Webcore: Webcore 1987

 

Webcore formed in Cornwall in 1984 and lasted until 1987(8/9?). They released several self-released cassettes, 2 LP's and 2 12"s through Jungle Records.
             

Webcore were co-founders of the event 'Alice in wonderland' with the Ozric Tentacles, in the late eighties. Paul Chousmer & Dan Carpenter later did chillout rooms for London based events and venues such as Club Dog, the Deptford Crypt, and later Whirly-Gig and Return to the Source, under the name 'Another Green World' during the early to mid-nineties.
                

What I can not find is too much information on the band anywhere on the internet so you will have to make do with an interview with the Webcore keyboardist Paul Chousmer on the aural-innovations.com site.
                          

[Another Green World also started in 1984 when Dan Carpenter and I (Paul Chousmer) left Ring of Roses. And it just keeps going…

- Did you know about the Thunderdogs? The band played with Circus Archaos all over Europe and Scandinavia from 1990 to 1992.

Thunderdogs

Tony “Dog” D’Amico – Vox
Gavin Griffiths – Guitar – previously with the Ozrics and Ullulators
Dan Spannerman – Sax
Jonny Ellwood – Drums
Seaweed – Keys – now with Ozrics
Gabrielli – bass

Sound engineer and occasional pianist was me. And Stuart Zehnder and Generator John were along for the ride, sometimes tecking. You can see that these bands were fairly incestuous. Dan and Jackie have a son together, Jackie’s brother is Stuart Zehnder who played bass for Spannerman and then Jamiroquai also.
                    

- I’ve never heard either Vane or Ring of Roses before. What was their music like?

Paul Chousmer:
Oh it was such a long time ago… Vane was primarily psychedelic, but remember this was the early eighties so we had just come out of the punk revolution here and were fishing about with Goth and New Romantic styles. We were very much into electric sounds and effects. So imagine if you can: we were fronted by James Vain, 6’4″ tall, skinny as a rake, loads of make-up, electric coloured hair (he was influenced a lot by Bowie’s transformations – but dissolute as Lou Reed!), low lights, big bass, electronic noises all over the place – can you picture this? Very much a precursor to what Webcore got up to. A little less danceable, but much better looking! The band got fairly well known around the seedier underground scene in London. Great fun and fond memories.
                      

- What about Ring of Roses?

Paul Chousmer:
Ring of Roses was James Vane’s attempt to ‘get commercial’ (He had already blown the deal with Island Records after releasing two dreadful singles), so the songs were still vaguely psychedelic/new romantic, but very polished with definite ‘understandable’ lyrics and structures. With the help of a typical low-life manager the band signed to RCA for 100,000 Pounds, then fell to pieces – really RCA were impressed by the band’s appearance more than anything. The A&R man who signed the band left the company shortly after the signing. Always a bad sign. So the money got frittered away and nothing was ever released! What a sad story.

- How would you describe Webcore?

Paul Chousmer:
Webcore were often described as way ahead of their time (at the time, if you can see what I mean.) I sort of took the roll of manager as nobody else would and we played everywhere. I (and Ed ‘Ozric’ Wynne) took the same view that the best way to publicize ourselves was to play wherever we could. So we often found ourselves at the same dodgy benefit gigs. All sorts of squats, free festivals, you name it. So we got a reputation for playing together all of the time. I’ve always thought our music was completely different. I felt there was a common psychedelic thread and we were always up for a party. Then Club Dog started (by Mike Dog, who later had the Ultimate Record label with groups like Eat Static and Senser) Webcore, the Ozric Tentacles and Another Green World all became regulars. And we grew with it.
                

- I agree that Webcore’s music was ahead of its time at the time. What would you say were the musical influences of the group?

Paul Chousmer:
Our influences at the time inevitably included ENO, but also Psychic TV, Siouxsie and the Banshees, it’s difficult to say now from this distance in time. I would say we brought lots of different things together. Mick was a poet not a singer, so that was his approach. Trying to make his words fit. My idea was to create atmospheres behind the songs. Setting the scene. We were all experimenting. Just trying out ideas and if they felt good. It’s funny now that I’m teaching I see loads of young bands coming together. They all seem to want to sound like somebody else. The A&R mentality of copying whatever the last big hit was! We didn’t think that way at all back then!
                     

- Webcore’s music also seems quite different from much of the other free fest bands like the Ozrics and Psi. How do you feel that Webcore fit into this scene?

