― nath, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jerry, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Kerr, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sonicred, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
R.I.P. Jimmy Fernandez.
Yes. To explain further -- okay, so I heard about them via MM in 1991 and after (had to give them some attention, them being San Diego and all), and enough articles and things cropped up that when the album came out I should give it a listen. And Scenes from the Second Storey, as I go into more detail here, was and is pretty damn amazing. Was lucky enough to see them on their one American tour opening for Cop Shoot Cop, put on a hell of a show, then interviewed them afterwards. Jimmy and Ron were both chatty and relaxed, but I remember Robin in particular being VERY intense, and not in an unfriendly way -- just looking at me directly throughout, intelligent and talkative, focused. Wish I had the tape that was on, it's long lost.
And then Jimmy died the following year. Fuck.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cary, Sunday, 15 June 2003 22:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 15 June 2003 22:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Miguel, Monday, 16 June 2003 11:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Monday, 16 June 2003 12:01 (twenty years ago) link
Great way around covers too -- Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen, Peggy Lee and the KLF? Genius.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 May 2005 23:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr Greyhound (Dr Greyhound), Monday, 16 January 2006 12:26 (eighteen years ago) link
I always regret not going to see them.
― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Monday, 16 January 2006 12:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr Greyhound (Dr Greyhound), Monday, 16 January 2006 13:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Monday, 16 January 2006 13:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― revivel, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Le Baaderonixx de Clignancourt (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 23:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― NYCNative, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 08:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 09:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 11:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 12:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 13:08 (seventeen years ago) link
Remembering.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 October 2010 15:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Absolutely brilliant band (and a nice piece, Ned). My first encounter of the God Machine was a two-minute snippet from some European festival on 120 Minutes. I don't even remember which song it was, but it made quite an impression. A few weeks later I found Scenes... at my local library (in the north of Holland!) and voila.I also remember the happy shock when I discovered the source of the opening sample of 'Dream Machine', in one of the final scenes of Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky.
A few years later, after a Sophia concert, I asked Robin if he ever played any GM songs any more. He said he only played 'Boy by the Roadside' now and then, when he was by himself.
Brilliant band.
― ArchCarrier, Monday, 11 October 2010 16:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks very much. Sometimes I wonder if they are THE great lost band of that time.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 October 2010 16:38 (thirteen years ago) link
They are.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 11 October 2010 16:38 (thirteen years ago) link
hah i posted on this thread 8 years ago. Saved me retyping the story about Sophia supporting Mogwai.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 11 October 2010 16:39 (thirteen years ago) link
I think i sent nathalie mp3s of the albums iirc
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 11 October 2010 16:40 (thirteen years ago) link
GM was probably the only band that's attempted to pick up where the Cure left off after 'Pornography'.
Insta-sold.
I think I saw these fellas on Ned's 136 list when I browsed it a couple weeks ago?
Where to start, etc.?
― i'm just saying let ilxor say something nice to me ffs (ilxor), Monday, 11 October 2010 18:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Get both albums and you've got most everything, but definitely search out the various singles as you can -- Home, The Desert Song, Ego, the original Purity EP.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 October 2010 18:16 (thirteen years ago) link
then get some bootlegs
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 11 October 2010 18:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Ah yes, okay, I'll search the albums first.
YouTube'd a few tracks and this sounds waaaayy up my alley. Fantastic.
― i'm just saying let ilxor say something nice to me ffs (ilxor), Monday, 11 October 2010 18:43 (thirteen years ago) link
the god machine piss all over the cure btw
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 11 October 2010 19:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Okay let's not get ahead of ourselves Herman...
― i'm just saying let ilxor say something nice to me ffs (ilxor), Monday, 11 October 2010 21:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Without a doubt, one of the best bands I have seen live, in the 150-200 capacity Hull adelphi. It was rammed and GM floored everybody with their gorgeous - and at that time fairly original-quiet/LOUD.
For some reason,Robin PS's incongruous baseball cap sticks in my mind along with the drummer's felt ball drumsticks.
That and the freakouts by Jimi. A tragic loss.
― Fer Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Monday, 11 October 2010 22:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry, I meant Jimmy. Respect.
― Fer Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Monday, 11 October 2010 22:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, a ferocious live band. I recall seeing them in a lot of places like the New Cross Venue, the Underworld, and various Sausage Machine venues. They also played a great + powerful set on the second stage at Reading one year. They were sort of on the periphery of the Camden 'lurch' scene, and certainly played with most of those bands despite not really fitting it, sound-wise.
