Room 512 :: an unofficial wonder stuff fansite

Success in Britain, culminating in two dates at the London Astoria in October 1988 which were filmed and recorded for possible future release, was soon followed by interest from Europe which dictated that the group should stage their first overseas tour. Twenty dates were lined up but the band, fed up with playing the same songs that they'd now been playing for nearly two years in tiny clubs (sometimes to tiny audiences) cancelled the tour after only nine performances and returned to England much to the annoyance of their fans, the tour's promoters, Polydor and roadie Adam Booker who had hitched from England to meet the group only to be told on his arrival that they were returning home the following day.

In later interviews, Miles recalled the feelings surrounding the controversial decision: "...Basically we'd written half of [the next] album before we even got near Europe and we wanted to be in a rehearsal room bashing the ideas down." "It was an awful thing. We felt like we were in a prison. We couldn't stand it. We had a meeting in a hotel room in Munich, everybody was so unhappy, and I think it was me that said 'Well, we're in control, let's go home.' We packed our bags, told the tour manager, told the crew, got on the bus and went home." "The record company were really pissed off, and so was the German promoter. He lost a few grand, some of which we still owe him... So now we'll use him as the promoter every time we go to Germany and just never get paid. I think that's a fun way of doing it."

On their return to England they went straight into the rehearsal studios to demo songs that they had written prior to and during the aborted tour. All of the group seemed to be in a happier frame of mind because now they could try their hand at new material and get out of playing the same dozen or so songs each gig. Several new songs were recorded including an acoustic track entitled 'Don't Let Me Down, Gently', 'Unfaithful' and 'Cartoon Boyfriend' but upon listening to them, the group decided that the tracks were lacking in something. Malc made the first attempts at filling the gap by adding a mandolin to the tracks but it became obvious that still more was needed. The solution was suggested to them by session producer (again) Pat Collier - a fiddle. He introduced the group to Martin Bell, a multi-talented session musician whose forte seemed to cover nearly every musical instrument ever made. This opened the way for a new playing freedom within the group, no longer bound by having to turn out records that consisted solely of voice, guitar and drums, as well as freeing both Miles and Malcolm to try different guitar arrangements.

The Wonder Stuff, early 1989 Armed with a batch of fresh songs and a large amount of rediscovered vigour, the group headed off for their first American tour in January '89. It was a trip that eased a few troubled minds for some of those who were closely involved with the ill-fated European dates and one that, unusually, on the whole they enjoyed. They met up with record company executives, took part in interviews and generally put a lot of effort in for which they, mostly, gained some reward. Whilst in New York, with hardly any promotion involved, around 600 people came to see them play. On their return to the UK they approached Polydor Records with a request - from the rehearsals of late '88, they wanted to release a new song. It would not be a sampler for any new album, purely a track that they liked and felt was right for release at the time.

The track, 'Who Wants To Be The Disco King?' was based around Miles' snipe at the Kylie's & Rick Astley's of the pop world. The lines 'I've entered a world full of ugly girls, with kisses and curls and a hold on the world. How sick has it become?' originally appeared in one of his diaries penned shortly after an interview for the Smash Hits magazine. With the record label agreeing to the group's demands only track listings and artwork needed to be decided upon.

However, the original version of the track lasted for over five minutes and Polydor felt this to be too long for airplay so they bought in producer Ray Schulman, who had previously worked with Echo And The Bunnymen, to remix and shorten the track. Initially, the idea was that the track would be coupled with the four tracks from the 'Wonderful Day' EP on the B-side. A quick check with the rules of the BPI (British Phonographic Institute) revealed that the proposed five track single would be discounted from the charts - being classified as a mini-album, as their rules at the time stipulated that singles were to contain a maximum of four tracks. This resulted in the idea being shelved in favour of including three live tracks, recorded at London's Astoria Theatre, on the B-side. Although no copies of the release with the 'Wonderful Day' tracks were pressed, a one-track promotional copy of the twelve inch features the original five minute version of the track, subtitled 'King Of Disco Megamix'.

