favourite memory involved them playing the new bands stage at glastonbury in 98/99 (a muddy year) or so in a slot before julian lennon. times overrun, and yoko ono turns up in the photographers pit early, just in time for earl brutus to be finishing up their set. to this day i'll never forget the sight of her in her white designer mac outfit and wellies gamely yet confusedly jiggling about as the singer of earl brutus is unwittingly wobbling everywhere and showering her in lager.
― matt h, Thursday, 6 December 2007 14:00 (sixteen years ago) link
yoko went to see julian lennon?!
― energy flash gordon, Thursday, 6 December 2007 23:29 (sixteen years ago) link
yoko WENT TO GLASTONBURY to see julian lennon?!?!
earl brutus drinking lager !?!?!?
― mark e, Friday, 7 December 2007 09:27 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.plantingseedsrecords.com/news.html
i don't know what to say
― Just got offed, Thursday, 12 June 2008 21:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Fuck.
Here was me thinking it was a re union post.
Fuck/Shit Piss/Off
That is brutal news
― Fer Ark, Thursday, 12 June 2008 21:57 (fifteen years ago) link
god!
― Mark G, Friday, 13 June 2008 06:52 (fifteen years ago) link
damn. like louis, i'm speechless
― mark e, Friday, 13 June 2008 08:07 (fifteen years ago) link
OK, right, I wasn't going to talk about this until it was officially announced but it seems to have leaked out. Nick died on Sunday night. He was drummer with Clock DVA, Gun Club, World of Twist, Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat (not a bad CV) and, of course, singer and frontman with Earl Brutus. More importantly, he was a wonderful man, a total one-off and a real mensch. So long Nick, hope to see you next time around.
― Tom D., Friday, 13 June 2008 08:38 (fifteen years ago) link
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/2572785667_30ffd59be8.jpg?v=0
― Tom D., Friday, 13 June 2008 08:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh man I used to know him when he was in Freeheat, seemed like a lovely guy, very friendly and open. RIP
― Matt #2, Friday, 13 June 2008 08:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Universal Plan - Earl Brutus
"I get up. Go to work. Eat my lunch. Come home. Cure cancer. That's it. It's a beautiful world"
fucking brilliant band, if only he had kept to his own plan.
― mark e, Friday, 13 June 2008 12:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Good appreciation on Quietus: http://www.thequietus.com/2008/06/nick-sanderson-an-obituary-an-appreciation/
― Neil S, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 17:52 (fifteen years ago) link
I had no idea really who this guy was until I read his obit here in the Independent. Didn't realise there was a connection between EB and Clock DVA - what a great band they were. Tom, I'm sorry to hear you lost a pal.
This is a delightful story that LJ will like:
Sanderson's interests were broad, including ornithology, Manchester United and British history. I remember him describing a birdwatching trip to see some hawfinches in Norfolk. He didn't find the birds, instead ending up drunk in the dark and falling down some coastal bluffs. His clothes torn, his face scratched, he knocked on the door of some remote cottage. Surprisingly perhaps, the stranger who answered let Sanderson in. The pair then spent the rest of the night in high-spirited revelry.
Hope he got to see the hawfinches in the end, God knows I've tried and those are some bad bitches to nail down.
― NickB, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 21:46 (fifteen years ago) link
(dude gets bonus points from me for being a red BTW)
― NickB, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 21:47 (fifteen years ago) link
:(
― Raw Patrick, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 23:46 (fifteen years ago) link
i mean a birdwatching football fan who wrote awesome fucking music
― Just got offed, Thursday, 19 June 2008 05:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Cheers for posting that Quietus thing, Nick, that was a good piece
― Tom D., Thursday, 19 June 2008 09:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Eh, no worries, but that was actually Neil that posted that.
― NickB, Thursday, 19 June 2008 09:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh man, so it was, sorry Neil!
― Tom D., Thursday, 19 June 2008 09:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Nae bother, glad it was enjoyed.
― Neil S, Thursday, 19 June 2008 10:09 (fifteen years ago) link
Blimey, World of Twist are a cursed band - first Tony Ogden, now Nick Sanderson.
Bloody cancer :-((((
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 19 June 2008 10:11 (fifteen years ago) link
good write up by bob stanley in this months mojo re Tonight .. as a lost classic, along with a nice obit by ian harrison (who also sorted out the excellent piece over on quietus). interesting point about an artist using Earl Brutus as the foundation of a new exhibition.
― mark e, Thursday, 3 July 2008 08:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, it seems to have been written before, which is a shame.
