A Witness
Encyclopedia
A Witness were an alternative rock
band formed in 1982 in Stockport
, Greater Manchester
, England
, by Rick Aitken (guitar), Vince Hunt (bass) and a drum machine, in 1986 replaced by Alan Brown (of Big Flame fame). Keith Curtis (vocals) and Noel Kilbride (guitar) joined the group in 1983.
label, debut EP Loudhailer Songs put them at the forefront of a wave of Beefheart
-influenced bands that emerged in the mid-1980s, and won praise from the NME
. They gained further attention due to the inclusion of the track "Sharpened Sticks" on the NME's C86
cassette in the following year.
Debut album I Am John's Pancreas followed in October 1986, entering the NME charts, with a further two 12" singles released on the Ron Johnson label (one each in 1987 and 1988) before its collapse. Communion issued the US-only Sacred Cow Heart compilation in 1988.
Guitarist Rick Aitken died aged 33 in a climbing accident in 1989, and the band split. The band's third and fourth radio sessions for John Peel
were collected on an album (The Peel Sessions), and a single "I Love You Mr. Disposable Razors" which had been due for release at the time of Aitken's death was delayed so it could be dedicated to him. The single was issued in November 1989 on the Vinyl Drip label. The Imaginary compilation series Through the Looking Glass 1966 included their cover version
of The Beatles
' "Tomorrow Never Knows
" and Through The Looking Glass 1967 compilation (1990) included their cover of The Doors
' track "Break on Through (To the Other Side)
".
Keith Curtis went on to play guitar for John Robb's Membranes
and bass in Goldblade
. Vince Hunt recorded three critically acclaimed soundscape albums as Pure Sound (Yukon (2006), Submarine (2007), Acts of New Noise (2008) then converted the band into a live unit featuring Harry Stafford (keyboards, Inca Babies), Rob Haynes (drums, Goldblade) and Boz Hayward (guitar, HoundGod). The band is due to release a fourth album in late 2009. Hunt was also a founder member of Marshall Smith in 1997, with Alan Brown and former Pram
drummer Daren Garratt, recording a debut album 'Colours'. Hunt joined the Inca Babies
in 2009 replacing Bill Marten.
Interest in A Witness has never waned, and a retrospective, Threaphurst Lane, was issued on Overground Records in 2002, while 2006 saw the reissue of I Am John's Pancreas for the first time on CD on Hunt's own Euphonium label, home to his various musical interests.
The three other tracks – ‘Nodding Dog Moustache’, ‘Faglane Morris Wind’ and ‘Raw Patch’ – formed the bulk of the following A Witness 12” single One Foot in the Groove, their 1988 final release with Ron Johnson.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band formed in 1982 in Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, by Rick Aitken (guitar), Vince Hunt (bass) and a drum machine, in 1986 replaced by Alan Brown (of Big Flame fame). Keith Curtis (vocals) and Noel Kilbride (guitar) joined the group in 1983.
Career
Initially signing to the Ron JohnsonRon Johnson Records
Ron Johnson Records was an UK independent record label based in Long Eaton operating between 1983 and 1988. The label contributed five tracks to the NME's C86 compilation. Run by Dave Parsons, the label released records by artists such as Big Flame, The Shrubs, A Witness, The Great Leap Forward,...
label, debut EP Loudhailer Songs put them at the forefront of a wave of Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
-influenced bands that emerged in the mid-1980s, and won praise from the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
. They gained further attention due to the inclusion of the track "Sharpened Sticks" on the NME's C86
C86 (music)
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...
cassette in the following year.
Debut album I Am John's Pancreas followed in October 1986, entering the NME charts, with a further two 12" singles released on the Ron Johnson label (one each in 1987 and 1988) before its collapse. Communion issued the US-only Sacred Cow Heart compilation in 1988.
Guitarist Rick Aitken died aged 33 in a climbing accident in 1989, and the band split. The band's third and fourth radio sessions for John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
were collected on an album (The Peel Sessions), and a single "I Love You Mr. Disposable Razors" which had been due for release at the time of Aitken's death was delayed so it could be dedicated to him. The single was issued in November 1989 on the Vinyl Drip label. The Imaginary compilation series Through the Looking Glass 1966 included their cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Tomorrow Never Knows
Tomorrow Never Knows
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles' 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon–McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon...
" and Through The Looking Glass 1967 compilation (1990) included their cover of The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
' track "Break on Through (To the Other Side)
Break on Through (To the Other Side)
"Break on Through " is a song by The Doors from their debut album, The Doors. It was the first single released by the band and was unsuccessful compared to later hits, reaching only #126 in the United States...
".
