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Kim Phaggs on
how the Readers Wifes became a pop group...
Well it all seems a bit cloudy, kind of
in the same way as to how we came to be
DJs. I guess it kind of started in the DJ
booth at Duckie. Chelsea and I would be
playing a song, and to make each other laugh
we would start to make up our own lyrics
and sing them over the top of whatever it
was we were playing, for example, "I
got married to the widow next door, she's
alright, she's a fucking whore!" Anyway
it made US laugh. Some of the lyrics we
made up developed into entire verses that
just seemed to expand over the weeks, a
particular favourite was to "Anaconda"
by Sisters of Mercy!
Around about the time we did "Tits"
(the annual Readers Wifes compilation CD)
we had been toying with the idea of writing
a "proper" song, we were working
with Jock on a track called "Readers
Wifes Covered in Blood", which featured
Chelsea on vocals and Jock and myself doing
little bits of music and samples. It ended
up on the next annual compilation.
Sometime after that Mark and Jeremy told
us one night that they had done a remix
of the song. When they said remix, what
they actually meant was that they had got
one of their friends in (a posh sounding
actress friend) to sing Chelsea's vocal,
and added bits of "DJ" by David
Bowie.
We were quite impressed and asked if they
had any other tracks, they gave us an instrumental
piece which we decided should be "Bitch
at the Brits", which was an expression
we would use for all those vacant girls
who seem to be hanging around at award ceremonies
and record company parties, who know fuck
all about music but are quite interested
in becoming a pop stars girlfriend.
Chelsea had written the words and we had
a rough idea about how they would fit the
music. So one night we went to Mark and
Jeremy's flat and after about six bottles
of wine we made it into Jeremy's studio
where we shouted the lyrics into the mike,
with me standing behind Chelsea, hanging
onto his shoulders.
I think Mark and Jeremy were a little bit
apprehensive at this point. However when
we played it back a bit later it wasnt half
as bad as perhaps it should have been. We
spent a bit of time reworking it, adding
the ALIEN, ALIEN, BOMBER! BOMBER! bit, which
was a phrase we used to sing over a Gary
Numan track, and it ended up as the version
you know now.
When that track was complete we decided
to carry on working and did "Endless
Night" which was originally called
"Charmaine's on the Game Again",
then "Boy Aint Right" which just
took AGES. And basically it was such a laugh
that we just kept on going.
Once we had six songs done that we were
all happy with, we thought it was time to
let our friends hear them, as no-one had
actually HEARD any of the songs, thats when
we decided to do the "Six Songs No
Encore" night at the Retro Bar, also
it was Chelsea's Birthday, so it seemed
like a good idea for a night out.
At the moment we are working on a couple
of new tracks which I am not telling you
about. . . yet, but you should be hearing
them in the next couple of months or so. |