sold 2 or 3, Busy - very nice crowd, Alcohol consumption - pished as a fart, Venue - 9/10 lovely location)
Night 4 - Dr drakes , Aberdeen with the 55s
Caught the arsenal- chelsea game before we went up to Aberdeen which was good. Feeling really rough on way up. It was a fairly quite Sunday night , not busy at all. Well keep on trying up in Aberdeen though as its a city we really like and the promoters at drakes have always been really nice to us. Well crack it yet! We played alright but it is hard to get going when the venue is pretty empty. Undeterred spirits are still high. Staying at the Aberdeen youth hostel which was very nice. Got back there about 12 but released we werent tired so we got a taxi to find a pub. Ended up somewhere which was open to 2am and drinks were 1.50 for any drink, ya dancer! In just over an hour we rattled 6 jack Daniels and 3 blue sours each in attempt to catch the bus to land of drunks, nae joy. Practically ran back to the hostel which got us tired.
(Cds sold - 2 , Busy - naw, Alcohol consumption - a late burst for glory, Venue - 8/10 aye like drakes)
Night 5 - Rep theatre, Dundee with the A forest and little Moscow
By the time we drove down to Dundee were shattered. This gig malarkey is actually pretty hard going. Its not the playing gigs which is difficult, thats the easy bit. its the waiting and waiting and waiting before the gig which does ye in. We got down to Dundee about 3.30pm, load in was about 7:30pm. Thats a long time tae hang about. Found ourselves a yellow card pub for some scran and began the wait. Got to the rep theatre and it was very clean and fancy looking, when you first get there ye wonder where the hell the bands are gonna play as the place is full of diners eating their dinner. AT half seven the tables are meant to get cleared but there is a couple of old dears who refuse to budge, its going on 9pm before they get lobbed out, sherry in hand of course. Fast set up doesnt give little moscow a sound check but they were enjoyable none the less. The a forest were also very good. Need to give ourselves ashake before we play, think we were alright but we can play much much better. Looking forward to our own bed at this point so we make a swift exit and drive home to Motherwell, home bout 3am, it had been a long day..
( Cds sold 5/6 , Busy - yes , Alcohol consumption - hee haw, Venue 8/10 )
Night 6 - A night off
Night 7 - SL Records Party - Glasgow, Rockers
Surprisingly good venue. The main thing that comes to mind about rockers. I hadnae held great hopes for the place at all but the sound was spot on. A good first night was had by all. Was nice to play with the other SL bands who we had played with through 2004 as well. The starlets were awesome as always. If ye havnt seen them play live get yer arse out and see them play, buy their 2 albums while your at it as well as it will be one of the wiser decisions youll ever make..
Cds sold - not got a clue!, Busy - no bad, Alcohol consumption - nay, party time next night in Edinburgh, Venue - a surprising 8.
Night 8 - SL Records Party - Edinburgh, Bongo club
Now the party really begins. A chocka line-up to work through, think it ran peanut, 55s, degrassi , Gordon ballboy, ourselves then the starlets. That a lot of bands to work through! Really enjoyable night, was dancing by the end of it so must have been good! Really enjoyed watching everyones set, I thought they all were in form for this one. A nice end for the run of gigs.
Cds sold - dunno, Busy - aye but wittled down after 12, Alcohol consumption - wearing cowboy hats at 4am - wit dae you think?, Venue - solid 9
And we thought 49 was a beautiful number, how good does 45 sound?
Bounced in last night pretty drunk and went straight on the computer to find out if we were in the festive fifty for 2004. I hadnae really thought about it at all but aye kinda realised after a couple of beers in the pub that the show was on the radio that night. And there it is, wedged nicely between Bloc Party - 'Little Thoughts' and Mountain Goats - 'Your Belgian Things' (LP- We Shall All Be Healed) - (4AD) - no 45 Aphrodisiacs - If U want me ------------- YA DANCER!
That really means a lot to us. 45 in the uk chart ( 35, 25, 15?) means nothing compared to that. You know in the last couple of months weve seemed to be labelled with the tag of one of the last ever peel sessions which weve not really been comfortable with because that only occurred out of the tragic circumstances of the latter days of October. Being in last ever festive fifty however?? Well people can write that all the want because we can live with that. Weve now had two festive fifty placings.. Phenomenal. Thank you very much if you voted for us, it means the world to us.
