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#Post#: 171--------------------------------------------------
29 June 1983 Liverpool
By: CheerfulHypocrite Date: December 1, 2016, 3:33 am
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It was a Wednesday. Challenger was flying back to Kennedy Space
Center via Kelly Air Force Base. The Residents had been booked
to play in The State.
The State Ballroom is situated on Dale Street in Liverpool.
Originally a Ballroom where ‘Tea Dances’ where held in the
1930’s and 1940’s. The State is an architecturally unique, Grade
Two listed building. The State actually opened in the late 1920
with a design more Art Nouveau than Art Deco. It had been
designed in 1905 as a Restaurant. The State fell into disuse in
the late 1970’s. The Littlewoods Organisation had used as their
Social Club then as a store house. The State opened as a club in
1982 and quickly became "the city’s premier hotspot". Featured
in the 1984 film Letter to Brezhnev and used by Frankie Goes to
Hollywood as the backdrop for their video to “Relax” and ever
more recently as a Night Club in Peaky Blinders. It was, and is,
a site of architectural interest.
[center]
HTML http://i2.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/article6944153.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/zzdti96851.jpg[/center]
The outside is still as dull as ever. The Word "Insurance" being
the only part of the building left after they demolished half of
the "State Insurance" building to erect a vile piece of concrete
and glass. Or, modern Architecture as it is known.
[center][img]
HTML https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/State_Insurance_Building_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1021172.jpg[/center][/img]
The music policy was White Alternative Dance: Kraftwerk, Heaven
17, New Order, DAF, ABC, King Trigger, A Certain Ratio and then,
suddenly, in 1983: a live performance by The Residents. Which
was all a little strange. But not that strange. Live acts at the
State included New Order, the Farm, Big Audio Dynamite and Sigue
Sigue Sputnik. Not always the mainstream but usually
interesting. Largely, Mike Knowler and Andy Carrol were
responsible for some of the cutting edgery of the sounds.
[center][img]
HTML http://imgur.com/a/GQL0K[/img][/center]
[center]Mike Knowler and Andy Carrol[/center]
Being Gay was, largely, still illegal. The State attracted a gay
but mixed clientele whose musical taste was not entirely
mainstream. In 1982-1983, The State was still largely outside
the Gang Drug Culture of the rest of the City. Gay Clubbing
often sought to draw as little attention as possible. Despite
the fact that the State was such a popular destination. You
could go to prison for same sex kissing in public and if someone
mentioned that sexual act you performed with your eighteen year
old boyfriend then that would be the end of you. Strangely it
was a hugely popular but not popular part of the State. Discreet
might be the word. In a camped up and outrageous sort of way.
The State sold a cider that was 9% by volume and entrance was a
penny. You could book a party at The State and the person making
the booking would get 100 free tickets and a bottle of
champagne. The State’s place in Liverpool legend crystalised
when new music programme The Tube was filmed there. All in all
it was the hub of a social scene that encompassed such people as
Pete Burns and the entire staff of Probe Records. Where,
strangely, The Residents could be purchased in return for money
and some harsh comments about 'taste'. A 7" single cost 79p -
most concert tickets were £2 to £3 and everyone played
Liverpool. A very young pre-Kurt Courtney Love lived in a flat
that was on the way to my house. She had a reputation for having
stolen pairs of knickers instead of doing laundry. It was not
the most normal of moments in history.
[center]
HTML http://www.bombedoutpunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bombed-out-punk-memoir-peter-alan-lloyd-1970s-1980s-punk-new-wave-bands-1980s-liverpool-bands-bombed-out-film-screenplay-locations-in-liverpool-bombed-out-tour-probe-records-pete-burns-epicentre-punk-1-3.jpg[/center]
[center]Pete Burns working for a Living in Probe
Records[/center]
Which hardly explains why The Residents were even remotely
interested in using the venue. Perhaps they simply wanted to not
play in an astounding architectural monument. Perhaps it was
simply because Pete Burns went to the State and Pete Burns went
to Probe Records and Probe Records had an Eskimo Era Resident on
the bags they gave away with those 79p lumps of petroleum vinyl.
See, there, up in the top right.
[center][img]
HTML http://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/uploads/7/1/4/7/7147924/5801400.png?424[/img][/center]
But then. Suddenly. The Residents at the State were cancelled.
It was sort of kind of exciting. It was sort of kind of, well
they would cancel, why would they even be touring. Whereupon
there were further announcements and a sort of sinking feeling:
they were really going to play at the Royal Court instead.
Which was weird. The Royal Court was used for pantomimes and
plays. When they put music on they took out all the seats. It
was run by gangsters. It was the scene of murders deaths and all
sorts. All sorts really. It largely looked the same for decades.
But in the 1980s it was the grim version.
[center][img]
HTML http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/store/ttdb/ttt0044/lowres/010568_regular.jpg?1284508530[/img][/center]
The stage was sort of the right size for the set. Tickets were
the standard £3.50 "Standing". Which meant there woud be no
seats. There would be seats but they would be stacked up at the
back. Which meant milling around with half of the "musical
elite" of Liverpool. All of the Balcony was out of bounds.
Nobody really wanted to have a repeat of previous events. But it
was perfect.
There were probably five people in the audience who had heard
anything of the Mole Trilogy. It was - despite all the praise
for the State as some epicentre of culture - an audience that
did not have any idea of what they were hearing or why or even
if it was them witnessing the collapse of another band. There
was an A&R man there. He was confused. He needed to ask what was
going on more than once. Mistaking Penn Jillette for the Lead
Singer. He was persuaded to stay by Pete Burns right up to the
point where a Resident announced: "You've ruined our Show.
You've ruined our Show. Now You're gonna pay." poor Lamb exited,
almost literally, stage left. Why would you turn up to a
Residents Show to see if you could sign them: makes almost as
much sense as not playing the State.
[center]
HTML http://www.residents.com/historical4/mole/files/stacks_image_3007.jpg[/center]
So The Residents never got signed to some obtuse Label -
probably by Bill Drummond, whose rumour mongering can be found
in the Novelisation of his live Volume 45. Thus never became the
Liverpool Band they never were. Which was good for the Beatles,
who would never have coped with the competition. Which only make
their contribution to the world that tiniest bit more obscure:
not signed by Bill Drummond.
Even worse. There was confusion about if this was theatre or if
it was music. The vagueries of Theatrical Licencing Law would
forbid acting if they were a band and therefore performing
music. But if it was Musical Theatre then different rules, again
would apply. In a venue where the seats were taken out and put
back in on a daily basis and the door and stage staff might be
paid in beer or half a lamb out the back of a cab, such rules
might not apply. The Penn Jilette narration often consisted of
joking commentary on the story and performance and that confused
the the Door Staff -whose main intent was to get off with a
dancer. Which, again, was not really helping.
But the performance was magical. So it was freezing cold and the
venue was vile. But the entire experience was so worth it. It
was nothing like this: video
HTML https://youtu.be/pp2KWSsBl44.
It was better.
Warning: Much of the foregoing is rumour and unverifiable. The
Residents have a rich and varied History that encompasses much
more than merely the mundane, tiring and repetitive process of
touring. The foregoing may well be confabulation or even
outright lies. Use sparingly and externally only. Do not use if
skin is broken. This way up.
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