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The Distractions - The End Of The Pier
Album
review by KevW
Dedicated crate-diggers and explorers of British independent music's past might
find their ears pricking up with a mention of Manchester's The
Distractions, along with those who were on board for their first
incarnation which dissolved back in 1981 after the release of a solitary album,
'Nobody's Perfect'. Despite major label backing it failed to take off as well
as hoped, although it's now considered a cult classic. Their sound was never
really designed for the commercial market, and prior to signing with Island the
band had released singles on indie labels including Factory. In the thirty-plus
years since, various past members have been involved in other bands (including
The Fall, naturally), until in 2010 the core partnership of singer Mike Finney
and guitarist Steve Perrin reconvened to revisit tracks they'd been working on
many years ago.
The sessions led to not just the completion of some of these tracks but to new
material as well, and now, two years on, The Distractions finally have a second
album available. 'The End Of The Pier' moves on from their debut without
particularly trying to update their sound and other players have connections to
like-minded bands including The Only Ones and the also recently revived June
Brides. They've unquestionably mellowed slightly with age but their style
remains very much in the vein of post-punk and early indie, as is evident
on the excellent opening track 'I Don't Have Time' with its jangly strumming
and snappy rhythm section. Lyrically there is a maturity with some
sentimental and world-weary themes. Not least on 'Wise', a beautiful and
reflective track that ponders the passed time with lines like "time has
been gentle with me, you have not fared so well... the girls all used to fall
for the twinkle in those eyes... I think we best get home now to our wives".
'Girl Of The Year' follows suit and this sentimentality is handled expertly
so as not to sound corny, and the softer tracks sit comfortably alongside the
more upbeat numbers such as 'Boots' and 'The Summer I Met You'. There's a
soulful aspect to their stripped back set-up thanks to the assured and matured
vocals, each of the slower songs sound anthemic but never overblown, making
this feel a bit like an album's worth of closing tracks. 'When It Was Mine',
'Man Of The Moment' and the aforementioned 'Wise' all sound like curtain
closers, but ultimately that accolade goes to the aptly titled 'The Last Song'.
All told 'The End Of The Pier' is incredibly personal and at times emotionally
stirring; like some old friends gathering for one last hurrah, which it may
well be. You'd hope though, that following this successful reunion they press
ahead with a third record. It would be a big shame if this talent were to get
distracted for another three decades.
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Here's a piece at Cerysmatic Factory from an unknown issue of City Fun on The Distractions by Martin X (Heywood). The article is about a yet-to-be-determined Distractions gig with support coming from label-mates X-O-Dus (who, like The Distractions, are back and performing in their home town - they played superbly last night at the Band On The Wall in Manchester):
The Distractions are fresh out of the studio, having
completed work on their first L.P. As is common in such cases, this attracts
the usual mish-mash of press representatives, fashionably dressed people who
know or care little for the music but manage to stay chic in all weathers,
social climbers, and those who like to see and be seen. Still, this is the fault
of neither the band nor Mr Dickinson, the jet-set, it seems like the poor, are
always with is and don’t really detract from the enjoyment.
First on are Exodus, possibly the most underrated Reggae
band in the country, not, as I've said before, I don't claim to know a great
deal about the subject, the sooner someone who DOES takes the time to write in,
the sooner we'll be able to give bands like Exodus the coverage they deserve.
Manager Mr Dunlop's movement of Ja People seemed very impressive, if the size
of the supporters' entourage is anything to go by, Exodus must be highly
regarded in Reggae circles. Now with a single out on Factory, which I HAVE
listened too and DID appreciate, and getting radio play, apparently the lout
Peel thinks it's great as well, so there ye go. Come on all you Lee Perry
impersonators, let's have a full-size Exodus feature/interview.
THE DISTRACTIONS, ah, the Distractions.
