Re: the Making of "Tolerance"

["Nick Walters" <nickw@bl...co.uk>]

Sincere thanks for that.

Utterly fascinating, worthy of professional publication.

Have you thought of writing a book?

NWhatever2
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Richard 
  To: blueplanes@st...net 
  Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 5:46 AM
  Subject: [Blueplanes] the Making of "Tolerance"


  The Aeroplanes second album Tolerance is one of the least referenced and
  heard of the bands work, coming well down the list of most fans favourite
  'Planes albums. Released in 1986 on Fire Records, it is the sound of a 
band
  finding its feet. For many years i did not listen to it at all .. wasnt 
the
  sound of the record was too thin, a rush mix job? But nearly 20 years on
  there are many likeable elements to the record, and like
  Bagpipe Music by the Art Objects, is an important element to Gerard
  Langley's body of work as a whole.

  So I wrote this piece about the making of
  the album, trying to account for what it contains and how it sounds. I
  realise this is a  subjective account but i have tried to remember
  objectively and with a sense of humour, plus the disclaimer is that it 
was a
  long time ago!


  Absentee Notes: the Making of "Tolerance"

  Following the release of the Action Painting EP in 1985 Gerard recruited 
a
  number of people to the band in order to make it a more viable live
  prospect. First came Dave Chapman, a London friend of Nick Jacobs who 
played
  a variety of instruments including mandolin, harmonica and guitar, and 
who
  had made an appearance on the Action Painting EP. It was
  hoped he would fulfil the "utility" role held by Ian Kearey, who was 
unable
  to commit full time to the Aeroplanes as his bass playing duties with the
  Oyster Band were taking priority. In effect Dave stuck mainly to the
  electric guitar, at least for live work, leading us quickly into the 
unique
  position of being a band with three guitarists. On bass was Ruth Cochrane
  from Bristol,
  and on rhythm guitar and piano myself, Richard Bell. Both Ruth and I had
  been active on the Bristol music scene for a while. In addition to
  songwriting i ran a mixed media club night at the Thekla in the docks, 
The
  Intimate Club.  DJ John Stapleton also started to play a more prominent 
role
  in the group, live with two decks, splicing in spoken word material from
  diverse and often comic sources. But the whole question of who was in the
  band was rather vague and no-one really knew. Was Angelo Bruschini a 
member?
  He was certainly important, but too good a guitarist to remain 
exclusively
  tied to the
  Aeroplanes. Of course he went on to provide guitar sonic depth to Massive
  Attack.

  The live set at that time consisted  of the Bop Art material, plus Action
  Painting, Warhol's 15, Le Petit Cadeau de Don Juan and Breaking in my
  Heart, so the new "associates" collectively and individually began 
writing
  for what was to be the second Blue Aeroplanes album.

  Rehearsals and writing sessions took place in a basement room in City 
Road,
  St Pauls, Bristol, under a cafe called The Impulse. There is a picture 
of it
  on the inner sleeve of the Bop Art cd, Gerard perched against the piano,
  John's sticks flailing to the right, Wojtec looking on. Gerard taped
  everything on a portable cassette walkman, all the jamming. He'd come 
back
  to us with an isolated riff and say "repeat that bit 8 times"! He was 
very
  much the director of the music, making the music fit the poems he had
  prepared. Although he did not play an instrument he had a strong sense of
  musical innovation or cliche, and steered us towards the former. Journal 
of
  an Airman was structured like this. Other tracks were written 
individually,
  most obviously with Nick and his own songs (Shame, When the Wave Comes,
  Severn Beach and Rare Flowers from this era). Ups was an Angelo echo 
piece
  which was one
  feature of his writing - see "And Stones"!  Also Who Built this Station 
in
  the Midwest dates from here. Warhol's 15 was a Nick track that was 
already
  part of the live set, Angelo's  Richard Thompson-isms adding some depth.
  Tolerance and 30 Love i wrote at home and bought to the band more in hope
  than anything, but everyone liked the folky tuning of the later (its 
open D
  major) and Tolerance was a short pop song that made a good contrast with
  longer tracks like Control of Embassies. Soul I wrote with Ruth just 
before
  the album got recorded though was not often played live. Wierd Heart was 
a
  Nick/Dave collaboration reflecting their angular guitar influences and
  dislike of too-regular time signatures (its working title was "the
  Beefheart"), Lover and Confidente a Dave Chapman riff that started as a 
jam
  at Impulse, Arriving similarly. As the material built up I contributed 
the
  country-ish Complete
  Blessing, Dave weighed in with The Couple in the next Room to which 
Gerard
  added words by John Ashberry. Both of these ended up as B-sides on the
  Tolerance 12" while the Arthur Lee-influenced Stripped, a personal
  favourite,  ended up on Friendloverplane and also one of the later Radio 
1
  sessions, for Simon Mayo in early '88.

