THE DREAM FACTORY - WINE & ROSES

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• published: 27 Jul 2014
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THE DREAM FACTORY were a fiery English group from the mid 1980s whose trajectory to the stars was blown off course by the nuclear explosion of the emerging Manchester baggy scene. The group’s aspirations were blown to smithereens by the coming of all things "Madchester" but for a very short time in the middle of that decade the Midlands outfit seemed destined for big things. Stuck in the middle of a long list of “almost-made-it” bands trying to carve out their own identity & direction during the depths of Thatcher’s broken Britain, the Dream Factory boasted an enormous fan following. Remarkabsly loyal, the Factory fans followed them all over the country as the group gained national recognition in a short-sharp space of time after they formed in their home town of Tamworth. The group was the joint project of bass player Mark Mortimer & childhood mate Tim Goode. They initially enlisted guitarist Donald Ross Skinner but he left after a short while to join Julian Cope's superlative "two car garage band" to be replaced by Lloyd Barnett from Polesworth. He was introduced to the group by Factory drummer Steve "Quilly" Quilton and completing the line up was sax player Andy Codling. Mortimer & Goode's sisters Nicola & Michelle, respectively, added backing vocals in the studio. They were very much the archetypal proto-indie band of the time, esposuing a do-it-yourself ethic together with attitude and belief. Releasing two records on staunchly independent northern soul label Inferno, the band hit the spot, caught the mood of the time and were incendiary reactionaries to what they perceived to be the “horribly plastic” music and fashion of the times. That they had a tough, staunchly working class and street-wise image proved to attract fans & enemies in equally large numbers. Here was a band that always generated a burning, passionate debate. Were they mods? Or were they scooter boys? Were they any good? Were they the likely successors to The Jam? Were they full of shit? Blah blah blah… The debate seemed to rage almost non-stop during the three years or so that the Dream Factory existed & there seemed was never a dull moment. With their debut single “Wine & Roses” crashing into the UK charts in 1985 & with rave reviews in the national music press it seemed they were going on to big things but in the end their flame gradually weakened & it was finally snuffed out by the approaching musical revolution of what would become known as the baggy “Madchester” scene. But what the Dream Factory eventually became bore little resemblance to the blueprint of the group that two childhood best friends conjured up in the Staffordshire market town of Tamworth in 1983. Singer Tim Goode and bass player Mark Mortimer originally planned the group to be a trippy outfit marrying freaked-out Syd Barrett psychedelia & stoned soul music. "Wine & Roses" was a double A side. Written by singer Goode & guitarist Barnett, the tune also featured emerging jazz keyboard wizard Chris Taylor whose father ran the studios where the band were recording. The other side was called "Fashion Toys" & was composed by bassist Mortimer together with Goode & Barnett. That song was a funkier groove with an ascerbic lyrical attack on some violent beer-drinking locals from their hometown. Inferno label boss Neil Rushton, a black music afficianado and northern soul DJ of great repute, got behind the band after hearing of their devoted fan following. After the Factory split in December 1986 Rushton stumbled across the burgenoning Detroit techno scene in the States and was the man responsible for introducing the early sounds of that new revolutionary scene to the UK via his newest labels Kool Kat and Network Records. Mortimer would later emerge with his group DC Fontana.