This is the one band for the Eighties. Sure, lots of bands
have been to the States, and I’m not detracting from that for one minute,
but they’ve all been a kind of cult thing (which suits us
“fans” down to the ground) but it don’t pay the bills (ask
the Buzzcocks). Listen a minute, I happened to see the Beatles at the same
stage in their career (ad the Apollo, as it happens, and I’m here to tell
you that the Beatles were NOWHERE AS GOOD AS THE DISTRACTIONS at a comparable
stage). I have no intention of writing up this gig, I don’t intend to
emulate the nationals, I don’t need to do it, you don’t need to
read it, I’m going to do an article about the Distractions.
Martin X
The second half of the Steve Perrin interview by Malcolm Carter at Penny Black:
Steve Perrin kindly answered a few more questions we put to him in a second interview as the band geared up for not only the release of ‘The End of the Pier’ but those upcoming shows too.
PB: Before we ask about ‘The End of the Pier’, is there anything unreleased from the Island days?
SP: If you'd asked me that a couple of years ago I would have said “no”, but Neil Storey from Hidden Masters has been putting together a retrospective and has discovered all sorts of stuff. He's still haggling over legal issues, but hopefully it will come out in 2013.
PB: It's been a couple of years since the release of the ‘Black Velvet' and ‘Come Home’ EPs. Did the positive reception of those songs spur on the making of a full album?
SP: I think it was more to do with the positive response from ourselves. We felt confident in our own abilities so we decided to take it forward and work on a more cohesive set of songs.
PB: During the decades between ‘Nobody's Perfect’ and the release of the EPs were you still writing songs?
SP: No. I'm not the sort of person who gets up in the morning and starts writing songs.
If you write stuff you want people to listen to it so you need an outlet. Otherwise it's like writing letters to somebody who doesn't reply: pointless and bad for the self esteem.
PB: There's the distinctive Distractions sound to ‘The End of the Pier’. Did you consciously try to retain that?
SP: We can't help it. If I start playing and Mike starts singing it just sounds like The Distractions, whether we want it to or not.
PB: The two EPs both had slightly different line-ups, with Mike Finney and yourself the only original Distractions. Who is in the current line-up?
SP: That's a very good question. I guess the current line-up is me, Mike and Nick Halliwell. On the album Arash Torabi from The June Brides plays bass and Mike Kellie from The Only Ones is on drums. They'll both be with us for the shows in August.
PB: You are performing at just two shows in Salford at the end of August. The demand for tickets has been good I hear, so why not more dates and why just Salford?
SP: I think I'm the problem there as I need to get back to Australia where I live now. We were trying to organize a London show but it got too complicated.
PB: Any nerves about the upcoming shows? It's been awhile.
SP: No, I'm looking forward to it.
PB: There are a couple of co-writes with Nick Halliwell on ‘The End of the Pier’. How did that come about?
SP: In both cases I'd started things and was having trouble finishing them so Nick offered to help out. The balance was quite different, though. ‘ The Last Song’ is about 80% me and 20% Nick. ‘ Boots’ is about 80% Nick and 20% me.
PB: Were all the songs on ‘The End of the Pier’ written recently?
SP: Yes, everything was written in a period of about six months leading up to the recording and it went pretty much up to the wire. I finished ‘When It Was Mine’ about two days before I got on the plane to the UK, and ‘ Man of the Moment’ was even later than that: a few days before we went into the studio, if I remember correctly.
PB: With the band members living in different countries rehearsing the new songs must have been difficult. How familiar were the other band members with the songs before you entered the studio?
SP: Either Nick or I had demoed everything so they'd listened to it but, as I said, it was going pretty much up to the wire. Mike and I were rehearsing the vocals on the car ride down to the studio in Exeter.
PB: ‘The End of the Pier’ is naturally going to be compared to ‘Nobody's Perfect’. How do you feel it stands up to that 32 year old album?
SP: The thing about ‘Nobody's Perfect’ is that, like most debut albums, it's incoherent. It's just a collection of songs that we had worked up at the time with nothing particularly tying it together. The point of making ‘The End of the Pier’ was to do a set of songs with a unifying theme and/or mood. Whichever one people prefer it really down to their own tastes, which is fine by me.