  So there were at least three writing forces at work at this point: my
  folky/REM type pop songs, Dave/Nick's angular alt.rock not wishing 
anything
  to be too polite, and Angelo's spacey echo pieces that no-one else could
  play quite like him. Add to this Gerard's nonchalant, edgy spoken 
delivery
  and use of poets like WH Auden and it made for a pretty eclectic mixture.

  Fire Records extended their provisional deal to include recording time in
  Bristol and London, in view to making a new Blue Aeroplanes record. The
  label was run by Clive Solomon, with whom Gerard had incredible 
arguments,
  but whose vision today seems pretty good - other bands on the roster
  included Pulp and later Teenage Fanclub. Like all independent labels 
money
  was thin on the ground, and after the minimal
  recording budget there was very little left for promotion or tour 
support.
  Gerard always argued, rightly, that more money should have been made for
  making demos and remixing. How could recording time for 10 days or so
  guarantee a quality product?

  Looking back the economics and the way time was used was a bit crazy. As 
a
  band we may well have spent more  on Red Stripe than equipment. We spent
  more time angsting over whether to buy a tour bus than fine tuning the 
song
  structures. There were also issues of control. Gerard was in control. It 
was
  he who made the decisions on the set lists and
  the overall direction of the band. I dont think the  band  understood
  Gerard's vision to the full all of the time, and sometimes being told 
what
  to do boiled over into resentment. Perhaps why so many
  people have joined and left over the years is not because "everyone was a
  student and had a tutorial on a wednesday" as was put on one of the
  sleevenotes, but because it is hard playing second fiddle to someone 
else's
  idea, especially when there is little obvious financial return.

  Gerard hated the idea of being pigeonholed by the press into a "scene". 
The
  whole "indie" scene that was happening was anathema to him. Apart from 
The
  Fall there was no-one else really doing what he was trying, and actually
  none of us listened to Mark Smith and co. Today in the US with artists 
like
  Howe Gelb, Will Oldham and Iron and Wine the Aeroplanes might "fit" more.
  When we were paired with Primal Scream for a gig at the Clarendon in
  Hammersmith it felt
  uncomfortable. When Felt rang up, however, for a double header at the 
same
  venue, we were happier.

  Most of the Tolerance album was recorded in London, although the sound of
  the Bristol recordings made at SAM, above the old Moon Club (now Lakota) 
 at
  the same period is a lot better. Alaska Studios in Waterloo was a dingy 
old
  place that doubled as a rehearsal studio and there was a lot of coming 
and
  going, not least by underground trains that caused the place to shake.

   The band members stayed in different places. Gerard and John stayed with
  Wojtec in
  Ealing. I stayed in a squat in Stoke Newington. The house was condemned 
as
  it sloped from East to West and had rats running up from a flooded 
basement.
  Even more dismal was the power-less place round the corner occupied by 
one
  Kurt Ralske, a quiet American guy who was to become Ultra Vivid Scene. 
Also
  hanging around the area was a woman called Debbie, who turned out was in 
My
  Bloody Valentine. Anyway, enough of the name dropping.

