Papa Brittle: Papa’s got a brand new career

Papa Brittle were Basingstoke’s most successful home-grown band. Although they only lasted some seven years, the group left a legacy of fine recordings and served as a springboard for the later careers of its members. This account of Papa Brittle’s birth, life and afterlife has been put together from three testimonies; those of keyboard player Gary Choppen, who was on the scene at the beginning, drummer Martin Steib, who joined in 1994 and their guitarist throughout their history; Ian Davenport.

Although Martin Steib was to join Papa Brittle (as replacement for original drummer Steve Maidment) at a time when they had already established their identity, he was very much from the same scene. His story provides quite a faithful snapshot of the inter-relation of bands and musicians from Basingstoke, Tadley and Farnborough in the era in which Papa Brittle came together.

Martin’s journey begins with the break-up of Tadley punk band The Mental (see Basingstoke on Vinyl ‘BOV’) in 1981. He joined their guitarist ‘Si-Kick’ (Simon Walters) in a new band called Death Trip which also included Lee Stannard and Si-Kick’s girlfriend Susanne.

“We played a couple of shows and recorded one demo. Also around about this time, I played a couple of gigs and recorded a demo with Terminal Jive” (see Urge/Punk page and BOV).

Death trip split up in 1985. Lee Stannard formed ‘Zeus’ with Tadley drummer Chris Jones.

“The Farnborough band Stallion also split up. Wiz and Gerry (Bryant) recruited me and Wiz’s brother Danny (Brown) to form Capricorn. We gigged and gigged for 3 years, even spent a couple of weeks over in Germany. We released a 16 track cassette called the ‘Good News Tape’. According to the Mega City Four book; (Mega City Four: Tall Tales and Creepy-Crawlies, Martin Roach, Independent Music Press 1994) we sold over 1700!

We were at the stage where we were supporting loads of bands at venues like the 100 Club, Dingwall’s and the Marquee but we were getting no label or management interest.”

In 1985 Zeus split up. Lee Stannard and his twin brother Gary became the road crew for Capricorn. Chris Jones formed Exit East with Simon Beacon.

“By 1987 we had changed our image and our name; to Mega City Four. We started getting involved with the Hanoi Rocks glam rock scene but after a year I left. Chris Jones from Exit East took over on the drums and the rest is history. I designed the MC4 logo and the sleeve of the first single.”

I press Martin on the logo issue. After all, it appeared on all their early singles, on t-shirts and probably mugs and posters and so on. Did he ever register any kind of copyright?

“MC4 was like a marriage; a marriage that I walked out on. It took years to fix that. I just let them have the logo; I was never happy with it. I wanted to sort out the ‘M’ but Wiz was adamant that it stayed that way. Record labels tried to do the same but the band wouldn’t let them. They could have been huge but refused to sign to a major. I had a lot of respect for them; they always stuck to their guns.

Under the moniker of Ratfink, I started writing for the music page in the Basingstoke Gazette.
I also started engineering at Refuge Studios in Reading where we recorded such bands as Slow Dive, Chapterhouse, Papa Brittle and RDF (Radical Dance Faction).

I formed Go Go Amigo with Simon Beacon and a rotating cast of local musicians. After a couple of years of gigging (including support slots for The Manic Street Preachers, The Sundays, The Family Cat and Carter USM) and after releasing two singles (see the Story of Acorn Records) we both fell in love with industrial music.

We split up the band (Go Go Amigo) and formed ‘Krach’. Things started picking up. We appeared on a Japanese talent show along with Blur and James! Simon relocated to Brisbane but not before we played some of our best shows.”

Meanwhile, back in Basingstoke, Papa Brittle was just coming together. Gary Choppen takes up the narrative:

“I first met Lloyd Sparks when I was working at a double glazing factory called New England Conservatories on the Daneshill Industrial Estate in Basingstoke in 1986 or early in 1987.
Lloyd was a couple of years older than me. He was a real character and we instantly clicked. We’d talk (and probably bore everyone else) about music in general during the day and often get told to shut up by the guys in charge. We’d go out for the odd drink here and there after work and sometimes (believe it or not) you’d find us both at the bar in Martines where Lloyd had a liking for a pint of lager with a double vodka top!

