Smash Hits vol 6 no 19, 27th September 1984

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Back to top	Front Cover   Features an early picture of Wham!   Other features - Culture Club, Prince, Bronski Beat, Level 42, Big Country.
Back to top	Contents page   SONGS East of Eden Big Country (page 17)   PHOTO FEATURE Big Country - 64/65 The fearsome foursome in focus.
Back to top	Page 8   Full-page advert for "East Of Eden"   THE NEW SINGLE EAST OF EDEN AVAILABLE ON 7 & 12 INCH
Back to top	Page 17   EAST OF EDEN (Lyrics to song) Words and music Adamson/Butler/Brzezicki/Watson Reproduced by permission 1984 10 Music Limited/Big Country Music On Mercury Records by BIG COUNTRY
Back to top	Page 23   SINGLES reviewed by Vici MacDonald   BIG COUNTRY: East of Eden (Mercury) The production on this record is truly awful. The instruments blur into one muddy thrashing mass, completely submerging any hapless tune which might be stuggling to escape. (It sounds the same on the radio, so I know it's not my stylus) The B-side, a brutally massacred version of Roxy Music's wonderful "Prairie Rose", is even worse. Yuk!
Back to top	Pages 64 & 65   COUNTRY LIFE Don't call them pop stars - "we hate that word". Big Country would rather be thought of as musicians, thanks. They're a lot more interested in things like rehearsing and eating corned beef "grinders" than any of the more glamourous stuff pop has to offer. Alway have been, too - as Tom Hibbert found out.   Stuart Adamson takes a man-sized bite out of his corned beef "grinder" (sausage-shaped sarnie), chews, swallows and grins nervously as he ponders the age-old musical question: "What's your new album like?" A few chews and a bit of thought later, he finally commits himself: "I'm well pleased with it."   "Steel Town" (sic), he hopes, will provide proof - if further proof were needed - that Big Country are more than just a group who sport unaffected checked shirts and make electric guitars sound like bagpipes. "Aye, we've tried to stay away from the old Scottish guitars this time. The album's got a lot more scope than 'The Crossing'."   "I always used to think, can there be any good new music?" adds bassist Tony Butler, "but this LP's turned out so well! The question now is, what can we do after this?"   As the group put the finishing touches to "Steel Town" and prepare to embark on their first British Tour for months, it is clear that confidence is high in Big Country. And that confidence remains based firmly on somewhat old-fashioned, remarkably unhip standards of 'musicianship' and 'technical excellence'.   Sitting in a lively North London public house, statements like "I'm not a pop star - I hate that word; I just want to play me guitar" (from Bruce Watson) and discussions about the "amazing drum sound" available at Abba's studios in Sweden (where the LP was partially recorded) do battle with the weepie Irish country and western ballads seeping from the rather loud jukebox.   The music of Big Country has been described in the past as "uplifting", "stirring", "emotional", and various other complimentary things like that; Big Country music raises the spirits - but it could not do this, insist the members, if they were unable to play their instruments with a certain aplomb. So they practise in private, they polish their instruments and treat them with tender loving care, they rehearse for goodness sake.   Big Country are real, DEDICATED musicians. To find out why, we probed into the backgrounds of the foursome who fly fearlessly in the face of fashion.   Stuart Adamson "I think my interest in music came from my Mum. She used to work in a record shop and she used to bring stuff like Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly home. But I wasn't born until 1958 so I just got the leftovers - she always had loads of mouldy old records lying about, like the Rolling Stones' first LP...   "My Dad was in the merchant navy so, as my Mum was working, I had to go and do the shopping of a Saturday morning. My Mum would give me six shillings to buy a single and the first one I bought was 'Death Of A Clown' by Dave Davies (of The Kinks)...   "After I left school I started working as a student environmental health officer, doing a course in Sanitary Science - water sampling, shop and pub inspection, anything involved in pollution. The guy who was teaching me the job was great. He was a big mad drummer in a country and western group and he'd take me to see his band in his Ford Escort - you couldn't see the back seat for four years' worth of rubbish. He used to toss and twirl the sticks. he was a briolliant drummer...   "When I was about 13, my Mum's brother, a man called Drew, got an acoustic guitar and I started messing about on it at my Gran's house, learning 'Danny Boy' and stuff like that to play at parties. Then I started watching the BBC TV series Hold Down A Chord; I can't remember the presenter's name but I owe it all to him...   "One Christmas, my Dad came home from sea and bought me a Woolworth's electric guitar which played like a plank and, in 1973, me and a crazy guy called Louis started a group called Tattoo, playing at dance halls doing Status Quo and Stones stuff. But eventually me and Willie Simpson, the bass player, got into Roxy Music and Mott The Hoople and the other guys were still into Rory Gallagher so we split up. And then the punk thing started..."   With Willie and Richard Jobson (now with the Armoury Show), Stuart formed The Skids (Scotland's prime punk movers). "If I sit down and think about The Skids, I remember how crappy it was at times." He quit in 1981, teemed up with Bruce Watson to form the first version of Big Country, later recruiting Mark and Tony. And the rest is history. Tony Butler "My father was a trumpet player in the West Indies. He played in a big band on the island of Dominique and was a bit of a pop star there before he came to England. When I was still quite young, he bought me a piano and a trumpet but back then I showed no aptitude for music...   "At school in Ealing, I started studying musical theory and tapping the drums in the school orchestra, but I still wasn't particularly interested until one night I saw Top Of The Pops and Normal Greenbaum was on doing 'Spirit In The Sky' and there was a shot of a Fender bass close up. To me it was like a pair of legs and I wanted a bass guitar of my own...   "My cousin was in the army and doing alright and so he bought me a bass and I started to learn. Then a few of my friends at school said they knew this family called the Townshends who were looking for a bass player. So one day I went along to their house and the Townshend mummy came out - and she wouldn't let me in because she thought I was some kind of mugger...   "When I started playing with Simon Townsend, I didn't even know he was the brother of Pete Townshend of The Who. And when I did find out who Pete was this big star loved by millions of people all over the world, I wasn't really impressed. I just thought he sounded a bit wild. I was really green at that time...   "While I was playing with Simon, we were getting nowhere and I had a day job at WEA records doing telephone sales. I broke The Pretenders - I sold so many copies of 'Brass In Pocket' to the shops you wouldn't believe it. And then, when I played on Pete Townsend's 'Empty Glass' album, I ended up having to sell that too, which was really embarassing...   "When On The Air toured with the Skids, I knew I wanted to play with Stuart. I'd never seen a group play such simple, effective songs and raise the spirits of so many people under one roof as the Skids did. Big Country do the same - only more so. This group is nothing but an emotional experience to me. Perhaps it's my West Indian blood, my calypso feelin' brudder..." Mark Brzezicki "My Dad is a trained opera singer and although he never got anywhere, he still practices two hours every day. He's one of a rare breed; I've got two brothers and two sisters - I'm in the middle - and he's always encouraged us all. My older brother's a bass player in a group with Tim Attack from Child (slightly wimpy teen-oriented group of the late 70's), my older brother is a DJ on local hospital radio, my older sister's a children's entertainer - she works holiday camps as a magician's assistant. My younger sister, who is 17 and just going into an office job, is the only non-entertainer in the family...   "When I left school, I went into engineering and at the age of 16, I bought a drum kit off my neighbour. With my brothers, I formed the Flying Brzezickis who unfortunately never got anywhere. But then I started playing on the working man's club circuit...   "I did the ropes, playing seven nights a week, everything from talent contests to backing drag artists. Dwarves playing xylophones - they always needed a drummer. I backed Paul Daniels once - it's wierd when you see someone doing their magic tricks from behind because you can see how it's all done. The worst gig I ever did was with these complete idiots called Johnny And The Playboys with some dirty lech with a huge medallion about 50 singing 'Delilah'...   "When my aircraft engineer apprenticeship was coming to an end there was an ad in a music paper saying "Drummer required". I replied, did the audition, passed, and it happened to be the Simon Townshend Band (subsequently On The Air) with Tony on bass. This was about 1977 and the music was very demanding, a cross between Yes and Genesis. Our first tour was supporting The Skids after which we split up and me and Tony formed a rhythm section called Rhythm For Hire...   "I'm committed to Big Country but I still enjoy the demands of session work. I've just done Frida's solo album. I was a bit intimidated playing with someone from Abba, this big mega-band, but she's totally unaffected by it all. I did the artwork for Frida's cover too. I'm clever like that..." Bruce Watson "When I was born, my Dad was working as a gold miner in Ontario, Canada. he used to take me to bear parks and places like that which was great, but when I was two years old, he moved back to Scotland where he had grown up as an ordinary coal miner. I went to school in Dunfermline until I was 15 and I got one 'O' level in plasticene - no, it was woodwork to be honest. I'd always wanted to be a joiner but by then I was interested in music and playing guitar. The first groups that got to me were things like The Sweet, Gary Glitter and Slade. Good stuff, eh?...   "After school I got a job in a lemonade factory and then I had a choice of going down the pits like my Dad or going into the dockyards. So I went into the dockyard as a yardboy, cleaning up the mess for two years, and after that I spent six months with a joiner's firm making rope ladders for submarines - which was completely boring. By now all my friends were getting into Genesis and awful stuff like that but I had seen the Alex Harvey Band and decided I was going to be a guitarist...   "Me and my mate Raymond saved up all our money and bought some guitars and formed a group called The Delinquents. We got a wee guy called Jimmy to play drums and a guy called Box used to sing. We played church halls and community centres and then, all in one week, we got to support The Stranglers, Wire, Simple Minds and The Skids. It was the most completely brilliant week of my life. The Skids, to me, were unbelievable - the Scottish version of Television (rather superb US band of the late 70's)...   "After The Delinquents I sold all my instruments, went to London and squatted for about three weeks trying to get a band together. No luck. I just wanted to see my mum. So I came back to Scotland, formed another no-luck group called Eurosect and went on the dole. Then I got a call from Stuart..."
Back to top	Page 67   LETTERS   (Picture of a WHAM bar) It's getting worse. After Big Country Wagon Wheels comes a Wham! chew. If they bring out a Paul Young flavoured ice cream I may be forced to complain. Paul Young's No Parlez And Wham's Fantastic. P.S. Holly looks like Norman Wisdom.
Back to top	Page 68   LETTERS   I've just been investigating the small area of vinyl between the grooves and label on records. Some of them have got funny quotes on them. Here goes:- "Not the way I would have done it!" ("Confusion" 12" - New Order); "What do you think?" ("Temptation" 12" - New Order); "Dan yer man & Lasher the cakeman." ("Waterfront" 12" - Simple Minds); "Better than a slap in the face with a wet fish!" ("Just Can Get Enough" 12" - Depech mode); "Tiv! Tiv! Tiv! & Most sincerely, Tiv." ("Everything Counts" 12" - Depeche Mode); "I think I've got Euthanasia & anyway I've got to go now." ("Love In Itself" 7" - Depeche Mode); "Chas says that nutty sound." ("The Prince" 7" - Madness); "Attack! Attack!" ("Bittersweet" 7" - New Model Army). "No-one play this record for a 1000 years, okay." ("Hole In My Shoe" 12" - Neil); "Seven say results not excuses & All the players play a part" ("Our House" 7" - Madness); "Dreams stay with you" ("The Crossing" LP - Big Country); "Bilbo tape one." ("Rupert Sings An Hour Of Nursery Rhymes" - Rupert Bear - my favourite all-time LP - £1.40 in the bargain bin at Woolworths). A recruit Of The New Model Army, Manchester.   That's nothing. On the inside of my v. toe-tapping "Mini pops Christmas Disco" EP is etched the intriguing message: "XL-437-B3". What can it mean, I wonder?

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