  To what extent did that group of people share musical taste?  Gerard once
  described the band member's tastes as a series of overlapping
  venn diagrams, ie with some common ground but mostly not. There was thus 
an
  unspoken struggle for creative space within the group. Gerard was a
  Dylanologist, also a fan of the diversity of the early 70's Island 
samplers,
  and of course the Velvets. His whole place was an education, full of 
books
  and records by and about maverick artists. I could hardly match that, and
  kept quiet about rather liking The The .. But Nick Lowe was an artist we
  liked. Also Richard Thompson, REM and Nick Drake, add to that Television,
  Camper Van Beethoven and Arthur Lee and you have some idea of where we 
all
  crossed. The two Johns (Langley and Stapleton) and Wojtec went for 
sixties
  soul, anything with a degree of authenticity, which in most music in the
  80's had
  disappeared under the weight of synthesizers and studio effects.

  Within all this there was the struggle with the label and the publisher, 
and
  their expectations of what the recordings might produce, and the bigger
  picture of packaging this for the press and the industry at large. At 
times
  the music industry felt like a big battle ground, and i sympathised with
  Gerard trying to do something different and out of time that was going to
  annoy alot of people. Bop Art did not generate big sales, the band were
  something of a cult thing or an acquired taste, depending on how you saw 
it.
  Elistist? Arty? Certainly plenty of people were never going to get it; a
  consant knockback we got was that a band with "talking" instead of 
singing
  could never be widely successful.

  The producer of Tolerance was Jon Jo Key, who had played in the Art 
Objects.
  I cant honestly remember him influencing things, it was definitely 
Gerard at
  the helm. But the engineer was influential, Iain O Higgins, who liked
  mucking around with the studio effects. Rare Flowers on the album was (to
  me) an experimental mix that ended up released. Wierd Heart went through 
the
  same process, though is more successful, with John Stapleton's inspired
  spoken
  word sources. Samplers were invented for people like him! Most of the 
record
  was done live, in one or two takes, with a few overdubs. It was all done 
and
  dusted in a few days, maybe 10? Now that i know how studios work, ie 
when to
  leave things out and when to listen to an EQ, i find it hard to listen to
  some of the record. If ever there was a 2" tape that needed retrieving 
from
  the Fire archives and remixed minus all the tinny EQ and excessive 
reverbs
  on the voice and snare, Tolerance is it.

  Because of the constraints we were under Gerard at one point just went 
with
  it. Fire weren't paying for any more time, so we had to just work with 
what
  we had. 30 Love was meant to be so lush, when Ian Kearey added autoharp i
  walked round the block struck with the beauty of it. Shame about the 
final
  mix! But some tracks are OK sonically. I remember Nick lining the vocal
  booth with sheet
  metal and cranking his Marshall stack up to 11 (!) for the feedback on 
Soul.
  Cant remember if he had his pill box hat on at the time, but he certainly
  played a left handed Telecaster. Journal of an Airman, despite the out of
  tune trumpets, remains excellent, as does Tolerance itself, if a bit 
thin.
  Ups has lyrics  about the Dug Out in Park Street, an awesome dance/indie
  place to hang out at that time. The night they opened the video bar we 
sat
  up there watching things like Tears for Fears's Mad World. Angelo's echo
  technique is very distinctive on Ups, a style which Gerard had encouraged
  with tracks like Passengers of
  Fortune on the Art Objects record, and which was to rise to one of the
  'Planes all time tunes, And Stones. Another plus of the album  is John
  Langley's inventive drumming - inventive, busy, pushing, pulling and 
always
  great.

