WAYNE COUNTY&THE ELECTRIC CHAIRS

Now, we were ready to record a third album and we had chosen to do it with David Cunningham. David was a small guy, crazy, obsessed with sound and electronics, experimentation and that fitted us like a glove. David is the guy who put together the Flying Lizards, who got noticed with an incredible cover of Money that had been a huge hit in England. Once it was released, our third album received good reviews – the English press compared it to David Bowie’s Low and Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life, and acclaimed it as one of the first “psychadelic new wave” albums.

I was feeling really good in the Electric Chairs and Wayne definitely trusted me. I was writing more and more. I had organised a room, on the squat’s first floor, and Wayne and Val would pop in to see what I had been up to. I had installed some equipment with a Sony 4-track recorder and I was having fun. Wayne had also got me interested in the Ventures, an American instrumental guitar band and I adored them. We basically mostly listened to psychedelic 60’s groups and there was a great atmosphere in this squat.

Our manager, Bob Black, had organised a really cool rehearsal break in a pre-production studio in Wales: Ridge Farm. Lost in the middle of nowhere. There was an 8-track recorder and we would be able to refine our songs. The ‘dream team’ that we were set off in a van, just like going on tour, with our equipment in the back. We were going off for two weeks..

We found ourselves on a farm with hippies as hosts. They would cook meals for us, breakfast, lucnch and dinner - all we would have to do was to play and write. Very cool.