― Mark G, Thursday, 3 July 2008 08:58 (fifteen years ago) link
Never really got used to that second Earl Brutus album; it was too much of a Lexicon to the first's Beauty Stab.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 3 July 2008 09:01 (fifteen years ago) link
fucking, fucking hell. and there was i hoping the thread revive might have been a reunion or something :(
RIP, nick. you rocked my fucking world in all manner of ways.
there are many days i think earl brutus might just have been the greatest band of all time. unsurprisingly, this is going to be one of them.
and tom, yes, my sympathies: it's obviously something else entirely to lose a guy you knew.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 3 July 2008 10:22 (fifteen years ago) link
i just spent an hour or so wandering about glasgow in the rain listening to "your majesty". what a blindingly fucking good band. i'm incredibly saddened by this news (i didn't realise the initial thread revive was so long ago; the first i'd heard of any of this was this morning).
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 3 July 2008 14:48 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah. i listened to both albums for a few days solidly after i heard, and cant deny i was a very depressing experience given that i had always hoped that they would reform and i'd be in the front row with a great big mutha'fuggin' grin. but sadly this will never be the case now. a blindingly fucking good band indeed.
― mark e, Thursday, 3 July 2008 14:55 (fifteen years ago) link
They have always begged the question: Why don't more bands dress like sailors in the Royal Navy?
They looked fucking fantastic.
― PhilK, Thursday, 3 July 2008 19:41 (fifteen years ago) link
One of the most refreshing live bands I've ever seen. Did I howl? I always had the biggest shit eating grin. Genuinely fucking crazy on stage were the Brutus - 'old enough to know better' made them more rewarding
Bar 'Navyhead' which was usually blasted only when well oiled, I didn't really play them at home that often.
After hearing the horrible news, it dawned on me that I must have seen Earl Brutus as much as any other band.In one or two venues but in their hey day (fuck yeah) they just sort of arrived at Festivals - usually first or second on on , on the third stage. Still pissed from the night before.
― Fer Ark, Thursday, 3 July 2008 20:19 (fifteen years ago) link
Having given both a lot of listens, I'd say the two albums are very close but Tonight is the, erm, special one. Would be interested to read the obits/write-ups. As I said above, Nick seemed like one of the genuine heroes and even a wasteful young'un like myself will miss him. ;-)
― Just got offed, Thursday, 3 July 2008 23:49 (fifteen years ago) link
Train driver in eyeliner
A tribute concert for Nick Sanderson featuring Jesus & Mary Chain, Black Box Recorder, British Sea Power & Earl Brutus DJs.
The Jesus & Mary Chain are set to headline a one-off show in commemoration of musician & railwayman Nick Sanderson who sadly passed away on June 8th of this year.
The show, to take place at The Forum in London on October 27th 2008, will also feature sets from Black Box Recorder, British Sea Power and a DJ set from Jim Fry & Gordon King of Sanderson’s final group, Earl Brutus.
Tickets for the show are priced at £20 and are available via www.kentishtownforum.com. All proceeds from the show will go to Nick’s immediate family.
Born Sheffield, South Yorkshire 22nd April 1961, Nick was a talented musician with an infectious passion for everything from Manchester United, the British rail system, British history to ornithology.
Nick started out as drummer with Sheffield post-punk group Clock DVA in the early Eighties before a stint with The Gun Club. A founding member of Manchester’s World of Twist, Nick also went on to regularly drum for Jesus & Mary Chain, for whom he played on their 1998 album Munki.
Yet it was to be Earl Brutus, the band he formed with Gordon King of World Of Twist and Jim Fry, who he knew from his Clock DVA days, which gave a voice to Nick’s acute sense of the minutiae of British culture.
The name was meant to conjure up "a pub that's quite a rough sort of place, but with a nice carvery on Sunday lunchtimes" and they marvelously continued to be at odds with all prevailing trends courtesy of a musical blend that fell somewhere between Kraftwerk and the terrace-stomp of classic glam-rock and a keen lyrical absurdity that often championed the un-celebrated while deriding the vacuous.
Having originally come from a railway family, Nick was to finally become a train driver on the London to Brighton line following the demise of Earl Brutus.
For further information contact:
Steve Phillips Coalition PR 0208 987 0123St✧✧✧@coalitiongr✧✧✧.c✧.u✧
― Tom D is a rattly old puffin, who remembers ILX in the days when... (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 September 2008 14:06 (fifteen years ago) link
jim reid talks about nick and about the gig; also some amusing mary chain interview footage from back in the day.