PB: Are you happy with ‘The End of the Pier’. Is there anything you wish you'd done a little differently?
SP: I never thought I would hear myself say that I was happy with a record but, yes, I am happy with this one. That's basically because we had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve and I think we achieved it.
Obviously I hope other people like it but the fact that I'm satisfied with it myself makes that less important than it might be.
PB: What music are you currently listening to and do you think that you are influenced by any music you currently enjoy?
SP: I think you get influenced by everything you hear, either in a positive or negative sense.
As for listening habits, I listen to the stuff I always have –- Scott Walker, Serge Gainsbourg, Miles Davis, The Magnetic Fields, Antony & The Johnsons, The Cramps – and there's always some good new stuff. The Lana Del Ray album's good, as is the new Factory Star stuff and the recent Leonard Cohen album. Oh, and I liked John Grant's record, ‘Queen of Denmark’, too.
PB: Despite all the geographical problems are they any plans for future Distractions projects? You're not going to make us wait another 32 years surely!
SP: I kind of like the idea of a “deathbed confession” album in 32 years but that might be pushing things a bit. We have talked tentatively about a third, and final, Distractions album. It has a working title and I kind of think I know what the subject matter is. Better see how people respond to ‘The End of the Pier’ first, though.
PB: Thank you.
Here's the first part of Malcolm Carter's recent interview with Steve Perrin for Penny Black (actually, it's the lengthy introduction, and a good one at that):
Dexys Midnight Runners took 27 years to follow-up ‘Don’t Stand Me Down’, which was not exactly well-received either by the music magazines of the day nor the record-buying public at the time. Over the years and a number of re-issues it’s strange that it’s now being hailed as a classic by so many. So to be on the safe side the follow-up album that took over two and a half decades to show is already attracting more attention and praise than the more worthy, even on its original release, ‘Don’t Stand Me Down’.
Manchester’s The Distractions have taken 32 years to follow-up their debut album, ‘Nobody’s Perfect’, which, unlike what we all thought was going to be Dexy’s last album, was appreciated by the music press. Why the album, which came put on Island Records, never sold in vast quantities will always remain a mystery, as each and every song still sounds as fresh today as they did in 1980 and, despite Kevin Rowland being hailed as one of this country’s best soul singers, The Distractions hold a stronger claim to that title in the shape of vocalist Mike Finney.
A couple of years ago Occultation Records released not one but two EPs of new Distractions songs, ‘Black Velvet’ and ‘Come Home’. Without wishing to take any credit away from any of the five original Distractions (Adrian Wright who is no longer a member of the band actually wrote one of the best and Distraction-defining songs on the debut, ‘Stuck in a Fantasy’ [and Time Goes By So Slow - Ed.]) thankfully both vocalist Finney and guitarist and main songwriter Steve Perrin, who were the backbone of The Distractions, returned to the studio.
As we mentioned back then when we spoke to Perrin and Finney in our first interview with them, the band didn’t have to update their sound or really make any major changes even thirty years down the road as the classic pop that dominated their debut never has and never will date. So the songs spread over the two EPs sounded like classic Distractions, Finney’s vocals were even more soulful, and Perrin had lost none of his talent for writing instant melodies that often belied his melancholy lyrics and showed what a superb guitarist he still is. Perhaps the biggest surprise though was that one of the songs, ‘Oil Painting’, on ‘Come Home’ was written by ‘new’ member Nick Halliwell, and that song alone captured all that we loved about The Distractions.
Things were looking good then; with new blood that so obviously understood what made The Distractions so special all those years ago, a record label seemingly determined to make sure the band didn’t slip by unnoticed again and talk of a new album at last all we could do was hope that it was finally going to happen.
Well, it has. ‘The End of the Pier’ is released at the end of August 2012 again by Occultation Records, and, apart from six brand new Steve Perrin songs, there are a couple of co-writes with Nick Halliwell and two songs Halliwell wrote alone which once again show how seamlessly he has fitted into the band. While it’s obvious that the band have matured they have lost none of the passion nor the sound they created back on their debut. Halliwell produced ‘The End of the Pier’ and in doing so has helped create yet another outstanding collection from the band.