THE WONDER STUFF GO WILD WITH THEIR CASHCARDS

I was checking out the latest Ohio Players waxing when a Cortina Estate pulled up outside. The 'No Barbers Need Call' and Walsall license plates were the giveaway that The Wonder Stuff had slipped into the country, avoiding the screaming multitude that had gathered in a Heathrow telephone box waiting daily for the telemessage that would announce their arrival.
"Check the threads, honky," yelled the Bassist Groove Thang. "Git your ass DOWN!" said Malcolm mildly. "ALLLLright," declared Martin. "There are three men in my life and they all eat shredded wheat," mumbled Miles, throwing caution and his breakfast to the winds. They slinked their way across the room in their cream and brown solateos, blue oxford bags and pointed collar black shirts singing, acapella, "well you can tell by the way I walk I'm a Mindy man, no time for Mork," before tripping over a Brass Construction 12". None of which really answers my questions. Who does want to be the cisco kid?

A fable for children by Charles McCartan
(from the inner sleeve of 'Who Wants To Be The Disco King?' single)

The single was released at the end of February and charted in it's first week at number 28. In an attempt to further the progress of the single, Polydor issued a special dayglo coloured sleeve to record shops for them to place the inner sleeve and record from the standard issue seven inch into and, hopefully, persuade fans to buy the release again. The band were initially unaware of Polydor's plans and when they found out they forced the label into quickly withdrawing the limited edition sleeves though not before a large number had gone on sale in the UK. Slightly differing from the normal '...Disco King?' release, the dayglo sleeves can normally be found on sale containing a purple labelled pressing of the record with it's title stamped on the label in a plain black inner sleeve. This was also the way promotional copies of the single were issued (without the dayglo sleeve though).

To coincide with the release of the new single, a short UK tour was undertaken which featured support from Jesus Jones, Mega City Four and new Midlands discoveries, Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Though hopes that new material and a successful single would enable these gigs to be some of the best yet, it was not to be. Internal tensions, initiated by a battle between Bob and Miles for control of the direction of the band, saw Miles drinking heavily, Bob outdrinking him and the transition between playing the newer Martin-Bell involved material and the earlier tracks proving difficult.

Things eventually came to a head on the first night of their sell-out show at London's Town & Country Club when Miles stormed off stage midway through the last track of the set, followed shortly by a fuming Bob leaving Malc and Martin Gilks to bring the track abruptly to an end.

This set the scene for a showdown between Bob and Miles at London's Columbia Hotel with Bob threatening to kill Miles if he got his hands on him. By the morning though, both had calmed down, sobered up and sorted out their differences. Bob told Miles how he felt, Miles listened and said how he felt and after a few hugs and tears, things got back on an even keel. As a reminder to the both of them, Miles wrote a track about the event called 'Room 410', named after the room he was stopping in at the hotel. Apparently, Wonder Stuff graffiti can still be found on the door of the room.

However, their second night at the Town and Country Club didn't fare much better when, just as he was about to apologise for his previous night's behaviour, someone threw a plastic drinking cup at him which cut his head open slightly, souring relations and putting Miles in an understandably foul mood. As a consequence he sulked for the rest of the show, refusing to say a single word to the audience.

LONDON TOWN & COUNTRY CLUB - 22/03/89

These are troubled yet exciting times for The Wonder Stuff. Their mass potential is beginning to be recognised by you good people out there, but the band are already impatiently ahead of you. The Midlands' most lovable sons have gained promotion from division two of the pop league almost effortlessly, and tonight, in front of a second consecutive sardine audience in the capital, they can do little wrong, and yet all's not well in the Groove Machine.
The Wonder Stuff demand more from this pop circus than your average guitar gang and yet their adoring audience are still more than happy to lap up hit after hit, be they indie or minor major without so much as a thought of the future. After all, the best pop music possesses more than its fair share of inbuilt obsolescence, but Miles, Malc, Martin and Bob refuse to be passed over in favour of the next biggest thing, and they also possess the musicality and vision to pull this ambition off.
Not helped by a tragically accurate glass which splits open Miles' head before the young motor mouth has shifted to second gear, it's always going to be a struggle to communicate with an adoring yet potentially volatile audience. Miles chooses not to chastise and this leads to an even more disconcerting aloofness that spoils the evening.
The Stuffies are struggling to shrug off their fiercely loyal but distinctly pedestrian rock audience. It's a struggle both they and their audience will eventually resolve, but Miles may have to don the odd crash helmet along the way.