― easy, lionel (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 12 October 2008 12:31 (fifteen years ago) link
3 and a half years since I started this thread and I STILL haven't heard this.
Did it ever surface?
― Sven Hassel Schmuck, Sunday, 12 October 2008 20:16 (fifteen years ago) link
if it did, i've not heard it either :)
― easy, lionel (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 12 October 2008 20:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Still sounds like the best thing ever...(when i play it in my head)
― Sven Hassel Schmuck, Sunday, 12 October 2008 20:30 (fifteen years ago) link
Another Quietus article on the Brutus and Nick Sanderson, this time with their manager's thoughts. Wish I'd bought tickets to the gig now.
― Neil S, Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Jim Fry giving a talk on music photography at The Apple Store, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Thursday 12th March 2009 at 6.30pm.
Then afterwards DJing at McSorley’s, Jamaica Street.
Be there and be square.
― Free the Northampton 1 (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 13:36 (fifteen years ago) link
and ASK HIM about MOD!
― Mark G, Tuesday, 10 March 2009 13:45 (fifteen years ago) link
He's got a book coming out, don't think it's out yet
― Free the Northampton 1 (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 13:46 (fifteen years ago) link
Aargh, shit: I can't make that. Might be able to get along to McSorley's later.
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 20:36 (fifteen years ago) link
what a glorious result : today i found a live version of come taste my mind in the archives that i had no idea about.
― mark e, Thursday, 14 January 2010 21:14 (fourteen years ago) link
There was a great live version of that on an NME free CD once. That's got to be one of my favorite singles of the 90's.
There's not many bands I love as much as Earl Brutus.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 14 January 2010 21:19 (fourteen years ago) link
the video for come taste my mind might be my favourite video in the entire history of the music video
― Do the english boil pizza? (acoleuthic), Thursday, 14 January 2010 21:20 (fourteen years ago) link
ha.thats where i found it.i had no idea it was on the cd as the rest is pretty arse.
― mark e, Thursday, 14 January 2010 21:21 (fourteen years ago) link
ps. posted it on blog if interested.
It's one of the few NME CD's I still have, just for that song. The NME were behind them for a while, I remember the second album got album of the month.
The video is indeed a classic I remember seeing it on the ITV chart show. Those were the days!
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 14 January 2010 21:49 (fourteen years ago) link
to be honest, i probably got the nme just for that track as well, but it was '98 so cant recall, hence the '!!!!' when i came across it.its that david bowie 'lodger' era guitar line that does it for me.
― mark e, Thursday, 14 January 2010 22:10 (fourteen years ago) link
There's something really moving about the bit where he starts ranting "Who are you, you're nothing you are" the music is ridiculously good in that bit. They were dismissed as a bit of a novelty act but the tunes were always really tight. I miss them a little bit everyday.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 14 January 2010 22:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Just played 'On Me, Not In Me' on a jukebox in a pub in Colne.
That bit where he sings 'Take me to your harvester' and then the whole thing goes Henry the 8th crazy with the lutes and stuff...then the huge Glam riff, possibly the biggest, most monstrous, dirtiest glam riff ever, kicks in...everyone in the pub just stopped talking and listened. Admittedly there were only about 8 people there but I have NEVER seen that happen ever before
I don't even need to hear them nowadays, just the fact that their music EXISTS, makes my life better.
Just might be the best band of all time
There should be a national holiday called Nick Sanderson Day where we can spend the whole day swigging lager and smoking fags in appreciation
― The Broken Brothers, Thursday, 14 January 2010 22:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Collection of covers inc Saint Etienne:
https://industrialcoast.bigcartel.com/product/v-a-traindriver-in-eyeliner
― djh, Wednesday, 7 April 2021 21:37 (two years ago) link
I think this is one of the best one of these I've ever read. I'd expect nothing less from Jim though.
https://thequietus.com/articles/32053-james-fry-earl-brutus-bakers-dozen
― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Wednesday, 14 September 2022 22:26 (one year ago) link
‘Put Your Love In Me’, which is one of their best songs, is more like an album track than something you’d expect to hear on a greatest hits. You don’t hear that one on the radio but it’s one of their best singles.
It's one of the best singles by anyone ever, glad to see it mentioned. Great list throughout.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 14 September 2022 23:29 (one year ago) link
yeah, this was a cracking read.as tom says, to be expected from jim.
― mark e, Thursday, 15 September 2022 14:36 (one year ago) link