― Position Position, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 01:05 (thirteen years ago) link
Well obviously, from the few songs I've now already heard, Jimi's got nothing on Jimmy...
xp
― i'm just saying let ilxor say something nice to me ffs (ilxor), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 01:05 (thirteen years ago) link
I used to have an album by this lot, can't remember much about the way it sounded except that it was a bit miserable. I should dig it out.
― A brownish area with points (chap), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 01:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Haha one of my first posts up there in 2003. Still love these guys but have to admit that as a comfy mid-30sth I usually find it too intense to listen to them anymore.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 09:23 (thirteen years ago) link
God damn, Scenes from the Second Storey is fucking awesome. I think I have the Home cd single somewhere with their lovely version of Fever.
I don't hear The Cure here, hmm?
― kraudive, Sunday, 13 May 2012 00:47 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry for the bump, just enjoying the record.
― kraudive, Sunday, 13 May 2012 00:48 (eleven years ago) link
It's there, trust me. But it may take a little time to fully sink in.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 13 May 2012 00:58 (eleven years ago) link
no apologies for bumping; now unsuspecting folks like myself get the privileged of hearing them for the first time...
― arby's, Sunday, 13 May 2012 01:17 (eleven years ago) link
Ned, you're writing of Disintegration era Cure, I guess?
― kraudive, Sunday, 13 May 2012 01:28 (eleven years ago) link
Nope -- to quote myself:
"It's All Over" in particular leapt out at me, the burnt, sad acoustic guitar-led song smack dab in the middle of the album, rivalling anything as gripping as what the Cure did in Faith/Pornography days, to echo Fabrice there.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 13 May 2012 01:49 (eleven years ago) link
This band could do with a nice lil' box set collecting all their odds and ends
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 14 May 2012 10:08 (eleven years ago) link
all of a sudden I need to know if brad has heard Scenes from the Second Storey
― Simon H., Tuesday, 7 November 2017 14:51 (six years ago) link
One of my top 5 albums, ever.
― ArchCarrier, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 15:01 (six years ago) link
Wow, I posted in this thread seven years ago.
― ArchCarrier, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 15:05 (six years ago) link
Scenes from the Second Storey is extraordinary. I passed up the chance to see them in 1992, and hugely regret it.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
blimey i posted on this thread 15 years ago
― Algerian Goalkeeper (Odysseus), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 15:47 (six years ago) link
What's good to check out of the satellite stuff? I've tried a couple of Sophia records, but only desultorily.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 15:50 (six years ago) link
the may queens album
― Algerian Goalkeeper (Odysseus), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
May Queens are good, but I like the first two Sophia albums better.
― ArchCarrier, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 16:15 (six years ago) link
Yeah it feels like a Brad album
― Tim F, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 20:48 (six years ago) link
It does indeed.
Damn I'm so glad I did see them the once.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 21:02 (six years ago) link
When I saw this thread was being revived I hoped it might finally mean there was an e.p. compilation appearing. Would love a single cd collection with all those e.p.s with the various cover versions.
Glad I got to see them several times.
There are some live sets and videos that have been shared on torrent sites over the years. hope I still have the drive that has taht stuff on somewhere active.Not sure what happened to Austin, I know that Robin Proper-Shepherd went on to Sophia.Also interested to know if he had played guitar much before they became a 3 piece with him on guitar. I'd heard he's previously been a vocalist with limited instrumental experience. Certainly made a good job of what i've heard.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 21:47 (six years ago) link
Checked out the last Sophia album that came out last year (they are relatively "indie"-big here in Belgium & Netherlands) but it felt kinda bland. Still, I'm very happy Robin's managed to make a good living out of music.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 08:40 (six years ago) link
I found out last night that you can get the 2 God Machine lps reasonably cheaply on Amazon after they were reissued in 2010.Wondering what kind of audience awareness of them there is or was at that point which was really posthumous for them as a band.have they been covered at all?
Would love those studio covers from the e.p.s there were some really good ones in there.Trying to think if there were many more things they covered live.
e.p. versions of songs also on lps tended to be different too I think. Some of them heavier or more impactful at least.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:08 (six years ago) link
Finally tried to do them some justice.
http://thequietus.com/articles/24109-the-god-machine-scenes-from-the-second-story-review-anniversary
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 26 February 2018 14:13 (six years ago) link
awesome!
― Algerian Goalkeeper (Odysseus), Monday, 26 February 2018 14:34 (six years ago) link
Excellent, indeed
― StanM, Monday, 26 February 2018 16:08 (six years ago) link
Thanks, Ned! Came here to post that link.
