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(above) Stage invasion, Bradford Queens Hall, Mar 30, 1990
2 Jan 1990
Martin Baker resigns as CUD manager.
15 Jan
Jim Tracey, former tour agent offers to be our new manager, with Eric Longley, the New FADs manager giving business support. They endeavour to repair bridges with Imaginary Records who had been pissed off by Martin.
19 Jan
Wakefield presentation of £800 cheque for Age Concern, raised at CUD charity gig.
23 Jan
Jim visits Leeds to finally stand a round and tell us of the upcoming tour. A new album producer is sought. The latest idea is a guy who worked on D-Mob’s latest hit.
Patchbay, who had produced free demos with us late last year hear about our plans and get pissed off. The idea was that they would profit from our next deal by getting us to work there. No more would we get studio time ‘on credit’. More bridge repair is needed.
Meanwhile, chief bridge burner, Martin asks for the merry-go-round van to use for pizza delivery. Request denied.
3 Feb
Patchbay call, talking about losses of £6,000. They threaten to ‘bootleg’ the CUD Patchbay tapes to recoup some costs (These so-called Patchbay Tapes, 1989 versions of Now, Robinson Crusoe, Eau Water and Manchester have since turned up on the Space CUDets bootleg, ‘Not Exactly L.E.G.I.T’ )
8 Feb
Jamie Hewlett calls and talks about putting together a Tank Girl record with CUD doing the backing.
18 Feb
Tried to get Jon Langford to produce new CUD songs tomorrow, but it’s too short notice. Who knows… in future…
19 Feb
Record ‘Love Mandarin’ in the ‘When in Rome’ set up, with Alaric Neville at Woodhouse Studios, Leeds. (This version ends up on Alaric’s ‘Knowing Where It All Leeds’ Compilation down the line.)
21 Feb
Jettisoundz who filmed the Futurama gig and recent CUD shows drive over from St Helens to film CUD, for a proposed live video plus (‘When at Home, Film Me’).
Carl gets into bed with Craig, William wears a gorilla mask, faces are pulled through a net curtain and an Alsatian makes a guest appearance. Not sure much of this is salvageable.
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26 Feb Jamie Hewlett calls again. Apparently Carlsberg have offered him £100,000 for a Tank Girl single and video. Never happens.1 Mar Lancaster Uni CUD embark on another UK tour with no records to promote. But it’s a compact, well-organised and successful affair for a change. We need it to get some profile, cash in the bank and build up morale after the lost month in Eastern Europe. We get a surprisingly good turnout here and sell 24 T-shirts. Great start for the tour!3 Mar Bradford Queens Hall Just an amazing night, a packed venue, enthusiastic, dancing crowd, a stage invasion (becoming something of a tradition), our first four-figure gross, then a storming review from a surprised Sounds newspaper. John Robb claims it is the gig of the year so far. (OK, it’s only two months in!)5 Mar London Dingwalls A coach of Leeds fans travel down for this show.6 Mar Lime Lizard interview and a night out at the Marquee. |
7 Mar
Brighton Poly Basement with Andrew Smith from Melody Maker in tow.
It’s not a great show in a basement with an audience of just 100. (Ah! Now we can moan about a measly 100 punters!) The venue poster has two teats rather than three on the CUD ‘U’ and claims we’re from Manchester. We crash at Jamie’s flat.
8 Mar
We miss a photo session at London’s NFT when the van runs out of petrol.
We pull out of a support tour with Birdland, cause we think they’re crap. Apparently this decision creates some bad feeling in the business. An NME feature is cancelled.
It turns out we’ll be doing the Birdland London show after all.
11 Mar
Photo session.
CUD wear lipstick and prance about with flowers and feathers.
12 Mar
Bristol Fleece and Firkin
Raising money for inflatables.
13 Mar
Bournemouth Benedicts
A quiet audience.
14 Mar
Swansea Uni
Eric arranges accommodation with some of his old college friends, but he’s winding us up now with sexist comments.
15 Mar
Warwick Uni, with Beats International and Voice of the Beehive
Best performance of the tour so far, with a generous rider to celebrate it.
16 Mar
Gloucester, Guild Hall Banana Club
We visit Brian Jones grave in Cheltenham on the way and get chased off by a bull mastiff.
Here CUD are introduced to Eric’s contact Dave Gregory, guitarist with XTC, his latest suggestion for producer. Much better than Eric’s first suggestion, a guy he knows from 70s/80s band The Motors as a producer. XTC we can relate to. Dave is quiet-spoken and friendly, says we look like Pink Floyd. Is this because we have an inflatable pig at the front of the stage. (Sorry, Carl, couldn’t resist it!)
17 Mar
Oxford Co-op Hall
18 Mar
Harlow Square
A lot of very young fans are refused entry.
Despite sound problems it a good show, with the now obligatory stage invasion.
Our dressing room is a portacabin.
20 Mar
Liverpool Poly
21 Mar
Newcastle Riverside
Always a great reception here.
22 Mar
Teeside Poly
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24 Mar Paisley Clubhouse26 Mar Doncaster Jug. ‘Alvin Lives (in Leeds)’ anti-poll tax LP is released, including our version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (not a song we ever attempt to play live). |
27 Mar
Huddersfield Poly
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31 Mar London Brixton Academy, with Birdland and Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine1, 2 Apr Record ‘Hey! Wire’ at Thatched Cottage Studios with Dave Gregory producing. |
6, 7 Apr
Record B-sides, ‘Possession’ and ‘Purple Love Balloon’ at Patchbay Studios, Farsley with Justin and Dolan from the New FADs co-producing.
Mike Dunphy has really come up with the goods writing for this single, the first without a Potter writing contribution, despite what the label says.
Mike has turned into a prolific and excellent pop songwriter. (Up until signing with A&M, all the songs were credited to all four band members, but only a dozen or so ever had music written by anyone other than Mike.)
8 Apr
NME interview. William gets drunk, takes the tape recorder and interviews the photographer.
12 Apr
We’ve officially made it. Leeds Jumbo Records gives us 10% discount.
CUD 