Keith Curtis went on to play guitar for John Robb's Membranes
The Membranes
The Membranes were a post-punk band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1977, the initial line-up being John Robb , Mark Tilton , Martin Critchley and Martin Kelly . Critchley soon left, with Robb and Tilton taking on vocals, and Kelly moving to keyboards, with "Coofy Sid" taking over on drums...
and bass in Goldblade
Goldblade
Goldblade are an English punk rock band from Manchester, England. The band formed in early 1995 when ex Membranes frontman, John Robb, put the band together with Wayne Simmons and former A Witness vocalist Keith Curtis on bass, Rob Haynes on drums and Jay Taylor on guitar.The band signed to...
. Vince Hunt recorded three critically acclaimed soundscape albums as Pure Sound (Yukon (2006), Submarine (2007), Acts of New Noise (2008) then converted the band into a live unit featuring Harry Stafford (keyboards, Inca Babies), Rob Haynes (drums, Goldblade) and Boz Hayward (guitar, HoundGod). The band is due to release a fourth album in late 2009. Hunt was also a founder member of Marshall Smith in 1997, with Alan Brown and former Pram
Pram (band)
Pram are an experimental band who formed in the Balsall Heath/Moseley area of Birmingham, England in 1990.-History:Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Rosie Cuckston and Matt Eaton went to school together. They moved to Birmingham in the late 80s, schoolfriend Andy Weir keeping in touch...
drummer Daren Garratt, recording a debut album 'Colours'. Hunt joined the Inca Babies
Inca Babies
Inca Babies are a post punk death rock band from Manchester, England, initially active between 1982 and 1988, but reformed since 2007, releasing an album "Death Message Blues" in 2010 and performing live across Europe...
in 2009 replacing Bill Marten.
Interest in A Witness has never waned, and a retrospective, Threaphurst Lane, was issued on Overground Records in 2002, while 2006 saw the reissue of I Am John's Pancreas for the first time on CD on Hunt's own Euphonium label, home to his various musical interests.
Paris concert footage
In September 2011 footage of A Witness in concert in Paris recorded twenty five years earlier was uploaded to YouTube. The concert - from December 1986 - featured five tracks, two from the album 'I Am John's Pancreas.' ‘Sharpened Sticks’ was included on the NME’s collection C-86 and ‘The Loudhailer Song’ was part of a collection of tracks from the period included in a compilation Death To Trad Rock, accompanying John Robb’s 2010 book.The three other tracks – ‘Nodding Dog Moustache’, ‘Faglane Morris Wind’ and ‘Raw Patch’ – formed the bulk of the following A Witness 12” single One Foot in the Groove, their 1988 final release with Ron Johnson.
Albums
- I Am John's Pancreas (1986, Ron Johnson, LP, ZRON 12) (2006, Euphonium, CD, EUPH001) UK Indie #18
- "Smelt Like A Pedestrian", "O'Grady's Dream", "Car Skidding", "Red Snake", "Dipping Bird", "Sharpened Sticks", "The Loudhailer Song", "Legs Be Sturdy", "4.49 Stool", "Hard Days' Love"
- The Peel Sessions (1989, Strange Fruit, LP/CD, SFPMA 206)
- "I Love You Mr Disposable Razors", "Life - The Final Frontier", "Helicopter Tealeaf", "Prince Microwave Bollard", "Take Me To The Earth", "McManus Octaphone", "Sunbed Sentimental", "Zip Up"
Compilation albums
- Sacred Cow Heart (1986, Communion, LP/C, COMM003/C)
- "Smelt Like A Pedestrian", "Red Snake", "Dipping Bird", "Sharpened Sticks", "Legs Be Sturdy", "Hard Days Love", "Faglane Morris Wind", "Nodding Dog Moustache", "Raw Patch", "The Loudhailer Song". Extra tracks for cassette only: "O'Grady's Dream", "Smelt Like A Pedestrian 2", "Sharpened Sticks 2", "Hard Days Love 2".
- Threaphurst Lane: The Best Of A Witness (2002, Overground, CD, OVERVPCD88)
- "Sharpened Sticks", "I Love You, Mr Disposable Razors", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "O'Grady's Dream", "The Loudhailer Song", "Car Skidding", "Dipping Bird", "Lucky In London", "Hard Days' Love", "4.49 Stool", "Smelt Like A Pedestrian", "Faglane Morris Wind", "Nodding Dog Moustache", "Red Snake", "Zip Up", "Threaphurst Lane", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Dudefield"
EPs and singles
- "Loudhailer Songs" (Nov. 1984, Ron Johnson, 12", ZRON 5) UK Indie #9
- "Lucky in London ", "Camera", "Kitchen Sink Drama", "Regular Round" "Drill One"
- "Red Snake" (1987, Ron Johnson, 12", ZRON26)
- "Red Snake", "Regular Round", "Hard Days' Love"
- "One Foot In The Groove" (May 1988, Ron Johnson, 12", ZRON 30)
- "Nodding Dog Moustache", "Faglane Morris Wind", "Zip Up", "Raw Patch"
- "I Love You Mr. Disposable Razors" (Nov. 1989, Vinyl Drip, 12", SUK 010)
- "I Love You, Mr Disposable Razors", "Disposable dance version", "Tomorrow Never Knows"