Andy Strickland, Record Mirror

Following their UK tour came a 12-date American tour. Mixing live performances with the obligatory promotional work, they also managed to get some time to themselves which included a spot of audience participation when New Order invited them to one of their gigs in Los Angeles.

Whilst in Los Angeles, a radio announcer for the K-ROQ radio station promoted their forthcoming live appearance with the line, "They're mean, they're crazy and... they're here in Los Angeles. The Wonder Stuff have arrived so lock up your daughters!"

As a goodwill gesture their American manager, Steve Rennie, organised a trip to the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre - The Grateful Dead were playing. En-route, Miles reminisced: "Me and Martin were down by the pool yesterday and I said, 'This all started in Cradley Heath in the West Midlands one afternoon because we had nothing better to do. Here we are in LA, in a jacuzzi!'" Not overly enthralled by the Dead's performance though, Martin Gilks was heard to observe that "you can see bands like this in pubs in Dudley on any Sunday afternoon".

On their return to England, over-awed with America, Miles went straight home and split with his girlfirend. A couple of days later, Bob and Miles returned to the States - Bob went to New York City to visit his new girlfriend Jessica following the break-up of his first marriage whilst Miles stayed with some friends in upstate New York.

Bob Jones and Miles Hunt, 1989 Meanwhile, Polydor were making preparations for recording sessions for the second album, although at one time it looked as if The Wonder Stuff could have hit a problem when it was looking doubtful whether Bob and Miles would ever be coming back.

Eventually, on the day that the recording sessions were due to start, they both returned to London and immediately hammered out a new electric version of the track, 'Don't Let Me Down, Gently' in one take with James Taylor - of the legendary James Taylor Quartet - assisting on Hammond Organ. Whilst at the studios, a Polydor executive handed the group the keys to a luxurious flat for them to use whilst the recording sessions were taking place.

As Malc, Bob and Miles moved into the new flat in Regents Park, Martin settled into a home with his new wife, Penny - of The Wonder Stuff's press office. They had met several months previously and, whilst Penny had been initially shy of the long-haired Midlander, he took her out to see The Fields Of The Nephilim at London's Town & Country Club and their relationship blossomed from there! "It was great," Martin once said, "I was the first person in the band to get one of the record company into bed."

Initially the band had the use of the flat for three months though, after a bit of haggling, that was eventually extended for a further eight months with the occupants paying a share of the rent. At one stage, whilst they were in London to record their new album, Pop Will Eat Itself even stayed there - with just one long-suffering and fed up housemaid to 'look after them'.

Miles' and Bob's trips to America had improved relations between the two of them and whenever they had a free weekend, they would both return to the US - Bob to see his girlfriend and Miles, in his words, "to be gross and enjoy myself, sit in the sun all day, get drunk and drive friends' motorbikes and not care. And I bought my first tartan waistcoat there!" It was on one of these occasions that Miles discovered American group Jane's Addiction. In fact, such was his fascination with the band that not only did he introduce Bob and Clint Mansell to their music, he also based a new track 'Piece Of Sky' on the track 'Jane Says' from the Addiction's first album.

Recording sessions for the second album continued and festival time approached with the main highlight being their performance at the much revamped Reading Festival in August. The previous year's festival had ended in acrimony when headliners Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler fled from the stage when bottles and cans of warm urine were thrown at them. The 1989 festival, organised by London's Mean Fiddler organisation, boasted a more indie-orientated line-up featuring The Pixies, New Order and The Wonder Stuff.

As a warm-up for the festival, the Stuffies played support to festival headliners The Mission at Sheffield's Polytechnic Arena in a secret show organised by The Mission's fan club. At the festival itself, The Mission were the headline act on the same night that the Stuffies appeared and backstage meetings marked the beginnings of a long-lasting friendship between the two groups. The other highlight of the Summer festivals was Glastonbury and it was for this that the group learnt and debuted a 'new' song, a cover of The Youngbloods' 'Get Together'.

