This Is Motortown
This Is...Post Punk Strangeness
The Very Things, 'This Is Motortown', 1986 released on the Redditch based DCL Electric Recordings Label (DCL standing for DadaCravat Laboratories).
General strangeness from the The Very Things who were a Dadaist post punk band from Redditch, formed in 1983 and active until 1988. 'This Is Motortown' is one of their more sane numbers, others include 'Mummy You're A Wreck' which featured on a Compilation Album by them called 'It's A Drug, It's A Drug, It's A Ha Ha Ha, It's A Trojan Horse Coming Out Of The Wall'.
The Band and Formation
The Very Things were formed in 1983 from the ashes of Redditch Punk band The Cravats, their debut release was on the 'Corpus Christi' label a sub-label of the independent 'Crass Records' Label.
You can catch the punk sound of the Cravats who were formed in 1977 and active until 1982 with their first single 'Gordon' released on the Walthamstow Independent Label 'Small Wonder Records' in 1978 at the link above. Also you can catch more information about them at the website thecravats.co.uk.
The Very Things were:
- Robin Dallaway - Guitar/Vocals
- Chris Shendo and The Shend (Chris Harz) - Bass/Vocals
- Gordon Disneytime (Robin Holland) - Drums
- Steven Burrows (aka Fudger O' Mad) - Bass
The Bushes Scream...
The track 'This Is Motortown' was inspired by the Motown label and sound....This track however, 'The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes'....
...was possibly inspired by Class A drugs! 😜
Peel Sessions & Acting Careers
They managed to fit in a 'Peel Session' and enough material for an album before they called it quits in 1988. The Session is on the 'Strange Fruit' label a distributor of BBC Recordings. The track list for the 'Session' contains the track featured below, but also contains:
- Message From Disney Time
- Down The Final Flight
- Phillip's World Service
- Wall Of Fir
The Shend went on to an acting career, appearing in bit parts for 'EastEnders', 'Men Behaving Badly' and 'Red Dwarf' to name but a few.
Catch their track 'Down The Final Flight' originally recorded in 1984
Video Sources Thanks To
Info Sources Thanks To
Discogs.com, thecravats.co.uk
Photo Thanks
Photo Discogs.com