It wasn’t long after I had met Lloyd that I found out that he was in a band. I found this really exciting and interesting. The band was originally called ‘The Spiral After Effect’ and they had done a number of local gigs, but had either recently or were in the process of changing their name. They were a three-piece. Lloyd sang and played bass, Ian Davenport (originally from Tadley) took care of guitar duties and also backing vocals and Steve Maidment was the drummer.

If I remember correctly, they had just recorded a demo tape and Lloyd played it to me one day. It was a 3-track demo that included two future crowd-favourites. The tracks were White Boys, Punish Yourself and Conquest Of Another Kind.

I instantly loved what I heard which was a real surprise to me as it wasn’t the type of music I was following. I liked Electronic, Goth and 80’s stuff and was a big Gary Numan fan at the time. Spiral After Effect were playing at The Pig & Whistle pub in Brighton Hill which was a popular live venue back in the day but unfortunately I didn’t get to see them. I think they may have been playing with Safety In Numbers on that occasion and from what I heard, the place was packed out.

I guess my enthusiasm for the band impressed Lloyd and I was invited along to one of their band practices at The Vyne School one evening. I don’t remember whether the invite was to just watch or to join in because Lloyd was aware that I had recently purchased another keyboard (Yamaha DX7s) and we’d talked about adding keyboards during our chats. I never classed myself as a keyboard player (I still don’t). I was self taught. I couldn’t play piano or anything like that but I had enthusiasm and ideas.

Anyway, I went along and was amazed at what I heard. I got on with Ian and Steve instantly and from there it moved on. The band had a kind of punkish style about them originally but the songs all meant something. It was evident that not only Lloyd but also Ian were great songwriters. There was a political element to the stuff they wrote and before long a 4-track cassette recorder was introduced in to the set up. This would be to play samples and noises during the songs which Lloyd had collated from various TV programmes and films.

It wasn’t long after my visit to The Vyne to watch them practice that I started practicing regularly with them at Cranbourne School in the music room every Tuesday and it was a bit of a shock when I was asked to play a gig with them at Washington Heights in Reading in 1987. It was to be my first ever experience of playing live music with a band. I loved every moment of that first gig and it was to be the first of many. It seemed to happen very quickly and we’d be playing on a regular basis. At first I was never a proper member of the band. I did a number of gigs before I was actually asked to join and I jumped at the chance. I’d seen a number of other local bands around that time and to be honest, I thought Papa Brittle were in a different league. The attendances at local gigs were very encouraging and more often than not the venues would be packed solid. People would be singing along to the songs and it was a really good feeling. I was a bit nervous and at times I would be physically sick with nerves before gigs but as soon as we started playing, I’d be fine. I felt like I was part of something special and I was. Lloyd also encouraged me to listen to other music as he thought I had tunnel vision when it came to what I listened to and he was correct.

Our sound in the first couple of years I was in the band was a kind of funky sound which you could probably associate with someone like the James Taylor Quartet or Corduroy but with a harder edge to it. It was infectious and great to play alongside the guys when we gigged. Gigs were now becoming more and more regular and the more gigs we did, the bigger the crowds got.”

