AW60 The Golden Lion

Today is the final leg of the AW60 events, the month of celebrations of what would have been Andrew Weatherall’s 60^th birthday. Following nights in London, Glasgow and Belfast the fourth event is at The Golden Lion in Todmorden. The Golden Lion is a special place, ‘a portal’, as a man standing at the bar told me last time I was there, ‘outside it’s Tod, in here it’s another world’. The Golden Lion is a pub in the hills, on the Lancashire/ West Yorkshire border that hosts gigs, events and DJ nights, hosted by Richard and Gig. Andrew played there regularly. In 2018 he hosted a weekend of events in West Yorkshire, Weatherall in the Calder Valley, playing a gig in Hebden Bridge with A Certain Ratio and DJ events at the Lion. His travelling cosmic disco, A Love From Outer Space, with Sean Johnston often appeared at the Lion.

The turn of events that has led to me and four friends actually being part of the celebrations and DJing in the Lion today, from 1pm through until Justin Robertson taking over as headliner at 10pm is as baffling to me as it is to others. We started out administering the Flightpath Estate Facebook group (a place for Andrew’s fans to share music and news). It grew slowly and then when Andrew died in February 2020 became a place for people to be, to share stories and enjoy the music. At some point Richard asked us if we’d like to DJ at the Lion and in what I can only describe as a sudden escalation of events, towards the end of last year we were asked to be part of AW60. Much of this is due to the internet and the way it has brought people together, made connections and turned online friendships into real life ones. My involvement comes ultimately because of this blog, the hundreds of posts I've written about Andrew and his music and the connections made through it, something I started back in 2010 with no real idea what I was doing and ending up here. 

Today’s celebrations have us playing in turn and back-to-back throughout the afternoon and evening, handing over to Justin Robertson around 10. At 9, in the upstairs room Timothy J. Fairplay will play live with a battery of synths and drum machines. Across the road old friends of Andrew’s Dave Beer and Bernie Connor will play records. Tomorrow, Andrew’s friends Curley and Sherman are both DJing at the Golden Lion (admission is free if you’re in the area) with a live set by Chris Rotter and Andy Bell in the evening where they will play the songs Chris played guitar on and helped create on Andrew's Pox On The Pioneers solo album. Later on, as bank holiday Monday beckons, Heidi Lawden and Lovefingers will be on.

Back in October we were invited to play with David Holmes, warming up for him. The afternoon was fairly quiet and were more or less playing songs for ourselves and each other plus a few afternoon drinkers. As the evening drew on the pub filled up a little and then in a way that still causes me to pinch myself, I was in the booth at 8.45 as David Holmes turned up, said hello and told me to keep playing. A few records later I handed over to him, the sort of thing that I never really expected to happen- why would I end up DJing with David Holmes? I can’t even mix very well. Today we have a long slot, will be taking it in turns with an hour each and then as the pub turns to a ticketed (and sold out) event, we’ll switch on and off with each other, three tracks each back to back, no doubt with someone putting on a record that is unfollowable or unmixable, with a knowing smile. I have become more nervous about this gig as the week has gone on, playing a DJ set in a pub filled with Andrew Weatherall’s friends, family and fans. I’ve woken up every morning fretting about track selection, technical details, general performance anxiety. And I’ve told myself too to relax and enjoy it- the room will be full of lovely people who just want to socialise, hear good music and have a good time.

‘Just what is it that you want to do?’

‘We want to be free to do what we wanna do… and we wanna get loaded and we wanna have a good time.’

What Andrew would have made of all of this, I have no idea. A chuckle, a shake of the head, a grimace at a messed up transition between one record and the next as his fans try to emulate him. 

Andrew and Justin remixed each other several times. In 2013 Andrew along with Timothy J. Fairplay as The Asphodells remixed Justin's Deadstock 33s track The Circular Path- crunchy sci fi electronic house music for the future. 

The Circular Path (Asphodells Remix)

Three years later Justin remixed The Confidence Man, a song from Andrew's solo album Convenanza (the original version I plan to play at some point today). Justin's remix goes full on with the squelchy bass and slo- mo space action.

The Confidence Man (Justin Robertson's Deadstock 33s Remix)

Anyway, wish us luck, we're going in. 

Saturday Theme Twenty

Two minutes and nine seconds of fuzz guitar and motorcycle engines from 1966, courtesy of Dave Allen And The Arrows. Dave Allen, fuzz guitarist, worked on the soundtracks of various teen and biker movies in the 60s, including The Wild Angels, the Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra film from which Andrew Weatherall took the famous sample that opens Primal Scream's Loaded (but that's another story).