Following their Reading appearance, September saw the first release from their forthcoming second album. 'Don't Let Me Down, Gently', written after Miles had read 'Profession Of Violence' - a biography of the Kray Twins - reached number 19 in the National singles chart. The high chart position dictated that another new event in the history of the Stuffies was required - their first ever appearance on Top Of The Pops. The occasion also marked the first television promotion for Ned's Atomic Dustbin as Malc elected to wear one of the Ned's early "radioactive logo" T-shirts for the broadcast. The shirt was designed by Helga - Miles' then girlfriend - who maintained a healthy relationship with the Ned's and subsequently went on to design all the bands record sleeves and much of their promotional artwork, whilst Tank, Martin Gilks' brother, managed the group until their split in 1995.

Following on from the success of the single came the release of their second album, 'Hup'. To promote the album, a four track CD was distributed which featured 'Don't Let Me Down, Gently', 'Piece Of Sky', 'Golden Green' and the Columbia Hotel incident inspired 'Room 410'. The latter track, along with another track on the album '30 Years In The Bathroom', featured samples from the 1966 film, Midnight Cowboy. Whilst in America, Bob had found and recorded a number of samples for use on the album though when the United Artists film company heard of the track, they refused to allow the group to use all of the samples and the album had to quickly be repressed containing a shorter version of the track. This promotional CD is the only available release featuring the longer version of 'Room 410' and the group have been forbidden from ever releasing the unedited version in the future.

HUP

The Wonder Stuff, it seems, are happy making their slightly mad, slightly unsightly music and getting on people's nerves whenever they can. Which is just what they do on 'Hup'. But like it or not, the 'Stuff have come up with a rather impressive range of tunes. Of course there's plenty of grungy filthy-hair-ahoy guitars and milk-curdling singing but there's more to it than that - like the pretty wonderful 'Unfaithful', a ballad which young Miles sings with a voice as smooth as velvet. Others are really quite rock and roll, like 'Them Big Oak Trees' and 'Let's Be Other People' and then some are just horrendous dins like 'Goodnight' which shouldn't be allowed but which will probably have them rocking in the aisles anyway."

Alex K

The album - with artwork taken from Georges Melies' 1902 film, Trip To The Moon - featured further instrumental assistance from James Taylor plus large contributions from Martin Bell. Like it's predecessor, there was no set formula here with the opening track '30 Years In The Bathroom' leading into a poppy attack on the methods of getting records played on the airwaves in 'Radio Ass Kiss' before entering the country hoe-down stomp of 'Golden Green'. Follow-up track 'Let's Be Other People' was inspired by Leonard Cohen's book, Beautiful Losers, before the Jane's Addiction-inspired 'Piece Of Sky' and 'Can't Shape Up' completed the first side of the album. First single 'Don't Let Me Down, Gently' led into the next single for America, 'Cartoon Boyfriend', which featured Miles at his cynical best. One of Bob's finest moments appeared next in the track 'Good Night Though', full of powerful basslines and possibly one of his favourite tracks as it leant itself to a new tattoo for the bassist in the form of the lyric "It was a good night though" - a line which although doesn't feature in the recorded version of the track, was commonly used to introduce the track whenever they played it live. A direct descendent of the first album's 'Rue The Day' came as 'Unfaithful' before 'Them, Big Oak Trees' and the album's closing track, the shortened 'Room 410'.

To promote the album another UK tour, supported by Eat and Neds Atomic Dustbin (debuting a new line-up without their original female vocalist), opened at Glasgow's Barrowlands during which the group made a general realisation. Bob was now spending more time with his girlfriend than working with the rest of the band, was losing interest in the group and drinking heavier than ever. In the second half of the tour Miles, Malc and Martin were all in agreement that, sensing he was unhappy, maybe it was time for Bob to go. At one gig in Liverpool, he was too drunk to be even able to stand up properly which led to Miles having on-stage words with him. This made matters even worse and for long periods of time hardly a word was shared between the two of them. The tour ended at London's Brixton Academy which was recorded and filmed for possible video release.

