Random Hold - C/D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kjCD3I5Alc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXKFumlKOgk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sf2YEo8jBg

Officers Roles and Responsibilities

Each of the officers in a Random Hold club has certain responsibilities to fulfill in supporting the club and its members. There are several officer positions within each Random Hold club both to spread the workload fairly and to expand the leadership opportunities for club members.

Filling an officer role does not mean that you are required to do the job alone. Being an officer simply means that you are responsible for ensuring that the job gets done. As an officer, you are allowed -- indeed, encouraged -- to ask other members of the club to help you fulfill your duties.

Note: Serving as a club officer for at least six months satisfies one of the requirements for Competent Leader recognition.

(Some club elect new officers every six months, while other clubs hold elections once a year. This usually depends on whether the club meets every week or every two weeks.)

Preparing to Be a Club Officer

One of the most important things to do in preparing for a club officer position is to attend one of the Club Officer Training sessions sponsored by the district. (In fact, attending these sessions is one of the goals for helping make your club a Distinguished Club.) Please make every effort to attend training so you can receive the support you need to better serve your club.

we are off to a good start.

i've never found one of their cds, didn't even know they were in print on cd at any point.

where is the love!!!??? love this band...

Just picked up their album Etceteraville in the dollar bin, based on Peter Hammill's name on the jacket and intriguingly post-punk album art.

Unlike most dollar bin purchases, this one is really growing on me. To my ears they sound like Alan Parson Project meets John Foxx-era Ultravox.
I'm surprised they're as obscure as they are, but it warms my heart to see they have their own ILX thread.

what a strange band

having recently decided that one of my favourite flavours of music is “prog veterans grapple with new wave” this (dollar bin purchase of first EP) is really hitting the spot

it is quite This Heat-y in parts? Bill MacCormick played with Charles Heyward in Quiet Sun so I guess they would have heard This Heat, quite surprised to hear a contemporary major label band with a TH vibe!

I wonder if they struggled to get noticed in 1980 precisely because they were hedging and keeping one foot in the seventies.

There used to be an insanely detailed bio of them available online that told the story of the band in little chapters (I think it was at one of the links above), but that seems to have disappeared.

I still only have the first album, but keep hoping I'll run into some of their other stuff in the wild... they might be my favorite dollar-bin discovery.

yeah it's on manzanera.com, you can find it if you plug the link above into archive dot org.

I'm a big Peter Hammill fan, especially of his late 70s period, but I've never heard The View From Here which he produced, I should rectify that. There seems to be a 2CD reissue which has the original LP plus bonus tracks.

That bio is uncomplimentary about Hammill's production work on the album, it seems to have been a fairly unhappy experience for all concerned.

thanks for the bio link tip, keen to read

yeah Peter Hammill's name on the EP got me interested - plus the very 1979 graphic design

agree about the weird blend of 70s proginess (big clomping riffs!) and forward-looking post-punkiness - you think, "who did they think was gonna like this music?" - which I suppose is the hallmark of the historically disregarded yet interesting band - they certainly had something unique going on.

feel there's some kind of loose continuum of sci fi inflected downer rock that starts (?) with pink floyd and the man who sold the world - encompasses Hawkwind and VDGG - and ends up spawning Joy Divison and the Cure of 17 Seconds

this stuff certainly feels like it fits into that lineage - if that makes sense to anyone but me I'm pretty up for any other recommendations in this vein!

"Systems of Romance" by Ultravox fits that description pretty well.

Fish from Marillion used to be a big evengelist for Random Hold (and for Peter Hammill too who supported Marillion in their early days).

I bought a couple of their records back then but have long since parted company with them, but have been getting curious again recently as they seem to be bubbling up in the collective consciousness once more (not just here).