Dave plugged his Fender Jazzmaster into a Mosrite Fuzzrite to make his guitar sound like a motorbike. In 1966 he had a regional hit in Texas and Ohio with Theme From The Wild Angels, retitled Blue's Theme in 1967 and re- released. Blue's Theme has more fuzz per square inch than any other record from that time, Link Wray included. It is fuzz incarnate, a surf/ garage/ psyche crossover that reeks of engine fumes, leather and grease. 

Blue's Theme

Just What Is It That You Want To Do?

Loaded was the starting point for Andrew Weatherall and in the mainstream it is what he'll be remembered for I guess. He'd been in the studio before as a remixer- his first named credit was on the Happy Monday's Hallelujah Club Remix but Loaded is where the story begins. He'd given Primal Scream a positive review of a gig in Exeter at a time when no- one was interested in them. He also raved about their self titled second album, a rock 'n' roll, Stooges inspired guitar record that had managed to alienate the fans of their first album without really finding any new ones. In the summer of 1989 I saw Primal Scream touring to promote Ivy Ivy Ivy at a venue in Liverpool called Planet X in front of about thirty people. The Scream gave it their all, Bobby occasionally complaining about the low ceiling. We were right at the front next to Throb and they finished with I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have, Bobby on his knees screaming into the mic. A few months later Weatherall turned I'm Losing More... into Loaded.

Loaded

The first version of Loaded was in Weatherall's own words 'too polite' and Andrew Innes encouraged him to go back and 'fucking destroy it'. Primal Scream had nothing to lose. At this point Gillespie, Innes and Throb were still unconvinced about acid house despite Alan McGee's enthusiasm but had met Weatherall at a rave and were happy for him to remix the song. Weatherall set about taking the song to pieces and remaking it.

I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have

Taking the horns from the end section of the original song and Henry Olsen's rolling bassline Weatherall stitched Peter Fonda's famous dialogue from The Wild Angels, a 1966 biker film, to the start of the song.



 The question, 'Just what is it that you want to do?' is asked by Frank Maxwell. Fonda replies with his rallying call- 'we want to be free, we want to be free, to do what we want to do... and we want to get loaded and we want to have a good time'. The part about riding 'our machines without being hassled by the man' was cut. I've often thought there should be a version with that part included. Fonda's declaration had been used before, not least by Psychic TV (Weatherall was a big PTV fan). It sums up the spirit of the times perfectly.

The drumbeat with its massive crash cymbal came from Edie Brickell And The New Bohemians, a bootleg version of their hit What I Am, which in turn had been borrowed from a Soul II Soul record (and that was sampled from elsewhere).

What I Am (Bootleg)

The 'I don't want to lose your love' vocal part, the bit where on a dancefloor or at a gig everyone is singing in unison regardless of their ability to hit the notes, comes from a 1976 song by The Emotions.



The only bit of Bobby Gillespie that made it onto the record is the vocal part at 3.09 where he sings 'we're gonna get deep down, deep down, woo hey!' in response to Frank Maxwell's repeated question. Gillespie's vocal is from a cover of a Robert Johnson song, Terraplane Blues, presumably something the Scream had recorded but never released. There's an 'ah yeah' bit at about five minutes which sounds like Bobby, some ace slide guitar and acoustic guitar, some lovely Italo house piano and Innes' crunchy guitar parts that make the breakdown before we are launched back in.

The song was pressed up onto acetate and then some promos for DJs and as summer turned into autumn people began to notice the impact it had on dance floors. The rhythms evoke Sympathy For The Devil, the shuffling groove, and crowds in clubs began to chant the 'woo woo' part spontaneously. Loads of people have described their reactions to being told this monster rave anthem was the work of Primal Scream, the disbelief, the shaking of heads and then the wide eyed joy of becoming a believer. Members of Primal Scream have recounted being phoned by Weatherall and others in the small hours excitedly describing the effect Loaded was having on a floor right there and then. It was finally given its full released in February 1990, Creation finding themselves with a hit on their hands. Loaded reached number sixteen in the UK and propelled the band into the Top of The Pops studios where Gillespie wriggled with his maracas, black leather and long hair, feet seemingly glued to the spot. Ride's Mark Gardener was drafted in to mime on the keyboards, Throb is resplendent in teddy boy red and Innes pulls all the moves, Les Paul, hippy shirt and long curls. For a song that has such deep roots, that sent thousands of indie kids hurtling to the dance floor and still raises the roof when played at parties, it's an odd TV performance that doesn't quite nail it. And of course, the man who made it is nowhere to be seen.