In November, a second single from the 'Hup' album was released. Essentially a double A-sided single, the 7" and cassette singles featured 'Golden Green' coupled with a studio recording of the track they rehearsed for and played at the Glastonbury Festival, Chet Powers' 'Get Together' - originally a hit in the 60's for both the Dave Clark 5 and PJ Proby. For the 12" and CD single releases, a version of John Lennon's 'Gimme Some Truth' was added. Using a slightly different arrangement to the original version, the bassline especially differs as Bob preferred to elaborate on Public Image Limited's 'Public Image' track. The single reached number 33 in the charts and led to another Top Of The Pops appearance.

Following the completion of the Hup UK tour, the group then returned to the Rockfield rehearsal studios in South Wales to demo new tracks for their third album. It was at this time that Martin Bell was asked to join the band as a full time member - a move intended to dissolve (or distract from) the tensions surrounding Bob. However, he had cut down on his drinking and by now was, it seemed, more interested in The Wonder Stuff than he had been for several months.

However, although he seemed happier and more willing to work than in previous months, there was still an impression that he was dissatisfied with the direction the band were taking. Miles: "One day we were sitting at the big oak table having our customary cigar and sherry after dinner when Bob told us he was leaving. It came as a surprise in that week particularly, because things felt good again. But what he wanted to do was move to New York and reinvent himself. We finished the demos for 'The Size Of A Cow', 'Maybe', 'Grotesque', 'Play', and 'Inertia' in a really good mood because at least we all knew where we stood."

In an interview for the NME before news of his departure had been released, Bob is quoted as having said, "At this moment in my life I'd rather not be in a band, I'm sick of it. There's always arguments of some description, although nothing really drastic, things just happen. The main problem is that you can't get away from it. It would be nice just to walk away and have some time without anybody ringing up about photo sessions, interviews, recording, TV - it's never-ending."

The news of Bob leaving came as a shock to Polydor who had been preparing to release a new single at the start of the New Year. The four track EP, 'Luna Thug', was to have had 'Piece Of Sky' as it's main track coupled with two new tracks, 'Play' and 'Our New Song' and an acoustic version of the 'Can't Shape Up' track off the 'Hup' album retitled 'Can't Shape Up, Again'. The three additional tracks were all recorded during the Rockfield sessions but Bob's announcement led to Polydor putting the plans on hold - initially temporarily, later permanently though there is a rumour that an acetate pressing of the release was later given away in a competition on UK television or radio.

No records were ever officially pressed for the release though the abandonment of the project came too late for the sleeve printers and the artwork proofs, which also featured stills from Georges Melies' film, show that alongside the standard cassette and CD single formats, Polydor had given themselves the option of issuing the seven and twelve inch singles in both standard and gatefold sleeves. No doubt this would again have been met with opposition from the band.

News had still not been made public about Bob's departure when the group announced a series of end-of-year gigs. Privately, a decision to split up - at least temporarily - had been made, and the tour would close with two Hometown Hoedown dates at Birmingham's Aston Villa Leisure Centre. Rehearsals for the dates took place and, since the dates were to close an era for the band, old favourites such as 'Song Without An End', 'Poison', 'Grin' and 'Goodbye Fatman' - from the 'A Wish Away' single - were bought back into the live set. Support was to come from The Metal Gurus, who were actually The Mission (in drag) playing a set of glam rock covers on the first evening, with Balaam And The Angel supporting for the second. A third date was announced following the rapid sell-out of the first two evenings and long-time friends and peers Pop Will Eat Itself were booked as support. However, plans for their appearance were thrown into doubt when the Poppies' joint vocalist Graham Crabbe broke his leg during the Poppies' Australian tour - resulting in a special splint having to be designed for him by London doctors to allow the support slot to be maintained.

Miles recalls the third night of their Hometown Hoedown dates: "The final night was sad. I remember leaving the bar of the Holiday Inn in Birmingham and using one of my mates as a crutch. I was quite tearful, and so was Bob. He stayed up until 6am, got a lift to Heathrow Airport and went to America." The crutch was Bryan Taylor and he recalls the atmosphere of that night: "It was very odd. I remember Miles turning to me in the lift and saying to me 'I always knew that bastard would make me cry'."