Photos by Ann Flanagan. This is believed to be at the Caribbean Club, Priestly Road on Saturday 20th October 1990. Papa Brittle were supported by Go Go Amigo and The Herb Conspiracy. However, Papa Brittle and Go Go Amigo appeared at the venue on Saturday 10th September 1988 with Losing The Instinct also on the bill. Gary continues:

“A favourite venue of mine was the Caribbean Club near the hospital. We played there a number of times either supporting some up and coming circuit bands or headlining ourselves with support from local bands. I have fond memories of that place and a couple of things to mention in particular. I remember on one occasion we were sound checking and there were at least 100+ people in the car park listening to us. That particular gig was absolutely mad. The place was as packed as you could get it (I still have it on video) and Lloyd had an idea for our stage entrance that would be a bit different. By now, Simon Goodwin had also joined the band as second guitarist and bass player and the idea was for him and Titch (Steve Maidment, the drummer) to be on stage playing a funky kind of drum and bass rhythm thing whilst I, Lloyd and Ian would be stood at the back of the venue unknown to everyone else. We’d have air horns and would walk through the packed crowd letting them off on our way to the stage.

This was a great idea but it didn’t go to plan. Firstly unbeknown to the rest of the band I was outside the venue with a young lady and had it not been for people shouting my name and telling me to get inside NOW, I’d probably have stayed there as I was enjoying myself (evil laugh). When I did get in to the venue I made my way to the other two and we then proceeded to walk through the packed crowd on our way to the stage whilst Titch and Simon played. It wasn’t that easy as I am sure you could imagine and I started to worry when I saw Lloyd and Ian make it to the stage and I was still nowhere near it. People were holding me back on purpose. It was quite funny at the time until I pressed the air horn and there was a leak and some of the liquid soaked and burnt my hand. I was in agony but the adrenalin got me through it and the gig was a stormer.

I can’t remember the exact date but there was a time when most of the band moved in together. It was a house in Byron Close in Popley and eventually (not intentionally) I moved in too. I slept on the sofa most of the time. It was probably 1989 and I was going through a pretty rough time personally. I won’t go into detail but I was in a relationship that wasn’t plain sailing and I had taken an overdose because I couldn’t handle it at the time. I will always be really grateful to the guys who let me stay with them and it was awesome living as a band. Titch stayed with his parents in Kempshott but the rest of us lived the dream as it were. It was also in 1989 if my memory is correct, when we decided to release our debut 12” single. I think we looked at it as a double A side and the tracks were Al Jolson and Enemy Of The Brotherhood. Simon designed the artwork for the release and we all put in £500.00 each (I had to get a loan) to get 1000 (I think) 12” singles produced. It was released on our own label UFP which was short for Urban Funk Power and distributed via Southern Records I think (same as Chumbawamba who would later become friends).

It was great to see the record in the front window of Knights Record shop in town and before long we’d be signing copies of it at gigs and whenever anyone bumped into us. The single did quite well and it also gave us the opportunity to do our first video too.

Barry Read who had seen us a few times also played saxophone and he joined us at some practices to add parts to some of the songs. He worked as a lighting engineer in TV and films and had been playing our recordings to people he worked with. He came to us one day and told us that he had worked out a deal where we could record a proper video. All we needed to do was to pay for the catering and supply copies of the record and t-shirts to the crew and we would get a day’s filming for free. I am not sure what it equated to (money-wise) but it was certainly in the thousands back then. It was exciting stuff and the song we’d be performing to would be Al Jolson. A story board was made up and Lloyd was kitted out in Black & White Minstrels costume with his face made up as a golly. That sounds bad even writing that down but the idea behind the whole song was that Al Jolson was a white man dressed as a black man to entertain people, which was wrong obviously. The video is online on my YouTube account if you want to see a very young looking band doing their thing. I heard that the video was shown a number of times regularly on MTV for a few weeks back then although I never saw it at the time.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=89745697250

We did some great gigs during my time in the band and played with some excellent bands, a lot of big, named ones too in some great venues. I have a lot to thank them for as I would probably never have visited those places had it not been for the band. One of the gigs to note is when we played in a place in Brighton. We were headlining the gig on the strength of the demo that had been sent out. First band to play in the night were a local Brighton band called The Levellers. We instantly liked them and got on well with them so we kept in touch. It was a few years later that they would ask Papa Brittle to be main support for them on their University tour, and then later one of the support bands on their full UK tour.