‘The End of the Pier’ is, in many ways, a natural follow-up to ‘Nobody’s Perfect’. What would be the point of the band getting back together if they were going to sound completely different? Then again it could be argued if the world really needs ‘Nobody’s Perfect Volume 2’ which ‘The End of the Pier’ is in a lot of ways. To anyone who fell for the charms of ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ in 1980 there’s no question that more of the same would be more than welcome. It would be a crying shame if there was never going to be another Distractions album that followed much the same path as that debut.
But ‘The End of the Pier’ is so much more than a carbon copy of previous glories. Maybe it’s the injection of new blood by Halliwell that makes the new album sound contemporary while never for one second discarding the sound that touched so many some thirty years ago. Maybe it’s the fact that Perrin still writes songs that have that timeless quality to them, or maybe it’s because Finney squeezes so much passion out of each and every line that makes these songs so real, so essential. Or maybe it’s simply that when these guys get together something unexplainable happens and their talents combined make some of the most honest, direct and tuneful music we’ll ever hear.
Not only will 2012 go down as the year that The Distractions returned with their second album of classic pop. It will also be remembered as the year the Distractions finally took to the stage again. Unfortunately there will only be two gigs, both in Salford at the end of August but who knows? With ‘The End of the Pier’ already attracting more attention than the Distractions’ debut did on release, maybe we shouldn’t give up hope just yet of the band taking on more dates in the future.
[To be continued]
With all the recent focus on the triumphant homecoming gigs in Salford, not to mention the new album, it's nice to be reminded that the old classics are appreciated as much as the new material. Here's the Portuguese April Skies blog on classic Distractions, old and new (apologies for the dodgy translation - although some of the nicer mistranslations are left in):
In a strictly temporal sense, post-punk means obviously the
period immediately after the boiling punk. Already
in musical terms, the concept is widely used, although passed to the generality
of the masses as the bastion of so-called urban-depressive culture of the appearance (and ethics) of punk. What
today is something overlooked is that this period also produced pop music,
something that we can state without having to move up to the synth and neo-romantics of the early eighties. Right
there, before the end of the 1970s, a large batch bands - mostly forgotten
today, some form of crime - recovering the dictates of sixties pop, soul
with an accent here, a hint there with funk, always under the philosophy do-it-yourself.
Of this flow of bands, many short-lived, for which I hold a special fascination,
a highlight are the Mancunians The Distractions, a collective of soul-inflected pop, that time has erased even considering the rich musical history of their city. But
what is certain is that they glowed in this period, highlighted by their lone
album (Nobody's Perfect, 1980) with a multinational label, before imploding the
following year. Before
that, however, they recorded what would be your ultimate theme for Factory
Records, also showed that the publishers, Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, were not restricted
to the diptych Joy Division / New Order and adjacent projects. Indeed,
"Time Goes By So Slow" is one of those songs that deserves the stamp
of timeless, hard to beat in any career, a blatantly shimmering melancholy
break-up song. The
line and rhythmic stridency of guitars inevitably refer to their time, but the
most distinctive feature of this theme is the voice of Mike Finney, one of the
best blue-eyed soul sounds of the season that sings each phrase with an urgency so
touching. I
must confess to you that, at the time I write these rough lines, and "Time
Goes By So Slow" runs on repeat, I am driven by a mixture of defiance and
revolt this song not be disclosed to the four winds.
Could
this faint hope that this happens not to be vain, that because two years ago The Distractions are back and have just released an album. I've
heard it, with some prodding, and I can guarantee you that The End Of The Pier
retains intact, after a respectable 32 years, the best qualities of the band, i.e.,
a keen pop sense, a bleak romance of another era, and a voice that carries
the urgency that would only be thought possible when singing at an early age.
