A Bigger Deal
Perhaps the only indication of these sultry dudes being from the late ’80s was the 12” format that their Situation Two singles were released on. ‘Justice In Freedom’ was a more mature sounding, less Stooges-based onslaught than the debut 7”. “One of the main influences on [the song] was The Beatles’ ‘Helter Skelter’,” notes Jim of the creative process of writing it. “We just jammed on the chang, chang, chang part of the riff for ages and didn’t bother to work the rest out. ‘It’s The Beatles but it’s like The Stooges,’ we thought. It was one of the early cases of seeing how the dots were joined. It’s the same DNA. It’s like ‘Little Doll’ but it’s The Beatles.” Lengthy, urgent and both narked off and sexy, it’s a song that takes cues from The Who (the feedback-laden and crashing drum- ridden middle eight), the Stones (a certain swagger in Jones’ voice, some subtle honky piano tinkling away in the background) and the trusty revolutionary stance of old faves The MC5. Yet, they make it their own, sounding confidently assured of the mini-revolution they were causing. Equally strong are the two shorter tracks on the B-side: ‘Preachin’ And Ramblin’’ is a rousing Detroit soulful rocker, right in line with the Five whilst ‘Choose My Own Way’ is perhaps more garage-rock with plenty of piping Farfisa.
A second 12” followed. ‘Soul Trader’ was housed in a sleeve that saw the band dressed in vintage black leather, hipsters and with Jones crouched down looking every inch the androgynous pretty boy, mirroring the “Half Man, Half Boy” (later a song title) image of Mick, Iggy and Jim. Musically, the A-side picks up the pace from the previous release with a high octane, speeding riff and a strong vocal. The two-sided flip kicks off with the equally strong ‘Earth Blues’: a perfect head on crash between ’69 Who and Stones with Ray’s riffing strongly recalling both the styles of Townshend and Richards. The Hendrixified version of BB King’s ‘Rock Me Baby’ meanwhile was something of a taster for the forthcoming mini-album Live’R Than God.
After the relative success of the two singles (both of which entered the indie charts and saw the band appear on MTV), Thee Hypnotics played alongside label mates The Cult for their Sonic Temple release party with pal Rat Scabies on drums. “We had such a laugh playing Stooges covers,” chuckles Ray, “and it was great. Loads of Hells Angels came backstage and were handing out speed.” Jim also has fond memories of the night, adding, “Ian Astbury came and grabbed hold of us [when we arrived] and he looked like Grizzly Adams.
We then played with him a few years later on the Ceremony tour. He was thin as a rake, had perfectly straight hair.... but seemed unhappy. As Grizzly Adams he was as content as a pig in shit. He loved being a boozer. A really nice guy too.
“We then played with Stiv around this time, which was something Dave Arnoff had set up as Cheetah Chrome was not allowed to come into the country. ‘He’s really into your single,’ Arnoff said, ‘so do you want to come and be The Dead Boys for the night at Shepherd’s Bush Green?’ We then became friends with Stiv and whenever we went to Paris we would hook up with him.”
Live’R Than God
Although mini-album Live’R Than God was a major release for the band and opened up the doors for their first American tour and deal with Sub Pop, all was not well in Thee Hypnotics’ ranks. Drummer Mark Thompson had for some time felt aggrieved at how Langdon was managing them, sensing that they could be progressing further. “We were caught up in the romance and I don’t think it was necessarily the lack of making money [which annoyed Mark], but the way in which he was being controlled he did not like,” remarks Jim. “Although he was right, he was just generally a pain to be around. There was in-camp fighting. Mark’s way of dealing with it was that he was trying to get us to see what was going on, but we were
just trying to write songs and play. He kept telling us everything was heading in a bad direction.” Yet Ray and Jim were happy how they were, and paid little thought to the bigger issues. Taking a swig from his bourbon Ray shakes his head and laughs, “Jim and I were so much more naive than Mark.”
Recorded at London’s Powerhaus, the five track record shows how and why Thee Hypnotics were causing such interest. Having perfected their stage show in dank cellar bars and clubs for the past year they were tight, rehearsed, visual and loud. God was a distillation of the influences fan Jane Maben mentioned and it certainly equalled any high-octane late ‘60s live rock album. Will Pepper’s solid bass and Mark Thompson’s outstanding Mitch Mitchell-like jazz-rock drumming support the malevolent sonic textures of Ray; although perhaps fuelled by drugs, they don’t miss a note or put a foot wrong. Howling over the top of this stew is the masterful Jim Jones who breathes Detroit rock-soul into the songs. A faultless debut, which as Jim tells me was literally recorded in one night with no overdubs.
Stooges like. The back cover of LiveR Than God
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