7.1 WEEKDAY ADVENTURES...

With that first Grain gig out of the way, it was back to the typewriter (ask your dad), scissors and glue for issue 3 of the zine. The duty was still exclusively mine at that time, but The Grain as a whole was very much a co-operative effort. I think there was a genuine buzz around after the first event. I'd certainly never seen a support band come back on and play a joint encore with the headliner before, and we were optimistic that it had communicated the idea that this was something a bit different and not just random bands gigging with eachother. July was certainly a busy month, first up there was our studio debut for Earworm; once again, here's the original write-ups from the zine's hallowed pages...

MAGIC MOMENTS A.T.T. IN THE STUDIO!

MICK MAGIC on guitar & keyboards, J.A.T.T. on bass and beddy-byes, SHONA MOMENTS on vocals & doner kebabs, KATE TWILIGHT on synthesizer & those lovely little radiophonic noises... this was the MAGIC MOMENTS A.T.T. that came into being on May 12th 1987. Not many bands get their first studio session for a record label when they are only 2 months and 1 day old! But, that's what happened to MAGIC MOMENTS A.T.T. on Monday 13th July 1987... their first session for EARWORM RECORDS of Clapham Common, a label that has to be congratulated on their excellent taste (okay, so it's Mick Magic writing this article, but I promise to be unbiased, honestly).

       Firstly, our thanks to Nelson Jerusalem Sidekick (or "Neil" for short") for the hand with transport. Our day started with a gruelling 2½ hour trip to Clapham, about 1¾ hours of that was spent in traffic jams, and it was bloody hot too. But, undeterred, we arrived at the Brunhildes Foot 16 track studio around noon. We were greeted by Fergus Anderson (who engineered and mixed our recordings) and Thomas (a German guy who owns the studio), sporting a nice line in berets. There, underneath a Southside flower shop, is the basement studio, brilliantly equipped with Fostex reel-to-reel & an amazing mixing desk & gadgetry galore. Their synthesizers must have showed ours up a bit, but we have only just begun, ain't we? With the initial teething troubles associated with studio debuts out of the way, we soon had "MMA/008/STATE OF THE ART" on tape. I wish it sounded like that live! Track two was "MMA/003/ZEN SEQUENT",

I just wish we could get the same from our bass drum that Fergus did. I must say, Fergus definitely knows his stuff, he was really invaluable to us. About 8:00, both tracks recorded, the Earworm duo joined us and Nelson down at a local pub, complete with beer garden, not what I expected to find in Clapham! The tough bit was yet to come... the final mixdown. 'Twas well gone Twilight Time when we finished... in fact it was about midnight. Thomas had long since gone and, thanks to us, Fergus had missed the last tube. But, being wonderful, we gave him a lift back to costa del Brixton then began the journey homeward. All in all, a great day, can't wait to do it again, bit like discovering masturbation.

       Anyway, our two tracks are going on an hour long Earworm sampler cassette, complete with accompanying booklet (not on disc, sadly). We've heard a lot of the other stuff we're with and there's some really interesting material. We're not positive of its date of release yet, or the price, but we'll let you know as soon as details are confirmed... SO BUY IT!!! And don't forget to write to Earworm and tell them we were the best band on the album! Thanks???

Mick Magic - from The Grain no. 4, published August 1987

Two days later The Charles were supporting The Screaming Marionettes at Dingwalls in Camden. Although I didn't know it at the time, this one night was to have a bit of a lasting effect on my personal future, because it wasn't just the whole Music & Elsewhere adventure I had to thank The Grain for. This was the night I met White Hawk. She hadn't made it to the first gig, but had picked up the zine and the "Live & Sorry" tape in The Rock Box, then sat down to write us a really sweet letter. She said she'd love to have us all to tea, but her mum probably wouldn't let her, and without an address, it's not like we could even gatecrash. So I'd put a note in issue 3 inviting her to come and have tea with us instead. Nik brought her over to say hi at Dingwalls and the rest, as they say, is history. The short version; we became good friends - I made her a firm promise that, whatever may happen in between, we would play at her 18th birthday a couple of years down the line - one of her best friends caught my eye that night, Julie brought her over to meet me a couple of weeks later - nine months after that, she had moved in with me (her parents were thrilled) - we're still together 26 years later, married in 2011 and had Twizz in 2013. Like I said, just a tiny bit of a lasting effect...

Julie 'White Hawk' as she was then. I also owe her a huge thank you for the loan of so many of our publications from the time, which have proved absolutely invaluable in putting this article together. However, every time Twizz throws a tantrum, I remember I have to thank her for that too...

THE CHARLES EXCITE DINGWALLS!

DATELINE:- Frimley, Surrey at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday 15th July 1987. THE CHARLES:- Count Five on vocals & brolly, Benedik Charles on guitar and looks of menace, Jacob on bass & runny make-up, Tarquin Experiment? on drums and a small piece of designer dog-doos.

       A coach pulls up by the White Hart pub and I rush over to greet the driver. "Hi, bastard.", I greeted him with style & grit. A group of straggling grainy folks clambered onto the coach and sat there for ages wondering if it was ever going to leave. It did. Next stop, Duke Of York... and there were millions (dozens, actually) of the grainy types again waiting. I gathered their tickets and ushered them on to the London bound coach... the adventure continues. Fun was had by all on the journey, sitting reading their copies of THE GRAIN, the fans looked well pleased, or maybe they were on something? The journey passed quickly, with only one brief stop for a certain P.B. (see "Blackmail Spot") to get off and go wee-wees to the spontaneous cheers of everybody on the coach. On arrival at sunny Dingwalls in the garden spot of Camden Lock (do you believe this shit?) we were greeted by Count Five and Jacob who gave us vast quantities of tickets that got us all in for a mere £2 (they can afford it by making the bloody beer £1.40 a pint). Thus began an evening/night of mirth and merriment (nothing to do with Merthyr Tydfil).

       THE CHARLES were brilliant (yes, it's that word again), I've seen them loads of times now and this was the best to date... is there no end to this band's improving? (No). Fans leapt around the dance floor, throwing pints of lager all over eachother (which is pretty damned extravagant at £1.40 a pint... just thought I'd mention it), taking the piss out of any passing leukaemia victims, taking the sips out of pssiang dyslexics, ripping their clothes off and performing strange naked dance rituals, and THE CHARLES played on, stirring the crowds into a frenzy and they poured into the streets of London, took over the tube station, ran for parliament, England Expects every man to do his duty, lost their deposit, became one of the greatest bands in alternative musical history, and the riots continued, then THE CHARLES said "thank you, goodnight" and peace was restored. Those who were there will never forget it, those who weren't should have been. Didn't think much of Chatshow or The Screaming Marionettes though. THE CHARLES were undoubtedly the best band of the evening... WELL DANGEROUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mick Magic - from The Grain no. 4, published August 1987

The "Blackmail Spot" referred to states; "If 'P.B.' hasn't sent us £5 by our deadline, we will publish the name of the person who made the coach driver stop on the way to Dingwalls so he could get off and go wee-wee. Look forward to hearing from you, P." Now I think about it, I never did get that fiver, so I reckon he's got away with it quite long enough, don't you? It was Phil Brown, and here he is...

Oh, how do I sleep nights? But I digress. Of course, we didn't want The Grain to just be about 'band things', we wanted to come up with some other interesting stuff to do as well, and the first of these was The Grain Midnight Picnic; pick an unusual venue (say... the ruins of an 18th century tower), meet there at midnight, provide a semi-improvised  theatrical performance, have a picnic. Sorted.