Videos from the Friday night gig at the Kings Arms in Salford, taken by Luis Finney, Mike's eldest:
Leave You To Dream
Waiting For Lorraine
Lost
Girl Of the Year
Boots
Watch this space for more videos from both nights, filmed in HD and with desk audio...
Distractions: The End of the Pier
Reviewed By: Malcolm Carter
Label: Occultation Records
Format: LP / CD / DL
Thirty-two years ago Manchester band The Distractions released their debut album, ‘Nobody’s Perfect’, to rave reviews but very few sales. It remains a mystery why that album, which followed a handful of brilliant singles, didn’t sell. Fourteen songs which still sound fresh today, a singer in Mike Finney who is surely one of Britain’s most underrated vocalists, and a guitarist in Steve Perrin who not only wrote melancholy tunes that once heard would never leave you, but also wrote some of the most affecting lyrics of the era.
Perrin’s greatest songs, some of which were co-written with Finney, were his love songs; never one to take the usual route there was always a twist in Perrin’s lyrics. We’d all been there. “You’ve got too much pride and too little to do / And what you want to wear is all that matters to you / Suppose the tedium must drive you mad”, were Perrin's lyrics almost spat out in frustration by Finney 33 years ago now, and which appear on one of the singles that didn’t make it onto that debut album (It Doesn’t Bother Me, an Island single from 1979), and have lost none of their effect over more than three decades.
The Distractions made pop music that said something, that meant something; they wrapped their lyrics in melodies that were instantly appealing but which you’d never tire of. In 1980 the band could have been seen as being out of time. While The Undertones at that time were still releasing classic pop singles and Buzzcocks had fairly recently ended their run of the same, The Distractions' take on classic pop was a little different from their contemporaries. While both those bands, and many others, had tried to add a modern slant to their pop, The Distractions, it seemed, just did what came naturally and by doing so created a sound uniquely their own that while taking a sly look at the past was never overwhelmed by it. But the record buying public just didn’t get it.
Fast-forward to 2010 and Occultation Records issued two EPs by a reformed Distractions. The only two original Distractions involved were, thankfully, Perrin and Finney and, apart from a re-recording of a track from ‘Nobody’s Perfect’, we were given five new songs spread over the two EPs. It was as though they had never been away. A little world-weariness might have crept into Finney’s still soulful vocals but it was somehow fitting after all this time. Five new songs from The Distractions were more than we could have hoped for, especially when they had lost none of that unique sound. Most surprising was that, although Steve Perrin had lost none of his songwriting skills, one of the standout tracks, Oil Painting, was written by Nick Halliwell, who was now also handling some guitar parts, and both the melody and lyrics were classic Distractions. You just couldn’t see the join. But then it went quiet. Again.
There was talk about a new album but given that The Distractions' main players were now scattered around the globe it seemed too much to hope for. Then Occultation Records announced that a new album, ‘The End of the Pier’, would be released in August 2012 and that The Distractions would actually play at least a couple of gigs in Salford at the end of the month too. It brought back memories of waiting for the local record shop to open on a Saturday morning, and it’s obvious that with ‘The End of the Pier’ the band has lost none of the soul, passion and melodic flair that it showed 32 years ago.
Joining Perrin, Finney and Halliwell this time are Nick Garside (keyboards who also made an appearance on both EPs and handled some of the production then), Arash Torabi (bass, the June Brides and the Granite Shore) and Mike Kellie (drums, the Only Ones and more importantly Spooky Tooth). Production is by Nick Halliwell and much like Garside did on the the EPs, he has captured that classic Distractions sound perfectly.
So if ‘The End of the Pier’ sounds uncannily like a 32-year-old album does it have any relevance today? Yes, it does. The reason ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ worked so well back then, and why it still stands up today is because the music made by The Distractions then was timeless. Apart from Finney’s vocals which have naturally matured and which makes them even more suited to the music Perrin is writing these days, the music The Distractions make on ‘The End of the Pier’ is really a continuation of what the band started on ‘Nobody’s Perfect’. It’s like an older brother to ‘Nobody’s Perfect’; the same but different. Once again these songs are timeless little gems that will never date.