And that was kinda us. Played the is this music? Christmas party just before Christmas surprisingly enough which was a good night, they raised a couple of hundred bucks for the big issue which was good. Hopefully get ma hands on some pictures for the photo section. Alamos were very good, check em out. And thats kinda us for 2004. In reflection its been a guid year, weve really enjoyed ourselves. Heres to a good 05, expect more gigs ( London for starters in February), more songs ( some new ones mibees at the start of the year) and more work by us . Help us do enough.
2005 -
Start of the year kicks off with us just practicing away. We get nominated into the top 100 in the is this music? Best Scottish album in the world ever writers poll which was very nice. Our First gig of the year was @ tom tom in Glasgow. Venue was a bit posh for my liken but the night seemed to go well non the less. The gig was to launch gigs in the venue which occurs every Tuesday, if yer ever bored in Glasgow ye should pop in for a drink one night. Next up was a gig with the grim northern social in the venue (Edinburgh). Long time since we first played the venue, good sound in the place, if only they could remove that bastarding pillar which obstructs part of the stage. We really enjoyed playing this gig, we thought we were on form. Mibees the wrong kinda crowd though, GNS arent really our cuppa tea so dont think we a had much chance of converting a couple of punters. The guy who was doing their merch wouldnt sell our cd at their stall which kinda gives ye an idea what were up against, we bit our tongue for a change and just had a laugh. Still a guid night.
Swimmer One & Piney Gir
London story - hoi ya cunt wheres ma guitar?/the betsy trotswood scandal !
we were back down for some gigs in London with our friends Swimmer One ( www.swimmerone.co.uk ) at the end of February. An eventful time was had, nae surprise this was our 4th trip down there and something always happens! The trip got off to a flyer when a band from Wales called crosbi tried to disappear up the M4 with my guitar in the back of the van. After many a phone call we managed to get hold of them on their mobile, at first they denied having it and continued driving homeward bound. Eventually they said they had ma guitar and proceeded to ask the silliest freakin question weve ever been asked - Dae ye need it back?.. na mate, tell ye what, just hold on to it! Wit a fud. We never got to my bed till about 3am cause we had to drive miles to pick the guitar up. Lesson no.1 learned - keep an eye on your gear at all times. The 2nd night was better, a quite affair in a pub in Crouch end but a nice evening none the less playing with piney gir. After it we had a few drinks in the cinema (!) in our youth hostel and ended up dancing and singing to the wizard of oz on the big screen, guid job the room was soundproof! Lesson no2 learned- dont fall asleep in the cinema you have just trashed. The third night was a total disaster. A bunch of cowboys called plum promotions were in town trying to put on a gig in a cellar in the Betsy trotswood. The gig was made free entry at the last minute and the freelance promoter tried tae say we had signed a contract and stuff which was nonsense. We played the gig then left straight after playing. It was a mess, there was more to the story but it hurts ma head when aye think about it so well leave it there. Got back to our hostel and got pissed again. This time there was three guys sleeping in the cinema watchin the passion of christ ( nae wonder they fell asleep). When the film ended we turned on the lights, grabbed a bean bag each ( which weighed a tonne weight) and smacked each guy that was sleeping with them @ the same time, it was hilarious! We didnt hang about to see their reactions, we swiftly fled the scene. We ended up getting escorted back to our room because we were out on a balcony shoutin random stuff and generally being too rowdy. Lesson no3 - dont play a gig in London thats put on by plum promotions! Despite this minor set backs we actually had a really good time. More planning is going into the next set of gigs but things are bound to still go wrong.
Death of Hunter Stockton Thompson - February 20th 2005
On February 20, Dr Hunter S Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado.
Another legend has sadly departed the world. His writings have been an influence on all three of us. His perception of the world and they way he portrayed his opinions in his books was beautiful. The film adaptation of fear & loathing is phenomenal ( ye could quote from this all day long). Again its hard to write how much we respected the work he done, he was a class act. If ye havent read his books get hold of the rum diaries, fear and loathing, Gonzo papers (part 3 is actually a good starter). Ive been buyin some of his books on ebay for the last couple of months but cannae afford to now as the prices of all the books have gone up since his death, if youve got some spare cash its definitely worth getting his back catalogue.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole multi colored collection of uppers, downers, laughers, screamers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.
Heres the list of books for ye tae find :
Hell's Angels (1966)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972)
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (1973)
The Great Shark Hunt (1979)
The Curse of Lono (1983)
Generation of Swine (1988)
Songs of the Doomed (1990)
Silk Road (1990)
Better than Sex (1993)
The Proud Highway (1997)
The Rum Diary (1998)
Screwjack and Other Stories (2000)
Fear and Loathing in America (2000)
The Kingdom of Fear (2003)
Hey Rube (2004)