Paul Chousmer:
You’d have to ask this one of the audience really. I find it very hard to be objective. I would say that I was always surprised that Webcore’s audience danced a lot. I didn’t think of our music as dance music. This was fairly unusual in the free fest scene. Our music was also quite structured. Not totally, there was some room for improvisation. But there were definite maps to follow. The other bands seemed to be more into long wibble solos etc…

- How did Spannerman fit into the fold?

Paul Chousmer:
Spannerman came together while we were all in the circus. We were getting bored, so we became the party band. When the circus finished we carried on. We played for a summer in 1992 with an offshoot circus “Matarank” at the Avignon Theater Festival in France. Clive Goodwin came along with his PA and looked after the sound. I left the band shortly after this as I was starting a family. The band then changed with Jonny Ellwood taking over on drums etc… We used to describe Spannerman as “psychedelic-punk-jazz.”
                         

- If I remember right you played with the Fields of the Nephilim for a short while.

Paul Chousmer:
The Fields of the Nephilim link came through Jungle Records. They had put out a couple of singles through Jungle before signing to Beggars Banquet. And the Field’s manager, Steve Brown, was a partner of Jungle. I was working at London University in 1988 or ’89 when they were looking for a keyboard player. They remembered me from some gigs when Webcore supported the Fields in the early days and tracked me down. That was great fun. I played on six tours in the U.K., Germany and France and also on their live LP. I really enjoyed myself.

- What became of Zuvuya?
Paul Chousmer:
Dunno the answer to this. I broke off contact with these people for reasons I’d rather not discuss. I made some music with them and it was put out through Delerium.
                   

- What are your feelings on the festival scene of the eighties?

Paul Chousmer:
You have to remember there was a right wing government ruling here at the time, with that bitch Thatcher at the helm. Lots of unemployment, kids on the dole, etc… Punk had run its course. We were all getting politicized. Stonehenge free festival was banned and suppressed by the police with a heavy hand. So free festivals were often a way to protest. We were all squatting, traveling. I have fond memories of that time. People were thinking of the world around them. I look at the kids now. They have no idea about politics. Nothing to protest about I suppose. The legacy of the Thatcher years is that everyone is out for themselves. Make as much money for yourself as you can and screw everyone else. I think that Reagan and his cronies did the same sort of thing over there.

You can read the whole Interview HERE:

DISCOGRAPHY

Cassettes: Cinematography (A Real Kavoom ARK 4) 1984
The Great Unfolding (A Real Kavoom ARK 16) 1986
Consider The River (M.E.L.T. Music) 1987
12": The Captain's Table (Jungle/A Real Kavoom JUNG 30T/ARK23)
Running for the Precedent (JUNG 34T/ARK25) Both 1987
Albums: Webcore (FREUD16/ARK27) 1987
Webcore Webcore (FREUD22/ARK32) 1988
                  

Webcore – Webcore
Label: A Real Kavoom – ARK 27, Jungle Records – FREUD 16
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold
Country: UK
Released: 1987
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

SIDE A.

                     

A1. Elephant
A2. Running For The Precedent
A3. Nothing Can Stop Us Now
A4. Flight 23 Over Bavaria
A5. Now
A6. Doomsday Has Been Cancelled

SIDE B.

            

B1. Teiwaz
B2. The Feather Mask
B3. A Pocket Full Of Posies
B4. My Shoes

LINE - UP

Mick West - Vocals
Phil Pickering - Bass
Paul Chousmer - Keys
Clive Goodwin - Guitar - later became Ozric tentacles sound engineer
Colin Woolway - Drums
Nick Van Gelder - Drums - had played with the Ozric tentacles earlier-went on to Jamiroquai
Dan Carpenter - Sax occasionally
Mike ??? - left to join a monastery
Jackie Hannah - backing vocals
Karen Kay - backing vocals

NOTES

This album started with some rhythm tracks we recorded during the Captain's Table 12" sessions at the Sawmill studios in Cornwall in late '86. Further manipulations occurred with the spring of 1987 on a not totally functional 8 track recorder at Treglyn which resulted in the final mixtures. It is for those who have ears. It is part of an ongoing totally unlimited production produced for a real kavoom. All tracks are p M.E.L.T. Music. Alan (A) Painted the sleeve. Additional artwork by Sean (sss).

Flac Size: 276 MB