― ArchCarrier, Monday, 26 February 2018 16:30 (six years ago) link
Too kind, all of you.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 26 February 2018 17:28 (six years ago) link
Great piece, thanks so much!
It reminded me of buying One Last Laugh... and then weirdly not being able to listen to it for weeks, I recall wondering to myself if people ten years older than me had the same problem when Closer came out.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 27 February 2018 00:11 (six years ago) link
This is intense, RPS smashes his guitar in the first few seconds so the song becomes a vocals, bass, drums and extended Voix Bulgares freak out jam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJmZbBdCxK0
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 27 February 2018 00:30 (six years ago) link
Thanks Ned. I feel we're really reaching the point where, without efforts to keep their memory alive, this band will be completely forgotten, engulfed under the waves of time.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 27 February 2018 09:02 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOF-XAeNG_o
― Maresn3st, Monday, 17 May 2021 16:08 (two years ago) link
Have hoped there might be an e.p. compilation at some point. I think I didn't get them all at the time so would like a one stop you could find them at.
― Stevolende, Monday, 17 May 2021 16:10 (two years ago) link
Yeah, that would be nice for sure.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 17 May 2021 16:17 (two years ago) link
God, what a band. That live set is fantastic.
Just idly noting that Scenes OG vinyl currently going for £530 on Discogs.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 17 May 2021 18:07 (two years ago) link
missed this three weeks ago - thank you Maresn3st!
― StanM, Monday, 7 June 2021 15:27 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ3hVzKDP8s
― Maresn3st, Monday, 26 July 2021 13:14 (two years ago) link
someone needs to reissue this stuff, yes, the second hand prices for the vinyl and even the CD are stupid
― akm, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 16:30 (two years ago) link
It would be nice, yes.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 16:31 (two years ago) link
I suppose I could ask around re: masters ownership, my best friend knows Robin.
― akm, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 17:14 (two years ago) link
but I'd guess they are lost, missing, or tied up in some shit
― akm, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 17:15 (two years ago) link
definitely look into an e.p. collection.
& I don't think they had a live lp during their lifetime did they?
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 18:24 (two years ago) link
No - two albums, 4 EP's, and that's it.
― StanM, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 18:35 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcNSoYBrqjc
― Maresn3st, Wednesday, 20 October 2021 21:40 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucoUoCl_LyI
― Maresn3st, Wednesday, 12 January 2022 15:39 (two years ago) link
thank you! sounds great
― StanM, Wednesday, 12 January 2022 17:53 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvBOp49nYgs
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 13 March 2022 12:15 (two years ago) link
thank you again!
― StanM, Sunday, 13 March 2022 19:32 (two years ago) link
No problem, I'll keep posting them when they come up, it's a shame there's not a good radio recording or a live album.
― Maresn3st, Monday, 14 March 2022 08:35 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFjYDt9eeu8
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 5 June 2022 11:44 (one year ago) link
Thank you! The frustration remains - you just know someone at some venue must be sitting on a soundboard recording but they're keeping quiet...
― StanM, Sunday, 5 June 2022 12:15 (one year ago) link
At this point what I would really want is a remaster of the first album which always sounded a bit muffled
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 5 June 2022 14:36 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsKXeyrafrg
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 18:15 (one year ago) link
<3 Where do they keep finding these? :-)
― StanM, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 19:21 (one year ago) link
The channel is kinda amazing in its own way, with scores of mid-tier toilet circuit indie gigs going back to the shambling era and a sprinkling of larger concerts.
If you want to hear what Milk, Sun Carriage, or The Chesterfields sounded like then this is your channel :)
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 19:41 (one year ago) link
omg that channel is all my early-90s London toilet circuit support band nightmares returning to life! He even has a live set by a band I auditioned for once, a tryout which was thankfully a failure.
― ban golf courses (Matt #2), Tuesday, 16 August 2022 20:00 (one year ago) link
Well now you have to tell us which band.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 20:23 (one year ago) link
It'd be about the only mention of them on the internet apart from the Youtube set so I'll spare any self-Googling band members the embarrassment.
― ban golf courses (Matt #2), Tuesday, 16 August 2022 20:41 (one year ago) link
Clue: it wasn't Lush
Gay Dad?
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 02:20 (one year ago) link
Ron Austin is apparently going to be on this show today at 4 pm BST (although there is a Mixcloud archive by the looks of things) talking about TGM and his new project Mercylane.
www.Madwaspradio.com
― MaresNest, Sunday, 18 June 2023 12:21 (ten months ago) link
Very cool.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 18 June 2023 15:13 (ten months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZV9jNvekes
― MaresNest, Monday, 7 August 2023 15:04 (eight months ago) link