It was a very busy time for the band and when I lived with them I was pretty naïve. The other guys had been in bands before and knew the system and how things worked in the music business whereas I didn’t really have a clue. I would get really excited when more often than not I would be the one that would pick up the phone and shout to the others that EMI or Warner Brothers were on the phone and wanted to speak to the band representative. This would happen almost daily.

I think it was just around the time when we were recording a new demo of tracks for the first album ‘Obey Consume Marry Reproduce’ that I started to get more grief from my relationship which was riddled with jealousy (on her side). It really was starting to do my head in. I had also started DJ-ing at Martines’ night club on a Monday for their alternative nights and I was working full time (as we all were) and everything was getting on top of me. I made a stupid decision one Saturday morning before a gig that evening to leave the band. That wasn’t fair on the band at all. I had been told by my then girlfriend that it was “them or me” and I made the wrong choice! It’s something I always regretted and still do to some extent. Things started to gather pace around that time. An appearance on Radio 1 live one evening was upsetting. It was part of a live showcase from The Marquee in London that Radio 1 were doing to showcase the up and coming ‘ones to watch’ bands. I sat there in my bedroom recording it, drinking Brandy with tears in my eyes. Someone else was on stage replacing me. It felt at the time like I had done all the hard work and was now going to miss out.

 The style of music we were playing was changing. It was getting more of an industrial feel to it. I don’t think Titch liked it as it didn’t seem to be his thing either and later on down the line he would also leave the band. He was replaced by Martin Steib who was previously in a local band called Go Go Amigo. He played an electronic kit and had a lot of industrial influences and the band went in that direction. It was just starting to go that way before I left but moved up a gear afterwards. It would be a change of style that would appeal to the European market and with that; label interest soon followed.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEKelCdLtnE&sns=fb

With the departure of Gary and of drummer Steve Maidment, Martin Steib re-joins the story.

“At the same time as Papa Brittle’s deal with IRS fell through, both drummer and keyboard player (Steve ‘Titch’ Maidment and Gary Choppen) decided they had had enough. My first PB gig was supporting Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (who Lee and Gary Stannard had left MC4 to work for a couple of years previously). The next night we supported Chumbawamba and a mini album deal was offered; both bands spending the following year touring around the UK and most of Europe. ‘Obey, Consume, Marry, and Reproduce’ was released along with the ‘Status Quo’ single and a Chumbawamba single featuring two PB remixes.

In 1993 Papa Brittle signed a 2 album deal with Canadian label ‘Nettwerk’. We recorded a couple more tracks and re-released ‘Obey’ as a proper album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3n7e2UslLc

Meat Beat Manifesto remixed ‘Status Quo’ which became the Radio One Evening Session’s record of the week. We then released the ‘Unsafe’ single to coincide with a UK tour with The Levellers.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os9WmMfvx88&sns=fb

(Random historical note: Radio One’s Evening Session was hosted between 1993 and 1997 by Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley. Lamacq then assumed the show until it was pulled in December 2002. For many years it occupied the slot preceding John Peel’s show. Steve Lamacq was born in Basingstoke on October 16th 1965 [The Koobas played at the Town Hall on that date] though he actually grew up in Essex. He worked as a journalist before becoming a radio DJ. He nominated Mega City Four’s debut single ‘Miles Apart’ as NME’s record of the week in 1988. ‘Lamo’ played ‘Out of the Blue’ by THAT Nadeen White Experience on his evening show on Radio 2 on 10th July 2010 (the Saturday of Basingstoke Live that year). He said that she had sent him the CD. She hadn’t. I gave it to him on May 22nd at a rally outside Broadcasting House, against the closure of BBC 6 Music).

Right; back to Papa Brittle. Martin continues:

“We spent the summer of 1994 in Vancouver recording our second album ‘Polemic Beat Poetry’ (featuring backing vocals by Sarah McLachlan).