Apart from six new Steve Perrin originals, Nick Halliwell co-wrote two songs with Perrin and also contributes two songs of his own. Much like Halliwell’s sole song on the ‘Come Home’ EP, his songs here fit in perfectly. The whole album sounds like it was written by the same person. Much like original member Adrian Wright’s contribution to ‘Nobody’s Perfect’, (Stuck In A) Fantasy, the difference between the songs is seamless.
I Don’t Have Time, a Perrin composition, kicks off the album. It's one of the edgier Distractions tunes, Perrin’s distinctive guitar still showing signs of the angular work that dominated some of the band’s previous songs. It opens the album in much the same way that Waiting For Lorraine did on ‘Nobody’s Perfect’. While the band have slowed things down since then, there’s still that grittiness in Finney’s vocals, and the interplay between the vocals and the scorching guitar towards the end of the song is something the band maybe couldn’t have captured during their earlier years.
Wise, the second song, is one of Halliwell’s and the first taster of those haunting ballads that The Distractions are so good at. Finney opens the song with the lines “I swore I’d never share a room with you again/Yet here we are with twin beds pushed apart”, and you’re immediately transported into the song. A song about ageing, in keeping with The Distractions tradition it is hardly lyrically straight forward, and those expected twists are there. Halliwell shows that he’s a perfect choice for The Distractions. He is certainly a match for Perrin in the songwriting stakes, and as Perrin is one of our unsung heroes when it comes to writing melancholy songs which strike home that’s some comparison.
By the time you get to the third song, Perrin’s Girl Of The Year it really is like The Distractions have never been away. A pretty melody coupled with a touching vocal performance from Finney (just why isn’t this guy hailed as one of our greatest soul singers? Finney puts so much emotion into each and every word) again shows that The Distractions are masters at creating pop music with substance, the song is littered with lines that demand you take notice and Finney’s vocals pull you into each song. You’ll end up knowing the characters in these songs. If you don’t already.
Boots is one of the Perrin/Halliwell co-writes, and the lilting melody betrays the lyrics about returning home and finding your way in life and again is lyrically very clever.
Perrin again shows that he is the master of those haunting ballads mentioned earlier with When It Was Mine. This yearning song would be a highlight on any other album, but there is not a throwaway song on ‘The End of the Pier’. Thirty-two years down the line the thrill of Paracetamol Paralysis is finally wearing thin and, although it was an inspired reading, the cover of Boy’s Cry on ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ was not an essential addition, so, although the other twelve songs on that debut have lost none of their attraction through the years, it’s already apparent that all twelve songs on ‘The End of the Pier’ are going to last the course. Too Late to Change follows the same pattern as When It Was Mine, but is one of those songs that does take time to reveal all of its charms. Initially it’s Perrin’s lyrics that capture the attention but over time the nagging melody proves to be one of the most rewarding on ‘The End Of The Pier’, even though it’s not one of the most instantly appealing.
Torabi’s bass opens The Summer I Met You in fine style and drives the song along throughout. Finney’s vocals will yet again have you shaking your head in disbelief that this guy is not regarded more highly as a vocalist. The following ballad, Man Of The Moment, is Halliwell’s second solo composition which again sounds like it was written by Perrin. The way that Halliwell has effortlessly slipped into The Distractions is remarkable. It’s not a criticism to say that he hasn’t, on this showing, added to The Distractions sound but he has embraced it and become part of it which is a harder thing to do.
‘The End of the Pier’ is a perfect album. ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ is only now getting the acclaim it deserved all those years ago. It would be a crime if this follow-up suffered the same fate. Of course there are many 30 year old albums that still sound fresh today. There are albums that are almost 50 years old that still hold their own today, but look at the artists who made them. Most of them are household names who have had years of praise heaped on their work. It’s time The Distractions received the acclaim they so rightly deserve; when it comes to intelligent, tuneful pop music that is going to be around forever no band does it better.
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