  Lover and Confidente was the first single in mid 86. To our surprise 
Sounds
  made it record of the week, though it didnt get much airplay. The cover 
has
  me whispering into an ear belonging to a woman called Helen O'Neill. She 
now
  writes a food column for an Australian sunday paper - trivia fact fans! A
  video was made by some students at Bristol Poly, shot live and at a 
party in
  St Andrews. Tolerance came out next as the second single, released as a 
7"
  and 12" with extra tracks, and things started to move. Janice Long on
  Radio 1 championed the song, playing it about 30 times.   Jed's (Wojtec's
  brother) Bowie
  impersonation on the chorus appealed, and the video, shot for about 500 
quid
  in an autumnal London park and containing images of the legendary plastic
  sheeting across the stage, captured a few TV commissioning editors'
  imaginations. One week it was being screened on the Old Grey Whistle 
Test on
  BBC2, the next week the band went out live from the Glasgow studio, a 
last
  minute replacement for The Smiths. We played Arriving. The cameras 
ignored
  Ruth. Weren't women allowed in art\rock bands or something? Andy Kershaw
  frowned with confusion at the whole thing, Stapleton's "blue .. blue .. "
  squawking out of the speakers after the song had finished.

  Finally the album came out, to rather mixed reviews. "Interesting but not
  consistant" was the general vibe, which most people would still agree 
with.
  The sleeve didnt help, a bad bit of advice there and a rare example of
  Gerard letting his control standards slip, though the back cover of the 
band
  in full live throttle at the Trinity in Bristol is alright. Nick's photo 
of
  his girlfriend on the Tolerance 12" is a more alluring image. Fire 
Records
  licensed the album to Emergo, a european label with distribution through
  much of the continent. That version of the artwork has a black margin 
and a
  much larger picture. What was it from, a Hollywood movie? Also the euro
  release had the legend "contains three extra tracks" along the top, but i
  only counted two, Breaking and Midwest.

  But all these things were kind of meant to happen, and were indicative 
of a
  band in a formative stage, a band still finding out what it was good at. 
For
  me it was when Ann Sheldon's (the band's Paul Klee after all!) paintings
  began to regularly grace the artwork that a coherance was established.

   How many copies did Tolerance sell? I have
  no idea, but probably not many. We also signed the publishing to Fire's
  sister company Twist and Shout.

  Gigs were where the band was strongest, and from which the reputation 
grew,
  with the added attraction of dancer Wojtec and trademark  Solidarity T 
shirt
  (until it got removed). We worked hard as a gigging band, playing all 
round
  the UK. In Bristol our haunts were the Western Star, Tropic, Trinity,
  Thekla, Glastonbury and
  Ashton Court festivals. In London we played the Clarendon (with its 
terrible
  sound), and the other indie ghettos in the suberbs. But as soon as we 
signed
  to a live agency things improved - great shows at Club Dog in Wood Green
  (terrific promoter, Michael Dog), the George Robey in Stoke Newington, 
The
  Marquee and the Limelight in the centre of town. A turning point was a
  brilliant and packed gig at ULU supporting Its Immaterial. We did buy a 
tour
  van, and employed Andi Woods to drive it and manage us on the road,
  including the "no sleep 'till Tromso" tour of Norway in spring '87. Live
  reviews in the music press got other promoters in Europe interested, and
  short tours of Switzerland, Austria, and a one-off in Berlin followed. In
  Austria the national radio taped one of our shows and broadcast
  it the next afternoon, just as we were arriving in Vienna. Or did i dream
  that?!

  The vibe in and around the group was building, even if the chemistry 
wasnt
  always right. Fractured and inspired amateurism just about sums it up,
  although i would also say there was a lot of love ; we loved the music 
and
  never got sick of playing the songs. The NME didnt like us, allowing us 
just
  one grudging feature. I guess we were not experimental enough, or not
  commercial enough. But the Melody Maker did, at the same time they were
  going for artists like Band of Holy Joy. All bands need journos as
  supporters and outside the loyal writers at Out West\Venue there was 
Chris
  Roberts at the Maker. He discovered The Sundays and Bjork, and was such a
  fan of the Aeroplanes he ended up writing the sleevenotes to
  Friendloverplane.

  So if Tolerance wasnt a great album, we suspected we had one in us. 
Through
  1987 we tuned our guitars, really thought about the writing, did some 
demos.

  Spitting out Miracles was coming.



  Richard Bell, Feb 2004