Also that year we shot the video for the single ‘Stress Killer’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFsSeIM_s4E

In 1995 we released the Polemic Beat Poetry album and two singles; ‘Stress Killer’ and ‘Economic Warzone’. After months of touring (and even after playing live on prime time French TV!) we were dropped. We played our final show in the ruins of a French castle.

A year later Mars used our track ‘Greed is Good’ for a TV commercial in France.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yL64CBwfjA

Greed Is Good (audio only)

Stress Killer appears on the soundtrack of Angelina Jolie’s first movie ‘Fox Fire’.

After remixing some singles for different labels I started touring in a crew capacity with other bands including The Cramps, Napalm Death, Heaven 17, Gene, The Skatalites, Grand Drive and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

In 1998 I started running and designing websites for Rosanne Cash, The Divine Comedy, The Bluetones and Gene. Then I joined Bennet as a session drummer. We did a full UK tour with Echobelly.”

Bennet were a four-piece band formed in Reading in 1993. They were dropped by their label (Roadrunner) in 1998 after two albums. Martin then followed Bennet’s Jason Applin into the band Union Starr with Roger Wells, formerly of Air-Head but it was not a fruitful association. Despite being replaced by Patch Hannon of The Sundays, Martin’s playing survived on at least one track from Union Starr’s download-only album ‘Falling Apart Together’.

In 2000 Martin relocated to Toronto. He then went on to Chicago in pursuit of a career in design and animation.

“Today I run a video animation department for a design company in Atlanta Georgia where I get to score music for various commercial projects.”

Martin and Ian have stayed in touch in spite of their geographic separation. According to Martin; bass player Simon Goodwin left the music business when ‘The Papas’ called it a day in 1996. He isn’t easy to trace. Original drummer Steve Maidment is out there but doesn’t seem to want to be contacted.

Lloyd Sparks is said to have joined the ‘British-based multi-ethnic hip-hop–ethno-techno–world fusion music group’ Fun-Da-Mental in 1996. Lloyd is known to have written and delivered the lyrics for a track called ‘Darfur and Disneyland’ but it is not listed as a release on Discogs. It may have been issued as part of a download by a label called ‘5 Uncivilised Tribes’ in 2006. The label (a subsidiary of Nation Records) issued Fun-Da-Mental’s uncompromising ‘All Is War – The Benefits of G-Had’ in 2006. Wikipedia suggests that material (possibly including Lloyd’s contribution) finally appeared as a limited availability download following years of dispute over the controversial nature of its lyric content. Unlike records, downloads are not easy to buy second-hand!

Lloyd (pictured back, right) does appear in this video shot at a festival in Poland in June 2009. The track ‘Mr. Bubbleman’ is a Fun-Da-Mental crowd-pleaser that first appeared in 1994.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05_0rfBoR48&sns=fb

Local music enthusiast and friend of Papa Brittle, Gary Timney asked Fun-Da-Mental if Lloyd could be contacted via Facebook. The group’s leader Aki Nawaz replied “He thinks he has no friends”.

Lloyd; you do!

Ian Davenport, after going the distance as The Papas’ guitarist, got himself a job at the Courtyard Studio in Oxfordshire. He began initially as an assistant but soon became the house producer. Today (2013) he uses the studio as a base for his noted portfolio of production work which has taken him far and wide. He has just returned from Germany where he has been working with the band Wir sind Helden. He produced their fourth studio album ‘Bring mich nach Hause’ at the Tritonus Studio in Berlin in 2010.

Martin is aware of Ian’s recent work and remarked: “I’m very proud of the lad”.

The Courtyard Studio is among the peaceful glades not far from Abingdon. Ian says that George Orwell is buried in the village churchyard. He lives near Reading, half an hour’s drive from the studio (Ian, not George Orwell). He has a wife and two kids and a box-room full of vinyl which he can’t play since an unfortunate incident involving his turntable.

