Live’R Than God yet again saw Thee Hypnotics enter the indie chart and it was at this time a deal between Situation Two/Beggars Banquet and Sub Pop in Seattle was forged (the label that would of course break grunge and make millions from Nirvana). The UK success funded a tour of the USA, and when asked about wads of money and the life-changing experience of becoming rock stars Ray Hanson admits, “It didn’t change our lives at all financially. We were still signing on. It just gave us more of an ego.”
Prior to the US tour frustrations between the logical drummer and the romantic rockers grew. It was at this point that the rest of the band auditioned new drummers behind Mark Thompson’s back. The sole sticksman to impress was Phil Smith, a Canadian ex-pat who had been drumming for alt rock band The Bambi Slam. Having seen a huge billboard poster for the ‘Soul Trader’ single Phil recalled this cool looking band he had seen playing a squat, and being a rocker at heart knew he had to join them. Discovering that there was an audition being held too felt like a stroke of luck. “We went out to the States on a Sub Pop tour with Tad. His album was called God’s Balls and ours was Live’R Than God,” explains Jim, “so it was the Live’R Than God’s Balls Tour. Phil ended up doing the tour, but it was the one where Thompson had planned his escape. Before he implemented that we ousted him and we held auditions and Phil came up best player. We played ‘Kick Out The Jams’ for a good 15 minutes.”
America
Seattle became a second base for Thee Hypnotics. But how did these long-haired, vintage clothing attired British lads take to both America and their new label mates? Was this not a case of The Beatles and the Stones taking back the music to its rightful owners? Pondering this after our
fourth beer of the afternoon Ray opened up: “We’d hung out with Mark Arm [Mudhoney] quite a bit and he would want to find all the rare Sham 69 and Ruts singles. They liked punk and were as fascinated by English music as we were by theirs. I think Curt Cobain wasn’t into our band because he viewed us as a bit retro.... but he was fucking retro. When you think about it all now we’re all fucking retro. And so what?” The stylish Brit lads and slacker Americans became close friends, especially Mark Arm and Tad’s Tad Doyle. “Also,” Jim adds about the formative grunge bands, “the difference in Mudhoney’s music to ours is that they would have been into Slayer too
...and [Slayer] had no romance, great as they were. [Mudhoney and Tad] were smoking their spliffs listening to their favourite shit. We had a completely different musical background and agenda.”
The Americans had a sharp sense of humour though, which the young UK act instantly found amusing. If Jim Jones could be classified as a pretty boy, out of shape grunge pioneer Tad certainly could not. “I remember setting up for a gig at Hoboken at Maxwell’s,” giggles Jim, “and Tad Doyle and his band were all watching as we sound check. ‘I wonder what they’ll think of us?’ I asked. ‘They’ll fuckin’ rip your clothes off stud,’ he replied. That sounds good I thought... or, er, does it?” And yes, the crowd went wild, as did the
Come Down Heavy
‘I wonder what they’ll think of us?’ I asked. ‘They’ll fuckin’ rip your clothes off stud’
girls. “It was great at this time,” recalls Ray with a wide smile. “We still weren’t thinking about money and had none, but chicks and drugs were prevalent.”
In the early ’90, after having shaped up some new songs and broken in new drummer Phil Smith, Thee Hypnotics returned home to the UK to start work on their first studio album. When asked if Beggars Banquet put any pressure on the band to become “more indie” or write material in a certain way Jim states the opposite. “They took us to Mark St John’s studio at 145 Wardour Street and said, ‘What about here? It’s in the centre of London and is connected with The Pretty Things. Looks like it should be up your street,’ and we agreed. They brought in Dave Garland who was the engineer for Slade. It really was the right deal for us.” Recorded on analogue gear with the finest vintage amps it was a wonderfully backward looking record, just as the band had wanted. They were happy: recording with top level engineers, touring the states and regulars to the charts. Maybe original drummer Mark Thompson and Rat Scabies had been right though as however glamorous their life had seemingly become, there was still no money. Jim recalls a comical situation: “We were all in the studio recording but had to go and sign on and attend these ‘Check Your Circumstances’ meetings as
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