Ian and I almost met at Andy Rose’s funeral, just a year ago. St. Michael’s was full to busting. It seemed somehow inappropriate to go around asking people who they were and taking photographs as I would elsewhere. Andy was and is fondly remembered by his family and friends but also by his numerous musical associates from the ranks of Go Go Amigo, EB & The System and Papa Brittle.

Ian says that he called Andy in to add his rapping/vocal style to the track ‘Motown Funk’ released in 1999. Not long after beginning his ‘apprenticeship’ at the Courtyard, Ian forged a working relationship with Andy Lovegrove which they called The Away Team. Lovegrove usually did the vocals but for this production they sought out Mr. Rose who had what the track needed and is simply outstanding in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AxZeWgpYBY

Which of Ian’s innumerable production and technical credits has given him particular satisfaction?

“The Band of Skulls; they’re a tight, bluesy three-piece from Southampton with a girlie-bass player. Check ‘em out!”

Ian produced their first two studio albums ‘Baby Darling Doll-Face Honey’ (2009) and ‘Sweet Sour’ (2012). He has also produced the Australian outfit Stonefield which is made up of four sisters: Amy, Hannah, Sarah & Holly Findlay.

Having read my ‘Basingstoke on Vinyl’ chapter (quite right too!); Ian admits to a twinge of nostalgia:

“I got a warm feeling when I saw the Runners’ single on there!”

Ian (and indeed Martin) were Tadley boys. Though they were half a generation behind the Tadley punks; they knew them all. Ian says that Blod (real name Alan George) became a lighting technician for Papa Brittle. Blod apparently now lives in Cornwall. Ian has some photo albums that Blod lent him some time ago. They include many photos of Papa Brittle’s two main line-ups on various stages throughout Europe but there are also rare pictures of The Normals and other Basingstoke ‘landmarks’.

“I’ll get round to scanning them into my computer one of these days.”

Ian recalls Richard Millington, bassist with EB & The System. He describes EB’s Dave Allen as the best Basingstoke guitarist he’d ever seen.

He also has some interesting information about Papa Brittle’s role in the discovery of Tanita Tikaram:

“It was mainly Simon and Lloyd that took an interest in her. They helped her record a demo at Byron Close” (where PB lived communally 1988 to 1989).

My speculation in ‘BOV’ that Tanita had supported The Papas in London may have been wide of the mark. Ian remembers only that she appeared with them at Rucstall Hall in Black Dam!

“Funnily enough, I bumped into her in Boots about the time Good Tradition was in the charts. I could never decide whether she was aloof or just shy.”

Though Ian and Martin have clearly done well in their respective fields, they share an affection for the era and the town of their formative years. Martin told me:

“During my time in Basingstoke bands there was always loads of support from every musician in the town. It was a great little scene.”

Finally, I ask Ian about the origin of the name ‘Papa Brittle’. He admits to being responsible for it but can’t recall any particular reason for choosing it other than liking the sound of the words!

“I never liked it that much and we really should have changed it when Martin joined but persisted on the basis that we had established a following and reputation under the name, but in the long run it probably didn’t make any difference!”

Ian is surprisingly modest about their recorded work although he feels that their qualities as a live band never really came over on their records.

Where did that image come from; the photo on the sleeve of Al Jolson?

“It was on a postcard that Lloyd found. We ‘borrowed’ it. The text was done with Letraset and the lettering for ‘Al Jolson’ probably came from one of his records.”

The lay-up for the sleeve was made at 29 Byron Close; an address which surely merits a blue plaque.

My thanks to Ian Davenport and Martin Steib for their help in compiling this history. Gary Choppen’s weekly podcast ‘The Scene’ can (and should) be heard here:

http://thescenebasingstoke.podomatic.com/entry/2013-11-19T05_57_36-08_00

Gary seeks out and airs local music of all sorts and also delves into the archives for Basingstoke music from ‘back in the day’.